3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

Love and war; two forces that brought people together and drove them apart. What did these concepts mean in the medieval world? How were they expressed? What role did love play in binding people, families, and kingdoms together, guiding their motivations, connecting them to the divine? How did war – whether intensive battles as we encounter in the Song of Roland or prolonged campaigns during the crusades – divide people, create categories of difference, force migrations, and change the shape of polities? How were love and war linked? We will read a series of primary texts covering some of the major genres of medieval writing including chanson de geste, romance, poetry, and memoir, as a lens through which to answer these questions. Together we will read a series of medieval texts in their historical context, probing how people used storytelling, sentiment, memories and personal experience to navigate their worlds. Designed as a freshman seminar, the course exposes students to a variety of historical methods, close-reading and critical analysis, with an emphasis on developing critical writing skills.