Fall 2004 Graduate Courses - Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame

715 Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556-5629, Telephone: (574) 631-6603, Facsimile: (574) 631-8644, Email: medinst@nd.edu

Fall 2004: Graduate Courses

MI 501 Introduction to Medieval Studies
Noble, T
M 5:00-5:50 p.m.

A one-credit-hour course designed to introduce students to the basic bibliographies, handbooks, and research tools in medieval studies. Professors from various disciplines will participate.

MI 508 From Reconquest to Renaissance: Medieval Spanish Literature
Seidenspinner-Nunez, D.
H 3:30-6:00 p.m.

The defining feature of medieval Spain is the Reconquest, the fluctuating repossession of lands conquered by Muslim invaders in 711 that lasted from seven to more than seven hundred years. This course will survey the masterworks of the Spanish Middle Ages within the ideological, social, cultural, and political context of reconquest Spain and will include the kharjas, Poema de mio Çid, romancero, Los milagros de nuestra Señora by Gonzalo de Berceo, Conde Lucanor by Don Juan Manuel, Libro de buen amor by Juan Ruiz, Arcipreste de Talavera by Alfonso Martínez de Toledo, Cárcel de amor by Diego de San Pedro, Celestina by Fernando de Rojas, and miscellaneous selections. Primary texts in Spanish will be supplemented with critical, scholarly, cultural, and theoretical readings in Spanish and English. The course is crosslisted with the Medieval Institute and will be taught in English; coursework will comprise oral presentations, midterm and final exams, and a paper.

MI 512 Proseminar II: High Middle Ages
Van Engen, J.
W 3:30-6:00 p.m.

This course is designed to introduce students to major topics under discussion in the history of the high and later middle ages, roughly the years 1100 to1400. Among the topics to be treated, with the historians now at work on them, are: law, government, and literacy; the church as an institutional and cultural force; social class and mobility as economic realities and cultural images; the university in society and culture; and the cultivation of the human person in literary sensibility and religious devotion. Most of the course will consist of intensive secondary readings, with regular written reports, occasional primary readings, and a major bibliographical paper at the end.

MI 517A French Literature in the Age of Faith
Boulton, M.
TH 9:30-10:45 a.m.

This course will introduce the classic works and genres of medieval France from 1100 to 1300, including the epic, the medieval romance, lyric poetry, and drama. Love in its various forms, including mystical love of God, will be a unifying theme among the various works. Works to be discussed will include the Chanson de Roland, the poetry of Thibaut de Champagne and Rutebeuf, a romance by Chrétien de Troyes, the Miracles of Gautier de Coinci, and the Jeu d’Adam. All discussions will be conducted in French; requirements will include short oral presentations and one 12- to 15-page research paper to be written in French.

MI 518 Islam: Religion and Culture
Asfaruddin, A.
TH 3:30-4:45 p.m.

This course will discuss the rise of Islam in the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century and its subsequent consolidation as a major world religion and civilization. Lectures and readings will deal with the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the Qur’an and its interpretation, early Islamic history, community formation, law and ritual, theology, philosophy, mysticism, and literature. Emphasis will be on the core beliefs and institutions of Islam and on the religious and political thought of its practitioners from the Middle Ages through our own time. The latter part of the course will deal with Islamic resurgence, both in its reformist and extremist manifestations and with contemporary Muslim engagements with modernity. All readings are in English; no prerequisite.

MI 523 Early Medieval Philosophy
Gersh, S.
TH 12:30-1:45 p.m.

A survey of medieval philosophical literature from ca. 400 to ca. 1200 based on original texts. We shall review the most well-known authors and works in the first instance: Augustine (Soliloquies, De Libero Arbitrio, Confessions), Boethius (Opuscula Sacra, De Consolatione Philosophiae, logical works), Eriugena (Periphyseon), Anselm of Canterbury (Monologion, Proslogion), the “School of Chartres” (Commentaries on Boethius). However, considerable emphasis will be placed on major traditions ignored by earlier histories of medieval philosophy: glossing of Plato Latinus, Aristotles Latinus, Macrobius, and Martianus Capella.

MI 526 Eucharist in the Middle Ages
Wawrykow, J.
MW 1:30-2:45

The eucharist stands at the heart of western European Christianity in the high Middle Ages. The insistence of church officials on regular reception of the eucharist; the numerous scholastic treatments of the theoretical issues associated with the eucharist; the recourse by spiritual authors, especially women, to the eucharist to express their most profound religious and devotional insights; the pointed reference to the Christ eucharistically-present to establish Christian identity and to distinguish the members of Christ from others, both within and outside of western Europe; the development of new rituals focused on aspects of the eucharist; the burgeoning of artistic representations of eucharistic themes—all testify to the centrality of the eucharist in medieval theological and religious consciousness. Through the close reading of representative texts by a wide variety of thirteenth-century authors, and, the study of the different kinds of “Eucharistic” art, this course examines the uses made of the eucharist by a broad spectrum of high medieval Christians. A special concern of the course is the relation between eucharistic doctrine and religious practice—to what extent have teachings about transubstantiation and real presence shaped religious expression? How has religious experience itself occasioned the refinement of these doctrines?

MI 528B Jews & Christians thru History
Signer, M
TH 3:30-4:45 p.m.

In the closing days of the Second Vatican Council, Nostra Aetate (Declaration on Non-Christian Religions) reversed the negative attitude of the Catholic Church toward Judaism and the Jewish people. This remarkable change promoted “dialogue” with Jews, and suggested positive changes in the way Judaism was presented in liturgy and catechesis. Reactions from the Jewish communities were diverse: from rejection to welcoming. This course will explore a number of issues that emerge from the history of Christian thought and theology: How did a negative image of Judaism develop within Christianity? In what ways did these unfavorable teachings contribute toward violence against the Jews? What is the relationship between Christian anti-Jewish teachings and anti-Semitism? Is there any correspondence to Christian hostility within Judaism? In what ways have Jewish authors reacted to Christian tradition? We shall also analyze recent theological writings by Jews and Christians about the changed nature of their relationship: How can Jews and Christians develop religious responses to modernity? In what senses can a study of Judaism by Christians, or Christianity by Jews, help either community to understand itself better? How can Christians and Jews develop a theology of “the other” which is not triumphalist but empathic?

MI 530 Introduction to Old English
Jones, C.
MW 11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

The Anglo-Saxons were the earliest people in western Europe to translate the Bible into their vernacular, and a substantial proportion of surviving Old English Verse consists in biblical translation and paraphrase. The principal focus of the course will be the biblical poems preserved in the so-called 'Junius Manuscript' (Genesis A, Genesis B, Exodus, Daniel), but these and other relevant poems will be studied in the wider context of early medieval biblical exegesis, in particular the contribution made to biblical interpretation by Anglo-Saxon exegetes such as Archbishop Theodore, Bede, Alcuin and Ælfric. Candidates for the course must already have completed English 530 (Introduction to Old English).

MI 531D Old English Literature
Jones, C.
W 6:00-8:30 p.m.

The Writings of Ælfric: In this seminar we will read representative homilies, saints' lives, and other Old English works by Ælfric of Eynsham (d. c. 1010). The course should serve as an introduction not only to the writings of the most important prose author of the Anglo-Saxon period, but to the monastic milieu in which he worked, and to some research tools useful for the study of early medieval preaching, exegesis, liturgy, and hagiography. Weekly course assignments will consist of translation and discussion of linguistic difficulties in the Old English texts, plus regular seminar-style discussion of selected secondary readings. Students will undertake a significant research project and seminar presentation on some aspect Ælfric's canon.

MI 540 Love Poetry of the Renaissance
DellaNeva, J
W 3:30-6:00 p.m.

This course will focus this year on the love poetry of the most prominent poet in sixteenth-century France, Ronsard. Some attention will also be given to the poetry of the “satellites” surrounding this Pléiade poet, especially Du Bellay and Baïf. Special attention will be given to the role of Petrarchism (including selected readings from Petrarch’s Italian poems in translation). Topics for discussion will include the development of the sonnet, the concept of the canzoniere genre, rhetoric, literary commonplaces, mythology, imitative techniques, intertextuality, and feminist literary criticism. While the number of poems assigned will be relatively small, it is expected that these will be prepared thoroughly in advance of the classroom discussion, in which all students will participate actively. Students will be expected to do close readings in the form of oral explications as well as oral presentations of pertinent literary criticism and of their own research in progress. Written work will consist of a brief book review and a major research paper of approximately 15 pages. There will be no exams. For the benefit of students in departments other than RLL, classroom discussions will be in English; however, an excellent knowledge of French is absolutely necessary..

MI 547 Dante I: Instructions for Use
Cachey, T.
TH 2:00-3:15 p.m..

According to the eminent critic John Freccero, “Understanding in the Inferno is a process that might be characterized as hyperbolic doubt systematically applied to the values of contemporary society.” This may explain the strong revival of interest in the poem that we have witnessed of late. In this course we will read and discuss in detail the Inferno as well as important “minor” works leading up to the Divine Comedy including the Vita nuova (New Life), the Convivio (The Banquet), and the De vulgari eloquentia (On vernacular eloquence). We will especially focus on major episodes of the Inferno in the light of recent scholarship and in relation to current debates in the humanities. The course satisfies the literature requirement, will be offered in English (but we will read the Inferno in a facing-page translation). Undergraduate students of Italian at all levels are welcome. Midterm, final exam, and brief presentations. For further info: 1-5651..

MI 548A Dante’s World of Books
Baranski, Z.
T 12:30-3:00 p.m.

“Dante’s World of Books” aims to examine the oeuvre and career of, arguably, the most original and influential writer in Western culture from three closely interlinked perspectives. First, the course provides an overview of all Dante’s writings, the books he actually produced. Second, it explores his intellectual formation and his attitude towards the literary tradition–the books that were probably present in his “library.” Third, it will assess the manner in which Dante synthesized his different ideological and poetic interests in order to develop an incisive and powerful assessment and critique of humanity’s position in the order of divine creation. In the Middle Ages, the created universe was often metaphorically described as “God’s book” or the “book of creation.” The course thus attempts to investigate the complex interrelationship that Dante forged between his books and the “book” of the Supreme Artist, a popular and highly influential medieval image for God the Creator..

MI 561H History of Science and Technology from the Medieval Period to 1750
Goulding, R. and Sloan, P.
MW 1:30-2:45 p.m.

This course will be the first half of a two-semester survey of the main events in the history of natural philosophy and science from Greek antiquity to the early Enlightenment. The first half, taught by Prof. Robert Goulding, will begin with Presocratic reflections and carry the course to the Renaissance. The second half, taught by Prof. Sloan, will deal with the science of Galileo, Descartes, Boyle and Newton. The course is open to HPS graduate students, graduate students in History and Philosophy, and upper level undergraduates by permission.

MI 564 Introduction to Medieval Plainchant
Bower, C.
TH 3:30-4:45 p.m.

An introduction to the genres and sources of medieval liturgical chant. Genres will be examined within the context of the history of liturgy and as musical forms and styles. Manuscript sources will be studied as documents in the history of musical notation and as foundations for establishing viable editions of melodies and texts. A basic knowledge of musical notation is prerequisite. Some knowledge of German or French or Latin is highly desirable.

MI 575A Introduction to Christian Latin Texts
D. Sheerin
MTHF 8:30-9:20 a.m.

“Introduction to Christian Latin Texts” (=Medieval Latin I) has two goals: to improve the student’s all-around facility in dealing with Latin texts and to introduce the student to the varieties of Christian Latin texts and basic resources that facilitate their study. Study of syntax and vocabulary will be facilitated by regular exercises in Latin composition. Exposure to texts will be provided through common readings which will advance in the course of the semester from the less to the more demanding: Latin translations of Scripture, exegesis, homiletic, texts dealing with religious life, formal theological texts, and Christian Latin poetry. Medieval Latin II, a survey of Medieval Latin texts, will follow this course in the spring term.

MI 631 Editing Medieval Latin Texts
Emery, K
M 3:30-6:00 p.m.

In this course, students will be introduced to the principles and basic procedures involved in editing later medieval Latin texts from manuscripts: the reading and transcription of manuscripts, the collation of manuscripts, the preparation of an apparatus criticus and an apparatus fontium, the presentation of critically edited texts in print, etc. Students will learn the importance of paleographic, codicological, philological and historical-bibliographical analysis in critical editions executed according to the “historical method.” By reference to exemplary critical editions of later medieval Latin works, students will also be introduced to hermeneutical issues involved in editing. Moreover, students will be introduced to the techniques, sources, and instruments of primary research among the manuscripts, and will prepare a term-long heuristic project. Having passed the Medieval Institute Latin examination (or some equivalent) is a prerequisite for enrolling in the course; any exceptions to this prerequisite must be approved by the teacher, after consultation with him..

MI 633 Medieval Exegesis
Signer, M.
T 9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Our focus during the semester will be on the relationship between biblical interpretation and the polemical literature written by Jewish and Christian authors from 1050 to 1200. Students will read the recent accounts of this literature by Gavin Langmuir, Anna Sapir Abulafia, Gilbert Dahan, and Jeremy Cohen. Excerpts from medieval Christian authors such as Abelard, Gilbert Crispin, Guibert of Nogent, Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter the Venerable, Petrus Alfonsi, and Alan of Lille. Passages from Jewish authors such as Rashi, Rabbi Joseph Kara, Rabbi Samuel ben Meier, and Rabbi Joseph of Orleans will also be studied. Students will be expected to make an oral presentation and write a paper that provides an explication of the arguments in a polemical work.

MI 647 Muslims and Christians in the Medieval Mediterranean World
Constable, O.
TH 3:30-4:45 p.m.

This course will examine contacts between Christianity and Islam in the period from the seventh century to the fifteenth century. Although issues of religion will be addressed, the course is more concerned with diplomatic, economic, military, cultural, technological, and intellectual encounters and exchange. Special attention will be focused on the regions of Spain, Sicily, and the Crusader States. The course is designed as a survey, but students may elect to write either a research paper or three shorter historiographical essays. Regular student presentations will also be required.

MI 651 Renaissance and Early Modern European Social and Cultural History
Meserve, M.
M 1:30-4:00 p.m.

An introduction to key topics and fields of scholarship in Renaissance and Early Modern European history. The course will examine the intellectual and cultural climate of the Italian Renaissance with an emphasis on both its origins in and impact on the structures of late medieval Italian society. We will also examine the later spread of Renaissance culture to the rest of Europe in the sixteenth century, again with a view to studying the interplay between cultural practices and the societies in which they developed and grew. Readings will be divided between primary and secondary sources; the goal will be to familiarize students with the range of current methodological approaches to social and cultural history in the early modern period. Particular topics of study will depend on class interest but will most likely include: Italian humanism in its social context; the origin and development of Renaissance social ‘types’ (the artist, the engineer, the secretary, the courtesan, the prince); print culture and political propaganda; patronage and clientage; civic culture and performance; historical consciousness and national identity; changing relationships between the individual, society, and the state.

MI 652 Moral Theology Seminar: Thomas Aquinas
Porter, J.
W 9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in Aquinas’s ethical thought, but without attention to the context from which it emerged. Yet Aquinas’s moral thought cannot be fully understood or appreciated unless it is placed in relationship to the views of his immediate predecessors and interlocutors. Furthermore, this approach to the study of Aquinas’s moral theology also provides us with a case study for examining how moral concepts develop over time, and how they are shaped by social and cultural, as well as intellectual factors. In this course, we will examine Aquinas’s writings on the natural law in the context of relevant texts from selected twelfth and thirteenth century authors, including Abelard, Gratian, William of Auxerre, Bonaventure, and Albert the Great. All texts will be made available in translation, although students who wish to read them in Latin will be given the opportunity to do so. Course requirements will include several short papers and a longer paper on a topic to be determined in consultation with the instructor.