Strangers and strange spaces: land, people, and power in the Medieval Gawain romances

Palmer, Charlotte Marie (2024). Strangers and strange spaces: land, people, and power in the Medieval Gawain romances. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis discusses ecology and sovereignty in nine Middle English and Older Scots Arthurian romances preserved in manuscripts produced between 1400 and 1650. It draws on Timothy Morton’s discussion of ‘strange strangers’ in a ‘mesh’ (The Ecological Thought, 40-41)—all human and non-human beings within the environment—to examine the Arthurian knight Gawain as he interacts with various outsiders: the Green Knight, the giant Carl, the Loathly Lady, a Ghost, a Turk, and several enemy knights. The outsiders challenge Arthur’s authority and right to rule over conquered lands, channelling concerns about land ownership, violence, and the relationship between a king and the people and land under his control. Though strange and frightening to Arthur and the Round Table, these characters cannot be rejected. To do so would be to diminish Arthur’s sovereignty, his influence over all human and non-human elements within his empire. Instead, they must be accepted with ‘radical openness’ (Morton, 81), a process that reveals the strangeness inherent in the court.
This process occurs through a series of romance motifs: the hunt, feast, bedroom, and beheading. Through these scenes, Gawain meets strange strangers, integrates them into the court, and eliminates difference between opposing sides. These interactions alter the familiar motifs, demonstrating how the inclusion of strange strangers complicates established conventions of behaviour and nobility. The Gawain romances thus exploit the conventions of romance into a complex study of the governance, land management, and cooperation needed to sustain an empire.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):