ENGL 3300: Badass Women of the Twelfth Century Course Description The twelfth century was a time of rapid historical and cultural change in the medieval world, and women were at the center of it. In this course, we’ll focus on three major events in the century – the Norman Conquest of England, the rise of the universities and scientific learning, and the Crusades – and the women who shaped and were shaped by them. We’ll read words written by queens, courtesans, and abbesses, and we’ll also look at the books made for and about them, spending extra time on the study of medieval manuscripts (handmade books like the one pictured here). Throughout all this, we’ll think intently about the interplay of words, books, and power – and the conditions under which twelfth-century women can and can’t deploy all three. Importantly, this course takes a broad approach to about where counts as “medieval” (we’ll range from England and France to Andalusian Spain, Byzantium, and the Crusader State of Jerusalem), and we’ll set to rest some common misapprehensions about women, religion, and cultural interactions in the Middle Ages. Highlighted women will include the scientist and mystic Hildegard of Bingen; the recluse Christiana of Markyate; the lover-scholars Heloise and Abelard; Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem (and her Psalter); the Byzantine princess and historian Anna Comnena; and the Andalusian courtesan and poet Nazhun al-Garnatiya bint al-Qulai’iya. Book list Life of Christina of Markyate. Ed. and trans Samuel Fanous and Henriette Leyser. Oxford World's Classics. ISBN-13: 978-0199556052 The Letters of Abelard and Heloise. Ed and trans. Michael Clanchy, Betty Radice. Penguin Classics. ISBN-13: 978-0140448993 Hildegard of Bingen: Selected Writings. Ed. and trans. Mark Atherton. Penguin classics. ISBN-13: 978-0140436044 The Alexiad of Anna Comnena. Trans. E.R.A. Sewter. Penguin classics. ISBN-13: 978-0140455274 The Lais of Marie de France. Trans. Claire M. Waters. Broadview. ISBN-13: 978-1554810826 Tyerman, Christopher. The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction. ISBN-13: 879-0192806550 Other readings will be available as PDFs and/or put on reserve at Main Library You must use THESE editions, not others you may find elsewhere. Used copies of any of these texts are fine! I will also allow you to substitute the Kindle editions for print versions of these texts, as available. Image: Miniature of Mary Magdalene, at the beginning of a prayer to her, from the Melisende Psalter (1131-1143), British Library, Egerton MS 1139, f. 210r Level: Undergraduate Semesters Taught: 18FA
