M.A. Medieval British Studies

HST922: Belief and Disbelief in Medieval Britain

30 credits

This course is available as part of the M.A. in Medieval British Studies

Course tutor: Dr Helen Nicholson, Cardiff School of History, Archaeology and Religion

Aims

The aim of this module is to introduce students to different forms of religious experience and expression, and to examine the motivating factors and social roles of various forms of religious expression and protest during this period.

Students will also apply their knowledge of the problems of historical interpretation in using various contemporary sources.
 

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the module a student should be expected to be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding:
Students will acquire:

• A knowledge of various forms of religious belief, expression and practice, including scepticism and criticism, during this period.

• An appreciation of the potential value of the various forms of evidence available to the social historian. The principal form of evidence used will be literary, but students will be encouraged to use art and archaeological evidence where appropriate.

• An understanding of the need to interpret the literary record and other forms of evidence, and appreciation of how historians and others set about doing so.

• An understanding of how our knowledge of the past is derived and constructed.

Skills: 
Students will acquire:

• Critical and interpretative skills in dealing with the written record.

• An ability to use and interpret different written and visual sources in conjunction with one another.

• The ability to reflect on the methods deployed by historians and on the limitations of the evidence.

• The assessed essay will enable students to develop further their communication skills in the construction of a sustained piece of written work. By taking part in seminar discussion students will also develop their oral communication skills and their ability to mount a critical argument about evidence they have encountered.

Course contents

The course will begin by examining the ‘standard’ of traditional monasticism, through the personal record of some of those involved in it. It will then move on to consider the religious reform movements of the eleventh and twelfth century, with the lives of some of its leading figures. It will then consider areas traditionally considered to be ‘outside’ the religious life: those who protested about the Church and conventional religion; the religious life and concepts of lay people, including pilgrimage and heresy. The course will conclude with a consideration of medieval witchcraft and associated practices such as astrology and alchemy, a mixture of religious belief, superstition and basic science.

1. ‘Conventional’ religious life: monasticism.

2. Hermits and anchoresses.

3. Protest and anticlericalism.

4. Lay piety.

5. The Grail legend – an expression of religious belief?

6. Heresy.

7. Witchcraft, alchemy, astrology and ‘pseudo-science’.

Teaching methods

One two-hour class per week for 10 weeks. The class will involve seminar-type discussion of the themes. Students will be expected to prepare material in advance of classes. Students will be encouraged to search for evidence themselves and to work on their own initiative.

Assessment

The module will be examined by an essay of 4,000 words.

Select Bibliography

Detailed reading lists for specific topics will be distributed during the course. The following is merely an indicative list of some key texts:

• Jocelin of Brakelond, Chronicle of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, trans. D. Greenway and J. Sayers (Oxford, 1989)

• Walter Daniel, The Life of Ailred of Rievaulx, ed. and trans. F. M. Powicke (London, 1950)

• The Life of Christina of Markyate, trans. C. Talbot (Oxford, 1987)

• Felix of Crowland, Life of St Guthlac, trans. B. Colgrave (Cambridge, 1956)

• Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium, trans. M. R. James, C. N. L. Brooke and R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1983)

• Anglo-Norman Political Songs, trans. I. Aspin (Oxford, 1953)

• John of Salisbury, Policraticus, trans. C. Nederman (Cambridge, 1990)

• The Book of Margery Kempe, trans. B. A. Windeatt (Harmondsworth, 1985)

• The English Writings of Richard Rolle, Hermit of Hampole, ed. H. E. Allen (Oxford, 1931)

• The High Book of the Grail, trans. N. Bryant (Cambridge, 1978)

• Perceval, trans. N. Bryant (Woodbridge, 1982)

• Song of Roland, trans. G. Burgess (Harmondsworth, 1990)

• The Norwich heresy trials, 1428-31, ed. N. Tanner, Camden Society 4^th series, 20 (London, 1977)

• Selections from English Wycliffite writings, ed. A. Hudson (Toronto, 1997)

• English Wycliffite sermons, ed. A. Hudson, 5 vols (Oxford, 1983-96)

• The Sorcery trial of Alice Kyteler, ed. L. S. Davidson and J. O. Ward (Binghamton, N.Y., 1993)

Back to the course tutor

This page was created by Dr Helen Nicholson on 11 November 2004, was last updated 19 August 2010 and is valid until the end of September 2010.