Admission Requirements
Advanced knowledge of the Old English language and culture.
Description
The worship of saints constituted an important aspect of the religious life in Anglo-Saxon England. This cult not only expressed itself in pilgrimages and artful reliquaries, but especially in the literary genre of saints’ lies. Early medieval England particularly stands out for the relatively many native saints that were honoured with a life. In this course we will study a number of Old English saints’ lives, both in prose (mainly written by Ælfric) and in poetry. Various kinds of saints will be discussed: male and (especially) female, martyrs and confessors, early Christian and contemporaneous English. Questions that will be addressed include: in what respect did the lives of female saints differ from those of male saints? What effect did the application of the traditional poetic style have on the representation of female saints/ To what extent are lives stereotypical or individual? Was the worship of saints purely religiously or also politically or economically motivated? in short, the texts will be read against the cultural-historical background of Anglo-Saxon England.
Course Objectives
Students will be familiar with complex verse and sophisticated prose saint’s lives, partly by translating certain passages and partly by reading them more globally. They will be familiar with the mainstream of critical response. They will be able to report orally on certain approaches and to write an independent, critical essay on one or more saints’ lives.
Timetable
The timetable will be available from July 1 onwards on the Department website.
Mode of Instruction
Two-hour seminar per week.
Assessment
Class presentation and participation (20%); final paper or project (80%).
Blackboard
This course is supported by Blackboard.
Reading list
Paul E. Szarmach, ed., Holy Men and Holy Women: Old English Prose Saints’ Lives and Their Contexts (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1996)
Mary Nelson, Judith, Juliana, and Elene. Three Fighting Saints (New York, etc.: Peter Lang, 1991)
Leslie A. Donovan, Women Saints’ Lives in Old English Prose. Translated from Old English with Introduction, Notes and Interpretative Essay (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999)
G.I. Needham, ed., Lives of Three Anglo-Saxon Saints. Exeter Medieval Texts (Exeter: University of Exeter, 1976)
Recommended: J.R. Clark Hall, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Medieval Reprints for Teaching 14 (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1984)
Registration
Students can register through uSis.
Contact information
English Department, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 103c. Phone: 071 527 2144, or mail: english@hum.leidenuniv.nl