King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
for use with Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight
(14th century)
Introduction
King Arthur and his knights
are among the most famous heroes of the European Middle Ages. Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight is a story about one of Arthur's most famous
knights. The story survived to modern times in a single manuscript which
was nearly destroyed in a Christmastime fire at a private library in
Guiding Question
Was there a real King
Arthur, or was he only a fictional character? Whether real or fictional,
what do the stories about him and his knights tell us about the culture of
Questions
1. What were the European
Middle Ages?
2. Who were the Welsh people?
3. Who were the Anglo-Saxons,
and when did they invade
4. What happened to the Welsh
after the Anglo-Saxon conquest?
5. What Welsh weapon changed
the map of
6. Who was King Arthur and
when did he live?
7. How many stories about King
Arthur were told in the Middle Ages?
8. What was Middle English?
9. What is alliterative
poetry?
10. Who was the author of Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight?
Internet Resources
British History, Britannia
Middle Ages: Life Style
European Middle Ages: People
Medieval Food: Recipes
Food and Drinks
Entertainment and Games
Music
Medieval Musical
Instruments
Examples of Middle Age Music
Literature
Britannia's Brief History on
Wales
BBC: Welsh History
Anglo-Saxons: Who are
they? Learn the battles and life styles
Anglo-Saxons
BBC: Anglo-Saxons
Medieval
Weapons
King Arthur
King Arthur, Britannia's article
Mabinogion
Examples of Mabinogion's Writings
Brief Description of Sir
Thomas Malory
Malory
Malory's
Le Morte Darthur
The Life
and Times of Chretien de Troyes
Chretien de Troyes' Arthurian
Romances
Middle
English
Middle English Glossary: Examples
How
to write alliterative poetry
Encarta's
Definition of Alliteration
Samples
of Alliterative poetry
Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight
Activities
1.
Create a chart showing King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and the knights
of the Round Table, with brief information about
each person.
2. Draw a map showing
3. Draw pictures of Arthurian
characters.
4. Read The
Once and Future King by T.E. White. (Book Report
credit for this project!)
5. Write a report on medieval
English music and play sample pieces of music for the class- either recorded
or, if you can play
an instrument, live.
6. Make a poster showing a
medieval English castle, identifying all of the most important parts.
7. Write a report on the
history of Arthurian literature, naming and discussing the main books that are
our sources for the
Arthurian legends, including
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Chretien de Troyes,
and Gottfried von Strassburg.
8. Make a poster showing a
medieval night in armor, with the various parts of the suit of armor labeled,
and write a report on
the history of armor in the Middle Ages.
9. Make a poster of a medieval
joust and write a report on the history of jousting in
10. Make a report on the
history of romantic love during the European Middle Ages, including the courts
of love presided over
by Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Discuss the influence of this history on our modern ideas of romantic love.
11. Read and report on
Gottfried von Strassburg?s Tristan,
which has been called the greatest European love story. (The
Washington Library has a copy
of the story of Tristan and Iseult.)
12. Write a report on the
Pearl Poet and the other poems on the same manuscript with Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight.
13. Read a report on The
Pearl, by the same poet who wrote Sir Gawain and the Green Night.
14. Write a report on the
critical history of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. What do
modern scholars think of the story?
15. Write a report on the various
translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, including the
translation by Brian Stone
(which we read in class) and
J.R.R. Tolkien (author of The Hobbit and Lord
of the Rings).
16. Write an original story in
alliterative verse.
17. Do another project of your
own after consulting with the teacher.
Peter Ritson, Teacher, and Susan Lai,
AP student, collaborated to develop this web hunt.
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