Italian
Graduate Seminar
Italian 244 | Special Topics in Genre and Mode|Boccaccio's Decameron: A Global Approach
Location: Dwinelle 6331
Time: Wed, 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Instructor: Akash Kumar
This seminar will consist of a full reading of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. Our approach will be ‘global,’ both in the sense of putting medieval Italian in dialogue with frame-tale narratives from the Indian Panchatantra to the Thousand and One Nights as well as a more holistic approach to the Decameron informed by Boccaccio’s other works (such as his lyric poetry) and by a wider look at 14th-century Italian culture. We will consider how Boccaccio positions himself with respect to the other big names in the Trecento, Dante and Petrarch, how stories from the Decameron draw from a variety of sources and influences across the Mediterranean, and how Boccaccio’s work continues to be read through a wide array of scholarly and theoretical approaches. Text: You should get a copy of the Decameron for this course. Recommended Italian edition is Branca, but others can also be useful (happy to discuss). Recommended English translation is Rebhorn.
English
Undergraduate Courses
English 100 | The Seminar on Criticism | Approaching the Exeter Book: Saints, Birds, Lovers and Things that Speak
Location: Wheeler 301
Time: Tu, Th - 9:30 am - 11:00 am
Instructor: Shu-han Luo
The 10th century “Exeter Book” is filled with Old English elegies and religious verse, love-laments and list poetry, saints’ lives, riddles, fatherly advice and much more. Variously called a miscellany, an anthology, a bookshelf, a museum — and possibly once used as a cutting board — the Exeter Book resists simple categories of the lyrical vs. utilitarian, scared vs. human, bookish vs. playful, and stretches our understanding of what poetry, and the work of reading, did and can do. In this class, we will approach these poems along three dimensions. Firstly, we will explore the poems historically and alongside other early English texts and artifacts, to constellate what we can and cannot know about the manuscript’s material and contextual world. Secondly, we will consider how these texts have been read in their post-medieval reception, to understand the stakes and assumptions underlying earlier scholarly efforts to make sense of the medieval past. Finally, we will ask how these poems make sense to us now — how they stretch our familiar notions of genre and voice, what new translations and adaptations seek by reaching back to old words, and further – how negotiating the tensions between these three dimensions of meaning-making can nuance our own hermeneutic practices as critical readers. In addition to participation and in-class presentations, assessment includes small weekly exercises, two short written assignments, and a longer final project that engages our readings in creative/critical conversation. Prior experience with Old English will be helpful but not obligatory; all materials will be provided in both Old English & Modern English translation.
English 112 | Middle English Literature: Saints and Martyrs in early Middle English
Location: Dwinelle 258
Time: Mo, Wed - 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Instructor: Jennifer Miller
Cathedral, whose bodily remains are famously the final destination of Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrims—on the altar-steps of his own cathedral in 1170, followed by his quick canonization in 1173, had major consequences for English (and European) literature. In the historical consciousness of most twelfth-century Christians, the “age of martyrs” had ended centuries before, with the Emperor Constantine’s fourth-century conversion and the rise of a Christian Rome. Despite the promise of absolution for militating against a Muslim enemy beginning in the First Crusade, martyr-making was not, for reasons we shall explore, a ready result of this notorious confrontation with a new “infidel”—except, perhaps, in the imaginative fiction after Becket’s murder. However, following Becket’s death, we see preserved in the literary record a compulsion to reimagine and contextualize Becket’s martyrdom in romances and great hagiographical anthologies which draw the line from the obscure reaches of time to the present moment and beyond—most notably in grand-scale compilations such as the thirteenth-century Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend)—effectively reopening the question of who martyrs are and how they are made. A peculiarly Englished version of this work will be the primary object of our study: the South English Legendary surviving in a remarkable thirteenth-century manuscript now in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Through close study of this medieval manuscript and the texts it contains we will not only learn how and why the death of a single man can shift historical perception and literary imagination for centuries; we will also decode medieval manuscripts and the motivations of the scribes who composed them, read Middle English at a crucial point in its linguistic development, and engross ourselves in the gory “pulp fiction” of medieval England!
English 104 | Introduction to Old English
Location: Social Sciences Building 56
Time: Tu, Th - 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Instructor: Shu-han Luo
Hwæt! This course introduces the earliest English literature, with focus on giving students the skills to read its vibrant corpus in the original language. Step by step, we will build our grasp of grammar and vocabulary; from there, we will read a wide-ranging selection of verse and prose, including medical recipes and schoolbooks, love-laments and travel narratives, riddles, heroic poetry, guides for decoding dreams and even advice on haircuts. Throughout, emphasis on close reading will help us solidify our grasp of grammar and syntax, and attend to the ways early English writers themselves approached and valued the discipline of words. We will also practice reading from medieval manuscripts, and learn to use scholarly tools (lexicographical, codicological, digital) for conducting research in Old English. By the end of the course, students will be able to read most Old English texts with the help of a dictionary, and be well prepared for further study in medieval languages and literature. No pre-requisites, nor is prior knowledge of Old English or medieval literature expected.
Graduate Seminar
English 205A | Old English
Location: Social Sciences Building 56
Time: Tu, Th - 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Instructor: Shu-han Luo
Hwæt! This course introduces the earliest English literature, with focus on giving students the skills to read its vibrant corpus in the original language. Step by step, we will build our grasp of grammar and vocabulary; from there, we will read a wide-ranging selection of verse and prose, including medical recipes and schoolbooks, love-laments and travel narratives, riddles, heroic poetry, guides for decoding dreams and even advice on haircuts. Throughout, emphasis on close reading will help us solidify our grasp of grammar and syntax, and attend to the ways early English writers themselves approached and valued the discipline of words. We will also practice reading from medieval manuscripts, and learn to use scholarly tools (lexicographical, codicological, digital) for conducting research in Old English. By the end of the course, students will be able to read most Old English texts with the help of a dictionary, and be well prepared for further study in medieval languages and literature. No pre-requisites, nor is prior knowledge of Old English or medieval literature expected.
Scandinavian
Graduate Seminar
Scandinavian 220 | Early Scandinavian Literature: The Work of Blood in Medieval Scandinavian Literature
Location: Dwinelle 6415
Time: Th - 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Instructor: Kate Heslop
In this seminar we will read medieval Scandinavian literary texts where blood is important. Examples include, but are not limited to: skaldic encomium; Old Norse versions and imitations of the chansons de geste; sagas about the recent Scandinavian past (e.g. Njáls saga, Hákonar saga góða); legendary history (Saxo, the Poetic Edda, Völsunga saga); religious poetry and prose (e.g. Gyðinga saga); scientific and legal works. We will read these Scandinavian materials in a broadly comparative context that may include some consideration of the role of blood in the postmedieval (scholarly and popular) reception of Old Norse materials. As the list of texts suggests, blood is everyday, everywhere and hard to grasp, so we will also work towards some analytical tools, both by reading relevant theory, and by constructing a typology of blood’s mediation: what does blood do (what are its verbs), what does it mediate (what are its substances), how does it signify? Seminar participants will be invited to choose and present primary and secondary readings and lead parts of class meetings.
Undergraduate Courses
Scandinavian 101A | Intro to Old Norse
Location: Dwinelle B33B
Time: Mo, Wed, Fr - 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Instructor: Jonas Wellendorf
Introduces undergraduate students to the grammar of the vernacular written language of Iceland and Norway in the Middle Ages. Linguistic mastery is emphasized. By the end of the semester students should be able to read saga style Old Norse prose texts in normalized orthography with the help of a dictionary. To this end, lectures will lay out the morphology of the Old Norse language systematically and thoroughly. In addition to the lectures, much of the in-class time will be devoted to translating and close reading of extracts of Old Norse texts.
Scandinavian 123 | Viking and Medieval Scandinavia
Location: Evans 87
Time: Tu., Th., - 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Instructor: Jonas Wellendorf
Viking and Medieval Scandinavia will explore developments and trends in social structure, trade and economy, religion, political organization, culture, literature, and technology during the Viking Age and, to a lesser extent, the medieval period (c. 750–1500). Through reading and discussing both primary sources in translation and secondary scholarship, we will examine developments in the Scandinavian homelands of the Vikings—Denmark, Sweden, and Norway—as well as in the regions that were sought out and occasionally settled by Scandinavians during the Viking Age. These developments will be contextualized within the broader trends in Europe and Western Asia.
Scandinavian 180 | Special Topics in Scandinavian | Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavian Latin Literature
Location: Dwinelle 6415
Time: Tu, Th, - 9:30 am - 11:00 am
Instructor: Jonas Wellendorf
This reading course explores key examples of Latin literature produced in Scandinavia, with a primary focus on the Middle Ages while also incorporating Neo-Latin texts. We will read selections from the earliest Danish and Norwegian historians, hagiographical texts, and legal documents, alongside critical studies that examine these texts, particularly in relation to the Latin-vernacular interface. Additionally, we will study examples of neo-Latin historical, topographical and ethnographical literature, from Sweden, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. Depending on students’ research interests, Latin texts from outside Scandinavia may also be included for discussion. Final Project: The final project will consist of an annotated translation and commentary, including a bibliography, on a selected text or a portion of a longer work. Specific guidelines regarding length, annotation requirements, and research expectations will be outlined during the first half of the semester.
Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures
Undergraduate Courses
MELC 190A | Readings in Classical Ethiopic
Location: Social Sciences Building 252
Time: Tu, Th - 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Instructors: Yonatan Binyam
This course provides an introduction to the script and grammar of Ge’ez (ግዕዝ), or Classical Ethiopic. Ge’ez/Ethiopic is a Semitic language that was historically spoken in the Ethio-Eritrean highlands and the writing system utilizes a modified form of the ancient Sabaean or South Arabian script. Although it no longer constitutes a spoken language, today Ge'ez survives as the liturgical language of the Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches. In addition, the vast number of surviving Ethiopic manuscripts around the world preserve many ancient and medieval texts translated from several languages including Greek, Arabic, and Syriac. As a result, Ge'ez provides an excellent opportunity for students interested in comparative Semitics or in cross-cultural comparative literary studies. This course will introduce students to the script and grammar (morphology and syntax) of Classical Ethiopic. Students will also have the opportunity to practice what they learn by translating some excerpts from Ge'ez texts. This course represents the first half of a two-semester course. During the second semester, students will have the opportunity to build their Ge'ez vocabulary, gain a deeper understanding of Ge'ez grammar, and translate longer Ge'ez texts.
Celtic Studies
Undergraduate Courses
Celtic 168: Celtic Mythology and Oral Tradition
Location: Dwinelle 246
Time: Tu, Th - 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Instructor: Myriah Williams
A queen who is turned into a fly, swallowed, and reborn. Giants whose eyelids need to be raised with forks. Silver-handed warriors. Otherworldly quests, epic battles, and the “winning” of women. What, if anything, can tales of these figures and events tell us of Celtic mythology? Answering this question may not be as straightforward as some would hope, but it will be an aim of this class not only to introduce students to Celtic mythology as we understand it today, but also to demonstrate how recognizing what we do not know may be just as important as what we do. The ancient Celtic-speaking peoples did not leave behind texts describing their pre-Christian belief systems, making it difficult to know with certainty what these may have looked like. Instead, our evidence of Celtic mythology comes from archaeological evidence, the accounts of Classical authors, and later medieval literature and folk traditions. Each of these categories of evidence comes with its own set of difficulties, as will be discussed in this class. With a focus on medieval texts from Wales and Ireland, we will consider different approaches to understanding Celtic mythology and folklore, and will evaluate the merits of these approaches. Students will come away from this class not only with an understanding of what we know about Celtic mythology and how we know it, but also with an appreciation for what medieval audiences and redactors may have thought of this material.
French
Graduate Seminar
French 210A | Studies in Medieval Literature: Voice in Medieval French and Occitan Literature
Location: Dwinelle 4226
Time: Mon - 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Instructor: Henry Ravenhall
For Paul Zumthor, medieval literature was defined, above all, by a particular rootedness in what he called “vocalité”. Over the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, writers reflected self-consciously – and somewhat anxiously – on the instability and manipulability of voice, a concept that sat troublingly between the oral and the written, the personal and the social, the material and the immaterial, the body and mind. In this class, we’ll read a selection of the most important medieval French and Occitan texts through a theoretical focus on the problem of voice and its connection to subjectivity. We'll ask: Is voice that uncanny remainder of the body? Does it mark authorial individuality, and if so, how? Is it beyond the symbolic? In a hands-on session with manuscripts at the Bancroft Library, we'll think about how written objects can only obliquely capture a culture of the viva voce, considering: how are past voices – if indeed they are – mediated through material artefacts? Our medieval readings will be supplemented with critical and theoretical writings drawn from a range of traditions, including psychoanalysis, historicism, narratology, material culture, poststructuralism, and translation studies. No prior knowledge of medieval French or Occitan is required, as some language training will be provided. All medieval texts will be available in modern French or English translation. Students without a reading knowledge of modern French should contact the instructor. Class discussion in English.
Undergraduate Courses
French 112A | Gender, Space, and Diversity in Medieval French Literature
Location: Dwinelle 243
Time: Mo, Wed, Fr: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Instructor: Henry Ravenhall
All work in this class is conducted in French. What makes a human? How is gender constructed? How might sex, class, and race be connected? Medieval literature presents intriguing, sometimes challenging, answers to these important questions. This course examines a range of early texts in French that address, respectively, the animal-human divide, the gender binary, sexuality and play, race and power, and feminist community-building. You will learn how to read medieval texts in their original forms, and you will get to handle manuscripts in the impressive collections at the Bancroft Library. No prior knowledge of medieval language is required as all texts will be available in modern French translation.
History
Graduate Seminars
History 280F | Advanced Studies: Sources/General Literature of the Several Fields | Advanced Research Seminar in Premodern South Asian History
Location: Dwinelle 2231
Time: Wed, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Instructor: Abhishek Kaicker, Munis D Faruqui
This course combines the intensive critique of recent trends in the study of South Asian history, focused particularly on the medieval and early modern periods, with instruction in archival work in premodern history. Over the course of the seminar we will read and discuss recent works in South Asian history on selected topics and themes, ranging broadly from the 13th to the 19th centuries. Additionally, some part of every seminar will be devoted to instruction in methods of archival research, including working with bibliographic materials. Students will submit weekly critical responses and engage in preparatory exercises for individual archival research. This course does not presume previous instruction in South Asian history, but will be helpful particularly for students who plan to take qualifying exams in South Asian history or are preparing for research in archives related to the region.
History 285F | Research Seminars: Asia | Advanced Research Seminar in Premodern South Asian History
Location: Dwinelle 2231
Time: Wed, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Instructor: Abhishek Kaicker, Munis D Faruqui
This course combines the intensive critique of recent trends in the study of South Asian history, focused particularly on the medieval and early modern periods, with instruction in archival work in premodern history. Over the course of the seminar we will read and discuss recent works in South Asian history on selected topics and themes, ranging broadly from the 13th to the 19th centuries. Additionally, some part of every seminar will be devoted to instruction in methods of archival research, including working with bibliographic materials. Students will submit weekly critical responses and engage in preparatory exercises for individual archival research. This course does not presume previous instruction in South Asian history, but will be helpful particularly for students who plan to take qualifying exams in South Asian history or are preparing for research in archives related to the region.
Undergraduate Courses
History 103B |Proseminar - Problems in Interpretation in the Several Fields of History: Europe | Inquisition: Power and Faith in the Middle Ages
Location: Dwinelle 2303
Time: Wed, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Instructor: Robert Iafolla
In the 1230’s, Pope Gregory IX used his authority as head of the Church to initiate an “inquisition into heretical depravity” in order to combat the spread of religious beliefs he considered heretical in southern France. In its most basic sense, inquisition simply means a form of conducting criminal investigations and trials, and Pope Gregory sought to use this procedure alongside other anti-heresy efforts. But the use of inquisitorial procedure soon spread far beyond this limited mission, and inquisition as a method of identifying and punishing religious nonconformity would remain part of many European societies for centuries afterward. It shaped how authorities defined the boundaries between orthodoxy and heresy, determined who belonged within Christian society, and decided the fate of those who allegedly transgressed its norms. We will look at the functioning of inquisitorial structures and procedures, how inquisition was used to identify saints, as well as sinners, and the role it played in facing, and sometimes helping to manufacture, new “threats” to Christian society. Finally, we'll move beyond the Middle Ages to look at the Spanish Inquisition, and the enduring influence of inquisition into the modern era.
History 100B |Special Topics in European History: Medieval Warfare
Location: Wheeler 204
Time: Mo, Wed, Fr - 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Instructor: Robert Iafolla
Over the roughly one thousand year timespan of the Middle Ages, warfare was an integral part of European societies and played a key role in shaping those societies. To this day, warlike images such as armored knights on horseback, imposing stone castles, or Viking longships sailing over the horizon, come to mind when we imagine the medieval period. But these enduring images are only snapshots from a long and dynamic story. From the downfall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century to the widespread adoption of gunpowder in the sixteenth century, warfare in medieval Europe underwent major changes in technology, tactics, organization and leadership. At the same time, the changing nature of war and conflict had a profound influence on European society and culture, while the burdens it could place on non-combatants became even heavier. This course will explore these aspects of medieval warfare in Europe across four distinct eras. It begins with the transition from ancient to medieval warfare in the aftermath of the collapse of the Roman Empire. Then, it moves on to the challenge posed by outside invaders in the ninth and tenth centuries and the new “feudal” era which followed. After that, the class moves on to the increased complexity and scale of late medieval warfare from the thirteenth century onward, before finishing with the impact of gunpowder weapons and the dawn of the “military revolution” in the sixteenth century.