Kenneth J.

Tiller

Ken Tiller received his PhD from the University of Notre Dame in 1996. His research interests include Layamon’s Brut, Arthurian literature, translation theory, chronicle poetics, historiography, hermeneutics, and manuscript studies.  He teaches all areas of medieval literature: Chaucer, Studies in Medieval Literature, Dante’s World, Arthurian Literature, and the Knight in Literature and Culture.  He also offers courses in Survey of British Literature I, Western Literary Traditions I, History of the English Language, and Introduction to Linguistics. He co-chairs the College’s Medieval-Renaissance Conference and works to build the Medieval-Renaissance Studies minor.  He also serves as co-coordinator for the Center for Medieval-Renaissance Studies. He is currently working on a book-length study of the literary landscapes of Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur. He enjoys attending international conferences and exploring medieval landscapes and sites, especially churches, tombs, and castles.

Selected Publications

Layamon’s Brut and the Anglo-Norman Vision of History. University of Wales, 2007.

“Prophecy and the Hermeneutics of Translation in Layamon’s Brut.” (under review) Arthuriana.

“Tristan Narrative in Britain.” The Encyclopedia of Medieval British Literature, edited by Sian Echard, et al, Wiley and Sons, 2017, pp. 1828-34.

“Layamon’s Brut and the Poetics of the Peterborough Chronicle.”  Layamon’s Brut and other Medieval Chronicles, edited by Marie-Françoise Alamichel, L’Harmattan, 2013, pp. 59-80.

“Translating Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Poems for the Anglo-Norman Court.” Medieval Translator 15: In Principio fuit Interpres, edited by Alessandra Petrina, Brepols, 2013, pp. 175-186.

“Layamon’s Leir: Language, Succession, and History.” Reading Laȝamon’s Brut: Approaches and Explorations, DQR Studies in Literature 52, edited by Carole Weiberg, Rosamund Allan, and Jane Roberts, Rodopi, 2013, pp. 155-178.

“Anglo-Norman Historiography and Henry of Huntingdon’s Latin Battle of Brunanburh.” Studies in Philology, vol. 109, no. 3, 2012, pp. 173-191.

“The Rise of Sir Gareth and the Hermeneutics of Heraldry.” Arthuriana vol. 17, no. 3, 2007, pp. 74-91.

“En-graving Chivalry:  Landscape Markers and the Ideology of Knighthood in Malory’s Tale of King Arthur.”  Arthuriana, vol. 14, no. 2, 2004, pp. 37-53.

“‘So precyously Coverde’: Malory’s Hermeneutic Quest of the Sankgreal.” Arthuriana vol. 13, no. 3, 2003, pp, 83-97.

“‘The Truth ‘Bi Arthure an Kinge’: Arthur’s Role in Shaping Lawman’s Vision of History.” Arthuriana vol. 10, no, 2, 2000, pp. 27-49.

Selected presentations

“Heraldic Ekphrasis in Malory and in the Alliterative Morte Arthure,” at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 10-13, 2018.

“‘The House of Romulus will Tremble’: The Hermeneutics of Prophecy in Layamon’s Brut,” at the 8th International Layamon’s Brut Society Congress, Brigham Young University, June 2017.

“Reading Lancelot: The Textualized Landscape of Knighthood in A Noble Tale of Launcelot du Lake,” at the 25th International Arthurian Society Congress, University of Würzburg, Germany, July 2017.

“Reconsidering Layamon’s Epic Similes,” at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 14-17, 2015.

“Reading Lancelot: The Textualized Landscape of Knighthood in A Noble Tale of Sir Lancelot,” at the 24th Congress of the International Arthurian Society, University of Bucharest, July 20-27, 2014.

“An Ars Legendi for the Alliterative Morte Arthure?: The Allegorical Landscape of the Priamus and Gawain Episode (2501-2715),” at the 49th Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 8-11, 2014.

“Found in Translation: Traces of an English Narrative in the Gesta Herewardi,” at the International Medieval Translator Conference, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium, July 8-12, 2013.

“Translating the Anarchy (Peterborough 1137): Chronicle Poetics in Twelfth-Century Latin Historiography,” at the 48th Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 9-12, 2013.

“Layamon’s Brut and the Poetics of the Peterborough Chronicle,” at the 7th Layamon’s Brut Society Congress, University of Sorbonne, Paris, June 21-23, 2012.

“Reading Like a Knight in Malory’s Book of Sir Tristram,” at the 23rd International Arthurian Society Congress, University of Bristol, UK, July 25, 2011.

“Translating Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Poems for the Anglo-Norman Court,” at the International Medieval Translator Conference, University of Padua, July 2010.

“Translating the Edgar Poems in Anglo-Norman History,” at the 46th Annual Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 6-9 2010.

“Symbolic Encodings: The Chivalric Landscape of Malory’s Tale of Sir Tristram,” at the 22nd International Arthurian Society Congress, University of Renne (France), July 14-20, 2008.

“Layamon’s Leir: Succession and Language,” at the 6th Layamon’s Brut Society Congress, University of Wales, Greggynog, June 30-July 5, 2008.