4. Speak about knight literature and King Arthur stories and legends in particular.

Hic jacet Arthurus, rex quondam, rexque futurus. ‘Here lies Arthur, king that was, king that shall be’. This inscription on his tomb at Glastonbury catches the flavour of his legendary life and un-death. In Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany, during the medieval period, there was a firm popular belief that Arthur was not dead but would return to deliver his people from their enemies. He was the focus and inspiration of late Celtic mythology. In one of the earliest references to Arthur, namely the Historia Brittonum of Nennius, a ninth-century Welsh monk, he was described as dux bellorum, ‘leader of troops’. Like the Irishman Finn MacCool, he was a warrior who defended his country against foreign invaders. But his legendary character by far outshone whatever historical fame he may have had. In romance, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table were the paragons of chivalry. Son of Uther Pendragon, King of Britain, and Igraine, wife of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall, Arthur was conceived out of wedlock and brought up by the wizard Merlin. By pulling the magic sword Excalibur from a stone from which no one else could extract it, he revealed himself, though then a child, as the predestined king. Crowned at the age of fifteen, in Wales, he soon showed his skill as a military commander, even reaching the city of Rome in one campaign. Against Merlin's advice Arthur married Guinevere, who loved Sir Lancelot and was unfaithful to the king. Disaster struck his kingdom in the shape of a rebellion raised by Mordred, his nephew. A great battle was fought, nearly all of the Knights of the Round Table slain, and Arthur himself sorely wounded. Excalibur was thrown into a lake, and in a boat three fairies took Arthur away to Avalon, or Avallach which has been identified with Glastonbury. 5. Why is G. Chaucer called the Father of the English Language? Speak about his work The Canterbury Tales and underline its peculiar features.

Canterbury Tales Late 14th-cent. unfinished masterpiece by Chaucer. The General Prologue presents portraits of diverse pilgrims congregated at the Tabard inn (Southwark), including a battle-worn Knight, sweetly pretentious Prioress, and emaciated scholar-Clerk. They lighten the journey to Thomas Becket's shrine at Canterbury by exchanging twenty-four tales, which range from high romance set in ancient Greece (Knight) to low comedy in contemporary England (Miller, Reeve).The English language evolved over a long period of time. There was no single "father" of the language. However, several major contributors may be considered pivotal in establishing English as the language it is today.  Geoffrey Chaucer, considered Father of English Literature, established the English dialect as a medium for printed publication. 

6. What does the term The Dark Ages refer to? Speak about its historical background and outcomes.

The middle Ages did indeed extend from around 500 to 1500. The reason they are called the "Middle" Ages is because they are in the middle, in between the Roman Empire, which eventually fell around 500 AD, and the Renaissance, which occurred sometime around 1500 AD Starting with the Renaissance, the kind of social order, commercial activity, and intellectual ferment that had characterized the Roman Empire, reappeared in the West. So the Middle Ages are called that because they are in between two periods of more or less advanced social organization and intellectual progress. You probably know that a large part of the Middle Ages (how much is in dispute) is called the "Dark Ages" because it was so dark and dreary without that social and intellectual order and progress and the darkness did not end until the Renaissance. (The reason it is in dispute is because many historians now claim that there was plenty of social organization, intellectual ferment, and progress in the Dark Ages--but that is at least doubtful).