Project title
Continuities and Discontinuities: Notions of Royal Authority in Medieval English Literature, in five case studies.
Biographical Note
Charlotte Liebelt is a full-time PhD scholarship student in the English literature department. She graduated with two undergraduate degrees, in Italian Language and Culture & English Language and Culture, from Leiden University in 2012. She completed her MA degree in English Literary Studies in 2013, and a Master of Education in 2015, both also at Leiden University. Her MA thesis was a study of political and religious dissent in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Charlotte is interested in medieval rulership, literature, and the interplay between politics, history, and literature in medieval England.
Research Outline
How and why did medieval authors in England respond to and reflect on the quickly changing political landscape from the eight to the fourteenth century? Events such as the Norman Conquest often serve as a watershed moment, with studies usually focussing on the situation either before or after October 1066. This study traces attitudes towards kingship as expressed in literary texts against the backdrop of the often turbulent political landscape of medieval England. This is done in five case studies, each centring on one or a group of texts: Beowulf, the ‘Alfredian’ Canon, twelfth century Arthurian literature, thirteenth century texts such as Havelok the Dane, and finally fourteenth century texts with at its core texts such as the Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The aim is to provide a contextual analysis of the continuities and discontinuities in ideas about royal authority that surpasses the traditional historical boundaries.
Supervisory Team
- Dr Mike Bintley (first supervisor)
- Dr Leonie Hicks (second supervisor)
- Professor Carolyn Oulton (chair)