Plenary Speakers

Our two plenary speakers this year are particularly appropriate as scholars who take an interdisciplinary approach to medieval studies and whose research has greatly contributed to remaking our image of the medieval world. Norris Lacy's works have done much to shape our vision of both the historical and the mythical King Arthur and to enhance our understanding of medieval French literature. Stephen Jaeger has raised important questions not only about the nature of medieval humanism but also about the relation of medieval humanism to courtly literature, the origins of the courtly ideals, and the nature of ennobling love. Both of these scholars bring a wealth of experience and knowledge in medieval studies and promise to raise important questions for us to consider.

Norris J. Lacy is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of French and Medieval Studies at Pennsylvania State University. His Ph.D. is from Indiana University, and he has taught at Indiana, the University of Kansas, UCLA (visiting), Washington University in St. Louis, and now Penn State. His particular research interest is the Arthurian legend (mainly medieval French, though he has published on Dutch, English, and American literature and on Arthurian film). His Arthurian publications, as author or editor, include The Craft of Chrétien de Troyes, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, The Arthurian Handbook, and Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles in Translation. He has also published on the fabliaux, on non-Arthurian romance, and other subjects. He is Past President (now Honorary President) of the International Arthurian Society, and he has been decorated by the French government as a Chevalier in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques.