Study information

Encountering the Other in Medieval Literature

Module titleEncountering the Other in Medieval Literature
Module codeEAS3182
Academic year2024/5
Credits30
Module staff

Dr Naomi Howell (Convenor)

Duration: Term123
Duration: Weeks

11

Number students taking module (anticipated)

15

Module description

The Middle Ages have long been (sometimes unfairly) associated with religious intolerance, racism, and misogyny; nationalist and populist movements now look back to the medieval period as lost age of cultural purity. In fact, medieval people responded to diversity in diverse ways. This module explores encounters between different cultural and social groups in medieval literature, including texts both by and about medieval Jews, Muslims, and women. We will read stories of travel, love, and warfare which demonstrate the range of ways in which medieval people encountered the other. Whilst centrally focused on the literature of the twelfth through fifteenth centuries, the texts on the syllabus include both classical models (Virgil’s Aeneid) and relevant early modern works by Marlowe and Shakespeare.

Module aims - intentions of the module

  • As well as studying individual texts in depth, we will aim to examine links between texts, and between texts and their social and cultural contexts. The module will introduce you to primary research materials, including digitised medieval manuscripts and facsimile editions of medieval books. The module aims to develop research skills and interpretative methods that will help you to analyse texts from all periods of history and to situate them in various historical contexts. Research for essays and presentations will give you the opportunity to develop your own approaches to the syllabus texts and other materials.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 1. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of specific authors and texts from the classical to the early modern period, centring on the Middle Ages
  • 2. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of the literary and cultural history of the high medieval period
  • 3. Demonstrate a capacity to make detailed and theoretically informed connections between premodern literature and the social, sexual, and political issues of its period

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 4. Demonstrate an advanced ability to analyse the literature of an earlier era and to relate its concerns and its modes of expression to its historical context
  • 5. Demonstrate an advanced ability to understand and analyse relevant theoretical ideas, and to apply these ideas to literary texts

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 6. Through module participation and the assessed presentation, demonstrate advanced communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
  • 7. Through essay writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, an advanced capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
  • 8. Through research for module work and assesments work, demonstrate advanced proficiency in information retrieval and analysis

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

The syllabus emphasises the following themes:

  • The medieval reception and re-imagining of classical narratives involving encounters with the Other, some of which inflect our understanding of the non-Christian East to this day. Works studied in the first weeks of the module include Virgil’s Aeneid, the Roman d’Eneas, Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women, Marlowe’s Dido Queen of Carthage, and various versions of the Romance of Alexander.
  • Encounters with the marvellous or miraculous Other, including the non-human, animals, and the dead. Texts include the lais of Marie de France and the Middle English poem St Erkenwald.
  • Danger and Dialogue: encounters between Christians and Jews, Muslims, Mongols, and others, in works that reveal moments of cooperation and friendship as well as suspicion and violence; we will read texts including Chaucer’s Prioress’s Tale, Mandeville’s Travels , William of Rubruck’s Mission to Asia, and Melech Artus, a Hebrew romance of King Arthur.
  • The ‘Erotic Other’ in tales of cross-cultural romance, including Floire and Blancheflor, Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, and its medieval parallels.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
392610

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled learning and teaching33Seminars
Scheduled learning and teaching6Screenings
Guided independent study33Study group preparation and meetings
Guided independent study70Seminar preparation (individual)
Guided independent study158Research, reading, essay preparation

Summative assessment (% of credit)

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
75025

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Presentation2515 Minutes1-7, 8Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up
Essay251500 words1-5, 7-8Written feedback plus tutorial follow-up
Essay503000 words1-5, 7-8Written feedback plus tutorial follow-up
0
0
0

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
PresentationPresentation materials and 750-word reflective piece OR 1500-word essay1-5, 7-8Mitigation deadline or Referral/Deferral period
Essay 1500 wordsEssay 1500 words1-5, 7-8Referral/Deferral period
Essay 3000 wordsEssay (3000 words)1-5, 7-8Referral/Deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

Primary texts:

  • Geoffrey Chaucer, The Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D. Benson, 3rd edn. (OUP, 1987)
  • John Mandeville, The Book of Marvels and Travels, ed. Anthony Bale (OUP, 2012)
  • The Lais of Marie de France, ed. and tr. Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby, 2nd edn. (Penguin, 1999)
  • William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, ed. John Wilders (Arden, 1995)

You should purchase copies of the primary texts, however please note that the above texts are indicated reading only and that specific texts may change from year to year. See the module ELE page for an up-to-date reading list.

Other texts will be provided in a module reading pack.

You do not need to purchase the Arden edition of Shakespeare recommended above. Other good scholarly editions are available and you may, for instance, already own a collected works such as the Riverside or Norton.

Selected secondary texts:

  • Geraldine Heng, Empire of Magic: Medieval Romance and the Politics of Cultural Fantasy (Columbia, 2003)
  • Iain Macleod Higgins, Writing East: The “Travels” of Sir John Mandeville (Penn, 1997)
  • Sharon Kinoshita and Peggy McCracken, Marie de France: A Critical Companion (D. S. Brewer, 2012)
  • Amin Malouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes (Saqi, 2012)
  • Elisabeth Van Houts, Memory and Gender in Medieval Europe 900-1200 (Toronto, 1999)

Reading for week 1:

  • Selections from Virgil’s Aeneid and the Roman d’Eneas; these will be available on ELE before the beginning of the teaching term.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

Key words search

romance, Chaucer, Arthur, Saracen, Jewish, travel, Mandeville, gender, knight, chivalry, medieval, middle ages, Shakespeare, bodies, objects

Credit value30
Module ECTS

15

Module pre-requisites

None

Module co-requisites

None

NQF level (module)

6

Available as distance learning?

No

Origin date

12/02/2018

Last revision date

27/07/2020