Fall 2003 Undergraduate 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 2003: Undergraduate Courses

MI 206 Castles and Courts in Medieval Europe
J. Boulton
M W 11:45-12:35

The expanded title of this course is Castles, Castellanies, and Courts in Latin Europe, 900-1650. This course will examine the high period in the history of the castle - a combination of fort and residence - of the castellany or district subjected to the domination of a castle, and of the household and court of the kings, princes, and barons who built such residences and organized their lives and their activities within their various structures. It will first consider the castle as a form of fortification, review briefly the history of fortifications before 900, and examine the ways in which lords and their builders steadily improved their defensive capabilities in response to new knowledge and to new methods and tools of siegecraft. It will then examine the relationship of the castle to the contemporary forms of non-fortified or semi-fortified house, and finally its relationship to the lordly household (the body of servants organized into numerous departments associated with particular rooms or wings of the castle) and with the court (or body of soldiers, officers, allies, students, and temporary guests) who filled the castle when the lord was present. The course will conclude with an examination of the history of the castellany as a form of jurisdiction. The course will concentrate on the castles of the British Isles and France, but will examine the great variety of types found throughout Latin Europe. The course will require students to participate in discussions, to write two short papers, and to take three in-class tests and a final examination.

Students enrolled in HIST 206 must also take HIST 206T, a tutorial.

MI 301 01,02 Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
D. Burrell, S. Dumont

A study of the ways in which Plato and Aristotle set out to understand our world, followed by a consideration of the various ways in which Greek thought was transformed at the hands of later pagan (Plotinus), Muslim (al-Farabi, Avicenna), Jewish (Maimonides), and Christian (Anselm, Aquinas) thinkers. The key point of contact and of difference will be the one which galvanized them, and remains contemporary as well: the universe and the recurring questions surrounding its origins.

MI 307 Middle Ages I
D. Hobbins

The early Middle Ages, roughly the years 400-1000, marked the transition in Europe from the Roman Empire to a separate culture, distinct from the Christian and Orthodox East and as well from the Muslim cultures all around the Mediterranean. Germanic peoples set up new kingdoms and new ways of life, the Irish came into their own as a people of poetry and religion, Christian monks and bishops re-shaped the spiritual landscape. This course will focus upon politics and upon culture, concluding in the world of Charlemagne and the Anglo-Saxon kings. Students will write two papers and a mid-term, and will read extensively in translated sources from the early medieval period.

MI 309 Muslim and Christian in the Medieval World
O. R. Constable
M W 1:55-2:45

The encounter between Christianity and Islam began in the seventh century, AD, the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Within a few centuries, Islamic rule had spread across the southern Mediterranean world from Syria to Spain. This shift initiated a long term relationship - sometimes hostile and sometimes peaceful - between Christians and Muslims in these regions. The neighboring presence of Islam had an enduring influence on medieval Christian theology, philosophy, medical knowledge, literature, culture, imagination, art, and material life. Likewise, developments in Christian Europe and Byzantium, especially the Crusades, affected the Islamic world. This course will trace the history of the Christian-Muslim relationship, from its beginnings in the early medieval period until the Renaissance (fifteenth century). The heritage of this medieval encounter still has profound resonance in the modern world of today.
Students enrolled in HIST 309/309A must also take HIST 309T, a tutorial.

MI 310A 100 Years' War
D. Hobbins
MWF 12:50-1:40

This course surveys the history of France and England during the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Major themes include the dynastic claims of English kings upon the crown of France, the Black Death, the rise of the Burgundian state, the growth of a middle class, the question of growing national identity, and new trends in the arts. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in northern Europe have traditionally been seen as a period of excess and autumnal decay, as a decline from an earlier period of order and tranquility, or as a "calamitous" age, a distant mirror of our own troubled world. To what extent have these views colored our perception of the later Middle Ages, and how does our periodization of the modern world, with its commencement (according to the standard model) in 1500, exert pressure on us to find in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries signs of imminent collapse? Literary and artistic sources for the period are particularly rich, and invite a broad, interdisciplinary approach. A series of 5-page-papers emphasizing close readings of primary sources.

MI 332 Survey of Medieval Architecture.
MWF 12:50-1:40
P. San Vito

This course will introduce students to the architecture of the Middle Ages (ca. 300 - 1400). This introductory course will begin with Early Christian architecture and culminates in the great Gothic Cathedrals of northern Europe. Students will not only be invited to consider the development of the architectural forms of the church building, but will also be able to consider the degree to which the changing nature of the church building reflects broader issues in the history of Christianity in the Middle Ages.

MI 337 The Journey in Medieval Literature
T. Bays
T H 3:30-4:45
This course explores "the literature of errancy--knightly and otherwise." Texts representing a range of genres, regions, and generations will enable assessment of those factors' effect on the shape of the journey. Assignments: 3 papers and a Final Exam, plus informal responses and an oral presentation. Texts (in Modern English translation): Dante's Divine Comedy, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and Cervantes' Don Quixote.

MI 371 Survey of French Literature
M. Boulton
M W 11:45-1:00
The course is designed to serve as an introduction to French literature of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Seventeenth Century. We will read a combination of representative whole works and selections from authors of each period, including Marie de France, Chrétien de Troyes, Marguerite de Navarre, Ronsard, DuBellay, Labé, Montaigne, Molière and Racine. In addition to acquiring a basic familiarity with early French literature, students will be introduced to the vocabulary of literary criticism. Close readings, some oral presentations, and active participation in classroom discussions are expected. All discussions and written work will be in French. Three moderate length papers (5-7 pages) and a final exam will be required.

MI 371E 01, 02 Survey of Spanish Lit I 01, 02
D. Nuñyez
T H 9:30-10:45 (01); 11:00-12:15 (02)

Prerequisite: ROSP 202 or above; ROSP 310 (Textual Analysis) highly recommended.
This course will survey major literary works-epic, lyric, prose fiction, and drama-from the medieval, renaissance, and baroque periods in Spain. Emphasis will be on cultural as well as literary history and on methods of literary analysis. Works to be studied include: Poema de mio Çid; Gonzalo de Berceo, Milagros de Nuestra Señora; Juan Ruiz, Libro de buen amor; Jorge Manrique, "Coplas"; Fernando de Rojas, Celestina; Golden Age poetry (Garcilaso, Fray Luis de León, San Juan de la Cruz, Quevedo, Góngora); Lazarillo de Tormes; Cervantes, Don Quijote (excerpts); Lope de Vega, Fuenteovejuna; and Calderón de la Barca, La vida es sueño. Selections from the required literary anthology will be supplemented by class handouts. Required course work includes three short papers in Spanish (20% of final grade), class presentation and participation (20%), midterm exam (25%), and final exam (35%). This course satisfies the early Spanish peninsular requirement. Note for continuing students: ROSP 371 replaces ROSP 318. If you have completed ROSP 318 prior to Fall 2003 you may not take ROSP 371.

MI 371I Introduction to Italian Lit I
C. Moevs
T H 2:00-3:15

An introduction to the close reading and textual analysis of representative texts from the Duecento through the Renaissance, including Lentini, Guinizzelli, Cavalcanti, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Poliziano, Machiavelli, and Ariosto. We will trace the profile of Italian literary history in this period, setting the texts in their cultural and historical context (including music, art, and architecture), with attention to the changing understanding of human nature and the physical world in these centuries. Requirements include class participation, short essays, a midterm and a final. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 202 or equivalent. The course is required for majors and supplementary majors.

MI 377 Engendering War, Business and Law
K. Biddick
T H 11:00-12:15

(In a recent Foreign Affairs article, US Defense Secretary. Rumsfield envisaged war as an extension of the free-market ideology: "we must promote a more entrepreneurial approach. [One] that anticipates them before they appear and develop new capabilities to dissuade and deter them." At the same time the ENRON code of ethics book was selling on Ebay for $40.) This course explores a historical genealogy between the alliance of enterprise war and enterprise fraud. It explores the emergence of bureaucratic accounting systems in 12th century Europe and relates the emergence of bureaucratic accounting to the waging of the Crusades and to the development of popular best-selling Arthurian romances of the day. The purpose of the course is to explore this history as a source for rethinking ethics today in the business of war, accounting, and entertainment. Enroll with your ethical antennae turned to ON. We will study 12th-century breakthroughs in royal accounting procedures as a powerful formal rhetoric with links to law and war. As a formal rhetoric capable of abstracting space, accounting transformed the social space of the body, household, and the court and also inaugurated new notions of social time. We will also consider how the same court patronized new forms of Arthurian romance. We will ask how romance renders violence and forgets the violence perpetrated by Christians, elsewhere, especially on the crusades (First Crusade (1096-1102); Second Crusade (1147-49); Third Crusade (1189-92); Fourth Crusade (1202-04). Finally, we will question how accounting and violence intersects with the treatment of Jewish communities residing in England during the twelfth century. Your participation in the course will be evaluated according to the following guidelines: Attendance (forfeited after third unexcused absence): 15, Four short papers: 40, Final project: 45.

MI 395 Christian Theological Traditions I
J. Wawrykow
M W F 9:30-10:25

A survey of Christian theology from the end of the New Testament period to the eve of the Reformation. Through the close reading of primary texts, the course focuses on the Christology of such influential thinkers as Origen, Athanasius, Augustine, Anselm and Aquinas. How do these thinkers understand the person and work of Jesus Christ? What are the Christological problems that they tried to resolve? How do the different Christologies of these thinkers reflect their differing conceptions of the purpose and methods of 'theology'? Some attention will also be given to non-theological representations of Christ. How does the art of the early and medieval periods manifest changes in the understanding of the significance of Jesus? This course is obligatory for all first and second majors but is open to others who have completed the university requirements of theology and who wish to gain a greater fluency in the history of Christian thought.

MI 411B Dante I
F. Ferrucci
T H 12:30-1:45

The course will be a journey inside the ultimate nightmare in the whole history of Literature: Dante's Inferno - a prison for eternity, accurately subdivided like a model-dungeon, perfectly organized, with no possible evasions, no bribery to the guardians, no leagues between inmates, crossed through by two traveling poets, one of them relating about their trip with outstanding precision, the other guiding him after rescuing him and becoming one of the great characters of the entire Poem. We will study this great metaphor of a cosmic incarceration created by Dante' genius, and the amazing variety of the world of the convicted felons, and the philosophical ideas that rule this descent into the womb of the Earth where Lucifer, the utmost convict, lies. Students will be asked to write their individual reports according to the choice of their favored ward.

MI 412 Politics and Religion in Medieval Europe
J. Van Engen
T H 2:00-3:15

This course considers the intersection between political action and religious claims in medieval Europe. Virtually all the powers-kings and popes, princes and bishops-claimed to act on religious principle and in accord with transcendent notions of virtue or world order. And yet they fought bitterly with each other, with words and with swords, and mutually condemned one another. The course will begin with the showdown between emperors and popes known as the Investiture Contest, then take up pivotal figures like Pope Innocent III, King Frederick II, and Pope Boniface IX, and conclude with sections on the Spiritual Franciscans and on conciliarism. Two papers based on primary sources, one midterm, and a final.

MI 416 From Roland to the Holy Grail
M. Boulton
M W 3:00-4:15

This course is designed as an introduction to the literature of twelfth- and thirteenth-century France, including such works as the Chanson de Roland, the Lais of Marie de France, the Romances of Chrétien de Troyes, the poetry of the troubadours and trouvères, and the Quête du saint Graal. We will pay particular attention to medieval obsessions with love and chivalry, and examine how different writers reconciled these concerns with the often conflicting demands of Christianity. Classes, conducted in French, will combine discussion, lecture and student presentations. Two 7-page papers, class participation, and a final examination will be required.

MI 428 Anglo-Saxon England
A. O'Leary
T H 9:30-10:45

Who are the English? In this course we will explore the origins of England, and discuss the social, cultural, and political changes which took place on the island of Britain from the pre-Christian era until the twelfth century. Beginning with an exploration of Celtic Britain, we will then analyze the principal Anglo-Saxon kings and their achievements; the historical significance of English poems such as Beowulf; the lasting effects of the Vikings in England; and the Norman conquest of England in the eleventh century. General themes will include the problems associated with Anglo-Saxon Christianity, how the English portrayed their own history, England's relationship with her neighbors (e.g. Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and France), and the contributions of medieval England to European history. Requirements include participation in class discussion, midterm and final exams, and a research paper on a topic of the student's choice.

MI 430C Intro to Old English
K. O'Brien O'Keefe
T H 9:30-10:45

Canst þu þis gewrit understandan? Want to? "Introduction to Old English" will give you the tools to read a wide variety of writings from Anglo-Saxon England. Approximately half the course is dedicated to getting students up and running with the language, and the rest will provide practical experience in reading and discussing Old English works on monsters, saints, and heroes. In-class discussion will cover questions of cultural difference, translation, subjectivity, and otherness. Students in the course will get hands on experience with facsimile texts in the library and will work as well with on-line and CD-rom resources. No prior experience with Old or Middle English is necessary for this course. Required work: Mid-term assessment, final examination, daily class participation, short paper, one or two in-class reports.

MI 431 Late Antique and Early Christian Art
C. Barber
T H 2:00-3:15

Art in late antiquity has traditionally been characterized as an art in decline, but this judgment is relative, relying on standards formulated for art of other periods. Challenging this assumption, we will examine the distinct and powerful transformations within the visual culture of the period between the third and the eighth centuries AD. This period witnesses the mutation of the institutions of the Roman Empire into those of the Christian Byzantine Empire. The fundamental change in religious identity that was the basis for this development had a direct impact upon the visual material that survives from this period, such that the eighth century witnesses extensive and elaborate debates about the status and value of religious art in Jewish, Moslem, Byzantine, and Carolingian society. This course will examine the underlying conditions that made images so central to cultural identity at this period.

MI 438B Falling in Love in the Middle Ages
J. Mann
T H 2:00-3:15

During the medieval period, love became a central literary subject, one might say, the central literary subject, replacing war as the defining experience in which human beings discovered their destiny and affirmed their identity. What made it so endlessly fascinating? Does medieval love have a special character of its own? Did "courtly love" really exist? This course attempts to explore the variety of medieval representations of love, and to show how they are intimately bound up with questions of free will and destiny, interiority, gender relations, the secularisation of learning, time and eternity. Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde will occupy a central position in this course, but it will also take in related works, such as Chretien de Troyes' Knight of the Cart, Dante's Paolo and Francesca episode, Dante's Beatrice, Andreas Capellanus, Marie de France, Pamphilus, and The Romance of the Rose (European texts are read in translation).

MI 441A Jews and Christians Throughout History
M. Signer
T H 2:00-3:15

In the closing days of the II Vatican Council Nostra Aetate (Declaration on non-Christian Religions) reversed a negative attitude of the Catholic Church toward Judaism and the Jewish people. This remarkable change promoted "dialogue" with Jews, and positive changes in the ways in which 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 which 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 Antisemitism? Is there any correspondence to Christian hostility within Judaism? In what ways have Jewish authors reacted to Christian tradition? We shall also want to construct a more positive theology for the future. 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 443 Northern Renaissance Art
C. Rosenberg
T H 12:30-1:45

This course traces the development of painting in northern Europe (France, Germany, Flanders, and Holland) from approximately 1300 to 1560. Special attention is given to the art of Jan van Eyck, Heironymus Bosch, Albrecht Dürer, and Pieter Brueghel. In tracing the evolution of manuscript and oil painting and the graphic media, students become conscious of the special wedding of nature, art, and spirit that defines the achievement of the northern Renaissance.

MI 475 Intro to Christian Latin
D. Sheerin
M-F 8:30-9:20

"Introduction to Christian Latin Texts" 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 475 B Medieval Latin Texts
MWF 9:35-10:25

MI 482 Seminar: Out of the Purple Chamber
C. Barber
T H 11:00-12:15

Byzantine court culture offered a highly codified and visual display of power that was designed to entrance both friend and foe, familiar and stranger Through the manipulation of imagery, costume, movement, and space one's position in court was carefully policed. Even so, these constructs were constantly tested, manipulated, and subverted. This course will examine this court culture from the sixth to the fifteenth century. Using images and texts it will introduce students to the carefully nuanced world of public display and the choreography of power. Particular emphasis will be placed on the play of gender within this realm and the degree to which powerful empresses and ubiquitous eunuchs test the primarily male vision of the court.