Module ENGL2531: LITERATURE IN ENGLAND, 1066-1348: FROM CONQUEST TO PLAGUE (SPECIAL TOPIC)

Department: English Studies

ENGL2531: LITERATURE IN ENGLAND, 1066-1348: FROM CONQUEST TO PLAGUE (SPECIAL TOPIC)

Prerequisites

• Any Single or Joint Honours finalist student wishing to take this Special Topic module must have satisfactorily completed the required number of core modules. Combined Honours and Outside Honours students must have satisfactorily completed either two Level 1 core introductory modules, or at least one Level 1 core module and one further lecture based module in English at Level 2

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• This module is designed as an introduction to English literature and culture between 1066 and 1348 which was a golden age, not just for medieval art, architecture and music, but also for medieval literature.
• It will present a sample of texts written in English, French and/or Latin, focusing to some extent on the continuities and "competition" between them as an interesting phenomenon in itself - an aspect of the richly multicultural nature of high medieval England. In an English context, this is often obscured by the fact that English was not the only literary language commonly used in this period, or even the dominant one; and, as a result, early Middle English literature has too often been seen as either a victim of competition from Latin and Anglo-Norman (the dialect of French spoken in England) or as a mere interlude between the Anglo-Saxon period and the age of Chaucer.

Content

• This module addresses texts written in English, French and Latin – but students taking this course will be given access to all of them in translation (and are not expected to study any of them in their original form, though not discouraged from doing so either). The selected texts include: the extraordinary twelfth-century biography of one of the most formidable female personalities of the Middle Ages, the anchoress Christina of Markyate; the beautiful illuminated manuscript known as the St Albans Psalter (now in Hildesheim, Germany) – a manuscript that Christina probably once owned – and its version of one of the seminal texts in French literature, the Life of St Alexis; some Anglo-Norman romances – including the Roman de Horn, widely regarded as one of the most distinctive and effective of all insular romances, and Gui de Warewic, the “ancestral romance” of the Earls of Warwick; the Battle of Hastings as reported in the Song on the Battle of Hastings and on the Bayeux Tapestry (a “masterpiece of spin, in every sense of the word”); a selection from the compendium of ghost-stories, courtly satire and other curiosities assembled by twelfth-century Anglo-Welsh raconteur, Walter Map; a group of thirteenth-century prose-texts (the AB-group) designed as reading-matter for religious women, which constitute, in effect, the first flourishing of Middle English prose; British legendary history (including the legend of King Arthur) as first formulated by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 1130s, and also in a thirteenth-century English version by a certain “La3amon”; an interesting ‘local’ writer – the prolific Lawrence of Durham – who witnessed Durham’s struggle against virtual annexation by the Scots during the first English Civil War (of the twelfth century).

Learning Outcomes

• On completion of this module, students will be able to demonstrate: detailed knowledge of a selection of texts written in England between the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Plague of 1348; insight into debates about national, class and linguistic identities in this period; appreciation of significant historical, social, political and cultural contexts.

• Students will develop an informed awareness of relevant critical and analytical frameworks.

• Students on this course will be expected to exhibit independent thought and judgement in their essays. Critical reasoning, an ability to offer cogent arguments, as well as word-processing, time-management, electronic data access and information organizational skills, are all required for this module.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The module is taught through seminars, which encourage collective responsiveness through interactive discussion as well as the development of independent, individual thought.
• The consultation session with the seminar leader before the first essay allows for further, guided exploration of individual ideas and arguments.
• Assessed essays give students the opportunity for focused independent study, permitting them to explore their own ideas and insights as well as demonstrating a requisite knowledge of the subject.
• The written feedback that is provided after the first assessed essay allows students to reflect on examiners' comments, giving students the opportunity to improve their work for the second essay.
• Typically, directed learning may include assigning student(s) an issue, theme or topic that can be independently or collectively explored within a framework and/or with additional materials provided by the tutor. This may function as preparatory work for presenting their ideas or findings (sometimes electronically) to their peers and tutor in the context of a seminar.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Before the first essay, students will have an individual consultation session in which they are entitled to show their seminar leader a list of points relevant to the essay and receive oral comment on these points. Students may also, if they wish, discuss their ideas for the second essay at this meeting.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University