UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
COURSES OF INTEREST TO MEDIEVALISTS
FALL 2005
[Please e-mail corrections or additions to Gregory Hays]
ARH 870: Venice Istanbul Granada
C.
Brothers
M 11-1:30
Campbell 108
This seminar will consider cultural affinity, rivalry, appropriation,
and exchange in three Mediterranean cities. Venice, Istanbul and
Granada each negotiated complex and varied local traditions: Roman,
Byzantine and Gothic in Venice; Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman in
Istanbul; Persian, Roman, Gothic, Nasrid and Italian in Granada. They
were bound by political rivalries and economic interdependence. The
seminar will examine the role of the traveler, merchant, ambassador and
artist as agents of cultural transmission. The cities will be
considered from the point of view of urban design, architecture and
landscape. Attention will also be devoted to portable objects that
traversed the Mediterranean, including textiles, manuscripts, glass,
ivory, and metalwork. An underlying interest will be in the visual
ideology and cultural politics of empire, as manifest in architecture
and art. The course is intended both for students participating in the
Venice program and for others interested in the subject. The primary
focus during the first month will be on Venice, making the case that it
is best understood in the broad context of the Mediterranean. The
seminar will meet intensively (twice a week) during the month of
September, after which the meetings will be regular but less frequent.
One final paper and a short presentation are required.
ARTH 322: Age of Cathedrals
C.
Walden
MW 3:30-4:45
Campbell 160
This lecture course will examine closely the architecture, sculpture,
stained glass, shrines and liturgical furnishings of six major churches
in France and England built during the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, a period of tremendous artistic output. We will begin with
two early monuments that were instrumental in forming the style known
as Gothic: the Benedictine monasteries of St-Denis, near Paris, and
Christ Church, in Canterbury. We will look at further artistic
developments in the cathedrals at Chartres and Lincoln, both begun in
the 1190s, and in the thirteenth-century churches of Reims and
Westminster Abbey. Each building will be considered in terms of its
religious community, institutional history, and ritual use, and will be
viewed in relation to the broader social backdrop of the Crusades, the
cult of saints, and the growing powers of the French and English
monarchies.
Requirements: regular attendance at lectures, weekly readings, a
short paper, three 75-minute exams.
ARTH 929: English Gothic Art and
Architecture
M.
Roberts
M 10:00-12:30
Campbell 107
Paul Binski, author of a fairly recent book on Westminster Abbey, has
published a new book on English art and architecture from 1170-1300. He
begins with Canterbury and goes on to discuss Lincoln, Salisbury, Ely
and Wells. He includes a rather eclectic mix of topics that draw upon
manuscript illumination and sculpture. With an up-to-date bibliography
and fine high-quality photographs, this book will allow us to explore a
variety of subjects focusing on English artistic production in the late
12th and early 13th century.
Weekly readings and discussion, weekly "journal" summaries and analysis
of readings, mid-term discussion of your research topic, and in the
last weeks of the term your research project given as a presentation to
the class and written up as a paper.
ENMD 311: Illicit Love
A.C.
Spearing
TR 2:00-3:15
Cabell 118
In this course we shall read a variety of medieval stories of
adulterous and otherwise forbidden love, translated from medieval
English, French, and German, including tales of famous pairs of lovers
such as Tristan and Iseult, Lancelot and Guinevere, and Troilus and
Criseyde. Requirements: a group presentation, two papers, a mid-term,
and a final exam.
ENMD 325: Chaucer
H.
Duggan
TR 9:30-10:45
Cabell 319
An introduction to late medieval English literary culture through a
close reading of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. No prior knowledge
of Middle English is assumed.
ENMD 481A Chaucerian Spaces
B.
Nolan
T 3:30-6:00
TBA
What poetic ends do public streets, royal monuments, temples,
cathedrals, abbeys, houses, shops, universities, landscapes, gardens,
oceans, towns, cities, continents serve in Chaucer's romances and
fabliaux? How do material spaces function in relation to the characters
who inhabit or use them? How and why does Chaucer play with scale and
juxtapose radically different kinds and moments of time as he moves us
from ancient Troy to Athens to " modern day " Oxford to the rocky coast
of Brittany, to the shores of Northumberland, to a peasants' " thrope "
to a yard inhabited by chickens ? How and why does the poet organize
his fictions as he does within the manuscript book? Through visual
examples, we'll also examine key spatial practices and habits of
temporal layering in medieval art, architecture, and book-making as
they bear on Chaucer's poetic strategies in treating material spaces..
Prior knowledge of Chaucer's poetry is welcome but not required.
Primary readings will include Troilus and Criseyde and several
Canterbury tales: The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale,
The Reeve's Tale, The Man of Law's Tale, The Wife of
Bath's Tale, The Merchant's Tale, The Franklin's Tale,
The Nun's Priest's Tale, The Shipman's Tale. To provide
a theoretical background for questions of space and dwelling, we'll
read selections from Gaston Bachelard, Michel de Certeau, Henri
LeFebvre as well as Book I of Ovid's Metamorphoses, Genesis
I and II, and the apocryphal lives of Adam and Eve.
Requirements: Weekly response papers; Active engagement in class
discussion; One or two oral presentations (introductory discussion of
individual tales and background materials with special attention to
questions of dwelling/and material spaces); one long essay (20 pp.)
ENMD 825: Canterbury Tales
B.
Nolan
TR 11:00-12:15
Bryan 312
In this course we'll examine Chaucer's last great work by close,
intensive reading (both silently and aloud) of the text. Throughout the
semester, we'll also focus attention on issues of material space,
mapping, dwelling, and the practice of everyday life in the
mortal/material world of the Canterbury Tales. Our two-fold aim will
be: (1) To engage the tales themselves at a deep level; and (2) to
explore Chaucer's poetics of spaces (material, psychological, textual)
and temporalities (past, present, future). What does it mean to
"dwell", to be "home", in the poetic universe Chaucer gives us? What
poetic ends do public streets, royal monuments, temples, cathedrals,
abbeys, houses, shops, universities, landscapes, gardens, oceans,
towns, cities, continents serve in the tales? How do they function in
relation to the characters who inhabit them? How and why does Chaucer
play with scale as he moves us from ancient Athens to " modern day "
Oxford to the rocky coast of Brittany, to the shores of Northumberland,
to a peasants' " thrope " to a yard inhabited by chickens ? What
epistemological, moral, and spiritual issues (old and new) does Chaucer
raise in layering various kinds of architectural space and orders of
time as he does? How and why do individual tales within the Canterbury
project jostle with each other as textual neighbors in a manuscript
book. Through visual examples, we'll also examine key spatial practices
and habits of temporal layering in medieval architecture, art, and
book-making as they bear on Chaucer's poetic strategies in treating
material spaces and measuring times. Prior knowledge of Chaucer's
poetry is welcome but not required. Requirements: Weekly response
papers; Active engagement in class discussion; One or two oral
presentations (introductory discussion of individual tales and
background materials, accompanied by brief bibliographical info. with
special attention to questions of dwelling/spaces/times); two essays
(8-10 pp.); mid-term and final exam.
ENMD 885: Mapping the Middle Ages
A.C.
Spearing
TR 5:00-6:15
Cabell 335
Using as its focus a selection of major literary texts from England and
continental Europe and some important scholarly and theoretical works,
this course will explore the spiritual, intellectual and
cultural
climates of “the Middle Ages”, and will aim to develop a
conceptual
framework for study of this seminal period in Western civilization. The
approach will be cross-disciplinary (including some study of art and
architecture) and transnational. Topics to be studied will
include:
the Middle Ages as a theoretical and critical construct; varieties of
love; epic and romance; other worlds; and regional culture (East
Anglia). Medieval English verse texts will be read in the original, all
others in translation. Requirements: an oral presentation, two papers,
a final exam.
ENMD 981: Music, Writing and
Religious
Culture in Premodern England
B. Holsinger
W 2:00-4:30
TBA
This interdisciplinary seminar--crosslisted in Music and
English--will examine the diverse and fascinating relationship between
musical and literary production in English religious cultures from the
period before the Norman Conquest through the Restoration. Taking a
series of six or seven case studies as our focus--the liturgical
culture of Anglo-Saxon Winchester during the Benedictine Reform, which
produced the so-called “Winchester Tropers”; the emergence of notated
vernacular song from the scriptoria of thirteenth-century monasteries;
the religious radicalism of the Lollards and its effects on the musical
climate of Lancastrian England; the agency of the printing press in the
transformation of musical writing before the Reformation; and the
curious intimacy between the sacred and secular works of Henry Purcell
(including settings of English liturgy and a “semi-opera” titled King
Arthur,
with a libretto written by the poet John Dryden); and several
others--we will explore together the political, institutional, and
formal commonalities and distinctions between musical and literary
writing across seven centuries of English cultural history. Secondary
and theoretical readings will be drawn from the writings of an array of
critics and historians, from Theodor Adorno and Emmanuel Levinas to Leo
Treitler and Eamon Duffy.
While seminar papers and presentations will understandably reflect
the disciplinary affiliation of participants, we will try throughout
the semester to speak and think across our specialties: thus, students
in music will be expected to work with the formal and generic aspects
of the poetry and prose on the syllabus, while students in literature,
even if unable to read music, will be expected to complete listening
assignments and make an effort to engage the specifically sonorous
dimensions of the artifacts we examine together. No knowledge of
medieval languages (e.g. Latin and Old English) is required,
though those already possessing proficiency in these languages are
encouraged to work in the original. Until August any inquiries about
the seminar should be directed to the instructor at the mail-link above.
ENRN 483: Metamorphic Poetics.
Transformations of Classical Myths
C.
Kinney
TR 12:30-1:45
Cabell 335
This seminar will examine the ways in which Renaissance (and some
medieval) writers appropriated, revised and subverted the fascinating
narratives of pagan antiquity. Modern readers sometimes declare that
16th and 17th century poets are "just showing off their classical
education" when they make allusions to mythological material; in this
course I hope to complicate that point of view. We'll explore the finer
nuances of the dialogue between Renaissance poets and some of their
epic predecessors, and discuss the ways in which pagan myth is
variously "kidnapped" and refashioned to serve different poetic
agendas. We will start by reading (in translation) Virgil's imperial
epic, the Aeneid, as well as Ovid's influential and bewitching
tapestry of mythic narratives, the Metamorphoses. After a
glance at some medieval mythography (including that of Christine de
Pisan) and some Chaucerian myth-making, the second half of the course
will focus on transformations of Virgilian and Ovidian material in
works by Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, John Milton
and their contemporaries.
Course requirements: regular attendance and energetic
participation in discussion. Four or five e-mail responses to the
readings from Virgil and Ovid. A 7 page paper, a 15 page term paper,
final examination.
FREN 341: Literature of the
Middle
Ages and 16th Century
M.
McKinley
TR 11:00-12:15
Cabell 247
The French Middle Ages and Renaissance, a period covering over 500
years, may seem like a faraway world of knights and crusaders, artists
and explorers. Yet, modern culture continues to reveal its fascination
with that distant past. Books from those centuries between 1050 and
1600 shaped ideals, tastes and cultural icons that continue to capture
the imagination today. Our readings will include selections from La
Chanson de Roland; Marie de France's Lais; Chrétien
de Troyes Yvain; Christine de Pizan's La Cite des Dames;
Rabelais's Pantagruel; Montaigne's Essais and some
lyric poetry. They reveal changing notions of the hero and of love, and
they question the individual's relationship to God, to society, and to
the unknown. Taught in French with attention to improving written and
oral expression. Three short papers totaling 12-15 pages, a mid-term
and a final.
FREN 401/593: Medieval Saints'
Lives
A. Ogden
MWF 11:00-11:50
Cabell 134
In the Middle Ages, stories about saints were one of the most popular
forms of entertainment. Transvestism, marvelous journeys to heaven and
hell, spectacular sins and helpful animals were just a few of the
exciting elements the authors used to draw their audiences in. For more
sophisticated readers and listeners, they offered edgy commentaries on
contemporary hot topics (e.g., virginity vs. marriage) and eternal
issues (e.g., the conflicting goals of parents and children). Saints'
Lives can thus tell us much not only about medieval theological
concerns, but also about secular interests, literary trends, and the
quest of both ecclesiastical and lay people to fulfill their spiritual
and their terrestrial responsibilities. In this course, we will focus
on French Lives written in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
(including those of the wise Catherine of Alexandria, Marie
l'Égyptienne the harlot, and Louis IX, king of France), but we
will conclude with one or more recent works, such as Flaubert's
"Légende de saint Julien l'Hospitalier" or Anouilh's Becket,
to see what has become of medieval saints in the modern literary world.
Requirements for FREN 401 will include 2 essays, a midterm, a final
exam and active participation; requirements for FREN 593 will include
an oral presentation, a seminar paper and active participation.
Advanced undergraduates may apply to take the course for 500-level or
honors credit.
Pre-requisites: FREN 332 and at least one FREN 300-level course beyond
332 (or the equivalent); previous experience with medieval vernacular
literature will be immensely helpful.
FREN 593 see FREN 401
GERM 514: Arthurian Romance
W.
McDonald
W 3:30-6:00
Cabell B 028
This course focuses on an important branch of narrative
poetry in the high-courtly period (ca. 1200), the Arthurian romance.
Through detailed analysis of texts, including Erec and Parzival,
we aim both to isolate a system of characteristic socio-literary values
and to arrive at a theory of genre. Interpretive papers, oral reports,
and a final examination.
HIEU 100: Europe in the Early
Middle Ages
P.
Kershaw
M 6:00-8:30
Cabell B 020
This course is intended to introduce students to the history of the
early Middle Ages, the historical period that spans the collapse of the
Roman Empire in the West to the turn of the first millennium. Over the
semester we shall examine the emergence of the 'barbarian' successor
states, the variety of forms the religious life in the post-Roman West,
monasticism and the cult of the saints, as well as the rise of Islam
and the impact of the Viking invasions across Europe, and the politics
and culture of Carolingian Francia and Ottonian Germany. We conclude
with a consideration of the character of Western Europe in the year
1000 AD, and the apocalyptic terrors that allegedly convulsed it. Over
the course of this semester students will read some of the most
important and interesting sources for the early Middle Ages, including
the writings of Gregory of Tours, the Venerable Bede, Paul the Deacon,
Einhard, Thietmar of Merseburg, and come to see what light can be shed
on a period long-considered a 'dark age'. Students will read 150-200
pages per week, a mix of primary sources and secondary analysis, write
three short term papers and a longer end-of-semester research paper.
This course fulfils the Second Writing Requirement.
HIEU 314: Anglo-Saxon England
P.
Kershaw
MW 3:00-3:50 + Discussion
Minor 125
This course traces the social, political and cultural history of early
England and its Celtic neighbors across a seven-hundred year period,
from the departure of the Roman legions in the late fourth century
through to England 's eventual conquest by William the Conqueror in
1066. Subjects we will look at include: the gradual emergence of the
early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the post-Roman 'Dark Ages' of 400-600
AD; the emergence of several dominant kingdoms in the course of the
seventh and eighth centuries; Anglo-Saxon hagiography; the historical
writings of Bede; the reign of Alfred 'the Great'; the gradual
emergence of a unified English state over the course of the later ninth
and tenth centuries and its eventual conquest; varieties of Anglo-Saxon
culture; manuscript production; social organization; law and dispute
settlement; issues of trade and England's contacts with the wider
world. Students will be expected to engage with archaeological and
literary sources, and to undertake 150-190 pages of reading per week, a
mix of primary texts (in English translation) and secondary studies.
This course fulfills the second writing requirement, demanding that
students write two medium-length papers (2000 words), a mid-term and a
final exam.
HIEU 513: Medieval France
E.
Crosby
W 1:00-3:30
Pavilion VIII 108
A documentary history of the medieval origins of modern France based on
a study of selected texts. A variety of sources, dealing with such
topics as the ideology and practice of kingship, spiritual life and
ecclesiastical power, the cathedral schools and the development of the
university, rural and urban structures and the growth of the city of
Paris, epic and romance and the ethics of chivalry, and castle and
cathedral architecture, will be read and discussed in order to show how
medieval Francia was assembled out of divers parts to become
the foundation of the nation state.
Medieval France is open to undergraduates, as well as to
graduate students.<> There will be required one term paper of 10-15
pages on an approved topic related to the work of the course, and a
final examination. Students who join this course should have a reading
knowledge of French.
ITAL 311: Renaissance Literature
E.
Cesaretti
TR 11:00-12:15
TBA
Study of selected masterpieces from the 13th to the 16th century.
Readings and discussions in Italian. Exercises in essay writing.
Prerequisite ITAL 202 or equivalent.
ITTR 226: Dante in Translation
D.
Parker
MWF 1:00-1:50
Cabell 319
Close reading of Dante's masterpiece, the Inferno. Lectures focus on
Dante's social, political, and cultural world. Incorporates The World
of Dante: A Hypermedia Archive for the Study of the Inferno, a
pedagogical and research website, www.iath.virginia.edu/dante/ that offers a wide range of
visual material related to the Inferno
LATI 309: Medieval Latin
G.
Hays
MWF 10:00-10:50
Cabell 335
We will read selections from medieval Latin literature, along with one
complete text, the Romance of
Apollonius of Tyre (a brief novel best known as the source of
Shakespeare’s Pericles).
The course is intended for undergraduates, but graduate medievalists
from other departments are very welcome; supplementary readings can be
arranged if desired. Prerequisite: two years of college-level Latin or
the equivalent.
MSP 308: Colloquium in Medieval Studies
E. Crosby
M 1:00-3:30
Randall 212
An introductory course designed for majors in the Medieval Studies
Program but open to all other undergraduates who have an interest in
the life and thought of medieval Europe. Questions relating to the
general conditions of historical knowledge, textual criticism, and the
contributions of notable scholars to our understanding of the period
will be dealt with, as well as questions about what archaeological,
manuscript and printed sources are available, where they may be found,
and the basic bibliographical tools needed to find them. For a
practical demonstration of what is required and what may be attempted,
we will enlist the reference services of Alderman Library for at least
one session.
Current topics and methods of research will also be discussed, and to
this end faculty members from a number of different departments, such
as History, Art History, Religious Studies, English, German, French,
Italian and Spanish, will be invited to teach some of the classes and
lead the discussion in their own fields of interest.
One short written outline of a proposed study on a selected topic will
be due at the end of the semester.
RELC 205: History of Christianity I
R.
Wilken
TR 12:30-1:45 + Discussion
Ruffner G004C
How did Christianity evolve from a small Jewish sect in Palestine into
a church that embraced the Mediterranean world, Europe, the middle
East, Byzantium and the Slavic peoples? How did the teachings of Jesus
and the events of his life become the foundation for a complex system
of belief (e.g. Trinity), ethics (e.g. marriage), worship? What was the
origin and development of Christian institutions and practices, e.g.
bishops and clergy, the papacy, monasticism, Baptism, Communion, et al.
How did the Bible take its present form? How was this faith understood
and explained in rational terms? These are the broader questions
addressed in a survey of the first thousand years of Christian history.
RELC 328: Eastern Christianity
A.
Thompson
MWF 11:00-11:50
Cabell 118
This course surveys the history of "Eastern" Christianity from late
antiquity (age of the emperor Justinian) until the present day. The
focus will be on the formation three characteristic components of
Eastern Orthodox Christianity: institutions, liturgy and piety, and
mysticism and theology. Our principle geographic focus will be on
Christianity in the Slavic lands, but Greek and Arab Christianity will
also be considered. Mid-term, final, term paper.
RELC 378: Medieval Heresy and Dissent
A.
Thompson
M 3:00-5:30
Cabell 331
Students in this seminar will read and discuss the sources for
Christian dissenting movements during the period 10001400. Focus will
be on "popular" heresies: Cathars, Waldensians, Joachites, Fraticelli,
Dolcinites, Free Spirits, witches etc. We shall also examine how
Orthodoxy responded to dissent: persuasion, coercion, repression, and
inquisition. Weekly individual presentations, term paper.
RELC 573: Byzantine Christianity
R.
Wilken
T 3:30-6:00
Graduate level survey of the sources and literature on Byzantine
Christianity during its formative period, the fourth to the 10th
centuries. Topics to be covered include theological developments after
the Council of Chalcedon, liturgy, art, iconoclasm, monasticism, rise
of Islam, conversion of the Slavs, relations with the west.
RELI 207: Classical Islam
T. Gianotti
TR 9:30-10:45 + Discussion
Ruffner G004C
Following an historical approach, we will trace the rise and
development of the Islamic religious tradition from its formal
beginnings in the 7 th century to the present day. Special attention
will be given to the “Abrahamic” foundations of Islam, the pre-Islamic
culture and economy of Arabia, the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the
gradual revelation (nuzūl) of the Qur’ān, major themes of the
Qur’ān, the early Muslim community (umma), the basic practices
or “pillars” of the Islamic religion (al-islām), the
foundational beliefs shared by all Muslims (al-īmān), Islamic
piety, ethics, and spirituality (al-ihsān),
the social and theological developments following the death of the
Prophet in 632 CE, the emergence of the Sunnī-Shī‘ī divide and other
religio-political developments, the development and codification of the
Islamic religious sciences, incl. Jurisprudence (al-fiqh),
dogmatic theology (al-kalām), and mystical spirituality (al-tasawwuf),
the educational and social institutions of classical Islam, the
scientific and philosophical achievements of classical Islamic
civilization, reform and renewal movements up to and including the 14
th century, C.E.
RELI 576: Islamic Mystical Texts
T. Gianotti
R 3:30-6:00
Cabell B029
This primary text-based seminar will examine the more experiential,
noetic dimensions of Islamic piety and righteousness (al-ihsān
), from the Qur’ānic and Prophetic foundations to the principal
thinkers of the medieval Arabic and Persian “Sufi” traditions. By
“seminar” is meant a disciplined, studious discussion of the
texts-at-hand. Students should thus be prepared to shoulder a heavy
reading load (approx. 100 -150 pages per week) and should come to the
class prepared to discuss the assigned text(s) with their colleagues
and professor, who will serve the seminar as a guiding participant
rather than as a regular lecturer. Students will routinely be asked to
initiate the discussion by introducing the text and offering their
observations and questions.
SPAN 423/523: Islamic Iberia
M.
Gerli
MWF 12:00-12:50
Cabell 338
The course offers an introduction to Islam and a cultural history of Al
Andalus from 711 until the expulsion of the Moriscos
from early modern Spain in 1609. We will concentrate on several major
moments: The Emirate/Caliphate of Córdoba and Islamic hegemony
in the peninsula; fragmentation of the Caliphate and the cultural
splendor of the taifa kingdoms in the eleventh
century; the advent of Moslem fundamentalism from the Maghreb in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries; the phenomenon of mudejarismo
after the Christian conquest of Seville and Córdoba in the
thirteenth century; the contradictions posed by Islam in Granada, a
client state of Castile during most of its history, after the decline
of Islam in the rest of the peninsula (1250-1492); and the problems
created by the vestigial presence of Islamic culture in a Christian
state immediately after the conquest of Granada and during the
sixteenth-century.
Prerequisite: SPAN 330
SPAN 523 see SPAN 423
SPAN 751: Medieval and Early
Renaissance Epic and Prose
M.
Gerli
M 3:30-6:00
Cabell B 021
The course will examine the notion of just what epic and heroic mean.
Although it will center on the medieval and early modern manifestations
of popular and learned epic and heroic texts in the Iberian world (Poema de Mio Cid, Mocedades de Rodrigo,
Fernán González, Roncesvalles,
romancero, Araucana, and Os Lusíadas),
we will also look at other examples of epic from other traditions
(e.g., Gilgamesh, Iliad, Aeneid, Beowulf, Chanson de Roland Nibelungen, and Njal’s Saga). At the same time,
we will consider the broader relationship of epic to the writing of
history, and epic's ties to a broad spectrum of other discourses.