Fordham University

History (hsga) 7025, Fall 2005

Title 

Proseminar: Medieval Religious Cultures

Credits

4

Instructor

Richard F. Gyug

Dealy Hall 628, tel. (718)-817-3933; FMH 405, tel. (718)-817-4655

gyug@fordham.edu

office hours: TWR, 10:00-2:00 in FMH 405, or by appointment

Format

Weekly meetings/discussions, Monday 5:30-8:00, Dealy 107

Description

The proseminar provides an introduction to significant issues in the area and the basic tools for research. Students who continue in the linked seminar in the spring 2006, hsga 8025, will write research papers on selected topics in the area.

 

Major topics and debates in the study of medieval religious cultures will be considered through works on the cult of saints, popular religion, devotional practices, religious identities, and questions of dissent. In addition to introductions to sub-disciplines such as hagiography and liturgy, research methods and problems will be considered through the close reading of selected primary sources. Most classes will include Latin translation exercises.

 

Course Texts (although all the texts for the course will be on the reserve shelves, the following will not be available on ERes, and you will need to borrow, copy or buy them)


John Arnold,
Belief and Unbelief in Medieval Europe (2005) ISBN 340807865 --- $24.95


Peter Brown, The Rise of Western Christendom, 2nd edn. (2003) ISBN 631221387 --- $29.95


Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars, 2nd edn. (2005) ISBN 0300108281 --- $12.95


Aviad M. Kleinberg, Prophets in the Their Own Country (1997 reprint [1992]) ISBN 226439712 --- $14.00

Lester K. Little,  Benedictine Maledictions (1996 reprint [1993]) ISBN 801481139 --- $19.99
Barbara Newman,  God and the Goddesses (2003) ISBN 812219112 --- $24.95
Jean-Claude Schmitt,  Ghosts in the Middle Ages (1998 [orig. Fr. edn. 1994]) ISBN 226738884 --- $18
Miri Rubin,  Corpus Christi (1991) ISBN 52143805 --- $31.99
Trans. B. A. Windeatt, The Book of Margery Kempe (2000) ISBN 0140432515 --- $10.30


Course Outline (the readings for the first three weeks are listed below; specific assignments for the remaining classes will be distributed several weeks before each)

Introduction and Historiography

Wed 7 Sept

John Van Engen, “The Christian Middle Ages as an Historiographical Problem,” The American Historical Review 91.3 (June 1986): 519-552 [electronic journal];

John Van Engen, “The Future of Medieval Church History,” Church History 71.3 (September 2002): 492-522 [electronic journal].

Mon 12 Sept

Peter Brown, The Rise of Western Christendom, 2nd edition (2003) [course text];

Egeria’s Travels [ERes];

selection from Eulogius, Memoriale sanctorum (PL 115)

Mon 19 Sept

John Bossy, “The Mass as a Social Institution, 1200-1700,” Past and Present 100 (1983): 29-61 [electronic journal];

John Bossy, Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (1985), part 1 [ERes];

John Arnold, Belief and Unbelief in Medieval Europe (2005) [course text]

Translation: Eulogius, Memoriale sanctorum (PL 115)

The Cult of Saints

Mon 26 Sept, Mon 3 Oct, Mon 17 Oct

No class 10 Oct (Columbus Day)

Studies or selections from them:

I. N. Wood, The Missionary Life (2001)

Barbara Abou-el-Haj, The Medieval Cult of Saints (1994)

Cynthia Hahn, Portrayed in the Heart (2001)

Aviad M. Kleinberg, Prophets in the Their Own Country (1992)

Sources:

Bede, The Lives of The Holy Abbots

Life of Burchard Bishop of Worms

Cantigas de Santa Maria

Lives of St. Francis

Translation exercises

Images, Signs and Belief

Mon 24 Oct, Mon 31 Oct, Mon 7 Nov, Mon 14 Nov

Studies or selections from them:

Isabel Moreira, Dreams, Visions, and Spiritual Authority in Merovingian Gaul (2000)

Barbara Newman, God and the Goddesses (2003)

Jean-Claude Schmitt, Ghosts in the Middle Ages (1998 [1994])

Nancy Caciola, Discerning Spirits (2003)

Sources:

Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend

Translation exercises

Pastoralia, Liturgy and Popular Religion

Mon 21 Nov, Mon 28 Nov, Mon 5 Dec, Mon 12 Dec, Wed 14 Dec

Studies or selections from them:

Peter Cramer, Baptism and Change in the Early Middle Ages (1993)

Lester K. Little, Benedictine Maledictions (1993; reprint edition 1996)

André Vauchez, The Laity in the Middle Ages (1993 [orig. French ed.1987])

Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi (1991)

Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars, 2nd edn. (2005)

Sources:

Gregory the Great, Pastoral Care

John T. McNeill and Helena M. Gamer, Medieval Handbooks of Penance

Barcelona diocesan registers

The Book of Margery Kempe

Translation exercises