course archive

ART & ARCHAEOLOGY

ART 205 Medieval Art in Europe
Anne-Marie Bouché
TTh 1:30 pm - 2:20 pm

ART 205 explores European art from Late Antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages, with an emphasis on cultural context, thematic content and the functions of art in Medieval society. Students will become familiar with selected major monuments and styles in a range of media, as well as with the primary textual sources on which our understanding of Medieval art is based. Satisfies medieval/Islamic distribution requirement for department majors.

ART 315 / ARC 315 Medieval Architecture
Slobodan Curcic
MW 9-9:50am

A survey of Western architecture and urban design from ca. 300 to ca. 1500 A.D. The aim will be to explore the major developments in religious and secular architecture in the West from Early Christian times to the Renaissance. Various aspects of architecture will be considered (patronage, functional requirements, planning, form, structure, construction techniques, symbolism, decoration) with the aim of attaining as complete an understanding as possible of architectural developments and urban design in their historical context. All work must be completed in order to receive a passing grade in the course. Satisfies medieval/Islamic distribution requirement for department majors.

ART 435 The Arts of Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages
Anne-Marie Bouché
W 1:30-4:20pm

This seminar will examine the art and architecture associated with pilgrimage in Western Europe and the Holy Land, from early Christian times to the thirteenth century. Emphasis will be on the role played by the visual arts in the development of saints' and relic cults, and on the participation of the arts in the economic, social, and devotional aspects of pilgrimage. Original textual sources, such as pilgrims' narratives, guidebooks, maps and miracle collections, will allow students to experience the phenomenon of pilgrimage through contemporary accounts that complement the art historical evidence. Satisfies medieval/Islamic distribution requirement for department majors.

CLASSICS

CLA 329/MED 329 Sex and Gender in the Ancient World
Janet M. Martin
TTh 3-4:20pm

This course on Women and the Classical Tradition will study medieval and modern women and men as gendered agents of the reception and transmission of classical literature and ideology. Our primary emphasis will be on the Latin Middle Ages and on 19th- and 20th-century America. Some representative issues: is there a tradition of women's writing? gender, race, ethnicity and the classical curriculum; women classical scholars; classical education and social activism. All readings will be in English translation. Knowledge of classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages is not required.

CLA 344 (cross-listed with HIS 344)

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

COM 329/NES 326 The Thousand and One Nights
Michael Barry
W 1:30-4:20pm

The Thousand and One Nights originated in ancient India, were transmitted through early medieval Persia, and received their final Arabized form in 14th-century Egypt. Finding their way into European literature through countless literary channels - notably but not only through Galland's classic 18th-century French translation - they came profoundly to mold artistic perceptions and even literary techniques in the modern West. Study of the frame-tale and other selected stories will disclose their ancient roots, the medieval Islamic symbolism they became charged with, their transmission to Europe, and their modern literary impact. Course taught through English translations, but students with knowledge of any other European (French, Spanish, Italian, Latin) or West or South Asian language (Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Sanskrit) will be encouraged to read stories in the original. A source-book will provide a rich sample of the material, in the original languages, with facing translations.

ENGLISH

ENG 305 The Medieval Period
Sarah M. Anderson
MW 10-10:50am

This course concentrates on a crucial form of imaginative writing in the medieval period: the romance. The romance is fascinated by many topics and themes, including its own contested history and genealogy. We will pay particular attention to forms like the dream, travel to other lands and other worlds, spectacles of luxury, and commentary about rule and misrule that are embedded in these Middle English texts. We will also examine the medieval romance by attending to how these texts reflect the social and historical circumstances of their production, and we will consider the linguistic forms and sources of these key texts. Along with a course on Chaucer, this course will give you a comprehensive introduction to the important narrative literature of medieval England. Course Not Open to Freshmen. No familiarity with middle English or with Medieval literature is assumed.

ENG 501 Old English Period
Kathleen Davis
M 10am-12:50pm

Old English, in a sense, was born a “dead language.” Indeed, the philological nationalism that established its study depended upon the reliquary status of this language and the “nostalgia” of its poetry. This course examines the politics of memory in Old English literature within and against the context of this critical history. We will focus on the mnemonics of nation and empire in Old English literature, the performance of this literature in academic and imperial history, and the limits that linguistic “death” poses to poststructuralist and postcolonial interrogations of that history. Students need not have prior knowledge of Old English. Course Not Open to Freshmen.

FRENCH & ITALIAN

FRE 321 French Medieval Literature and Culture
Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet
TTh 1:30-2:50pm

What is the source of writing in the Middle Ages? This course will focus on the question of love as the driving force behind song, from the ‘louange des dames' to disenchantment. Prerequisite: a 200-level French course or Permission of Instructor. The course will be conducted in French; one “lecture” and one “precept”-style discussion weekly. Papers may be written in French or English. In order to receive credit as a departmental, concentrators must do their readings and papers in French. Open to graduate students with a special interest in lyric.

FRE 510 Seminar in Medieval French Literature
Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet
W 1:30-4:20pm

Lost Time and Retrieved Time: Experience and Writing about Time in the Middle Ages. We plan to study the medieval concept of time and how it is translated into the literary medium. Generic forms like romance and testament will be considered. We will pay attention to such concepts as youth, old age, and the role of memory. Course Not Open to Freshmen.

ITA 304/MED 304 Dante's “Purgatorio” and “Paradiso”
Simone Marchesi
TTh 11am-12:30pm

This course is a continuation of 303 and provides an occasion for close collaborative study of the final “cantiche” of the “Commedia.” Half the semester will be devoted to the “Purgatorio,” half to the “Paradiso.” Prerequisite: ITA 303, FRS 159, or Instructor’s permission. Prerequisites ITA 303, FRS 159 (Dante's Divine Comedy), or Permission of Instructor. P01 will be conducted in English and P02 in Italian.

GERMAN

GER 324 Topics in Germanic Literatures: King Arthur of the Germans
Sara S. Poor
MW 1:30-2:50pm

One of the most intriguing characteristics of the Middle Ages is the fascination of various aristocratic cultures with the story of King Arthur and his knights, the so-called Matter of Britain. This course examines the Arthurian milieu as it took shape in medieval German literature. How did the Germans interpret the French invention of Lancelot? Why were the Germans more interested in Arthur's knights than in his origins or kingship? What work did these stories do politically, culturally, aesthetically? Of interest to students in history, art history, politics, psychology and Comparative Literature. Readings primarily in German; discussions in German. Prerequisite GER 207 or equivalent.

GER 509/MED 509 Middle High German Literature II: Gender, Writing, and Mystical Authorship in the Middle Ages
Sara S. Poor
T 1:30-4:20pm

This seminar addresses issues of authorship, writing, gender, and authority in continental literature from 1100-1350. Readings include Hildegard of Bingen, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hadewijch, Marguerite Porete, Meister Eckhart, Angela of Foligno,and Henry Suso, as well as some courtly lyric and romance. Consideration also of feminist and poststructuralist readings of medieval mysticism (Irigaray, Kristeva, Beauvoir). Course Not Open to Freshmen.

HISTORY

HIS 344/CLA 344 The Civilization of the High Middle Ages
William C. Jordan
MW 11-11:50am

In lectures, to provide my interpretation (and a conspectus of differing interpretations) of the civilization of Western Europe, 11th-14th century; by the readings, to introduce students to the variety of surviving sources; through the paper, to give students a taste of doing medieval history. Readings will include a selection of primary sources, in translation, and some secondary work, accompanied by a general survey of medieval history. Similar to other upper-level history courses.

HIS 543 The Origins of the Middle Ages
Peter R. Brown
T 9-11:50am

Reading and research on the transition of ancient into medieval society, religion, and culture are the focus of this course. Course Not Open to Freshmen. See instructor for more information.

MUSIC

MUS 525 Topics in Music from 1400 to 1600
Rob C. Wegman
W 9-11:50am

Course Not Open to Freshmen.

NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

NES 326 The Thousand and One Nights (cross-listed with COM 329)

NES 545 Problems in Near Eastern Jewish History
Mark R. Cohen
W 1:30-4:20pm

The topic this year is the Dhimma, the status of Jews and other non-Muslims in medieval Islam. Knowledge of Arabic required. Students lacking Arabic should speak with Instructor for possible exception. Course Not Open to Freshmen.

NES 593 Ibn Taymiyyah and His Times
Yossef Rapoport
T 4:30-7:20pm

The course focuses on the life, thought, and historical significance of Ibn Taymiyyah (d.1328), asking three broad questions. How did Ibn Taymiyyah draw upon, interpret, and re-constitute the multi-faceted medieval Islamic intellectual traditions? In what ways are Ibn Taymiyyah's career and thought expressive and illustrative of the social, political, and intellectual context in which he lived? What has been the nature of Ibn Taymiyyah's legacy in the diverse discourses of the global Islamic community in the centuries following his death? Final Exam. Reading knowledge of Arabic is required.

SPANISH & PORTUGUESE

SPA 534 Seminar in Medieval Spanish Literature: Islamic Voices in Medieval Spain
Marina S. Brownlee
T 1:30-4:20pm

This course explores the effects of the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 711—its impact during the more than 700-year occupation, and far beyond. Spain's unique "orientalism" — the hybrid realities of moros and moriscos in a predominantly Christian society, of mudéjares and mozárabes, their variations over space and time, religious and occult associations, inquisitorial practices and representations of the gendered other will be topics analyzed in literary, historical and theoretical texts. Course Not Open to Freshmen.