| Unit name | Women and Writing in the Middle Ages |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGLM0030 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Archibald |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will introduce students to the remarkable range of writing by medieval French and English women. Until a few decades ago, it was widely believed that almost no medieval women were literate or owned books. Female literacy and authorship have become very hot scholarly topics in recent years, and more and more evidence of women's use of books is being discovered. We shall look briefly at the work of women troubadours and at the letters of the star-crossed lover Heloise, but the main focus of the course will be on the enigmatic lays (or mini-romances) of Marie de France, the mystical vision of Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe's autobiographical account of her trials and travels for the love of Christ, and the narratives of Christine de Pizan (some autobiographical, some 'feminist'). These four women have some connection with England, though not all wrote in English (Marie and Christine, who wrote in French, will be studied in translation). Topics to be addressed will include women as writers, women as teachers, women as lovers, marriage in the Middle Ages, and Christian attitudes to women. Did medieval women writers question patriarchal values, or accept them? What topics could women safely write about? How might the work of women writers change our understanding of medieval society and/or medieval literature?
