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EL30WB
CHAUCER
(30 credits, 12 weeks.)
Session 2008-2009
Course Guide
Course convenor: Professor Derek Hughes. (Taylor B09).
Office hours, Tue. 9-10, Thur. 9-10
Ext. 2534. E-mail D.W.Hughes@abdn.ac.uk)
Course team:
Ms Helen Lynch, (B03 Taylor. E-mail h.lynch@abdn.ac.uk),
Dr Tarrin Wills (G3, 24 High Street. E-mail t.wills@abdn.ac.uk)
Class times
Lecture Tuesdays 1.00-2.00 pm in Auris Lecture Theatre
Language Group 1 (Tarrin Wills) Tuesdays 2.00-3.00 pm in Auris
Lecture Theatre; Language Group 2 (Helen Lynch) Tuesdays 2.00-3.00
pm in MacRobert 317
Seminars
Group 1 (Derek Hughes): Thursday 1.00-3.00 pm in Taylor A31
Group 2 (Helen Lynch): Friday 1.00-3.00 pm in Taylor A31
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This course guide must be read in conjunction with the following Department
booklets:
Guide to Written Work
Guidance on Avoiding Plagiarism
Guide to Honours and Level 3 English Studies
Course timetable
WEEK 1
General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales.
WEEK 2
The Knight’s Tale
WEEK 3
The Miller’s Tale, The Reeve’s Tale, The Merchant’s Tale
WEEK 4
Troilus and Criseyde I and II
WEEK 5
Troilus and Criseyde III
WEEK 6
Troilus and Criseyde IV and V
WEEK 7
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
WEEK 8
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale (NO TUTORIAL: ESSAY WRITING
WEEK)
WEEK 9
The Franklin’s Tale, The Clerk’s Tale
WEEK 10
The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale, The Second Nun’s Tale, The Canon’s
Yeoman’s Tale
WEEK 11
The Prioress’s Tale, the Prologue of The Monk’s Tale and the tragedies of
Lucifer, Adam, Samson, and Hercules, Nun’s Priest’s Tale.
[GROUP PRESENTATIONS THIS WEEK]
WEEK 12
In lieu of the Week 12 lecture, there will be Library Display Of MSS And Books at 1
pm on Wednesday, 17 December in the Old Senate Room. (See p. 19), followed by a
Christmas Party.
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NO TUTORIALS
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Prescribed texts
The Riverside Chaucer (3rd edn.) ed. Larry D. Benson (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1988)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. and ed. Bernard O'Donoghue (London:
Penguin, 2006)
Background
Chaucer (born about 1340) lived in a turbulent and eventful century. In 1337, what
came to be called the Hundred Years War between England and France began (it
lasted, with intermissions, until 1453). Within the British Isles, tensions between
England and Scotland also flared up at intervals throughout the century, despite the
defeat of Edward II at Bannockburn in 1314. The Black Death, which is reckoned to
have killed between a third and a half of the population of Europe, reached the British
Isles in 1348. In 1381, social and economic conditions partly consequent upon the
Black Death provoked the Peasants’ Revolt. At the end of Chaucer’s life, in 1400,
King Richard II was deposed and murdered (as his great-grandfather Edward II had
been in 1327). Despite the political situation, scholarly and artistic contacts between
England, France and Scotland continued; Chaucer’s work was influenced by French
models (and he himself was recognised in France as an important figure in European
literature). Chaucer was also an important influence on the two greatest Scottish poets
of the following century, Robert Henryson and William Dunbar.
The fourteenth century is the greatest period in the early history of literature in
English. Courtly and popular, sacred and secular, native and foreign influences all
came together to create an unusually diverse and dynamic literary milieu. Narrative
poetry is the most important form, with Chaucer as the greatest single figure, and The
Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde the greatest masterpieces of the period.
The works of the Gawain poet, composed in the North-West Midlands of England,
represent a persistent (and very sophisticated) native tradition as against Chaucer’s
London-based cosmopolitan one, although the differences are sometimes
overemphasised. We will read, in translation, his Arthurian romance Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight: a masterpiece to rival Chaucer at his greatest. This is a
representative but by no means complete exploration of a very rich period, which also
includes Langland’s great allegorical narrative Piers Plowman, a rich body of lyric
verse, a vigorous, and often earthy, popular religious drama, and strongly individual
devotional writing (some of it by women).
Aims
The aim of the course is to introduce you to one of the most various, entertaining and
challenging periods in the history of literature in English, and one which had a
formative influence on the development of the literary tradition. The course will
encourage you to explore and enjoy this through discussion and writing; it will make
you familiar with Middle English, and so open up the rich world of Middle English
literature, while increasing your awareness of the history of the English language
itself. Texts will illustrate the high quality of late Medieval literature, and some of the
major themes and preoccupations of a period full of conflict and tension.
As the course progresses, you should find yourself reading Middle English
with increasing speed and confidence. You will gain some understanding of English
life in the fourteenth centuryit will seem remote and strange in many ways, but you
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will also come to recognise that some of our contemporary concerns have their origins
(or equivalents) in the Middle Ages.
The central aim of the course is to develop thoughtful and critical reading of
the set texts and exploration of the issues they raise, linguistic, formal, historical and
thematic.
Objectives
To develop an understanding and appreciation of selected works from the fourteenth
century; to make you acquainted with some of the characteristic forms and concerns
of Medieval literature; to broaden your knowledge of the history of the vernacular
literature and culture of mediaeval England.
To develop your skills in reading, talking and writing about literature and to foster
collaborative approaches to learning.
Format of the course
A lecture session and a two hour seminar held during each week of the first semester.
The Tuesday sessions will include the lecture and an examination of the language of
the week’s set text; the seminars will be given over to discussion of the set texts.
Students are expected to have read the passages assigned for discussion at the
seminars, and to be prepared to ask questions and express opinions. Group projects
will be assigned, and will be presented on the Friday of Week 11.
Assessment
The assessable work of the course comprises a number of elements, which will
contribute to your overall grade in the following proportions:
Project and presentation 10%
Seminar work 10%
Essay 30%
Exam 50%
The Structure of the Course
The course begins with the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales: a portrayal of
late fourteenth-century society in all its tension, mobility, and change. We follow this
with the chivalric romance of The Knight’s Tale and with tales by three non-gentle
characters, which reject the ideals portrayed by the Knight. Having set up the tension
between the chivalric and anti-chivalric viewpoints, we leave The Canterbury Tales
for a while to look at two further aristocratic romances: Chaucer’s long narrative
poem Troilus and Criseyde, a work of astonishing vision and originality, and Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight, the one non-Chaucerian work on the course. In the
final weeks of the course we return to The Canterbury Tales to examine two further
tales of aristocratic life told by outsiders, the tales of the Clerk and Franklin, and to
examine Chaucer’s portrayal of the late Medieval Church. We conclude the course
with a display of manuscripts and early printed books from the library.
The Group Project and Its Aims
There will be group presentations on The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale from the
Canterbury Tales.
The projects are designed to give each of you experience of working as a member of a
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team. You will be responsible for identifying the key issues in the topic set,
suggesting approaches to it, raising key questions and providing such background
material as seems appropriate. The presentations should take around twenty minutes
(exclusive of ‘setting-up’ time), and the group involved will then have the
responsibility of initiating and maintaining discussion throughout the seminar. You
should let the rest of the class know at least one meeting in advance what you expect
them to read as preparation. Your guiding principles in deciding what to do, and how
to do it, should be:
what kinds of things would I find helpful if I were in the audience?
what kind of presentation would hold my attention and get the points across
effectively?
what kinds of supplementary material--handouts, bibliographies--would be most
help for study and revision?
You must provide also a list of credits, spelling out the individual responsibilities and
contributions within the group, and a bibliography, listing the main information
sources used.
Assessment of Group Projects
All members of the ‘audience’ will be asked to record a mark for the presentation,
using the University’s common marking scale and the department guidelines for
assessing group projects.
A mark will be given to the group as a whole, even if individual performances
are uneven; except in the case when someone has not made a substantial contribution.
In such cases, the ‘delinquent’ will be awarded a lower mark. The tutor has final
responsibility for awarding marks, but will be guided by the audience response.
Essay and Exam
The essay topics will cover all the works studied on the course. The two-hour exam
will have two sections. It will be possible for you to answer two questions on
Chaucer, or one on Chaucer and one on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
The first meeting of the course will be on the Tuesday of Week 1, i.e. September 30.
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Lectures
In week 1, the introductory lecture on Chaucer will be followed by an introductory
lecture on the history of the English language. In subsequent weeks, the one-hour
lecture will be followed by a one hour class on Middle English language.
Week 1 The General Prologue and fourteenth-century society Derek Hughes
Introduction to the History of the English Language Tarrin Wills
Week 2 The Knight’s Tale: Courtly Love Helen Lynch
Week 3 The Miller, the Reeve, and the Merchant: Genre and Class Derek Hughes
Week 4 Troilus and Criseyde: the Matter of Troy Tarrin Wills
Week 5 Troilus and Criseyde and the State of the English Tarrin Wills
Language
Week 6 Troilus and Criseyde: Chaucer, Boccaccio, and Boethius Derek Hughes
Week 7 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Romance Helen Lynch
Week 8 The Wife of Bath: Experience and Authority Derek Hughes
Week 9 The Franklin and the Clerk: Boccaccio and Petrarch Derek Hughes
Week 10 The Church in the Middle Ages Frederik
Pedersen
Week 11 Chaucer’s Legacy Tarrin Wills
Week 12 Exhibition of MSS and Incunabula (1 pm, Wednesday 17 Michelle Gait
December in Old Senate Room) (see p. 19)
Attendance
Attendance at all lectures and seminars for level 3 and 4 students is compulsory.
Attendance registers will be taken at both lectures and seminars, and students’
attendance records will be reflected in their Seminar Assessment Marks. Attendance
at the Language Groups is also compulsory. Attendance and participation will be
reported to the Convenor, and will form part of the SAM.
Poor attendance is regarded very seriously, and will be penalised heavily
through the Seminar Assessment Mark. {See paragraph on Seminar Assessment
SAM}. The penalties are likely to affect the overall degree classification of Honours
students.
It is especially important that students attend the first meeting of all courses
for which they are enrolled, since in those meetings the aims and objectives of the
course are explained. Failure to attend the first meeting of a course will be regarded
with special gravity.
Poor attendance during the Honours years may have another serious
consequence: the School may not feel it appropriate to write references for a student
whose attendance record suggests a lack of interest in the subject.
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8
Assessment
A two-hour examination will be set during exam week in January. You will be
required to answer two questions, either both on Chaucer or one on Chaucer and the
other in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Since this is the first year that the course
has run in its current form, it is not possible to give a sample examination paper. An
examination paper from the course’s predecessor, ‘Knights, Virgins, and Viragos’, is
given on page 28). The exam will count for 50% of each student’s total mark.
An essay, to be written at home (see p. 12 for topics). This will count for 30%.
This essay should be about 2,000–2,500 words long, including quotations and
footnotes: students should note that they will be penalised for work which is either too
long or too short. This assignment should be handed in to the School Office by 5 p.m.
on Friday of Week 8 (21st November). Students may opt to write an essay under
examination conditions in the two-hour class period on the Friday of Week 7 instead.
You must notify the tutor in advance if you wish to use this opportunity. Otherwise,
there will be no meeting of the seminars in Week 7.
The group project (for information see pp. 30-33) will count for 10%, and the
SAM mark (see next section) for the remaining 10%.
Resit arrangements are dealt with in the ‘Guide to Honours…’ section on
‘Written Work and Assessment’.
Please also note
All students who are admitted to an Honours programme in or after 2004/05 will be
required to achieve 480 credits points, including at least 180 at levels 3 and 4, of
which at least 90 must be at level 4. Accordingly, students failing to meet this credit
requirement at the first attempt will require to make up this credit shortfall before
graduating. See Appendix D, Requirements for the Award of and Honours Degree in
the School’s Guide to Honours booklets, for further information
North American students whose period of study at Aberdeen ends before
Christmas will be assigned an essay to submit in lieu of the examination.
Seminar assessment mark (SAM).
Regularity of Attendance
Course Regulations state that attendance at each meeting of every course is
compulsory.
Frequency of participation
It is expected that all students will participate voluntarily in open forum and in group
work as appropriate. Participation includes asking questions of the course leader or of
other students, exploring or contesting views expressed by others, summarising
discussion, etc., etc. To obtain a first-class assessment for frequency of participation,
regular participation in each class is required; to obtain a 2.i grade, regular
participation in a majority of classes attended will be expected; those who contribute
to discussion only occasionally will be awarded a 2ii grade, while persistent silence
will merit a 3rd-class grade.
Quality of participation
The quality of participation will be measured by the nature of the arguments or
perceptions or evidence offered to the seminar; relevant knowledge; evidence of the
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9
care with which the text has been read, or data interpreted; evidence of having
prepared the assignments; willingness to initiate discussion; intellectual interaction
with other members of the seminar.
Late submission of exercise
3 marks will be deducted for late submission (up to a week late) without supportive
medical evidence. Exercises submitted after this date will receive a NIL mark.
Extensions can be granted by tutors for up to one week on medical grounds or other
good reasons. Further extensions beyond one week can be granted only by the Head
of School. For further information, refer to the late submission guidelines contained
within the Guide to Honours and Level 3 English Studies section on ‘Written Work
and Assessment’.
Disability.
Students who have been granted an extension on the grounds of disability must
submit within one week of the normal submission deadline. Further extensions
beyond one week can be granted only by the Head of School.
Medical Certification and other Supportive Documentation.
The University Regulations state that students who believe that illness and/or other
personal circumstances may have affected their performance in an element of
assessment must submit written details to the Head of Department no later than one
week after the due date of the assessment. Self-certification is not valid.
Plagiarism.
Students will be required to familiarise themselves with the contents of the school
handout ‘Guidance on Avoiding Plagiarism’, which is available from the School
Office. Level 3 / honours students should also refer to the plagiarism guidelines
contained within the ‘Guide to Honours and Level 3 English’ section on ‘Written
Work and Assessment’.”
The definition of Plagiarism is the use, without adequate acknowledgement, of
the intellectual work of another person in work submitted for assessment. A student
cannot be found to have committed plagiarism where it can be shown that the student
has taken all reasonable care to avoid representing the work of others as his or her
own.
Quality of Writing
Good essays will be identified by the quality of argument, use of evidence,
relevance to topic and quality of expression. Inaccuracies in punctuation, spelling,
grammar, idiom, referencing and bibliography, and sloppiness in presentation
(numerous insertions, deletions, coffee stains, etc.) will be penalised by the deduction
of up to 4 marks. Students should refer to the Guide to Written Work for further
advice.” Students who are referred by the tutor to the Academic Writing
Support programme are strongly advised to make use of this service so as to
improve their essay writing skills.
Essays should be word-processed wherever possible.
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10
Conventions of Reference
All students should use the conventions of reference as set out in the Guide to Written
Work. As noted in the statement on ‘Quality of Writing’, marks will be deducted for
inadequate referencing.”
Academic appeals.
The University’s Guidance Note on Academic Appeals can be obtained from the
Senate Office in the Registry or can be accessed at www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/appeals.
It indicates that appeals committees will limit their consideration to matters of
procedure, competency and/or prejudice. Those involved in considering academic
appeals will not review matters of academic judgement, which are solely for the
person or committee that has made the academic judgement to determine. For an
appeal to be upheld, a student must have suffered material disadvantage.
Your attention is drawn to the following paragraph of the University’s Policy
on Academic Appeals:
Details of illness and/or other personal circumstance which either has
prevented students from taking an assessment or from meeting a deadline for
the submission of assessed work, or which students believe may have affected
their performance in an assessment that contributes towards the result of a
course or programme, will be accepted as grounds for appeal only if the Head
of the relevant School has received written notification of them no later than
one week after the date on which a student submitted, or was due to submit, an
assessment or on which a student appeared, or was due to appear, for the
assessment concerned. Where good reasons have prevented a student from
notifying the Head of School within this period, the student should write to the
Head of the School as soon as is practicable and give details both of the illness
and/or other personal circumstances and of the reasons why the Head of the
School was not notified of the circumstances within the prescribed period.
Details reported after notification of the result will be accepted as grounds for
appeal only in limited circumstances.
The Vice-President (Advice & Support) in the Students' Association is
available to help students considering submitting an appeal (tel: +44(0)1224
272965).
Student complaints
The University aims to provide a welcoming and supportive environment for its
undergraduate students. However, occasionally students will encounter problems and
difficulties. Complaints should be addressed in the first instance to the person who is
in charge of the University activity concerned, e.g. the Head of the relevant School
about academic matters; the Head of the relevant administrative section about the
service that you receive; a Warden about residential matters. Your Adviser of Studies
or the Students’ Association will assist you if you are unsure how to pursue a
complaint. The University's Policy on Student Complaints is available at
www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/appeals
Class representatives
We value students’ opinions in regard to enhancing the quality of teaching and its
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11
delivery; therefore in conjunction with the Students Association we support the
operation of a Class representative system.
The students within each course, year, or programme elect representatives by
the end of the fourth week of teaching within each half-session. In this programme
we operate a system of programme representatives. Any students registered within a
programme that wishes to represent a given group of students can stand for election as
a class representative. You will be informed when the elections for class
representative will take place.
What will it involve?
It will involve speaking to your fellow students about the programme you represent.
This can include any comments that they may have. You will attend a Staff Student
Liaison Committee and you should represent the views and concerns of the students
within this meeting. As a representative you will also be able to contribute to the
agenda. You then feedback to the students after this meeting with any actions that are
being taken.
Training
Training for class representatives will be run by the Students Association in
conjunction with SPARQS (Student Participation in Quality Scotland). Training will
take place in the fourth or fifth week of teaching each semester. For more information
about the Class representative system visit www.ausa.org.uk or email the VP
Education & Employability vped@abdn.ac.uk . For further information on class
representation and student involvement in Quality visit www.sparqs.org.uk
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12
Essay Topics
1. How complete and accurate is Troilus’ knowledge of Criseyde?
2. What is the importance of the public world in Troilus and Criseyde?
3. Discuss the role of Pandarus in Troilus and Criseyde. What light does he
throw on the characters of the lovers?
4. Compare and contrast Chaucer’s treatment of courtly love in The Miller’s
Tale, The Merchant’s Tale, and The Franklin’s Tale.
5. How do Troilus and Criseyde and The Knight’s Tale portray the relationship
between love and friendship OR love and warriorhood?
6. What differences of class outlook are evident in The Canterbury Tales?
(Discuss with reference to three)
7. Compare the Wife of Bath’s interpretation of womanhood with the view
offered in two other Canterbury tales.
8. How useful is it to see The Canterbury Tales as religious allegories? (Discuss
with reference to three).
9. Compare the tales of three pilgrims who represent the Church.
10. What contrasts does the Gawain-poet create between Camelot, Hautdesert,
and the outside world?
11. Gawain is consistently tested within games. Discuss the meaning and
importance of game-playing in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Chaucer Literature of the Fourteenth Century - Bibliography
The following books have been placed on three-day loan
General Histories
Friedrich Heer, The Medieval World: Europe 1100-1350 (covers a longish period,
readable and puts Britain in its wider context)
May McKisack, The Fourteenth Century (a standard work; worthy rather than
exciting - mainly English in focus)
Francis Oakley, The Medieval Experience (on how people in the Middle ages saw
their world)
Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (compares 14th and 20th centuries; interesting if
not always convincing)
Henrietta Leyser, Medieval Women (by far and away the best book on this subject--be
prepared for your assumptions to be challenged)
Terry Jones, Chaucer’s Knight. A subversive but wholly convincing counter to
orthodox views of the Knight: a landmark book, impossible to ignore.
Terry Jones: Who Killed Chaucer? A deliberately contentious thesis, but one backed
up by a wealth of information about Chaucer’s historical background.
Religion in Medieval Life
Bernard Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West (easily the best general book on
Medieval religion)
John Shinners, Medieval Popular Religion 1000 - 1500 (fascinating anthology,
illustrating the variety and even weirdness of ideas and practices in a period
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13
we often think of as uniform in belief)
Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars (begins at around 1400, but presents a
fascinating account of the religious life of ordinary people at the end of the
Middle Ages)
Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: the Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture (fascinating
anthropologically based study - not for the faint-hearted)
Middle English
Norman Blake, The English language in Medieval Literature (interesting and very
clearly written)
J A Burrow and T Turville-Petre, A Book of Middle English (if you want to learn
about the development and the regional varieties of Middle English, this is a
good starting point)
D. Burnley. A Guide to Chaucer’s Language (strongly recommended)
Medieval Literature - General
J A. Burrow, The Ages of Man (examines the important idea of human life passing
through determinate stages and the parallels between human and natural
phenomena linked with it)
J A Burrow, Medieval Writers and Their Work: Middle English Literature and Its
Background (a good brief introduction to the differences between the attitudes
of writers and audiences in the Middle Ages and now)
C S Lewis, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance
Literature (lucid introduction to some of the central animating ideas of the
literature of the period)
C S Lewis, The Allegory of Love (a classic study of one of the most important literary
forms of the Middle Ages)
Boris Ford ed., Medieval Literature: Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition (New
Pelican Guide to English Literature, vol 1)
Lee Patterson, Negotiating the Past; the Historical Understanding of Medieval
Literature
Elizabeth Salter, Fourteenth-Century English Poetry: Contexts and Readings
A C Spearing, Readings in Medieval Poetry
J C Spiers, Medieval English Poetry: the Non-Shakespearian Tradition
Individual Literary Types and Genres
Fabliau
Derek Brewer, ed., Medieval Comic Tales (anthology in modern English)
R Howard Bloch, The Scandal of the Fabliaux
John Hines, The Fabliau in English
Charles Muscatine, The Old French Fabliaux
G. Olson, Literature as Recreation in the Middle Ages
M. J. S. Schenk, The Fabliaux: Tales of Wit and Deception
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14
Romance
W R J Barron, English Medieval Romance
Gilian Beer, The Romance
D. H. Green, Irony in the Medieval Romance
Ad Putter, An Introduction to the Gawain-Poet
John Stevens, Medieval Romance: Themes and Approaches
Stephen Shepherd, ed., Middle English Romances (anthology)
Eugene Vinaver, The Rise of Romance
The following books are mainly background, but I have included some
collections of Medieval texts
Jonathan Alexander, Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work
Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours
Richard Barber, The Knight and Chivalry
Alcuin Blamires, ed., Woman Defamed and Woman Defended
Joseph Canning, A History of Medieval Political Thought
Norman Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millenium
Peter Coss, The Knight in Medieval England 1000-1400
Georges Duby, Love and Marriage in the Middle Ages
Jean Gimpel, The Medieval Machine
Christopher de Hamel, Scribes and Illuminators
Michael Haren, Medieval Thought
Robert Payne, The Crusades: a History
L. D. Reynolds and N.G. Wilson, eds, Scribes and Scholars (on the transmission of
Greek and Latin literature)
Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades
Web-Sites for Medieval Studies
Start with the QM Library site: one of the library’s great treasures is the 12th century
Aberdeen Bestiary, now viewable page by page on the web; so too is the 15th century
Burnett Psalter, an example of a kind of illuminated book which was becoming
popular towards the end of Chaucer’s career.
Because all Medieval authors are safely dead and out of copyright, most
Middle English Texts can be found on, and downloaded from, the web. Bear in mind,
though, that the texts available may not have benefited from up-to-date editing. For
primary texts, the Electronic Text Centre at the University of Virginia is probably
the most extensive: www.lib.virginia.edu/etext/ETC.html
There is a Canterbury Tales Project at Sheffield, which can be found at
www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/ctp; another element in the course is covered by a new
Lancaster University site, Medieval English Mystery Plays
(www.lancs.ac/users/yorkdoom/menu.html)
For more general information (plus texts) about the Middle Ages, the
Medieval Compendium at Ann Arbor is excellent (http://hti.umich.edu/mec), as in the
On-Line Reference Book for Medieval Studies at Rhodes (http://orb.rhodes.edu). It’s
also worth consulting The Labyrinth (which sounds like a game or movie) at
www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/index/html and the less enigmatically named Internet
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15
Medieval Sourcebook at www.fordham.edu/halsall/medweb/
You can also slipstream on resources and other course materials from up-
market institutions like Harvard (I haven’t got a note of their web-address, but it
shouldn’t be hard to find). Remember there’s also a lot of rubbish out there.
What follows is a helpful guide to searching the internet compiled by two
distinguished Medieval scholars and made available to colleagues for distribution.
Taming the Labyrinth. An Introduction to Medieval Resources on the WWW
Daniel T. Kline, afdtk@uaa.alaska.edu
University of Alaska Anchorage
Home pg: http://www.engl.uaa.alaska.edu/kline
Larry D. Benson, ldb@wjh.haryard.edu
Harvard University
Home pg: http://icg.harvard.edul/engl115b/
Metapages Essential Starting Points for Electronic Research in the Middle
Ages
1) The Labyrinth: http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/
Hosted by Georgetown University, the Labyrinth is a comprehensive medieval
web site with links to all aspects of medieval studies.
An exciting new prospect from Labyrinth: "Call for contributions: The
Labyrinth is seeking examples of lesson plans, exercises, and other tools used
for teacbing medieval studies to K12 students. If you would like to make your
materials accessible to others through the ‘Medieval Studies for Kids’ that
we’re developing, please send the URL to
<labyrinth@gusun.georgetown.edu>."
2) Netserf. http://www.netserf.org/
A comprehensive set of links to all aspects of medieval culture, including
archaeology, architecture, art, culture, history, law, literature, music, people,
philosophy, religion, and science and technology. Netserf’s Research Center
offers a full set of links for the academic and professional medievalist (articles
and papers; associations and organizations; awards and grants; bibliographies;
conferences; degree programs; college courses and syllabuses, academic
listservs; etc.)
3) Paul Halsall’s Internet Medieval Sourcebook.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
An indispensable archive of hundreds of primary sources (historical, literary,
legal, cultural etc.) from across Europe and Byzantium, many of them excerpts
suitable for classroom use. Includes a site-specific search engine, a
breathtaking list of medieval links, and a Medieval Films section, with more
(continued overleaf)
16
than 200 medieval films (bet you didn’t know the movie industry started back
then...) reviewed and organized by theme and time period.
4) The Ecole Initiative, from the University of Evansville:
http://www2.evansville.edu/ecoleweb/
A highly-rated site that lives up to its billing, "Creating a Hypertext
Encyclopedia of Early Church History on the World-Wide Web."
5) Exploring Ancient World Cultures: http://eawc.evansville.edu/
Another stellar site from the University of Evansville, with highly graphical
easily navigable pages devoted to the ancient cultures of the Near East, India,
Egypt, China, Greece, Rorne, the Early Islamic period, and Medieval Europe.
A beautiful, student-friendly site.
Voice of the Shuttle: http://vos.ucsb.edu/
One of the top humanities web sites, the VoS is divided by discipline and
includes a number of course and project pages.
6) Jack Lynch’s literary Resources on the Net
http://dept.english.upenn.edu/jlynch/Lit/
An immaculate set of links for the full spectrum of literary studies, with ample
selections in Classical & Biblical and Medieval literature. Check his History
of the Book selections as well.
7) Guide to Medieval History: http://historymedren.miningco.com/mlibrary.htm
Although the Mining Company is a glossy commercial site, it has an
extraordinarily thorough set of links to all aspects of medieval culture.
Collections of E-Texts
8) The Online Medieval and Classical Library: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/
A fine collection of medieval literary and historical texts from across Europe,
all in the public domain, including a number of Scandanavian sagas, German
and French text in translation, and a full slate of Arthurian material.
Includes a number of classic texts in older but still serviceable editions,
including the Nibelungenlied, The Song of Roland, The Lay of the Cid,
Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, Chretien deTroyes ‘The Knight of the Cart’
and ‘Erec and Enide’, and Gower’s Confessio Amantis.
9) Stanford University Medieval Pages: http://www-
sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/medieval/medieval.html
A fine collection of resources, as one would expect from Stanford, though
some items are limited to Stanford users.
10) TEAMS Middle English Texts Home Page:
http://www.lib.rochester.edu:80/camelot/teams/tmsmenu.htm#menu
The goal of the TEAMS Middle English text series is to make available to
teachers and students texts which occupy an important place in the literary and
cultural canon but which have not been readily available in student editions."
(continued overleaf)
17
Although the TEAMS volumes are available for purchase (in affordable
classroom editions), the texts and their introductory essays are available online
free-of-charge.
Some of the titles include some better known Middle English literature like
The Book of Margery Kempe, The Showings of Julian of Norwich, the
Alliterative Morte Arthure, a number of lesser known Arthurian tales (The
Awntyrs off Arthur, The Avowyng of Arthur, etc.), a number of occasional and
topical poems, and a full selection of Robin Hood tales (A Gest of Robyn
Hode, A True Tale of Robin Hood, etc.) This is a very generous and invaluable
resource.
11) University of Michigan Humanities Text Initiative: http://www.hti.umich.edu/
Another superior site, offering reference works, text and image collections and
other resources, some of which are restricted to University of Michigan users.
12) University of Virginia E-Text Archive:
http://lib.virginia.edu/digital/collections/finding_digital.html
The Middle English Collection contains about 40 public access titles (digitized
older editions), including the Canterbury Tales and Troilus, Piers Plowman,
the York and Towneley plays, Everyman, Pearl and Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight.
Specialised Medieval Sites
13) Alchemy Virtual Library: http://www.levity.com/alchemy/index.html
A real find, this site offers complete alchemical texts, thousands of images,
bibliographies, articles, and links.
14) Anniina Jokinen’s lovely Luminarium: http://www.luminarium.org
Beautifully designed site that includes both primary texts and interpretative
essays on Chaucer, Gower, Langland, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, the
Pearl-Poet, and Medieval Drama.
15) The Catholic Encyclopedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/
An online version with a multitude of articles relevant to the Middle Ages.
16) The Centre for Historical Technology:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~rmine/middel.html
The award-winning experiment in "living history" is a kind of medieval theme
park with information about smithing, shipbuilding, and a number of other
medieval technologies.
17) The Mediaeval Logic and Philosophy Homepage: http://pvspade.com/Logic/
Links, forum, e-mail and other goodies.
18) James McNelis’s Medieval Science Page:
http://members.aol.com/mcnelis/medsci_index.html
A fine compilation of links and information from alchemy and astrolabes to
medieval physics and conceptions of time. Designed for a collegiate audience.
(continued overleaf)
18
19) Baragona's Medieval Drama Page:
http://academics.vmi.edu/english/medrama.html
Some World Wide Web and Internet resources for the study of Medieval and
Early Renaissance Drama
20) The Robin Hood Project: http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/rh/rhhome.stm
Provides texts, images, bibliographies, and basic information on the Robin
Hood tradition and outlaw tales in general
21) The Camelot Project: http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/cphome.stm
Provides an extensive collection of Arthurian texts, images, bibliographies,
links, and other information about the Arthurian tradition.
Medieval Women
22) Diotima: Women and Gender in the Ardent World:
http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/gender.html
A comprehensive site, with a generous number of complete essays, images,
bibliographies. and nice selection of college syllabi and course materials.
Extensive links.
23) The Julian of Norwich Web Site: http://www.umilta.net/
Julia Bolton Holloway’s site dedicated to this important late-medieval English
anchorite.
24) Mediaeval Feminist Index:
http://www.haverford.edu/library/reference/mschaus/mfi/mfi.html
An excellent 2500 item index on current scholarship into women, sexuality,
and gender in the Middle Ages.
Manuscripts, Images, Illuminations, Maps
25) Alison Stone’s Images of Medieval Art and Architecture:
http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/
Floor plans and beautiful photos distinguish this site devoted largely to
England and France, but promising new pages on Italy, Germany, Poland,
Greece, and Spain. Includes "preliminary notes" and a helpful glossary of
terms. Click on the country maps to find the site.
26) Bibliotheque Nationale de France’s The Age of King Charles V (1338-80):
http://www.bnf.fr/enluminures/aaccueil.htm
A virtual reality tour through the life, times, and goodies of Charles V.
Commentary in English.
(continued overleaf)
19
27) The Bodleian library, Oxford, Image Catalog,
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/medieval/browse.htm, and the
wonderful Map Case, http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/boris/guides/maps/mapcase.htm
.
The Map links in the Map Room are extensive and could be helpful for a
number of classroom projects.
28) Castles on the Web: http://www.castlesontheweb.com/
Virtual tours, some more extensive than others, of two dozen or so castles,
grand homes, and an abbey or two.
29) DScriptorium Jesse Hurlbut’s site at Brigham Young, has an nice set of links to
online medieval images: http://toisondor.byu.edu/dscriptorium/
30) Gothic Dreams (Earthlore Explorations): http://www.elore.com/elore04.html
A graphics-rich site devoted to Gothic architecture, including detailed
examinations of Canterbury, Chartres, and Notre Dame de Paris. A very
colourful site indeed.
31) Kevin Kiernan’s Electronic Beowulf Page:
http://www.uky.edu/~kiernan/BL/kportico.html
An important and pioneering site that explores the possibilities for manuscript
study via the Web.
32) Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry: http://sunsite.unc.edu/wm/rh/
A beautifully illustrated Book of Hours.
33) If you want to see the Ellesmere manuscript illustration of the Wife of Bath, go to
http://www.huntington.org/LibraryDiv/ChaucerPict.html
The Huntington Library web site also offers a number of other memorable
images online and promises a page devoted to the Ellesmere Chaucer.
What you will see in the exhibition from the University’s Collections
Manuscripts
1. AU ms 165: Ovid Metamorphoses, probably French - vellum early 13th century
Metamorphoses is one of the most influential works of the Roman poet Publius
Ovidius Naso (commonly called Ovid) who lived from 43 BC to 18 AD. It is a
collection of around 250 stories, mostly dealing with encounters between deities and
human beings, and the changes which the humans experience as a result; in Medieval
and Renaissance times it was one of the main sources of knowledge about pagan
religious beliefs. The often scandalous or atrocious stories were re-interpreted to give
meanings consistent with Christian belief (thus allowing readers to eat their cake and
have it). Ovid was also the author of the Ars Amatoria (the Art of Love) a tongue-in-
cheek guide to amatory success, which parodies Roman civic and military obligations
through the creation of a code of laws for Love, which the lover must obey. Some of
the classical stories which are referred to in the Canterbury Tales originate in the
(continued overleaf)
20
Metamorphoses, while the code of amour fin or courtly love, which is so important in
romances like The Knight’s Tale and in fabliaux parodies like The Miller’s Tale, owes
a great deal to the Ars Amatoria.
2. AU ms 205/1: Seneca - vellum, early 14th century
Seneca (often Senec or Senek in Medieval works) was a philosopher, moralist and
playwright of the age of Nero (whose tutor he was: clear evidence of the ineffectuality
of moral teaching?) and Tiberius. Very influential in politics and in literature from 49
to 62, he continued writing after his fall from grace in that year. He was attracted by
the ascetic philosophical ideas of the Pythagoreans and the Stoics; his most influential
work is his Moral Letters, which are still readable. Ten plays are also attributed to
him: all are tragedies, but they lack the restraint of Greek tragedy and emphasise the
violent, perverse and sensational. Seneca’s main influence in the medieval period is as
a moralist; later, in Jacobean times, his plays had a considerable influence.
3. AU ms 240 Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea, English - vellum, early 14th
century (see also no 18) This is an extensive collection of saints lives (stories like the
Second Nun’s Tale of Saint Cecilia), material relating to the life of Christ and of the
Virgin, explanations of feasts of the Church and holy days and seasons, all keyed
chronologically to the days of the liturgical year. de Voragine (c 1228-1298) was a
Dominican who became archbishop of Genoa; his compilation was one of the most
popular books of the Middle Ages and was still being added to in the 14th century. It
was one of the first books printed in the British Isles - Caxton’s translation appeared
first in 1483 (see number 18). In other words, originally compiled c. 1270, it was still
in ‘print’ two hundred years later.
4. AU ms 263 Boethius, Aristotelis Ethica - paper, 15th century
(Anicius Manilius Severinus) Boethius (usually ‘Boece’ in the Middle Ages) was a
member of an ancient senatorial family who was in the service of the Ostrogoth
emperor Theoderic. His exact dates are unknown, but he was executed in 525 or 526 ,
and was probably born in the early 480s. Accused of treason, he was imprisoned, and
during this time wrote the hugely influential Consolation of Philosophy, translated not
only by Chaucer, but also by King Alfred and by Queen Elizabeth. He translated those
works of Aristotle available to him into Latin - helping to make the thought of the
Greek philosopher available to Medieval readers.
5. AU ms 123 Commonplace Book: this contains the one Chaucer manuscript in
the AU collections.
This is a transcription, later than Chaucer’s own time, of his Treatise on the Astrolabe
written for ‘Lite Lowys (little Louis) my sone’ -Louis was ten when the Treatise was
composed. An astrolabe is an astronomical instrument used for taking altitudes and
for calculating positions, especially in navigation (compare Shakespeare’s Sonnet
116, where love is ‘the star to every wand’ring bark,/Whose worth’s unknown,
although his highth be taken’). Chaucer’s Treatise is one of the first detailed accounts
of how to use an individual scientific instrument.
6. AU ms 272 Horae: Book of Hours - vellum, early 15th century
(continued overleaf)
21
Books of Hours are books of lay devotion, extremely popular in the 14th and 15th
centuries. They contain shortened and simplified services (collectively known as the
Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary), designed to be said at the appropriate
canonical hours (Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline).
Books of hours usually have a Calendar showing feast and saints’ days, Gospel
extracts, short hours for the Cross and the Holy Spirit, the Seven Penitential Psalms
and the Office for the Dead; the material is usually in Latin, but vernacular prayers are
often included. Horae are often beautifully illustrated, with miniatures marking the
main divisions and sometimes elaborate marginal decoration; the miniatures
punctuating the Office of the Virgin itself often illustrate either the Christmas or the
Easter stories.
Incunabula
7. AU inc 5 Avicenna, Canon de Medicin - before 1473
Usually Avycen in medieval texts, Avicenna is a Europeanised version of the Persian
name ‘Abdallah ibn Sina (980-1037), variously teacher of philosophy, administrator
and physician, compiler of the Canon of Medicine, a million-word digest of the legacy
of classical medical knowledge (Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides, the Alexandrians)
with later Arab contributions. The Arabs were the crucial transmitters of the classical
legacy in medicine, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy to the Latin west; and
they added to it considerably.
8. AU inc 11 Ulricus Moliotoris, de Lamiis et Pythonicis Mulieribus - nd but c.
1488 - 93
9. AU inc 16 Bartholomaeus Anglicus, de Proprietatibus Rerum etc - 1491
Bartholomaeus Anglicus was a professor of divinity at the University of Paris; he
compiled his encyclopaedia On the Properties of Things around 1250 and it remained
hugely popular until the 14th century. It is a kind of Enquire-Within-upon-Everything
volume, covering God, nature, all human knowledge and all aspects of human society.
10. AU inc 56 Claudius Ptolemaeus, Cosmographi - 1482
2nd century AD mathematician, astromomer and geographer; he devised the
Ptolemaic System, the accepted astronomical model until displaced by the Copernican
one: in it the sun, planets and stars revolve around the earth. Transmitted via Arab
sources, the work in which the system is described was, in the Middle Ages, called by
its Arabic name, the Almagest. He was also famous as a mapmaker and his great
geographical treatise, not superseded until the explorations of the 15th century, is
displayed here. In compiling his map, he curved both the parallels and the meridians
to ensure accuracy.
11. AU inc 108 Giovanni Boccaccio, Genealogiae Deorum - 1494
The Italian writer Boccaccio (c1313-1375) was an important influence on Chaucer,
though, oddly, he is never mentioned by the English poet. His collections of prose
stories, the Decameron, probably helped to give Chaucer the idea for the Canterbury
Tales; The Knight’s Tale in that work is a free version of another work by Boccaccio,
the Teseida. In his own day, he was respected most highly for his romances and for
(continued overleaf)
22
his scholarly works, of which this is one: it is a compilation of materials on pagan
mythology. He stresses the allegorical meanings of the myths and legends of the
Greeks and Romans, arguing that the poets who composed them were men of learning
rather than just story-tellers and communicated religious, moral and philosophical
truths through the stories.
12. AU inc 112 Missale ad Usum Sarum - 1494
Religious observance was more varied even in the high Middle Ages than we
sometimes think, and authority was often local rather than imported from Rome: this
is a missal (a service book) following the Sarum usage, the form of service that is,
which was established at Salisbury.
13. AU inc 116 Hermes Trismegistus, Liber de Potestate et Sapientia Dei per
Marsilium Ficinum traductus - 1493
A translation of a body of Greek theological-philosophical texts thought (this
translation is by the great Italian humanist Marsilio Ficino) in Medieval and
Renaissance times to have been written by a contemporary of Moses (the name means
Thrice-Great Hermes) and to provide independent support for Revelation. The texts
have given their name to the idea of Hermetic (or secret) wisdom, and came to be
strongly associated with the occult and with alchemy. In fact the texts date from late
classical times
14. AU inc 130 Macrobius, In Somnium Scipionis exposito - 1500
Around 400 , Macrobius wrote a lengthy commentary on a fable by the Roman writer
and jurist Cicero; it was the commentary, an exposition of neo-Platonic ideas, which
was known in the Middle Ages rather than the original Ciceronian text. Its lengthy
consideration of dreams relates it to several of Chaucer’s poems which take the form
of dream-visions, and to those parts of the Canterbury Tales where dreams appear.
15. AU inc 164 Martianus Capella, de Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercuri - 1500
16. AU inc176 Francesco Petrarca, Opera Latina - 1496
Francis Petrarch (1304-1374) was an extremely important poet, scholar and literary
theorist; he is the single most important figure in creating the conventions of ideal
love used for centuries in European poetry. He is most famous for his long series of
love poems (the Rime in Vita e Morte di Madonna Laura) relating his love for Laura,
according to tradition the wife of Count Hughes de Sade (no relation to the later
‘Divine Marquis’ who gave his name to sadism).
17. AU inc. 216 Boethius, de Consolatione Philosophiae - 1490
18. AU inc. 225 Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend - c. 1487
For more information, see
M. R. James, A Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts in the University Library,
(continued overleaf)
23
Aberdeen (Cambridge 1932)--yes, that M R James--the one who wrote the classic
turn-of-the-century ghost stories.
W S Mitchell, Catalogue of the Incunabula in Aberdeen University Library
(Edinburgh 1968)
(continued overleaf)
24
APPENDIX A
Group Project
1. The aim of the group project is to give you the experience of working together as
part of a team and the opportunity of developing your skills of information
retrieval and oral presentation.
2. Working as part of small group of between three and five students, you will
research a topic related to your course, to be negotiated with your tutor, and then
present the results of your investigation to the rest of the seminar.
3. Your tutor may decide to concentrate these presentations into a single week or to
spread them over several, depending on how they best fit into the course
programme. The equivalent of one of the twelve weeks of the course is available
for activities related to the group project.
4.a) The Presentation is meant to provide a clear, lively and informative account
of the topic you have researched, using audio-visual aids if appropriate. It will
normally last between 20 and 30 minutes: you will be expected to stick to this
time limit, unless you have negotiated a different arrangement in advance with
your tutor. Not every member of your group need participate in the final
presentation--it is up to the group to decide how best to employ the diverse talents
of its members--but all should contribute to the research on which it is based. The
presentation itself need not be highly elaborate or theatrical: the test is its
appropriateness to purpose.
b) The presentation should be accompanied by a list of credits, outlining the
individual responsibilities of the different members of your group, together with a
bibliography of the main information sources you have used. These should be
handed to your tutor and distributed to the class at the time of your presentation,
otherwise, a mark will be deducted from your total.
5. The cost of any materials required for the presentation, such as photocopies or
slides, can be charged to the Department, up to a maximum of £5.00 per group. If
you give your tutor a note of any expenditure, this will be refunded--but remember
to include the receipts. Please note, however, that these materials then become the
property of the English Department. To avoid over-burdening the Department
Office, you should arrange to borrow the photocopying card and make the
photocopies you need for yourself.
6. Assessment of the effectiveness of your presentation will take two forms:
a) Comments by the other members of the seminar, normally at some point during
the session in which the presentation is made; for example, if the presentation is
given in the first half of the seminar, 10 minutes after the coffee break could be
devoted to peer-group assessment. Your tutor will give you a form for this
purpose.
b) The group project mark (worth 10%) given by your tutor, who will take into
account the comments of the other members of the seminar.
7.a) All students in your group will be given the group mark, unless it is clear to
your tutor that someone has contributed little or nothing to the project, whereupon
the appropriate penalty will be imposed.
(continued overleaf)
25
b) Each group will be given a written report containing the assessments made by
their fellow students and their tutor’s final assessment, together with a brief
explanation of the reasons for it.
8. Since the group project is an integral part of the work of the course, there will
be an opportunity for you to use the knowledge you have acquired from your
project in the examination. For those who chose to avail themselves of this
opportunity, the work that they out into the project will clearly contribute to more
than 10% of their assessment for the course.
9. You will find useful advice about working in small groups in the Student Guide to
Groupwork which has been prepared by the Centre for Educational Development;
each group can obtain 1 copy from their tutor. Part of the Honours Class notice
board can be used for communicating with other members of your group outside
seminar hours.
Criteria For Assessing Group Presentations
1. Group projects will be assessed using the University’s Common Assessment
Scale:
20, 19, 18 Outstanding
17, 16, 15 Very good
14, 13, 12 Good
11, 10, 9 Pass
8, 7, 6 Marginal fail
5 and below Clear fail
0 Token or no submission
2. Students will be asked to assess their peers using the following criteria. The
marks thus proposed will not be binding on the tutor, who is ultimately
responsible for assessment, but their purpose is to advise the tutor and to assist
students to understand and appreciate more fully the qualities which contribute
to a good presentation.
3. A single mark will be awarded to each member of the group, unless it is clear
to your tutor that someone has contributed little or nothing to the project,
whereupon a penalty will be imposed. The mark will reflect the degree to
which the group’s presentation as a whole meets the following criteria.
A. CONTENT:
range and relevance of sources used
critical understanding of the materials presented
imaginative approach to the material
range and diversity of approach to the topic
effectiveness of the approach in conveying key aspects of the topic
B. DELIVERY:
clarity with which materials are presented
sharpness of focus on relevant aspects of the material
coherence of the overall approach
quality of illustration from test, criticism and background materials
quality of handout (a normal but not invariable part of presentations)
(continued overleaf)
26
C. STYLE:
effectiveness in arousing and sustaining audience interest
effective use of audio-visual aids, where these are appropriate
imaginative and interesting delivery of material
appropriateness of the style of the content being delivered
overall fitness for purpose of the presentation as a whole
D. GROUP COHESIVENESS:
evidence of co-operative planning and mutual support
interrelatedness of the contribution of each member of the group
distinctiveness of each part in contributing to a whole greater than the
sum of all the parts
4. Most presentations will be in the 15-17 (“very good”) range. Such
presentations will offer information derived from an imaginative range of
relevant sources; they will develop a good range and diversity of material,
effectively chosen for introductory purposes, and they will show solid critical
understanding. Delivery will be clear and well focused; the handout will be
interesting and informative, and there will be good emphasis of key points.
With fluent and audible speaking, assisted by good use of audio-visual aids, if
appropriate, the presentation will be stimulating for the audience, and the style
will be well married to the content. Cooperation between members of the
group will be evident from the interrelatedness of tasks.
5. Presentations in the 18-20 (“outstanding”) range will draw on an imaginative
range of sources in order to develop excellent range and diversity with acute
critical analysis. The approach will provide a stimulating introduction to the
material. Delivery will be sharply focused and admirably clear, and structured
so as to link key points. The handout will be interesting and informative. The
style will be lively and stimulating as well as clear and fluent and particularly
well suited to the content; the use of audio-visual aids, if appropriate,
excellent. The presentation as a whole will give clear evidence of group
planning and preparation, of co-operation and mutual support in producing a
well integrated, interactive presentation.
6. Presentations in the 12-14 (“good”) range will offer an adequate amount of
information from standard reference sources. They will develop a satisfactory
range of material, appropriate to serve as an introduction, and they will show
basic critical understanding of that material. Delivery will have clarity and
focus; key points will be highlighted adequately, and the handout will be
satisfactory. The presentation will engage the interest of the audience, perhaps
by making modest use of audio-visual aids, if appropriate, and delivery will be
audible. The methods of presentation will be appropriate to the content and
will give evidence of satisfactory interrelation of individual contributions to
the effectiveness of the whole.
7. Presentations in the 9-11 (“pass”) range will give evidence of being only
minimally prepared and will lack interrelatedness. They will present a limited
quality and range of information and show only modest critical understanding.
The material will be less than wholly relevant for introductory purposes.
Delivery will lack clarity and proper emphasis, focus will be poor, and the
handout will have gaps. Making little or no use of audio-visual aids, where
(continued overleaf)
27
these would have been appropriate, and partially inaudible, the presentation
will do little to arouse the interest of the audience, and the style will not be
entirely appropriate to the content. There will be little evidence of co-
operation among members of the group.
8. Presentations in the 0-8 (“fail”) range will seriously show lack of preparation
and co-operation in working together as a group; information will be scanty,
inappropriate or incorrect; delivery and style will be poor (e.g. inert reading of
a script rather than engagement with the audience).
(continued overleaf)
28
Note since this is the first year that this course has run in its current form, it is
not possible to give an old examination paper. This is a paper from the previous
Level 3 Medieval course, which had a rather different syllabus.
UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
Session 2007-08
DEGREE EXAMINATION IN EL30KF Knights, Virgins and Viragos.
______________________________________________________________
Candidates may not leave the room during the first or last half-hour of the
examination.
______________________________________________________________
Answer ONE question from Section A and ONE question from Section B.
Section A Chaucer.
1. Compare the portrayal of sexual rivalry in two of The Canterbury Tales.
2. What deficiencies of religious outlook does Chaucer explore in The
Canterbury Tales? (Answer with reference to two pilgrims and their tales).
3. Does Troilus and Criseyde constitute an endorsement, an indictment, or a
significant modification of the idea of courtly love?
4. Discuss the function of comedy in Troilus and Criseyde.
5. But, Lord, these feendly rokkes blake,
That semen rather a foul confusion
Of werk than any fair creacion
Of swich a parfit wys God and a stable,
Why han ye wroght this werk unreasonable?
(Dorigen in The Franklin’s Tal’)
Discuss ways in which Chaucer addresses the problem of evil in at least two of
The Canterbury Tales.
6. Do the bawdy tales make a serious contribution to The Canterbury Tales?
7. Wommen desiren to have sovereynetee
As wel; over his housbond as hir love,
And for to been in maistrie hym above. (The Wife of Bath’s Tale)
With reference to two works, discuss whether Chaucer’s works support this
statement.
(continued overleaf)
29
Section B other mediaeval literature.
8. What kinds of religious experience and emotion are explored in the Medieval lyrics?
9. How do the Medieval lyrics portray everyday life?
10. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight portrays the playing of a game, in two rounds. How
important is the idea of the game in the poem?
11. Discuss the contrast between the indoor and outdoor worlds in Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight.
12. Discuss the use of comedy and/or pathos in two Mystery plays.
13. 'Julian of Norwich is interested in Christ's suffering, Margery Kempe mainly in her
own.' Is this a fair assessment of the difference between the two writers?
14. With reference to at least two works, discuss the representation of the female voice in
Medieval literature. (You may refer to Chaucer in answering this question, but do not
write on him exclusively.)
[END OF PAPER]
(continued overleaf)
