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Music, Poetry, and Society at the Late Medieval French Court

Module description

Investigation of musical, literary and courtly culture within the French royal and princely milieux leads us to tackle some fascinating questions: what can art works can tell us about the courtly society from which they emerged? and, in turn, how can an understanding of social attitudes and political history inform our interpretations of the cultural products themselves?

The module aims to foster critical responses to these questions and others by studying a selection of works--literary, musical and visual, including by the great French poet and composer of the period Guillaume de Machaut--against the backdrop of some of the key points in the political and social history of fourteenth-century France.

An interdisciplinary approach is taken here that combines study of the political and social history of France in these troubled times with close engagement of selected artistic works.

You are not expected to have prior musical skills or knowledge: study of musical works will be accomplished through guided listening. Study of original foreign language texts will be through English translations. This module is especially suitable for interdisciplinary pathways.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This course aims to introduce you to the cultural production of late-Medieval France, in particular music and literature but also the visual arts, and to the multifaceted roles the arts played within late medieval society, in particular that of the French princely courts. You will learn how to engage with music from the period, as well as with literary texts and visual artifacts, and to consider how interdisciplinary approaches can enhance our understanding of these artifacts and of the historical and social contexts from which they emerged.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. To interpret different kinds of evidence relating to the arts in late medieval France and the historical and social context in which these works were produced;
• 2. Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of a range of different kinds of primary source materials, including musical and literary works, and be able to evaluate their historical value critically.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 3. After initial input from the course tutor, apply and evaluate critical approaches to the material under analysis independently.
• 4. Argue at length and in detail about an aspect of the topic, supporting the argument with evidence from primary materials and with opinions from secondary literature.
• 5. Construct a detailed argument in the appropriate register of English, marshalling a range of textual or other evidence in its support.
• 6. Use a range of critical terminology, applying it to independently researched material as well as to material introduced by the course tutor.
• 7. Access and use critically, printed and, where appropriate, electronic learning resources identified as useful by the course tutor; find independently and evaluate critically other relevant resources.

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 8. Manage own learning time and learning activities with limited guidance from module tutor.
• 9. Present information and arguments on a designated or negotiated topic to a group of listeners and respond to questions.
• 10. Adopt a critical approach to the selection and organization of a large body of material in order to produce, to a deadline, a written or oral argument of some complexity.
• 11. Using bibliographical material provided, select, plan, and carry out a programme of study leading to an essay on a chosen topic, to a specified length and deadline.

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 social function of the arts in the late middle ages
• the arts at the court of France in the early fourteenth century
• image, music, and text in the Roman de Fauvel manuscript and corruption at the court of Philippe IV
• the beginning of the Hundred Years War; Guillaume de Machaut and his royal patrons
• the Black Death and political crisis
• manuscript production in Paris
• the ascendancy of the dukes of Berry and Burgundy in the reign of Charles VI and their cultural patronage

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

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

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

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

Primary sources:

• W. Apel, ed., French Secular Compositions of the Fourteenth Century. Vol. 53/i-iii (Rome, 1972)
• R. Barton Palmer, ed., Guillaume de Machaut: The Judgment of the King of Navarre (New York and London, 1988) [edition with translation and introduction]
• L. Schrade, ed., Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century. Vol. 3 (The Works of Guillaume de Machaut)
• J. Wimsatt, W. Cable, and R. Baltzer, eds., Guillaume de Machaut. Le Jugement du Roi du Behaigne and Remède de Fortune (Athens, Georgia, 1988) [edition, with translation and introduction]

Secondary sources:

• M. Bent and A. Wathey, eds., Fauvel Studies (Oxford, 1998)
• G. Duby, France in the Middle Ages 987-1460 (Oxford, 1991)
• L. Earp, Guillaume de Machaut. A Guide to Research (New York and London, 1995)
• R. Hoppin, Medieval Music (New York and London, 1978)
• M. Jones, ed., The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 6 (Cambridge, 2000)
• F. Pleybert, Paris et Charles V. Arts et Architecture (Paris, no date)
• S. Roux, Paris in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 2009)
• R. Rouse and M. Rouse, Manuscripts and their Makers. Commerical Book Producers in Paris, 1200-1500 (2000)
• G. Small, Late Medieval France (Basingstoke, 2009)
• M. Vale, The Princely Court: Medieval Courts and Culture in North-West Europe (Oxford, 2001)
• J. Wimsatt, Chaucer and his French Contemporaries (Toronto, Buffalo and London, 1991)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1208