Fairies, demons and reckless women : reading supernatural encounters in Middle English Breton Lays in didactic terms

Abstract

In medieval romances, and particularly, Breton lays, supernatural creatures such as fairies, and the occasional demon featured often. This thesis seeks to study the interactions these creatures had with men and women within these stories, aiming to examine how these moments may have illuminated the way medieval audiences would have read them alongside medieval conduct literature, in similarly didactic terms.