UNC-CH Medieval Studies: Fall 2004 Courses

Fall 2004 Medieval Studies Courses

The following list is intended to be as inclusive as possible. An effort has been made to include all courses listed in the Medieval Studies program regulations as counting toward the graduate minor or undergraduate minor. Courses which might be of interest to medievalists but which do not count toward one of the minors are also included. Please consult the director of the minor program with questions about the relevance of specific courses.

This information is subject to change. Please consult the Registrar's online schedule or the websites of individual departments for up-to-date information on spring courses.

UNC students may also take courses at Duke University through inter-institutional registration. See the courses webpage of the Duke University Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies for the most up-to-date information on medieval courses at Duke.

Art

ART 52: Medieval Art in Western Europe (TR 9:30-11:00) Jaroslav Folda

ART 276: Advanced Readings in Art History (T 2-4:50) Jaroslav Folda

ART 351: Seminar in Medieval Art: Early Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts (M 2-4:50) Dorothy Verkerk

Asian Studies

ASIA 36: See RELI 25

Classics

Classical Archaeology

CLAR 51: Early Christian Art (TR 9:30-10:45) Carolyn Connor

This course is a survey of art and architecture from its formative stages through one thousand years and several periods of renaissance of the arts in media such as mosaics, enamels, ivories, and manuscript illumination, among others. Translated Byzantine texts are read and applied to an understanding of the art, for they reveal a great deal about contemporary beliefs, values and attitudes forming the context of the art.

CLAR 148: The Age of Justinian and Theodora (TR 12:30-1:45) Carolyn Connor

This course focuses on the history, art, religion and literature of the sixth century and examines this transitional period as resulting in a new medieval Christian culture.

Latin

No courses scheduled at UNC-CH, but a course in Latin Palaeography will be offered by Clare Woods at Duke. Also, a medieval Latin grammar and readings course is being proposed at the Duke Divinity School. Contact David Liu at Duke for more information.

English

ENGL 51: English Literature of the Middle Ages (TR 12:30-1:45) Ted Leinbaugh

ENGL 52: Chaucer Joe Wittig -- CANCELLED.

ENGL 237A: Old English Grammar and Readings (TR 2-3:15) Patrick O'Neill

ENGL 251C: Later Middle English Literature (MWF 11-11:50) E. D. Kennedy

The study of medieval authors and genres of the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: authors include Gower, the English Chaucerians Lydgate and Hoccleve, the Scottish Chaucerians Henryson and Dunbar, Margery Kempe, Caxton, Malory, and, as time permits, English and Scottish chroniclers.

Exams and papers: Student reports, translation exercise, term paper, final exam.

Teaching method: lecture, discussion

Texts:

Sir Thomas Malory, Morte Darthur;
John Gower, Confessio Amantis;
The Poems of Robert Henryson;
The Poems of William Dunbar;
The Book of Margery Kempe;
Selections from Hoccleve, Lydgate, Caxton, English and Scottish chronicles.

Germanic Languages

GERM 6G: 1st Year Seminar: Love in the Middle Ages (TR 12:30-1:45) Kathryn Starkey

This seminar will examine the creation and development of the notion of love in the Middle Ages. In the course of the semester, we will read a selection of love poetry, two courtly romances, a parody of courtly love, and a treatise on love in an effort to understand the roots of one of the most pervasive concepts in the western world today: romantic love. Discussion topics will cover such topical issues as marriage, adultery, violence, power, and gender roles. Early in the semester, each student will select a topic for investigation in consultation with the instructor and will develop a strategy for research. Students will report on their progress in three stages: first a brief written proposal explaining the topic, and the plans for conducting the study; then a more fully argued class presentation in which the preliminary results of the research are offered; and finally a completed essay.
First Year Seminar -- Pre-1700
Readings & Class Discussions in English

GERM 87: The Crusades (TR 9:30-10:45) Kathryn Starkey

Holy War and questions of cultural difference were as topical in the twelfth century as they are again today. In this course students will first examine the medieval notion of the crusade and its development as one of the formational processes of the Christian West. Students will then explore the different kinds of conflict and exchange that took place between the East and West. Finally, students wil examine the ambiguous ways in which the East was interpreted and portrayed in the courtly culture of the German Middle Ages--on the one hand, as demonic, on the other as erotic, cultured, and highly educated. Using texts composed by French, German, Italian and Arabic authors and poets, this course exposes students to both Eastern and Western perspectives on the crusades. This comparative approach will help students to understand the ways in which cultural identity is understood and formed. Students will further learn how the West constructs and identity for itself in the Middle Ages by defining the East as "other."
BA-Level Non-Western/Comparative Perspective
Readings & Class Discussions in German

GERM 260: Old Norse I Paul Roberge -- CANCELLED.

History

HIST 15: Medieval History (MWF 11-11:50) Staff

A survey of western Europe and the Mediterranean World, 300 -1500.

HIST 27: English History to 1688 (TR 3:30-4:45) Barbara Harris

Prehistoric and Roman Britain; Dark Age and Medieval England; Reformation, founding of the Colonies, revolutions scientific and political. An introductory survey for freshmen and sophomores.

HIST 47 (Honors in Early European History): The Social History of Medieval Europe, 500-1500 (TR 3:30-4:45) Judith Bennett

In fall 2004, History 47 will focus on the social history of the European Middle Ages. The format for the class will be straightforward: every week we'll read a chapter from Medieval Europe: A Short History and we'll also read one or two short essays that look in greater depth at the history covered by the textbook. These essays will address matters of social history, including such subjects as how nuns avoided rape by Viking invaders, how people bought fast food in medieval London, how medieval mystics might have suffered from anorexia, and the like. We will also work extensively with a single primary text, The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, two star-crossed lovers whose correspondence is filled with fascinating details about love, sex, education, gender roles, and monasticism in twelfth-century Europe.

Because this is an honors-level class, I will not formally lecture, and I hope our class meetings will mingle discussion and informal lecture. I don't expect students to have a prior background in medieval history (the textbook will provide that), but I do look forward to working with twenty students who, although new to medieval history, are willing to find it as fun and as captivating as I do. Student responsibilities will include: (a) writing a series of informal "reaction papers" throughout the term, (b) preparing two or three 5-minute reports to the class (we'll develop the topics of these reports in class; whenever someone asks a question that no one can answer, that question will become a project for a short report), and (c) three essays on aspects of The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (the three essays will differ in content, but I hope their common focus will help students to hone their skills of historical writing and analysis).

HIST 55: Women and Marriage in Medieval and Renaissance Europe (MW 1-1:50) Stan Chojnacki

Gender and family in European culture, 600-1600. Changes in religious and political principles regarding women and marriage practices. Evolution of domestic relationships in different classes, countries, and periods.

HIST 106: The Medieval Church (T 2:00-4:50) Richard Pfaff

The nature and workings of the Western church between roughly 600 and 1300. Emphasis on the church "from within": organization, missionary strategies, liturgy, monasticism, and popular religion.

The course is divided into four units of roughly three weeks each: the patristic period (to about 600), the Carolingian church, the reforms and struggles associated with the long eleventh century, and the high medieval church of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Among specific topics to be considered, generally with reference to original documents (in translation), are the emergence in Late Antiquity of distinctively Roman liturgy (and how it works), the influence of monasticism on norms of spirituality and on ideas about penance, the conflict between Gallican (northern) and Roman (southern) cultural expressions in worship, the development of ecclesiology through the papal-imperial struggle of the 1070s, a variety of responses to the problem of monastic success, the emergence of a distinctively lay spirituality in connection with the Crusades and with the developing cult of the Virgin Mary, the effect on pastoral care of the canonizing of church law and of formal definition of the sacraments, the centralizing efforts of the Fourth Lateran Council, and the appearance of the friar movement. Gregory the Great and Thomas Aquinas provide the nominal beginning and ending posts. Considerable stress on the highly developed sub-discipline of hagiography.

HIST 290: Readings in Medieval History (W 1-3:50) Judith Bennett

I'm designing this course to introduce students from a variety of disciplines to the latest work in medieval history. We'll mostly read recent big books, but we'll also occasionally read articles or debates. Our view will be broad geographically, but relatively limited chronologically--basically, the eleventh through fifteenth centuries. I've not finalized readings yet, but I think they might include:

MEDIEVAL EUROPE: A SHORT HISTORY (I've taken over this textbook from the late Warren Hollister). This basic reading will ensure from the start that all of us have a common historical background.
Patrick Geary, THE MYTH OF NATIONS: THE MEDIEVAL ORIGINS OF EUROPE (2002). Possibly the token early medieval text.
Robert Bartlett, THE MAKING OF EUROPE: CONQUEST, COLONIZATION, AND CULTURAL CHANGE, 950-1350 (1993).
R.I. Moore, THE FIRST EUROPEAN REVOLUTION, c. 970-1215 (2000).
Caroline Bynum, HOLY FEAST AND HOLY FAST: THE RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE OF FOOD TO MEDIEVAL WOMEN (1987) .
Michael Clanchy, FROM MEMORY TO WRITTEN RECORD: ENGLAND, 1066-1307 (2nd edition, 1992).
Miri Rubin, GENTILE TALES: THE NARRATIVE ASSAULT ON LATE MEDIEVAL JEWS (1999).
Maria Rosa Menocal, THE ORNAMENT OF THE WORLD : HOW MUSLIMS, JEWS, AND CHRISTIANS CREATED A CULTURE OF TOLERANCE IN MEDIEVAL SPAIN (2002).
Mary Carruthers, THE BOOK OF MEMORY : A STUDY OF MEMORY IN MEDIEVAL CULTURE (1990).
Mark Gregory Pegg, THE CORRUPTION OF ANGELS: THE GREAT INQUISITION OF 1245-1246 (2001).
Jean-Claude Schmidt, GHOSTS IN THE MIDDLE AGES (1998).
Paul Freedman, IMAGES OF THE MEDIEVAL PEASANT (1999).
articles debating the "rise of persecutions."
articles debating male homosexuality.

As to student responsibilities, I'll probably ask students (a) to write a short "discussion essay" to set up the readings for one week of the semester; (b) to do a short "source report" on a primary source one week; and (c) to undertake an independent historiographical project (this is, I think, what people in other disciplines call a "review of lit."). For this project, each student will decide on a topic, construct a bibliography, annotate selected readings from that bibliography; circulate the annotated bibliography to the class; lead a discussion thereon; and, finally, write a 5-7 page essay on the state of the field. I hope to attract students from many departments into this course, so although the main readings will be historical, I'm willing to accommodate disciplinary interests in the independent projects.

Finally, I'd like to design the course to match student interests. So if you think you might take the course and have thoughts about material you'd like to cover, please email me at bennett@email.unc.edu. I'd welcome your imput, and I'll not be finalizing the readings until early May.

Religious Studies

RELI 25: Introduction to Islamic Civilization (TR 2-2:50) Carl Ernst

RELI 27: History of the Christian Tradition (MWF 2-2:50) Peter Kaufman

RELI 106: See HIST 106

RELI 136: Saints and Sinners: Christian Theologies in the Middle Ages (TR 2-3:15 [note time change]) Lance Lazar

Papers/Exams: Two papers and a final. Participation in class discussions is essential, and includes occasional oral reports and assignments.

Description: This course examines the intersection of speculative thought and Christian belief from Late Antiquity through the Seventeenth Century. We explore the theoretical frameworks developed by ancient, medieval, and Early Modern Christians to support their beliefs, focusing on the ideal types of righteous and reprobate living which they admired or disdained. Themes will include erform movements, speculative thought, and political thought.

Texts (not yet finalized):

Ranft, Patricia, Women in Western intellectual culture, 600-1500 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002).
Colish, Marcia L., Remapping scholasticism (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2000).
Po-chia Hsia, Ronald, 1953-, ed., A Companion to the Reformation World (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003).
McGreal, Wilfrid, At the Fountain of Elijah: The Carmelite Tradition (Traditions of Christian Spirituality) (Orbis Books, 1999). Dav: BX3203 .M44 1999
Bell, David N., 1943-, Many mansions: an introduction to the development and diversity of medieval theology west and east (Kalamazoo, MI; Spencer, Mass.: Cistercian Publications, 1996). Dav BT26 .B455 1996
McGrath, Alister, 1953-, ed., The Christian theology reader, 2nd ed. (Oxford; Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001). Dav BT77 .C47 2001

RELI 137: The Art of Devotion in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (TR 11-12:15) Lance Lazar

Prerequisites: None required, but Reli 27, 30, or Western Civ is recommended

Papers/Exams: 2 Papers, and Final.

Description: This course takes a deliberately interdisciplinary approach to Medieval and Early Modern culture through the lens of religious devotion. We will examine creative expression at the service of religious belief from 1000 to 1700. Poetry, drama, art, architecture, and music will all be our texts to understand the religious culture of this vibrant period.

Texts (not finalized):

Coursepack
Wilkinson, John D., ed., Jerusalem Pilgrims before the Crusades (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 2002). Anthology Dav BX2320.5 .P19 J47 2002
Hopper, Sarah C., To Be a Pilgrim: The Medieval Pilgrimage Experience (Sutton Publishing, Limited; National Book Network [Distributor], July 2002). Not yet in Davis ISBN 0750926201 Trade Cloth 192 p. USD 29.95 Retail Price (National Book Network)
Webb, Diana M., Medieval European pilgrimage, c.700-c.1500 (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2002).
Patrons and defenders: the saints in the Italian city-states (London; New York: Tauris Academic Studies; New York: Distributed by St. Martin's Press, 1996).

RELI 169: Medieval Religious Texts (W [please note change of meeting day] 7-9:50) Peter Kaufman

Romance Languages

French

FREN 60: Survey of French Literature I (TR 12:30-1:45) J. Noblitt

FREN 94A: Courtship (TR 11-12:15) E. J. Burns

FREN 221: Introduction to Old French (MW 2-3:15) E. D. Montgomery

Italian

ITAL 40: Dante in English Translation (TR 12:30-1:45) D. Cervigni

ITAL 135: Boccaccio and Narrative (T 3:30-6:00) D. Cervigni

Spanish

SPAN 71: Survey of Spanish Literature to 1700 (MWF 1-1:50) Frank Dominguez

Women's Studies

WMST 94A: See FREN 94A