COURSE DESCRIPTION
HONOR, LOVE AND VIOLENCE: THE MEDIEVAL ARISTOCRACY
This course has two goals. The first is to
learn something about the lives, experiences, and values of the high medieval
aristocracy. The second is to learn the techniques of writing a history
research paper. Although there is a natural tension to these two
goals, I hope to have come up with a balance between joint examination
of primary and secondary materials relating to the topic of the high medieval
aristocracy and individual pursuit of research.
In addressing the first goal, we will examine several
texts, both primary and secondary, in an effort to try to sort out both
the image of the medieval aristocracy (as expressed, particularly, through
literature) and the reality. Indeed, this contrast between ideal
and reality may well provide a useful starting point for individual research
projects. I also hope to offer a crash course in the use of particular
sorts of medieval sources, particularly for those of you who have no experience
with the Middle Ages. So, after an overview of the aristocracy (Bouchard),
we will move to look at four genres of primary sources: charters (Evergates),
chronicles, laws, and literature (Yvain). Then we will examine a
modern historian's reconstruction of knightly society (Crouch). As
we read we will keep in mind two things: 1) methodology, or how the particular
genre of source can be used by students to write research papers; and 2)
content, or the themes that the readings suggest about medieval aristocratic
life (including, but not limited to marriage and the family, loyalty and
honor, violence and warfare, love and lust, and chivalry). Use this first
month or so to help you arrive at the kinds of sources you like to use
and the sorts of thematic question(s) you want to ask in your own research
paper.
To help you come to grips with the second goal,
I have planned a staggered series of short assignments designed to get
you started on a research project. These research assignments will include
exercises in coming up with a topic, constructing a preliminary bibliography,
criticizing a single secondary source, analyzing several secondary sources
as a group, constructing a final bibliography, and producing a thesis paragraph
and outline. I will require that a polished first draft of the paper
be turned in on April 10; we will spend the next two weeks in class revising
these drafts with the help of our classmates. I will ask you to prepare
an oral report (5-10 minutes) outlining your paper and the ways in which
you think it needs to be revised; we will then all spend some time on each
paper making suggestions on revision, etc. A revised draft will be
due on Thursday May 4, by noon. I realize that some of you may never
have written research papers before. Do not worry. This course should provide
you with the skills you need.