Okay — picture this: you walk into a classroom where Geoffrey of Monmouth whispers about kings, Chrétien de Troyes flirts with knights, and Tristan (oh Tristan) writes love notes to suffering. (Cue the little bell in my head: 'this is dramatic, and educational'.)
This is a short, fun summary of the MSt course "After the Conquest: Reinventing fiction and history" — re-told like Ally McBeal thinking out loud — and tuned to ACARA v9 for a 13-year-old (Year 8): a mash-up of History and English that teaches you how stories shape nations, feelings, and truth.
Big idea (sing it softly):
The Norman Conquest changed more than who wore the crown — it changed how people told stories about kings, heroes, love, and themselves. Literature and history start to swap costumes: myths become history, romances teach manners and chivalry, and lives or biographies make people into legends.
Week-by-week (short and punchy):
- Week 1 — Historiography, myth, translatio: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, Roman d’Eneas. (We ask: How do writers turn old myths into national history?)
- Week 2 — Fiction, romance, rise of chivalry: Chrétien de Troyes (Erec, Yvain, Lancelot, Cligès). (Knights learn manners, love, and epic quests.)
- Week 3 — History, nation, rise of the king: Song of Roland, Gaimar, Romance of Horn, Layamon. (Stories build kings and countries — sometimes by invention.)
- Week 4 — Interiority, selfhood, love, suffering: Tristan poems, Ancrene Wisse, Richard of St Victor, medieval lyrics. (People begin to write about feelings and inner lives.)
- Week 5 — Life-writing: Vitae and biographies (e.g., Vita Ædwardi, lives of Christina, Wulfric, Thomas Becket, William Marshal). (Who becomes a saint, a hero, a legend — and why?)
- Week 6 — Developments in romance: Marie de France, Béroul, Havelok, King Horn, Sir Orfeo. (Romance grows, adapts, and starts teaching national identity and ideals.)
What you’ll learn (ACARA v9-aligned outcomes):
- History (Year 8): investigate how and why people in medieval England used stories to explain power, identity and change; analyse different types of sources (chronicles, romances, lives) and understand continuity and change after 1066; consider perspectives and how authors shaped audiences' beliefs.
- English (Year 8): read and compare narrative genres (myth, chronicle, romance, hagiography); identify narrative voice, characterisation, symbolism and rhetorical devices; craft your own historical/creative responses using evidence and imaginative techniques.
Skills you’ll practice (the Ally aside: attention please):
- Source analysis — spotting bias, purpose and audience.
- Comparative reading — how does a myth become history? How does romance change a real event?
- Creative and analytical writing — short essay, creative retelling, and a final argument-based course essay.
- Historical empathy — imagining perspectives of kings, saints, knights, and women (yes, women appear too!).
Class activities (fun and practical):
- Read short translated excerpts (Geoffrey, a Chrétien episode, a Tristan fragment, a saint's life).
- Compare two texts about the same event (e.g., Geoffrey vs. a chronicle) and list differences like detectives (evidence-based!).
- Write a 400–600 word creative piece: a diary entry by a knight, a saint, or a chronicler.
- Role-play debate: "Is this history or fiction?" with medieval voices and modern questions.
Assessment (the final curtain):
Main task: a short researched essay (about 1000–1500 words in the original course; for Year 8 adapt to 600–800 words) asking: How did stories after the Conquest help people invent a nation and an idea of the self? You must use at least two different kinds of texts as evidence.
Why this matters (and why it’s cool):
Because it shows that history isn’t just dates and battles — it’s storytelling. The stories people told after 1066 helped shape law, kingship, love, and identity. (Also: melodrama, secret love, and scandal — yes please.)
Teacher note — curriculum links (short):
- Link History inquiry skills (questioning, researching, analysing sources, communicating findings) with English skills (interpreting texts, shaping purpose, persuasive and creative writing).
- Encourage multimodal tasks (short video retelling, illustrated timelines, creative readings) to meet diverse learners.
So — final whisper (and a tiny musical flourish): medieval writers were making up the past and inventing the self, and you get to listen, question, and remix their songs into your own clear, evidence-backed stories. (Now exit stage left — but keep the drama.)