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The Roman de Thèbes and Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide are romances of an Anglo-Norman tradition, which were crafted during the second half of the 12th-century. The Roman de Thèbes, most probably created during the 1150s, is an anonymous reworking of Statius' first-century Thebaïd and relates the story of the battle between Greeks and Thebans, which breaks out because Oedipus' sons fight over their inherited lands. Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide, an Arthurian romance, was created in ca. 1170 and culminates with the coronation of Erec as the new king of his lands. Both of these texts therefore deal with questions of land inheritance and were, very significantly, written during important stages in Henry II's career, as it was during this time frame that Henry II (1133-1189) gained dominance in the British Isles as well as in western continental Europe. My thesis will discuss these works separately, devoting the subsequent section to the ekphrastic accounts featured in the Roman de Thèbes. This chapter will focus on mappa mundi and Amphiareus' chariot and will discuss how these moments mirror the ambitions of Henry II during the early stages of his reign. Moreover, the penultimate section will then move on to discuss the coronation scene featured in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide, with a special emphasis on Erec's robe. This discussion will also examine how this scene mirrors the historical occurrences in of the late 1160s, during which time Henry tried to establish his authority in Brittanny. Ultimately, I will attempt to weave these moments together to provide a comprehensive reading of these ekphrastic accounts.

This thesis provides a reading of Chrétien de Troyes' Arthurian romances that reflects the cultural and intellectual context of twelfth-century Christianity. The impact of this context on Chrétien's romances is examined by identifying the influence that contemporaneous biblical expository texts, hagiography, and the material culture of the cult of saints had upon his work. Although scholars have devoted much attention to the study of Chrétien's romances, and some have examined the potential influences of various medieval Christian beliefs, practices, and symbols on his work, none have yet to produce a thorough study of these elements while focusing specifically on the female characters. Scholars have identified the influence of the cult of saints on the depiction of Guinevere in The Knight of the Cart, but have not examined this influence on the depictions of the ladies in the other four romances in detail. I look beyond Guinevere, examining all of the female protagonists in the Arthurian romances, comparing their attributes and actions to those of biblical women in contemporaneous biblical exposition and those of saints in hagiography. At the heart of this comparison is the relationship between the lady and her knight, a relationship that is described in similar terms to that between a biblical woman and God and that between saint and devotee.

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加拿大自脫離英國政府的殖民統治以來，至今已經有一百三十多年的歷史。期間雖經歷了保守黨、自由黨之輪流執政，仍無法完全解決長期以來魁北克人民對於「獨特社會」地位、保護法語文化及傳統的要求。尤有甚者，一九七六年魁人黨（Parti Quebecois）在魁北克省執政成功，並分別於一九八○年及一九九五年針對獨立與否議題舉辦兩次魁省公民投票。雖然最後魁北克人企圖獨立的公投失敗，但其所帶來的衝擊、餘波，更強力震撼了加拿大的政治生態。 一九九三年柯瑞祥（Jean Chretien）領導的自由黨在大選中擊敗執政長達九年的穆隆尼（Brian Moulorney）保守黨政府，順利當選加拿大聯邦總理後，一直致力於改善失業率，通貨膨脹率及削減預算赤字等國內經濟問題。然一九九五年魁北克公投期間，柯瑞祥被許多聯邦派人士批評過於輕忽國家統一問題及魁北克分離派（separatist）的實力。最後聯邦主義者（federalist）雖以1.2％約五萬五千票的差距取得勝利，但獨立派人士卻揚言要繼續推動第三次公投以尋求最後的成功。 本論文主要探討柯瑞祥政府對魁北克獨立運動的因應策略，其中主要以經濟、政治、法律等三個層面予以分析。在經濟層面探討柯瑞祥政府的安撫策略（carrot strategy）及強硬策略（stick strategy）；政治上則探討魁人治魁的傳統策略，以及提前大選策略、外交策略、多元文化策略等；法律上則探討密契湖協議（Meech Lake Accord）與查洛城協議（Charletown Accord），以及九五年公投法律分析、Ｂ計畫 (Plan B)、澄清法案（Clarity Bill）等。由於一九九五年魁省公投對加拿大聯邦政府帶來的衝擊，使得柯瑞祥不得不更謹慎處理國家統一問題。其後，從一九九七年的大選和一九九八年的魁北克省長選舉得票結果可知，魁北克獨立勢力似乎已有見緩的趨勢。因此柯瑞祥政府在經濟、政治和法律面上對魁北克獨立運動策略之成效為何，以及魁北克獨立運動的未來可能發展，均值得探討，此乃本論文之主軸。 由於國內研究加拿大的學者不多，特別是針對魁北克獨立問題的研究更是鳳毛麟角，因此引發筆者的研究動機。面對近來因民族主義意識而興起之獨立運動風潮，魁北克的獨立議題實值得深入分析。 / It has been more than 130 years since Canada stopped being an English colony. Although conservative and liberal governments had come and go, none had managed to resolve completely and permanently the Quebec people's demands for a "distinct society" status and moves to protect the French language and culture. The quest for the former is especially worth mentioning. In 1976, Partis Qucbecois was voted into power in Quebec and held 2 state referendums to decide whether to be independent in 1980 and 1995. Despite failing to get a majority in the referendum, these events sent the shockwaves throughout the political world. In 1993, the Liberal party led by Jean Chretien beat the conservative government led by Brian Moulorney, which had been in power for 9 years. After Chretien became the federal prime minister of Canada, he concentrated on cutting down the unemployment rate and other internal economical problems such as the inflation rate and the deficit. In spite of this, he was criticized by many federalists as neglecting the country unification issue and the power of Quebec's separatists. Although, in 1995's referendum, federalists managed to win with a margin of 1.2% (around 55,000 votes) in the end, independents vow to seek a referendum again until they win. This thesis aims to analyze strategies taken by the Chretien government against the Quebec independent movement from three viewpoints: Economical, Political and Legal. From the economical viewpoint we'll take a look at Chretien's "Carrot and Stick Strategy". From the political viewpoint, the traditional "Quebecers rule Quebec" policy as well as the "earlier election" policy, foreign policies, multicultural policies, etc. are examined. From the legal viewpoint, the Meech Lake Accord, the Charletown Accord as well as 1995's referendum law analysis, Plan B, the Clarity Bill, etc. are examined. Due to shockwaves to the federal government brought about by 1995's Quebec Referendum, Chretien had to handle the country unification problem with even more care. After 1995, as can be seen from 1997 general elections and 1998 Quebec's provincial election, the Quebec Independence Movement started to lose steam. Therefore, it is worthwhile to examine the effects the economical, political and legal polices the Chretien government took had on the movement, as well as possible developments of the movement. That will be the main topic of this thesis. The author was motivated to do research on this topic as there aren't many researchers on Canada locally, especially researchers on the problems of Quebec's Independence Movement. Facing the independent movement recently due to heightening nationalist sentiments, Quebec's Independence Movement case study is worth an in-depth analysis.

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