Medieval Studies at Penn

English:

ENGL 022.001
Romance
TR 10:30-12
David Wallace

“ In May, when every heart flourisheth and burgeoneth (for, as the season is lusty to behold and comfortable, so men and women rejoiceth and gladeth of somer coming with his fresh flowers, for winter with his rough winds and blasts causeth lusty men to cower and to sit by fires), so this season it befell in the month of May a great anger and unhappe that stinted not until the flower of chivalry of all the world was destroyed and slain.”

With this beautiful and complex sentence, Sir Thomas Malory opens the final part of his Morte Darthur, the most famous and influential of English romances. As he wrote this text the knights of England were killing one another in an interminable civil war; when first published (with Sir Thomas dead, as a prisoner never released) it set fashions for the new Tudor dynasty of Henry VII (who named his first son Arthur). The mix of joy and pathos, sadness and jubilation, fantasy and realism in that sentence typifies some of the core qualities of romance, the genre to be explored in this course.

Romance, as we understand it in the western world today, originates in medieval Europe: we thus spend most of our time looking at key and representative texts from this period before, finally, moving towards our present. We begin with a tale of love and betrayal between men: The Song of Roland (c. 1100), a poem that sees the nephew of the great European founding figure, Charlemagne, fail to stop the Muslim invasion of Spain. Women figure little in this chanson de geste (tale of arms), but they make powerful appearances in the first great romances of the western tradition: the works of Chrétien de Troyes. Even now, at the very beginnings, the genre evokes ambivalent responses (can we take this seriously?) as men embark on quests for the holy grail, or on more trivial errands as directed by their all-powerful ladies. Romance seems to be all about aristocrats: but why, then as now, do ordinary folks take such pleasure in reading tales of the titled, rich, or famous? Is romance a genre professing virtues for serious emulation (courage, integrity, ingenuity) or is it primarily a mode of escapism and fantasy? And can certain intractable dilemmas be represented or solved by romancing when more rational forms of analysis fail?

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a perfect work of art, suggesting how masculine designs and calculations may be disrupted by feminine designs (passed down through the generations, not appearing in any book). Merlin, similarly, finds his mighty magic (in Malory’s Morte Darthur) thoroughly useless once he has fallen in love with his female apprentice. We will spend a good deal of time on Malory’s great text, since it brings together so many crucial romance motifs (geneaologies and mysterious origins; battles and imperial conquest; adulterous and disastrous love; exile and return; death and regeneration). We then see how romance is remembered and refigured in Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale and in a number of more recent texts. We might look at some modern films, such as The English Patient. And we might consider the pulp fiction aspects of the genre that have been with us since the beginning: from medieval tail-rhymes to Harlequin romance.

Examination will be through a series of essays and possibly quizzes; no midterm or final.

ENGL 321.301 (Benjamin Franklin Seminar)
Chivalry, Masculinity, Romance
TR 1:30-3
David Wallace

Medieval historian John of Salisbury, in his Policraticus, justified the function of “bellatores,” warrior knights, as being “to protect the Church, to attack faithlessness, to venerate the priesthood… to pacify provinces, to shed blood… for their brothers and to give up their lives if necessary.” From the time of the First Crusade, culminating with the capture of Jerusalem by Christian forces in 1100, “chivalry” became incorporated into “liturgy” (the daily worship of the Church). The sea and land routes that led pilgrims eastward could also be used for military traffic; the promise of rare and exotic merchandise could send merchants and financiers in their wake. Such complex fusions of religious, militaristic, and commercial motivation suggested by “chivalry” continue to play out across the world (and particularly in the Middle East) today. The US Marine corps (motto: “the few, the proud”) represents its members as sword-bearing knights.

In this class we will examine this powerful, long-lived ethos of “chivalry,” along with the literary genre that carries it into battle: “romance.” We will also consider how “masculinity” is fashioned: those strong bonds between men defined above all through protection of the feminine (the lady; the patria). We begin with The Song of Roland, a poem from the time of the first Crusade that survives in a manuscript at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The Roland sees the nephew of Charlemagne fail to prevent the Muhammadan invasion of Spain (based on actual events in the eighth century). We then move to the romances of Chrétien de Troyes (c. 1135-83), penned just as the European economy is about to explode into its most colorful and vigorous phase. Here we see the development of the grail quest; we also see women (such as Guenivere) take a much more active role, in what has been termed “feminine chivalry.” Chivalry, even as it is invented, seems to be a concept that many regard with humorous scepticism; women in Chrétien certainly direct or entice their knights into some strange positions. From here we move on to the magical Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: an almost perfect poem that sets the young Arthurian court against more ancient forces of the natural cycle. Our final medieval text is Malory’s Morte Darthur: an extraordinary summation of chivalric values, written as the aristocracy are fighting themselves to near-extinction in civil war and published just as the Tudors come to power (in 1485).

The greater part of this course is formed by a selection of medieval texts that see the shaping and evolving of chivalry and romance; the last part considers how these values endure and mutate down to the present day. We begin with Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale: a text that carries forward central romance motifs of adultery, exile, and triumphant return. We may then look at later developments of romance and chivalric genres, such as Jane Austen’s Persuasion and the poetry of World War I; films to consider might include Glory and D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation. There are many American chivalries to consider, including the complex meshing of chivalry with southern plantation culture. Students might thus want to watch Gone with the Wind, or to ponder the meaning of Alfred Douglas’ sharing a name with an Arthurian knight. Animal lovers might like to think about the cheval in chivalry, as seen in relationships between individual men and their named horses (Gryngolet, etc.); as in the maiming and mass slaughter of horses in war.

Assessment will be by one or two shorter assignments, plus one longer final essay.

ENGL 394.401
Literary Theory Ancient to Modern
TR 10:30-12
Rita Copeland

This is a course on the history of literary criticism, a survey of major theories of literature, poetics, and ideas about what literary texts should do, from ancient Greece to examples of modern European and American thought. The course will give special attention to early periods: Greek and roman antiquity, especially Plato and Aristotle; the medieval period (including St. Augustine, Dante, and Boccaccio), and the early modern period (where we will concentrate on English writers such as Philip Sidney and Ben Johnson). We'll move into modern and 20th century by looking at the literary (or "art") theories of some major philosophers, artists, and poets: Kant, Wordsworth, Marx and Engels, Matthew Arnold, the painter William Morris, T. S. Eliot, and the critic Walter Benjamin. We'll end with a very few samples of current literary theory. The point of this course is to look closely at the Western European tradition which generated debates about problems that are still with us, such as: what is the "aesthetic"; what is "imitation" or mimesis; how are we to know an author's intention; and under what circumstances should literary texts ever be censored. We'll have a number of small writing assignments in the form of "response" or "position" papers (approx. 3 pages each), and students can use these small assignments to build into a long writing assignment on a single text or group of texts at the end of the term. Most of our readings will come from a published anthology of literary criticism and theory.

ENGL 715 - See CLST 629.401 (also COML 629).

Germanic Languages & Literatures:

GRMN 008
Superstition & Erudition: Daily Life in the Middle Ages
MWF 11-12
Francis Brévart

Individuals in medieval times lived basically the same way we do today: they ate, drank, needed shelter, worked in a variety of ways to earn a living, and planned their lives around religious holidays. They talked about the weather and had sex, they had to deal with cold, hunger, illness, epidemics and natural catastrophes. Those fortunate few who could afford the luxury, went to local monastic schools and learned how to read and write. And fewer still managed to obtain some form of higher education in cathedral schools and nascent universities and became teachers themselves. Those eager to learn about other people and foreign customs traveled to distant places and brought back with them much knowledge and new ideas. The similarities, we will all agree, are striking. But what is of interest to us are the differences, the “alterity” (keyword) of the ways in which they carried out these actions and fulfilled their goals.

This course concentrates on two very broad aspects of daily life in the Middle Ages (12th – 16th centuries). The first part, Erudition, focuses on the world in and around the University. Taking Paris and Bologna as our paradigms, we will discuss the evolution of the medieval university from early cathedral schools, the organization, administration, financing, and maintenance of such an institution, the curriculum and degrees offered at the various faculties, and the specific qualifications needed to study or to teach at the university. We will familiarize ourselves with the modes of learning and lecturing, with the production of the instruments of knowledge, i.e. the making of a manuscript; we will explore the regimented daily life of the medieval student, his economic and social condition, his limited, but at times outrageous distractions, and the causes of frequent conflicts between town and gown. Finally, we will investigate the role of the medieval university in European history.

The second part, Superstition, revolves around astrology, divination, medicine and pharmacy. Taking the German Volkskalender, the medieval predecessor of the modern Farmer’s Almanac, as our point of departure, we will gain insights into the ubiquitous role of astrology in the daily life of medieval individuals, for example in activities and decisions concerning farming; slaughtering of animals; personal hygiene; marrying; escaping from jail; conception of a male child; appropriate days to let blood; etc.

Medicine, frequently referred to as astromedicine because of its inextricable dependence on astrology, encompasses a multitude of characteristics. The course will explore the precarious state of medieval medicine and pharmacology, the specific diseases of men and women and their frequently barbaric treatments, the magical use of so-called wonderdrugs produced by professional physicians and medical charlatans alike from exotic plants, precious stones, animal parts, blood or human excrements. Special topics are also planned on the astrological causes and magical treatments of the Black Death; embryology and the causes of homosexuality / lesbianism; sex as therapy, etc.

Time permitting, short films will be shown in class. Area scholars have been invited who will offer presentations on subjects pertinent to the course. There will also be the possibility of hands-on experience with medieval manuscripts and perhaps of an excursion to Collegeville, PA for a live-demonstration of medieval falconry. All readings and discussions are in English. Some knowledge of French, German or any European foreign language is useful.

Distribution II: May be counted as a Distributional course in History & Tradition. All readings and lectures in English. No knowledge of German is required.

GRMN 602 (LING 610)
Seminar in Germanic Philology - Comparative Germanic Philology
T 9 - 11 am
A. Speyer

The aim of this course is to compare the oldest attested Germanic languages with respect to mainly their Phonology, Morphology, Syntax. Typical phenomena common to Germanic in general (e.g. Grimm’s Law, weak conjugation) and points of divergence between the respective branches (e.g. Verb-second in N- and W-Germanic) are analysed and put into a larger Indoeuropean context. The focus of this course will be on Gothic (as oldest attested Germanic language and representative of the East Germanic branch), Old Icelandic (as representative of the North Germanic languages), Old English and Old High German (as the two opposite poles of the West Germanic dialect continuum). If time permits, we will read at the end of the course portions of the Gothic Gospel translation (Wulfila).

History:

HIST 001
Europe in a Wider World
MW 10-11
Ann Moyer

This course surveys the formation of European society and culture, from later Roman antiquity through the religious Reformation and beginnings of overseas expansion. It examines the developments in politics, society, and religion that gave Europe its distinct shape and character. It also serves as an introduction to the study of history, with an emphasis on primary sources from the era.

HIST 031
European Revolutions 1000-1300
MW 2-3:30
Edward Peters

An introduction to the early history of Europe and the creation of one important phase of a distinctly European civilization between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries. It covers a geographical territory ranging from Iceland to Muscovy (and briefly to China) and from Trondheim to Alexandria (and briefly to sub-Saharan Africa). The course will deal with as wide a sphere of human activity and thought as possible (and manageable), from the development of agricultural technology to the revival and influence of Aristotelian philosophy, from varieties of rulership to the character of normative and lived religion. We will also consider the emergence of a distinctly European sense of identity and European ideas about the world and the peoples beyond Europe.

We will do all these things by reading one survey of the period and place, several specialized scholarly studies, and several collections of original source materials in translation. You are expected to read and think about the reading, attend the lecture/discussions, and think about and participate in them. You will take a mid-term and a final examination and write three short papers based on the original sources in translation that we have read.

HIST 219 - See RUSS234 (also COML235).

HIST 309
Europe in the Age of the Reformation
TR 10:30-12
Thomas Safley

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was a watershed in European history. It marked the culmination of centuries of religious, political and social change and had profound institutional and intellectual consequences. We will examine the central teachings and activities of the Protestant reformers against this broad background. Topics will include: medieval traditions of religious protest and reform; social and political changes in the period of the Reformation; the changing role of the Papacy; and the impact of the new technology of printing. Readings will be both primary texts and secondary sources and discussions will be an integral part of the class.

HIST 410
The Popes, Rome, and the World to 1600
T 1:30-4:30
Edward Peters

The traditional papal blessing, given urbi et orbi - "to the city and to the world" - reflects two distinct aspects of papal and general early European history: the roles of the pope as bishop of Rome - a particular city and its surrounding region, and hence very locally fixed and involved (although Ovid had once also said that, “Roman space encompasses both the city and the world” – Fasti, 2.684) - and as head of the Latin Christian Church (in practice, but eventually in theory of all Christians - and hence possessing claims to a kind of universal authority, not only over all Christians [Greek, Latin, Armenian, Syrian, Coptic, and others], but also over the relations between Christians and non-Christians: Jews, Muslims, and pagans). In the second capacity, the papacy is the only institution whose history offers a Europe-wide perspective on early European history, that is, from the fifth to the seventeenth centuries. In the first capacity the papacy is the key to understanding the urban history of medieval and renaissance Rome, certainly the most symbolically important European city, whose legendary history as well as whose measurable urban features played powerful roles in European history and imagination.

The purpose of the course will be to strike a balance between these two papal roles in order to develop a distinct perspective on early European institutional and cultural history. We will also try to strike a balance between Synan’s “unintelligible prosopography” and the abstraction that is “the papacy.” It is useful to keep this in mind when tempted to use “the papacy” or “the church” as the subject of a sentence.

The course will follow a chronological sequence, from the first to the seventeenth centuries. Along the chronological line we will pause often to consider particular problems and aspects of papal history and individual pontificates. The course is emphatically not exclusively a study of church- or religious – history, nor of what since the eighteenth century has been called “church-state relations.” Although it is a "religious" institution, developed during a period when religion determined much of the rest of European culture, the papacy is and also has been many other things. Its history touches all other aspects of European history: from finance and administrative structures to art and architectural history, urban design, artistic patronage, law, diplomacy, theology, and comparative constitutional and institutional history. We will also consider some of the Papstfabeln, items of papal mythology, including the persistent, but quite non-existent “Pope Joan.”

The office of pope is the oldest continuous governmental office in the world, and it was an elective office, making for interesting counterpoint to other forms of authority and power in the early European world, as well as raising questions about the recruitment of popes, papal elections, and the functions of the person and body of the pope in papal rule.

HIST 620-301
A History of Cultural History- The Renaissance
T 4-7
Ann Moyer

What is cultural history: a set of research methods? questions? topics? interpretive assumptions? metanarratives? In this course, we will address these questions through a historical approach. We will examine some of the major writings of the early cultural historians of the nineteenth century, chart the broad expansion of cultural history in the twentieth, and discuss some of the implications for doing history in the century that lies before us. We will devote particular attention to the central importance of the era of the European Renaissance (and the history of early modern Europe) in the development of cultural history. In that process we will survey a range of the interdisciplinary themes, issues, and methods that have come to be known as cultural history, and the ways in which fields such as history, literary studies, the history of art, and anthropology have intersected over the years in the study of Europe 1300-1600. Authors will include: Burckhardt; Huizinga; Cassirer; Panofsky; Gombrich; Yates; Geertz; Ginzburg; Foucault; Greenblatt.

HIST 753 - See RLST 736.

History of Art:

ARTH 100-302 (Freshman Seminar)
The Art of the Medieval Book
Dr. Lynn Ransom

Almost everyone has had the experience of opening a favorite book and becoming lost inside its pages. In the Middle Ages, this experience of the book was especially acute. Until the invention of printing in the fifteenth century, medieval books were written and decorated by hand. Each handmade book (or manuscript) was thus a unique world of its own. Manuscripts could be, and often were, elaborated with decoration and illustration reflecting the individual needs, tastes, and/or economic and social status of their intended readers. Even though several manuscripts might share the same text, external circumstances dictated the text would be presented in different ways to the reader. For example, a ninth century bible made for the great Carolingian emperor Charlemagne shares little in appearance and function with a bible produced in the thirteenth century for a university student in Paris.

This course will examine the nature of medieval manuscripts, with special emphasis given to the practice of "illumination," the art of medieval manuscript decoration. We will examine different forms of illumination from the beginning of the Middle Ages to the invention of printing, looking specifically at the role that illumination played in shaping the readers experience. Much time will be devoted to visiting manuscript collections in the Philadelphia area, to learn first hand how these books were made and what it was like to read them.

ARTH 240/640
Introduction to Medieval Art
MWF 11-12
Staff

An introductory survey, this course investigates painting, sculpture, and the "minor arts" of the Middle Ages. Students will become familiar with selected major monuments of the Late Antique, Byzantine, Carolingian, Romanesque, and Gothic periods, as well as primary textual sources. Analysis of works emphasizes the cultural context, the thematic content, and the function of objects. Discussions focus especially on several key themes: the aesthetic status of art and the theological role of images; the revival of classical models and visual modes; social rituals such as pilgrimage and crusading; the cult of the Virgin and the status of women in art; the "beautiful" and the "ugly"; and, more generally, the ideology of visual culture across the political and urban landscapes.

ARTH 517 (also AAMW 517)
The Islamic City
W 2-5
Renata Holod

Jewish Studies:

JWST 257 - See RLST 226 (also HEBR 257).

Linguistics:

LING 610 - See GRMN 602.

Music:

No Listings Available.

Near Eastern Languages & Literatures:

No Listings Available.

Philosophy:

PHIL 329-301
Medieval Philosophy
TR 12:00-1:30
James Ross

Critical and historical examination of the medieval Christian philosophers: Augustine, Anselm and Aquinas, and of their intellectual environment between 350 and 1300ad. Seminar is primarily for majors in philosophy and related fields. Course involves individual assignments, regular class reports, a mid-term paper and a final paper. Philosophy majors only.

Religious Studies:

RLST 226 (also HEBR 257, JWST 257)
An introduction to the reading of classical Rabbinic literature
TR 3:00-4:30
Instructor: Bregman

An introduction to the reading of classical Rabbinic literature. Focus will be on the Mishnah and Babylonian Talmud with parallel readings from Tosefta, Midreshei Halkhah, and the Palestinian Talmud. While traditional Rabbinic commentators will be utilized, the class will be introduced to modern methodologies of Talmudic textual research. Texts will be read mainly in Hebrew with supplementary English readings. Ability to read unvocalized Hebrew required.

General Requirement III: Arts and Letters

RLST 736 (also HIST 736)
Paleography
M 3:00-5:00
E. Ann Matter & Thomas Waldman

Selected topics in medieval religious studies, especially biblical exegesis. Reading knowledge of medieval Latin required.

Romance Languages & Literatures:

French 330
Medieval Literature
TR 12-1:30
Kevin Brownlee

The course explores one of the greatest literary creations of medieval France: the world of King Arthur. We will study the parameters of this world in the contexts of fiction and history, politics and fantasy. Texts to be studied include Tristan (Béroul and Thomas), Perceval (Chrétien de Troyes), Les Lais (Marie de France), the Lancelot en Prose, and the Mort du roi Arthur. All reading and discussion in French.

Distribution III: May be counted as a Distribution Course in Arts & Letters.

Italian 630 (also COML 531)
Medieval Italian Literature: Authority, Author, Canon
F 2-5
Kevin Brownlee

The course will explore new departures in 1st-person discourse (both lyric and narrative) in the duecento and early trecento, when literature in the Italian vernacular first comes into being as such. We will focus on issues of subjectivity, mimesis, authority and language. A related concern will be the self-conscious development of an authoritative Italian tradition, and the various ways in which this cultural enterprise relentlessly (and productively) problematized itself. In this context, we will explore the dynamic of "experimental" canon formation. Particular attention will be given to strategies used to appropriate "pre-existing" literary and cultural models, including French and Provençal. Texts will include Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto and Durante's Il fiore (with the Romance of the Rose as model); selected lyrics of Guittone d’Arezzo, Guido Guinizelli and Guido Cavalcanti; Dante's Vita Nova & De Vulgari eloquentia. A final section will treat Petrarch’s Epistles (concerning Dante, the Rose, Virgil, Homer, Boccaccio, and other poets), as well as Boccaccio’s Lives of Dante and of Petrarch.

This course will be taught in English.

Slavic Languages & Literatures:

RUSS 234 (also HIST 219/COML235)
Literary and Cultural History of Medieval Rus'
Julia Verkholantsev .

Russian 234 offers an overview of the literary and cultural history of Medieval Rus' from its origins through the Late Middle Ages, a period which laid the foundation for the emergence of the Russian Empire. Three modern-day nation-states – Russia, Ukraine and Belarus – share and dispute the cultural heritage of Medieval Rus’, and their political relationships even today revolve around questions of national and cultural identity. The focus of the course will be on the Kievan and Muscovite traditions but we will also note the differences (and their causes) of the Ukrainian and Belarusian cultural histories. The course takes a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to the evolution of the main cultural paradigms of Russian Orthodoxy viewed in a broader European context. Students will explore the worldview of medieval Orthodox Slavs by delving into such topics as religion, spirituality, art, literature, education, music, ritual and popular culture.

The legacy of the Rus’ Middle Ages has a continuing cultural influence in modern Russia. This legacy is still referenced, often allegorically, in contemporary social and cultural discourse as the society attempts to reconstruct and reinterpret its history. Similarly, the study of the medieval cultural history of Rus’ explains many aspects of modern Russian society, and, in particular, the roots of its Imperial political mentality. Those interested in the intellectual and cultural history of Russia, and Eastern Europe in general, will find that this course greatly enhances their understanding of the region and its people.

All readings and films are in English.

Courses - Fall 2005

Classical Studies:

Comparative Literature: