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Department of History The University of Chicago
Autumn 2003
What did it mean to be religious in medieval Europe? This course will consider this question from two main perspectives. On the one hand, we will study certain fundamental beliefs and practices of medieval Christians, including devotion to Christ and the saints, participation in the liturgy, the study of the Bible, and concern for the afterlife. On the other hand, we will examine the way in which these beliefs and practices were articulated and, often, challenged within European society, both institutionally and experientially. Our goal will be to come to an appreciation of the way in which beliefs, practices, institutions and experience interrelate in shaping both the self-perceptions of the members of a society and the structures of society itself.
Required readings will be taken from the following books
John Shinners, ed., Medieval Popular Religion 1000-1500: A Reader (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 1997). [BR252.M42 1997] Elizabeth Spearing, ed., Medieval Writings on Female Spirituality (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 2002). [BX2353.M43 2002] Vernon J. Bourke, ed., The Essential Augustine (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1964-1974). [ISBN 0-915144-07-7] Honorius Augustodunensis, The Seal of Blessed Mary, trans. Amelia Carr (Toronto: Peregrina Publishing, 1991). [ISBN 0920669-182] Hugh of Poitiers, The Vézelay Chronicle, ed. and trans. John Scott and John O. Ward (Binghamton, N.Y.: Pegasus Paperbacks, 1992). [BX2615.V49 H840 1992]
Bernard Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, 2nd ed. (London: Edward Arnold, 2003). [first edition BR252.H340 1986] Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England 1400-1580 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992). [BR742.D840 1992] William J. Diebold, Word and Image: An Introduction to Early Medieval Art (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2000). [N7850.D53 2000] R.W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1970). [BR244.S727]
Course Requirements Participation in class discussion 10% Textual analysis (4-5 pages, due October 20) 20% Mid-term essay (6-8 pages, due November 17) 30% Final essay (8-10 pages, due December 10) 40%
Reading and Discussion Assignments
September 29 Introduction
October 1 What is/was (medieval) religion?*John Van Engen, “The Christian Middle Ages as an Historiographical Problem,” The American Historical Review 91.3 (June 1986): 519-552 [http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=5602037&db=aph] or [JSTOR] *John Van Engen, “The Future of Medieval Church History,” Church History 71.3 (September 2002): 492-522 [http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=7411741&db=aph]
Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 1-8 Southern, Western Society and the Church, pp. 15-23
October 6 What did it mean to be a Christian?*Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 1-63, 321-34, 391-94
Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 1-14, 37-49, 68-83, 104-111, 132-41 Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 53-87 Diebold, Word and Image, pp. 1-69
October 8 In the beginning, God created… *Bourke, Essential Augustine, pp. 43-46, 58-66, 98-120 *Pseudo-Dionysius, “The Divine Names,” chap. 4, in The Complete Works, trans. Colm Lubheid (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), pp. 71-96 [BR65.D6E50 1987] *Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 67-72, 471-90
Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 87-95, 174-78
October 13 Adam and Eve (Body and Soul) *Bourke, Essential Augustine, pp. 46-57, 67-97 *Spearing, Medieval Writings on Female Spirituality, pp. 9-26 (Hildegard), 75-106 (Christina the Astonishing and Mary of Oignies) *Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 175-77, 195-200, 229-37
Jeffrey Hamburger, “The Visual and the Visionary: The Image in Late Medieval Monastic Devotions,” in The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany (New York: Zone Books, 1998), pp. 111-48, 502-10 [NK1653.G4 H36 1998] Diebold, Word and Image, pp. 99-126
October 15 God (Divine) *Bourke, Essential Augustine, pp. 121-48 *Spearing, Medieval Writings on Female Spirituality, pp. 53-74 (Hadewijch), 120-44 (Marguerite Porete) *Henry Suso, The Exemplar, with Two German Sermons, trans. Frank Tobin (New York: Paulist Press, 1989), pp. 63-77, 190-200, 207-238 [BV5080.S8362130 1989]
Barbara Newman, God and the Goddesses: Vision, Poetry, and Belief in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003), pp. 169-81, 190-222 [PN688.G65 N49 2003]
October 20 God (Incarnate) *Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 73-88, 120-22 *Spearing, Medieval Writings on Female Spirituality, pp. 107-19 (Elizabeth of Spaalbeek), 149-157 (Bridget of Sweden), 175-82 and 192-201 (Julian of Norwich), 226-41 (Margery Kempe) *Henry Suso, The Exemplar, pp. 83-86, 87-97, 124-31, 168-74 [BV5080.S8362130 1989]
Caroline Walker Bynum, “The Body of Christ in the Later Middle Ages: A Reply to Leo Steinberg,” in Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion (New York: Zone, 1991), pp. 79-117, 329-43 [BT741.2.B950 1991] David S. Areford, “The Passion Measured: A Late-Medieval Diagram of the Body of Christ,” in The Broken Body: Passion Devotion in Late-Medieval Culture, eds. A.A. MacDonald, H.N.B. Ridderbos, and R.M. Schlusemann (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1998), pp. 211-38 [BR166.B76 1998] Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 233-56
October 22 God (The Body and Blood)*Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 89-108, 250-57
John Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century: A Historical Introduction and Guide for Students and Musicians (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), pp. 109-26 [BV186.5.H370 1991, Reading Room Floor 3] Elizabeth Parker McLachlan, “Liturgical Vessels and Implements,” in The Liturgy of the Medieval Church, eds. Thomas J. Heffernan and E. Ann Matter (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Western Michigan University Press, 2001), pp. 369-429 [BX1973 .L58 2001] Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 91-130
October 27 Christianizing Space and Time*Bourke, Essential Augustine, pp. 220-228, 242-45 *Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 257-74 *Harper, Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy, pp. 45-57
Stephan Borgehammar, “A Monastic Conception of the Liturgical Year,” in The Liturgy of the Medieval Church, eds. Heffernan and Matter, pp. 13-44 [BX1973 .L58 2001] Elizabeth C. Parker, “Architecture as Liturgical Setting,” in The Liturgy of the Medieval Church, eds. Heffernan and Matter, pp. 273-326 [BX1973 .L58 2001] Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 50-57 Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 11-52
October 29 Christianizing Life (and Death) *Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 259-64, 279-90, 418-37, 501-38
Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 112-22 Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 299-376
November 3 Devotion to the saints*Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 156-74, 178-94, 201-10, 300-5
Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 123-31 Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 155-205
November 5 Devotion to Mary*Honorius Augustodunensis, The Seal of Blessed Mary, pp. 47-89 *Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 115-19, 128-48
Rachel Fulton, From Judgment to Passion: Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800-1200 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), pp. 195-203, 244-88 [BT590.C85 F85 2002] Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 256-65
November 10 Letter and Spirit*Gregory the Great, “Exposition of the Song of Songs,” in Denys Turner, Eros and Allegory: Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Songs, Cistercian Studies Series 156 (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1995), pp. 215-55 [BS1485.T876 1995] *Hugh of St. Victor, “A Short Preface on the Scriptures and on the Scriptural Writers,” in Turner, Eros and Allegory, pp. 265-74 *William of St. Thierry, “A Brief Commentary on the First Two Chapters of the Song of Songs,” in Turner, Eros and Allegory, pp. 275-90 *Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs I, trans. Kilian Walsh, Cistercian Fathers Series 4 (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1981), pp. 1-20 [BS1485.B5 1971 v.1]
Diebold, Word and Image, pp. 71-98 Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 58-67
November 12 The Church (on earth) *Bourke, Essential Augustine, pp. 200-12 *Eudes of Rouen, Register, trans. Sydney M. Brown, ed. Jeremiah F. O’Sullivan, Records of Civilization, Sources and Studies 72 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964), pp. 1-4, 13-15, 18-35, 218-21, 322-28, 390-93, 348-51, 590-92, 628-34, 688-96, 737-46 [BX1532.R8R505] *Spearing, Medieval Writings on Female Spirituality, pp. 157-64 (Bridget of Sweden)
Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 15-25 Southern, Western Society and the Church, pp. 24-52, 170-213
November 17 Counts, abbots, and bishops—oh, my!*Hugh of Poitiers, The Vézelay Chronicle, pp. 130-315
November 19 Friends of God *Anna Laetitia Barbauld, “On Monastic Institutions,” in A Selection from the Poem and Prose Writings of Mrs. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, ed. Grace A. Ellis (Boston: James R. Osgood and Co., 1874), pp. 216-33 [PR4057.B7 1874 v. 2] *Ludo Milis, Angelic Monks and Earthly Men: Monasticism and its Meaning to Medieval Society (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1992), pp. vii-xiv, 1-67, 136-52 [BX2470.M520 1992]
Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 26-36, 181-88 Southern, Western Church and Society, pp. 214-99
November 24 Enemies of God *Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 213-28, 466-70, 491-98 *Otloh of St. Emmeram, “Liber de tentationibus suis,” in Other Middle Ages: Witnesses at the Margins of Medieval Society, ed. Michael Goodich (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), pp. 159-64 [HN11 .O87 1998] *Christina of Stommeln, “Epistolae,” in Other Middle Ages, ed. Goodich, pp. 164-68 *Thomas of Monmouth, “The Life of St. William of Norwich,” in Medieval England 1000-1500: A Reader, ed. Emilie Amt (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 2001), pp. 163-71 [ISBN 1-55111-244-2]
Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 96-103, 172-80
November 26 “Foul superstitions” *Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 238-45, 380-87, 441-62 *Honorius of Thebes, The Sworn Book of Honorius the Magician, as composed by Honorius through Counsel with the Angel Hocroell, trans. Daniel Driscoll (Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Heptangle, 1983) [Chalk] *The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus, of the Virtues of Herbs, Stones, and Certain Beasts, also a Book of the Marvels of the World, eds. Michael R. Best and Frank H. Brightman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), pp. TBA [Crerar R128.A319]
Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 164-71 Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 266-98
December 1 What did it mean to be religious in medieval Europe?*Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion, pp. 306-11, 335-79
Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 209-32
December 3 What did/does it mean to believe? *Bourke, Essential Augustine, pp. 19-42
Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West, pp. 189-97 Tanya Luhrmann, Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989), pp. 307-23, 337-56 [BF1581.L840 1989] Return to Homepage |