I'M PLACING HERE A LINK TO THE PICTURES I TOOK OF ALL OF YOU YESTERDAY.

The purpose of this course will be to introduce students to some of the major aspects of women's experiences and roles in European society from approximately 500 to 1500 A.D. The course is divided into four segments, each addressing a particular topic in depth. Since class discussion of daily reading assignments is a major part of the work of the course, the class grade will represent 20% of the final grade. In addition there will be three papers, due on the second, third, and fourth Mondays of January, plus an in-class final examination on Friday, January 31. Each of these written assignments will represent 20% of the grade.

The written assignments will be responses to questions on the readings, about four to five pages long. Questions will be handed out in Friday's class, with papers being due the following Monday. Because of the pace of an interim course, there can be no provision for late papers. The class grade will be based on attendance and on participation in class discussions, but as this is a large class, those of you who feel you do not get an opportunity to speak may opt to send me comments on the reading through e-mail. These should be sent to my e-mail address, given above.

The following books will be available at the bookstore:

• Bonnie S. Anderson and Judith P. Zinsser, A History of their Own: Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present, volume I , Revised Edition (Harper & Row, 2000).
• Jacqueline Murray, ed. Love, Marriage, and Family in the Middle Ages: A Reader (Broadview Press, 2001)
• Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff, ed., Medieval Women's Visionary Literature (Oxford Univ. Press, 1986).

 Part I: Foundations

Jan. 6

• Introductory lecture

Jan. 7

• Anderson/Zinsser I.2 Inherited Traditions: Principle Influences
• Murray 1 The Biblical Foundations
• Murray 2 The Germanic Foundations
• Murray 3 Theological Foundations: Augustine On the Good of Marriage
• Murray 4 Theological Foundations: Augustine on Marriage as a Social Institution
• Murray 5 Legal Foundations: The Burgundian Laws
• Murray 6 Legal Foundations: Anglo-Saxon Laws

Jan. 8

• Anderson/Zinsser I.3 Traditions Subordinating Women
• Murray 38 An Anti-Matrimonial Diatribe
• Murray 46 Marriage Among the Franks
• Murray 50 An Unhappy Marriage: Godelieve of Ghistelle
• Murray 65 Jerome on the Education of Girls

Jan. 9

• Anderson/Zinsser I.4 Traditions Empowering Women
• Petroff I Women in the Early Church: St. Perpetua and St. Macrina
• Murray 36 An Early Christian View of Husbands and Wives

Jan. 10

• Anderson/Zinsser I.5 The Effects of Christianity
• Petroff II Holy Women and the Christianizing of Europe: read introduction to the chapter, St. Leoba, and Hrotsvit of Gandersheim
• Murray 7 Pastoral Foundations: The Penitential of Theodore
• Murray 37 Tertullian: To His Wife
• Murray 59 Gregory the Great on Sex, Childbirth, and Purity

 Part II: Women, Love, and Marriage in the Feudal Order

Jan. 13

• Introductory lecture
• FIRST PAPER DUE

Jan. 14

• Anderson/Zinsser II.1 From Warrior's Wife to Noblewoman: The Ninth to the Seventeenth Centuries
• Murray 23 The Theology of Marriage: Peter Lombard's Sentences
• Murray 24 A Woman's View of Marriage: Hildegard of Bingen's Scivias
• Murray 25 The Good of Marriage: Etienne de Fougeres
• Murray 26 Ecclesiastical Legislation: The Fourth Lateran Council (1215)
• Murray 27 Episcopal Legislation: The Statutes of Salisbury (1217-1219)
• Murray 28 The Parish Priest and the Rules of Marriage

Jan. 15

• Anderson/Zinsser II.2 Constants of the Noblewoman's Live
• Murray 34 The Liturgy of Marriage
• Murray 35 Popular Customs and Marriage Celebrations
• Murray 70 Parents, Children, and Child-rearing
• Murray 71 A Happy Childhood: Jean Froissart

Jan. 16

• Anderson/Zinsser II.3 Power and Vulnerability
• Murray 12 The Ideology of Courtly Love
• Murray 17 A Debate about Love and Marriage: The Owl and the Nightingale
• Murray 52 Duplicitous Wives and Illegitimate Heirs
• Murray 54 Feudal Marriage

Jan. 17

• Anderson/Zinsser II.4 The New Flowering of Ancient Traditions
• Murray 13 Troubadour Love Poetry
• Murray 14 Goliardic Love Songs
• Murray 16 Adulterous Love: The Story of Equitan
• Murray 45 The Fifteen Joys of Marriage

 Part III: Women in the Towns and Countryside

Jan. 20

• Introductory lecture
• SECOND PAPER DUE

Jan. 21

• Anderson/Zinsser II.1 The Constants of the Peasant Woman's World: The Ninth to the Twentieth Centuries
• Murray 43 A Popular View of Marriage: The Vision of Piers the Plowman
• Murray 47 Counting Families in the Ninth Century
• Murray 51 A Lord Asserts his Rights: Gerald of Auriallac
• Murray 60 A Medical Discussion of Childbirth

Jan. 22

• Anderson/Zinnser II.2 Sustaining the Generations
• Anderson/Zinsser II.3 The Extraordinary
• Murray 55 A Fraudulent Marriage Agreement (1280)
• Murray 56 Marriage Cases in Village Courts

Jan. 23

• Anderson/Zinsser V.1 The Townswoman's Daily Life: The Twelfth to the Seventeenth Centuries
• Anderson/Zinsser V.2 Dangers and Remedies
• Murray 57 Housing and Households
• Murray 61 Description of a Birthing Chamber
• Murray 62 Prayers for Women in Childbirth
• Murray 70 Parents, Children, and Child-rearing

Jan. 24

• Anderson/Zinsser V.3 The World of Commercial Capitalism: The Thirteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries
• Anderson/Zinsser V.4 The Invisible and Visible Bonds of Misogyny
• Murray 18 Abelard and Heloise
• Murray 58 Domestic Violence

Part IV: The Spirituality of Medieval Women

Jan. 27

• Introductory lecture
• THIRD PAPER DUE

Jan. 28

• Anderson/Zinsser III.1 The Patterns of Power and Limitation: The Tenth to the Seventeenth Centuries
• Petroff III Visionaries of the Early Twelfth Century

Jan. 29

• Anderson/Zinsser III.2 Authority Within the Institutional Church
• Petroff VI Women and Spirituality in Medieval Italy (half the class)
• Petroff VIII Women Writers of the Late Fourteenth Century (other half)

Jan. 30

• Anderson/Zinsser III.3 Authority Outside the Institutional Church
• Petroff V Beguine Spirituality and the Convent of Helfta (half the class)
• Petroff VII Women, Heresy, and Holiness in Early Fourteenth-Century France (other half)

Jan. 31

• FINAL EXAMINATION

Most recent update: January 2, 2003

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