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Graduate Course Offerings for Spring 2010
MVST 0910 Maintenance 0 credits (Staff)
MVST 8500 Independent Research 2 Credits (Staff) Call # 11550
MVST 8501 Independent Research 1 Credit (Staff) Call # 11551
MVST 5205 (4) Court Culture in Medieval Iberia Call # 11552 (Jimenez-Belmonte) R 2:30-5:00
This course explores the cultural, social, political and religious tensions that helped to shape medieval Iberian courtly communities from the tenth to fifteenth centuries, when royal centralization and consolidation occurred in different religious and cultural contexts (Islamic and Christian) and political territories (Castile, Aragon). The interdisciplinary approach to this topic relies on heterogeneous sources and perspectives, including literary texts, artistic manifestations, legal codes, religious writings, and chronicles. Among the courts to be studied will be the tenth-century Omeyan court in Córdoba, the eleventh-century Muslims kingdoms of Granada and Zaragoza, the Christian courts of Alfonso X of Castile and Jaume I of Aragón and the late medieval court of Isabella and Ferdinand.
ENGL 5255 (3) Chaucer, Shakespeare and Uncertain Text Call # 11932 (Kelemen) T 3:30-5:30
Chaucer and Shakespeare have long provided remarkable test cases for the thorniest questions of textual criticism and editorial theory. Do we aim for a text that we can vouch for the author having written, even if it seems flawed? Or do we aim for the most aesthetically pleasing text, even if there is evidence that not all of it was written by the author? Do we try to reconstruct a version that would have been known at a particular moment in history? Or do we try to present the best surviving witness without much editorial intervention, even if that witness survives only because almost no one ever read it? Is King Lear one play or two? Does the fourth fragment of The Canterbury Tales even exist? We’ll read some Chaucer, some Shakespeare, some textual criticism, some textual theory. And we’ll learn a little paleography and bibliography, so that we can try to do a little bit of all of this — editing, criticizing, and theorizing — for ourselves.
ENGL 6222 (3) Medieval to Early Modern Call # 11523 (Little) M 3:30-5:30
The recent re-naming of the Renaissance (as “early modern”) highlights the status of the medieval period as the time before modernity: before the modern subject/ individual, capitalism, nationhood, historical consciousness, secularism, etc. This break is even more noticeable when it comes to religion. Even if we might question Renaissance claims to newness, the novelty of the Reformation seems unassailable, a radical disruption of “tradition.” This course will explore theories about the divide between medieval and Reformation/ early modern (Burkhardt, Marx, Foucault, Tawney, Weber, the new historicists) as well as some of the recent questioning of this divide (Aers, Simpson, Duffy). We will read texts considered representative of their period, and those that seem to disrupt conventional ideas about medieval and Renaissance/ early modern: William Langland’s Piers Plowman , Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, selections from medieval drama, Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and various writings of the Reformation. Throughout the course we will return to the question of the extent to which periodization is a useful tool in literary studies.
HIST 6153 (4) Medieval Economy and Society Call # 11545 (Kowaleski) M 2:30-5:00
This course explores major themes in the social and economic history of medieval Europe, including the impact of the “barbarian” migrations, technology and social change, agriculture and rural life, the commercial revolution, the Black Death, social revolts, craft guilds and the textile industry, and changing notions of poverty and charity, among other topics. The different methodological approaches to these issues will also be highlighted in examining not only “schools” of history (such as the Annales school, neo-Marxism, and prosopography) but also the contributions of other disciplinary approaches, including archaeology, demography, environmental science, historical geography, and numismatics. The course will also include a unit on Medieval Scandinavia to coincide with the Center's annual conference on that theme.
HIST 8025 (4) SEM: Medieval Religious Cultures Call # 11547 (Gyug) T 2:00-4:30
Participants will build on the reading and topics from HIST 7025 (Proseminar: Medieval Religious Cultures) to prepare research papers based on sources and debates in the study of medieval religious cultures. Weekly readings will be selected by the participants from materials for their papers; later in the semester, they will present drafts of their own papers, and prepare critiques of others.
LATN 6521 (3) Latin Paleography Call # 12103 (Clark) F 2:30-4:30
A study of the development of Latin handwriting from antiquity to the Renaissance. Includes a study of the manuscript as book (codicology) and as cultural artifact. Some consideration of textual transmission and critical editing. There will be hands-on practice in reading the various scripts.
PHIL 5010 (3) Introduction to Aquinas Call # 11662 (Klima) R 12:00-2:00
This course provides a systematic, introductory survey of Aquinas's philosophical thought. After briefly placing his life and works in their narrower as well as broader historical context, we shall start the systematic survey of Aquinas's philosophy by taking stock of the basic concepts and principles of his hylomorphist metaphysics. On this basis, we can move on to his philosophy of God, and philosophy of human nature (including his philosophy of mind and epistemology), which will provide the metaphysical foundations for a brief discussion of his ethics and philosophy of law. Throughout these discussions, we are going to confront Aquinas's ideas with criticisms coming from medieval as well as modern philosophers.
PHIL 5012 (3) Introduction to Augustine Call # 11663 (Cullen) M 11:00-1:00
At the age of nineteen a young man living in Roman north Africa discovered philosophy. The world has never been the same since. While the world of the late Roman Empire—a world known for its decadence and brutality—teetered on the brink of collapse all about him, this teenager gave himself wholeheartedly to the pursuit of wisdom; he developed into one of greatest philosophical geniuses of all time--a genius who did more to shape the thought and culture of the next millennium of history than perhaps any other single individual. This course is a survey of the philosophy of this singularly influential intellectual—Augustine of Hippo. The course will begin by engaging the philosophical currents that shaped Augustine, especially the Neo-platonism of Plotinus. It will then move on to examine Augustine’s own account of his life and his intellectual struggles, especially with the cosmic dualism of Gnostic Manicheanism and the denial of knowledge in ancient skepticism. Special attention will be given to Augustine's philosophy of mind and his doctrine of illumination. A major goal of the course will be to situate Augustine's thought in the context of central debates in ancient metaphysics and natural theology. The last section of the course will focus on Augustine’s theocentric ethical and political ideas and how they reshaped the ancient polis.
PHIL 6505 (3) Medieval Philosophical Theories of the Fall Call # 11666 (Pini) T 4:30-6:30
This course will be devoted to the study of some medieval interpretations of the Christian doctrine of the Fall of the devil and, secondarily, of Adam and Eve. The focus will be philosophical rather than purely historical or theological. The main issue we will be dealing with is what became known, in modern times, as the problem of radical evil. What is the motive for Lucifer’s and Adam and Eve’s choice to sin? Can a rational agent choose evil for evil’s sake? More in general, what are the motives for doing morally wrong actions? For a medieval thinker, the Fall was the ultimate test a philosophically sound theory of moral agency had to pass. In this course, we will consider some of the main arguments and conceptual tools that were originally developed in order to account for the Fall but eventually induced philosophers to reformulate some of the basic elements of moral agency in general. A connected issue we may take into account is that of the consequences of the Fall, with particular attention to the problem of the limits of the intellect (both theoretical and practical). We will be reading passages from the works of four major thinkers, i.e. Augustine (354¬–430), Anselm of Canterbury (ca. 1033–1109), Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225–1274) and John Duns Scotus (ca. 1266–1308). All texts will be read in English translation.
THEO 6466 (3) Medieval Hagiography Call # 11584 (Tilley) M10:30-1:00
This course surveys methods for researching and writing about as well as evaluating the religious functions of stories of holy people. The course begins with a look at contemporary saint-making and then surveys classic works on hagiographic methods. After these explorations the course studies examples primarily from late antiquity and the Middle Ages, applying the methods of the first part of the course. Requirements include book reports, seminar leadership, a mid-term paper using primary sources and illustrating hagiographical method on a person not canonized (yet?), and a final paper in the student's own field of interest. Students in history, fine arts, literature, theology, etc. are welcome.
THEO 6311 (3) The Early Papacy Call # 11583 (Demacopoulos) F 11:45-2:15
This course is designed as an investigation into the historical, theological, and individual forces that shaped the early papacy from approximately the first through the eighth centuries. With the instructor providing short weekly lectures, students will take turns directing conversations about primary and secondary readings. Special attention will be devoted to applying new theoretical methods of interpretation (such as discourse analysis and post-colonial theory) to traditional papal sources. Through these methods, students will be encouraged to reevaluate both the claims of Roman ecclesiastical prestige and the extent to which those claims were accepted by non-Roman Christians in this period. The final 30 minutes of every class will devoted to Latin translation (this is a requirement for PhD students studying Early Christianity; alternative projects will be assigned to other students).
FREN 5090 (0) French for Reading Call # 12868 (Harris) T 4:15-6:45
GERM 5002 (0) German for Reading II Call # 12871 (Hafner) TF 11:30-12:45
Fall 2009 Courses
MVGA 0910 Maintenance-Medieval 0 Credits (Staff) Call # 12530
MVGA 8500 Independent Research 2 Credits (Staff) Call # 13063
MVGA 8501 Independent Research 1 Credit (Staff) Call # 13068
ENGA 5211 (3) Introduction to Old English (Chase) T 5:30-7:30
This course will introduce students to Old English (Anglo-Saxon) language and literature, as well as palaeography and codicology of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts.
ENGA 6230 (3) Poems of the Pearl Manuscript (Erler) R 5:30-7:30
We will read in Middle English the four important poems which this unique manuscript contains:
Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Products of a movement called the Alliterative Revival, they share a strong interest in complex poetic forms and in visual decoration. Certain themes recur: all of them meditate on the range of possible responses to change. We will set the poems in their social context (the north west region of England) and will speculate about their audience and their author.
ENGA 6235 (3) Medieval Travel Narrative (Yeager) R 3:30-5:30
In a project which brought together the greatest minds and resources of the western world, the crusading movements inspired subsequent generations of English and western European writers to create some of the most beautiful and, at times, most brutal romances and histories ever written. This course will focus on a range of traditions, including the romance, Richard, Coeur de Lion in light of contemporary chronicler, Roger of Howden’s, Chronica. Pilgrim and merchant narratives, from Egeria to Margery Kempe, and Mandeville to Marco Polo, will provide a contrast to romance and chronicle modes. We will be especially concerned with the ways in which chivalric quest came to influence the romance and chronicle genres. This course is designed to contextualize travel within the medieval world as we read and discuss these texts with a specific set of concerns: salvation, conquest, race, and identity.
HSGA 6072 (4) Medieval Law & Society (Mueller) F 4:45-7:15
The medieval period consisted of a prolonged “Age without Jurists”, which lasted from about 500 AD to the 1100s. Subsequently, the West witnessed a rapid “Revival of Jurisprudence”, in the sense the term is generally understood today. Medieval people resorted to ordeals, duels, and judicial torture to determine guilt and innocence, but also invented the modern notions of due process, inalienable individual rights, and trial by jury. Through the study of recent scholarly literature, the course will explore the diversity of medieval legal institutions, discuss historical causes of fundamental legal change, and investigate the interplay between societal acceptance and actual implementation of medieval norms.
HSGA 6152 (4) Medieval Women & Family (Kowaleski) M 2:00-4:30
This course surveys recent historiography on the roles and status of women in medieval society, as well as the structures and dynamics of medieval families. Among the debates to be explored are the effect on medieval society of the Christian Church’s teachings on virginity, sex, and marriage, and the influence of geography (northern vs Mediterranean Europe), environment (village, town, and convent), and status (noble, bourgeois, or peasant) on the work, family role, and authority of women. Chronologically the course will range from the early Christian period to the Renaissance. Recent scholarly work on nuns, mystics, and beguines will be examined, and readings will also cover different approaches to the study of women and family, including the methodologies of literary scholars, demographers, feminists, and legal historians.
HSGA 7025 (4) PSM:Medieval Religious Cultures (Gyug) T 2:00-4:30
The proseminar provides an introduction to significant issues in the area and the basic tools for research. Students who continue in the linked seminar in the spring 2010, HSGA 8025, will write research papers on selected topics in the area. In the fall course, major topics and debates in the study of medieval religious cultures will be considered through works on the cult of saints, popular religion, devotional practices, religious identities, and questions of dissent. In addition to introductions to sub-disciplines such as hagiography and liturgy, research methods and problems will be considered through the close reading of selected primary sources. Most classes will include Latin translation exercises.
LATN 5220 (3) Pagans and Christians in Latin Imperial Texts (Sogno) R 4:15-6:15 (LC)
This course offers an overview of Imperial Latin prose texts from the third to the fifth century and aims at exploring two main related questions, namely how the texts of this period depict the complex relationship between Christians and the so-called “Pagans”, and what the relationship of Christian literature is to traditional Roman literature. The material will be organized chronologically and thematically. Among the texts and genres that we will examine are martyr literature (the Passio Perpetuae), Christian apology (Tertullian), classical and Christian historiography (Ammianus, Lactantius, Jerome), biography (the Historia Augusta, the Life of Antony), autobiography (Augustine’s Confessions), and the erudite dialogue (Macrobius). All primary sources will be read in Latin; any other arrangements must be discussed with the instructor.
MVGA 5214 (4) Literature and Politics in Medieval France (Dudash) M 5:00-7:30
In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will explore the intersection of literature, politics, and literary polemics in strife-ridden, medieval France. Thematic strands may include the debate over the role and meaning of literature, the Hundred Year's War, and French civil war. Close readings of a variety of different literary genres (epistle, prose, poetry, etc.) will be informed by contemporary scholarship and analyses of the cultural, historical, and socio-political contexts in which these works were written and with which they sought to contend.
PHGA 7041 (3) The Nominalism of John Buridan (Klima) R 2:15-4:15
This course examines what is most intriguing to contemporary readers in Buridan's medieval philosophical system: his nominalist account of the relationship between language, thought and reality. The main focus of the discussion is Buridan's deployment of the Ockhamist conception of a "mental language" for mapping the complex structures of written and spoken human
languages onto a parsimoniously construed reality[, comparing his conception with that of other nominalists, such as William Ockham, Albert of Saxony, Nicholas d’Oresme, Gabriel Biel, and Peter of Ailly, and realists, such as Peter of Spain, William of Sherwood, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, Walter Burley, and others]. The discussion will be based on my recently
published monograph on John Buridan (Oxford, 2009), along with selected primary and secondary sources.
RSGA 5300 (3) History of Christianity I (Harkins) T 5:15-7:45
This course will provide an introduction to the major historical and theological developments that shaped ancient and medieval Christianity. Topics and figures to be treated include early Christian practice and ministry, Roman persecution and martyrdom, ancient apologetics and heresy, relations with Jews and Judaism, the Trinitarian and Christological controversies and early doctrinal formulation, the Cappadocian Fathers, Augustine of Hippo, medieval Scholasticism and the rise of the university, Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham.
RSGA 6370 (3) St Maximus the Confessor (Behr) W 9-11:30
St Maximus the Confessor (c.580-662) stands at the highpoint of the Greek patristic tradition, summing up the earlier strands of theological reflection - the exegetical tradition of the Alexandrians, the Christology of Chalcedon and the neo-Chalcedonians, the apophaticism and cosmic vision of Dionysius, and the spiritual writings of Evagrius, Macarius and Diadochus - into a remarkable synthesis, unsurpassed in later Byzantine theology, and only beginning to be appreciated again in recent decades. After an introduction to his background, each week will be devoted to a different text of Maximus, covering a variety of genres and topics. The class will be held in Seminar format, with each student expected to lead discussions, to write a book review of a major study of Maximus, and a research paper on a topic of interest. A knowledge of Greek is desirable, but not essential (texts will be read in translation).
Summer 2009 Courses
MVGA 5800 (4) Women in Medieval Religious Life (Oliva) I, TTh 1-4:30
This course surveys the religious lives of women in western Europe during the Middle Ages (c.600-1500) by focusing on both the formal, traditional paths of spirituality open to women, as well as the less formal, more ambiguous options which women carved out for themselves. Because developments in early Christianity so influenced the later medieval Church, this class will start by examining early Christian writers and women, and then proceed in a generally chronological way.
LAGA 5093 (3) Ecclesiastical Latin (Clark) II, MW, 6-9
Study of the grammatical structure, form and vocabulary of Church Latin, focusing on the Bible, the Church Fathers, and medieval thinkers. (Prereq: Latin for Reading or instructor permission)
FRGA 5090 French for Reading (Staff) I, MW 1-4
ITGA 5090 Italian for Reading (Staff) I, TTH 6-9
LAGA 5090 Latin for Reading (AT LC) (Owesny) I, MW 6-9
SPGA 5090 Spanish for Reading (Hoar) I, MW 6-9
Last modified: Nov. 3, 2009
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