CMLT C321

Topic: Literature by Women in Medieval Europe
Meets with C523

This course explores the rich tradition of texts authored by women
during the Middle Ages in Europe.  Our primary readings will come from
the ninth through fifteenth centuries and were written in France,
Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and England.  The readings
will include secular and spiritual texts from a wide range of genres:
lyrics, plays, letters, vision accounts, narrative fictions, and
autobiographies.  The list of authors includes “saints” and
“heretics,” members of royal courts and members of the merchant class,
mothers and nuns: Dhuoda, Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, Marie of France,
Heloise, Heldegard of Bingen, the trobairitz, Mechthild of Magdeburg,
Hadewijch of Brabant, Marguerite Porete, Bridget of Sweden, Catherine
of Siena, Julian of Norwich, Christine of Pisano, Margery Kempe, and
Florencia Pinar.  In each case, we will examine the text from several
perspectives and address such issues as the position of medieval women
in relation to literary, civic, and theological authority; the role of
literacy in medieval definitions of authorship; and the treatment of
gender within the individual text.

Requirements: Students in C321 will take midterm and final exams and
write an analytical essay of 5-7 pages on a topic related to one or
more of our primary texts.  Students in C523 will take the midterm
exam, in addition to preparing a class presentation and completing a
research paper of 20-25 pages.