XIDS 2100 (Section 02D): Medievalism, Prof. Micheal Crafton
Professor Name:  Micheal Crafton

Course Title : Arts and Ideas: Medievalism

Days and time of class: F 10:00-11:50

Location of class: Pafford 102; mostly online

 

 

King Arthur, The Thirteenth Warrior, Excalibur, Joan of Arc, The Name of the Rose, Camelot, The Lion in Winter, A Knight's Tale, these are titles of successful popular movies on medieval subjects.  Likewise, we could mention Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Chronicles of Narnia as very successful movies that represent the medieval in more creative ways.  The effect of the medieval world is pervasive; consider Gothic art and architecture, tapestries, illuminated books, games like Dungeons and Dragons that have lived on for decades, and lay groups like the Society for Creative Anachronism.  These things all speak to the enduring appeal of the medieval world, but the "medieval worlds" represented by these various forms of popular art are very different from each other and differ even more radically from scholarly representations of that epoch and differ still from the medieval world’s own representation of itself.  This course will attempt to survey and explore the nature of these medieval words, the scholarly ones the historians say are true and the imagined ones that we enjoy in books and at the theater.  We will use one brief history text as our scholarly guide to the history, culture, and art of the period.  With that guide we will read some medieval literature and view some modern films.

This course is an XIDS course, which is to say an interdisciplinary course, specifically, a Medieval Studies course.  Medieval Studies, like Women's Studies or American Studies, is inherently an interdisciplinary activity because to get at the medieval world one must look at art and architecture as well as history, literature, religion, and philosophy.  Medievalism, however, is that aspect of Medieval Studies that interested in the modern perceptions of the medieval word and the influence the medieval world has on the modern.  This is also largely an online course, so the class will meet on Friday mornings only three times.  The rest of the class will be conducted in online email exchanges, web space lectures, and some version of chat rooms and postings.

There will be some quizzes, tests, and some very brief writing assignments. 

 

Texts:

Lancelot by Chretien de Troyes.  Trans. Burton Raffel.  (Paperback). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.

Medieval World View by William Cook and Ronald Herzman.  2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2004.

The Song of Roland (Penguin Classics) (Paperback) by Anonymous, Glyn S. Burgess (Translator) Penguin, 1990.

 

Three films: The Thirteenth Warrior; King Arthur (2004); Name of the Rose

 

Requirements: Active engagement online discussion or postings, online quizzes and tests, short papers.

Five short papers (1-2 pages, typed, double spaced, 1 inch margins and 12 pt font) are to be reports on current art events related to the class.  In this case, you will be given a good deal of latitude on this assignment.  For those going to France the requirement can be met by writing a travel journal of the sites you visit.  For those in remaining in Georgia, you can write on any play, lecture, church service, museum exhibit, Renaissance Fair, web exhibit or other movie related to our subject. 

 

Every unit below will require the following:

            Reading the assignment

            Listening to the online lecture

            Answering the questions and posting them to me.

            Completing the test at the end of each unit.

 

Carrollton Syllabus (for France Syllabus scroll down)

 

The dates below are just my suggestions for when you could do your work.  This is a self-paced course and

so you can set your own work days.  The schedule is also there to make sure that the work matches that of

other Session II summer classes.  Although the work shall be self-paced, it all has to be completed by the final

dates and if you put the work off till then, you will not be able to complete it all.

 

Dates

Unit No.

Topics

Readings & Assignments

 

 

 

 

Unit One: Foundations and Beginnings

PowerPoint

AudioFile

June

8

M

1.1

Email Syllabus

Overview of medieval history and medievalism

The Bible

Visit the following websites:

http://eawc.evansville.edu/chronology/mepage.htm

www.learner.org/exhibits/middleages

Medieval World View, chapter 1: The Bible

 

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

Audio

Questions

 

10

W

1.2

Legacy of Classical World

Medieval World View, chapter 2: Classical Heritage

 

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

Audio

Questions

 

15

M

1.3

Early Medieval World and Early Christian Church

Medieval World View, chapter 3: Early Christianity

 

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

Audio – Part 1;  Part 2

Questions

 

 

17

W

1.4

Early Medieval Heroic Poetry

View King Arthur

King Arthur Viewing Notes

 

Old English poetry:  Deor, The Ruin, Seafarer, and Battle of Brunanburh.  Click here for poems.

 

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

Audio

Questions

Test 1

 

 

 

 

Unit Two: Early Middle Ages

 

22

M

2.1

Fall of Rome

Development of the High Church Romanesque Art

Medieval World View, chapter 5: Transition from Ancient to Medieval

 

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

PowerPoint with Audio

Audio

Questions

 

24

W

2.2

Charlemagne

Holy Roman Empire

Medieval World View, chapter 7: The First Medieval Synthesis

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

PowerPoint with Audio

Audio

Questions

 

 

29

M

2.3

Medieval Epic

Song of Roland, Read about half.

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

PowerPoint with Audio

Audio

Questions

July

1

W

2.4

Medieval Epic

Song of Roland, Finish

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

PowerPoint with Audio

Audio

Questions

 

View 13th Warrior

13th_Warrior_Viewing Notes

 

Test 2

 

 

 

 

Unit Three: High Middle Ages

 

6

M

3.1

Feudalism

Crusades

Church and Empire

Medieval World View, chapter 8: Church, State and Society

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

PowerPoint with Audio

Audio

Questions

 

8

W

3.2

Development of Courtly Love

Gothic Art

Medieval World View, chapter 9: Renaissance of the Twelfth Century

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

PowerPoint with Audio

Audio

Questions

 

13

M

3.3

Medieval Romance

Lancelot, Read about half.

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

PowerPoint with Audio

Audio

Questions

 

15

W

3.4

Romance and Gothic

Lancelot, Finish.

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

PowerPoint with Audio

Audio

Questions

 

View First Knight

First_Knight_Viewing Notes

 

Test 3

 

20

M

3.5

Waning of the Middle Ages and the Beginning of the Renaissance

Medieval World View, chapter 11: The Fourteenth Century

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

PowerPoint with Audio

Audio

Questions

 

22

W

3.6

Plague

Dark View of Medieval Period

Anticipation of Mannerist Art

Chaucer’s The Pardoner’s Tale

Reading Notes

PowerPoint

PowerPoint with Audio

Audio

Questions

 

View Name of the Rose

Name_of_the_Rose_Viewing Notes

 

27

M

 

 

 

Test 4

 

All essays are due.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

France Syllabus (or accelerated syllabus)

 

Dates

Topics

Readings & Assignments

 

 

 

Unit One: Foundations and Beginnings

June

8

M

Email Syllabus

Overview of medieval history and medievalism

The Bible

Visit the following websites:

http://eawc.evansville.edu/chronology/mepage.htm

www.learner.org/exhibits/middleages

Medieval World View, chapter 1: The Bible

 

 

9

W

Legacy of Classical World

Medieval World View, chapter 2: Classical Heritage

 

10

M

Early Medieval World and Early Christian Church

Medieval World View, chapter 3: Early Christianity

 

 

11

W

Early Medieval Heroic Poetry

View King Arthur

Old English poetry:  Deor, The Ruin, Seafarer, and Battle of Brunanburh.  Click here for poems.

Test 1

 

 

 

Unit Two: Early Middle Ages

 

 

 

 

15

M

Fall of Rome

Development of the High Church Romanesque Art

Medieval World View, chapter 5: Transition from Ancient to Medieval

 

 

16

W

Charlemagne

Holy Roman Empire

Medieval World View, chapter 7: The First Medieval Synthesis

 

 

17

M

Medieval Epic

Song of Roland, Read about half.

 

18

W

Medieval Epic

Song of Roland, Finish

View 13th Warrior

Test 2

 

 

 

Unit Three: High Middle Ages

 

22

M

Feudalism

Crusades

Church and Empire

Medieval World View, chapter 8: Church, State and Society

 

23

W

Development of Courtly Love

Gothic Art

Medieval World View, chapter 9: Renaissance of the Twelfth Century

 

24

M

Medieval Romance

Lancelot, Read about half.

 

25

W

Romance and Gothic

Lancelot, Finish.

View First Knight

Test 3

 

29

M

Waning of the Middle Ages and the Beginning of the Renaissance

Medieval World View, chapter 11: The Fourteenth Century

 

30

W

Plague

Dark View of Medieval Period

Anticipation of Mannerist Art

Chaucer’s The Pardoner’s Tale

View Name of the Rose

July

27

M

 

 

Test 4

All essays are due.