Medieval Summer in London

Fordham students visit the Tower of London (London, 2011).

MVST 3500: The Knights of the Round Table

Instructor: Dr Susanne Hafner ([email protected])
Dates: Early July- Early August, 2017
Cost: TBD - Cost includes apartment housing, local transportation, cell phone, course activities, and supplementary insurance. Excursions to: Winchester (to see King Arthur's original "Round Table"), Stonehenge, Canterbury, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, British Library, and various London museums Additional information can be viewed at the Study Abroad page.

Application Deadline: March 1, 2017

For more information please contact: Dr. Susanne Hafner [email protected]

Where did Oliver Twist learn to pick pockets? In Clerkenwell. Where did William Shakespeare submit his plays to the Master of the Revels? In Clerkenwell. And where did the Knights of the Order of St. John have their headquarters? Indeed, in Clerkenwell, too. Fordham’s London Centre is perfectly situated to explore the city’s rich literary heritage. Some of the cultural sights associated with the English canon are within walking distance and many others are just a tube ride away. In this course, we will read texts which are quintessentially “British” – because they are linked to people, places, and historical events, but also because they address issues of gender, race, and social class in ways which are grounded in their environment and thus have a specifically Londonesque character. Gottfried von Straßburg’s medieval romance about Tristan will start us off by looking at concepts of gender and nobility which were formative for the way in which English aristocracy defines itself up to this day – an uninterrupted tradition which we can witness at our trips to Westminster Abbey and the Tower.

The Globe Theatre will provide us with the opportunity to experience a Shakespeare play, The Merry Wives of Windsor, as “groundlings”: standing, eating, drinking, and rubbing elbows with audience and actors alike. By the time Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist, London had expanded into a metropolis with a large population of urban poor. It is only logical that England’s oldest orphanage would be located in London, too, a museum today. These texts will bring together the main themes addressed in our discussions - gender, race, and social class – and place them right at our doorstep.

To complement our reading, we will go on excursions that will take us Stonehenge, the ancient stone circle shrouded in mystery, and Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey was filmed and where the Earls of Carnarvon still reside today. At home in London, we will visit Westminster Abbey, the Tower, and the Foundling Hospital. This cultural immersion will allow us to study London literature in a way which is only possible on site and to thus develop a sophisticated understanding of identity, diversity, and class in the capital of the British Empire.

This course fulfills a requirement towards the Medieval Studies major/minor and counts as an elective in Comparative Literature, English, History, and International Studies (Europe track). Credit in other disciplines may be possible after consultation with your advisor.

Graduate students are eligible to take this course as a graduate tutorial after consultation with their Director of Graduate Studies.

Student reviews:

I am writing you simply to express my gratitude and praise for Professor Hafner's class, and my overall trip this summer. The course on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table was an amazing experience; being able to view London and its rich medieval history was a unique and exciting opportunity. Professor Hafner truly made the course what it was with her enjoyable trips, assignments, and overall direction of the course. I could not have asked for a better class/teacher, and I would take this course over again in a heartbeat.
- Matthew DeSilva, FCRH '13.

Words cannot even fully explain the experience I had this summer in London Professor Hafner designed her Knights of the Round Table course in a way that made the entire trip an extraordinary adventure. The course involved the students reading various pieces of Arthurian literature and going on scavenger hunts throughout London. Once we found and photographed objects relating to the texts we read, we wrote about it for our class blog. We also took numerous trips to places we read about including Canterbury Cathedral and the great hall in Winchester where the Round Table hangs. Not only did I learn more about medieval literature and London, but I learned more about myself as i searched the city and surrounding places. I highly recommend this course to those looking for adventure.
- Amy Gembara FCRH '14