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Lecturer(s)
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Course content
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Reading assignments for discussion in class will consist of selected passages of primary sources and secondary literature. Students will be provided with .pdf versions of the readings in advance. For each topic we will use one session for discussing primary sources and another session for discussing secondary literature. This first semester will explore several major topics as follows: 1. Introduction. Byzantine and western medieval narratives: ancient models, social contexts, and cultural practices. 2. Transformations of the Roman Empire: narrating confrontations with the barbarians in East and West. 3. Reflecting on early developments in the Christian Church: late antique and early medieval ecclesiastical histories. 4. Prophecies and apocalyptic visions: Pseudo-Methodius and Joachim of Fiore 5. The birth of a new historiography: perception of reality in the High Middle Ages. 6. Epic heroes: coping with the Other.
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Lecture, Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming)
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Learning outcomes
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In this course we will explore examples of historical and fictional narrative beginning with late antique compositions and extending to late medieval texts. While we will focus primarily on individual works translated from Byzantine Greek or Latin, we will also address their cross-cultural nature as well as their common ancient models. In particular, the course will address issues like the development of medieval narrative genres, the treatment of key historical events taking place in both East and West (e.g. transition from the ancient world, iconoclasm, crusades), or reader responses. The principal aims will be: 1. To explore and contextualize the major historical and fictional narratives from Late Antiquity to the late Middle Ages. 2. To introduce students to the main concepts used in the analysis of narrative accounts both historical and fictional. 3. To give students an overview of the major historical events and social processes that shaped the medieval world and investigate their treatment in narrative accounts. 4. To explore the differences and the similarities between the genres of historical writing (e.g. chronicle versus history) in both the Latin West and the Greek East. 5. To provide an account of the development of the fictional genres during the Middle Ages (e.g. novels). 6. To explore the reception of ancient historiographical models into the Greek and Latin Middle Ages
Upon the successful completion of this course students will be able to: 1. Identify the main authors and narrative works (Latin and Greek) in the Middle Ages. 2. Relate literary and cultural phenomena to broader social and political circumstances. 3. Acquire the basic instruments for the critical analysis of primary textual sources. 4. Compare and contrast cultural phenomena in both Latin West and the Greek East during the Middle Ages up until the Renaissance. 5.Trace ancient literary models in the intellectual tradition of the European Middle Ages.
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Prerequisites
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There are no prerequisites for this class. However, since the course will be taught in English, knowledge of English is necessary. Primary and secondary sources will be provided in advance in English in .pdf form. It is fine if you use a Czech translation or a translation in another language of your convenience.
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Essay, Analyssis of the Student's Portfolio
The requirements for this class are the following: 1. Regular attendance in the class. 2. Short Paper: Analysis of two primary sources (due by mid-term). 3. Class Presentation 3. Final essay
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Recommended literature
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Gaunt, Simon. (2009). Cambridge Companion to medieval French Literature. Cambridge.
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Harrington, K.P. (1998). Medieval Latin. Chicago.
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Ianziti, G. (2012). Writing History in Renaissance Italy Leonardo Bruni and the Uses of the Past. Cambridge.
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Jeffreys Elizabeth. (2009). Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford.
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Krueger, R. (2000). Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance.
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