HSY2640

The twelfth-century renaissance: culture and society

Constant Mews

8 points - Two lectures and one tutorial per week - Second semester - Clayton

Objectives Students who successfully complete this subject will demonstrate an ability to relate the literary and intellectual achievement of the twelfth century to a wider climate of criticism of traditional structures in society.

Synopsis This subject examines the flowering of cultural activity in France, England and the Rhineland 1070-1170, known as 'the twelfth-century renaissance', and its relationship to wider changes in European society at this time. It will look at the writings (available in translation) of particular individuals, notably Guibert of Nogent, Abelard and Heloise, John of Salisbury and Hildegard of Bingen, in terms of their response to changing perceptions of self and the external world which developed in the twelfth century. Their writings will be studied in the broader context of a desire for renewal within an increasingly ambitious and sophisticated society during the time of the Crusades. The subject will also examine the tensions provoked by competing visions of cultural and religious renewal.

Assessment Exercise (1250 words): 20% - Essay (2750 words): 40% - Examination (2 hours): 40%

Prescribed texts

The letters of Abelard and Heloise Penguin
Matarasso P (ed.) The Cistercian world: Monastic writings of the twelfth century Penguin, 1993

Recommended texts

Benson R L and Constable G Renaissance and renewal in the twelfth century U Toronto P, 1991
Duby G The knight, the lady and the priest Penguin, 1983
Gold P S The lady and the virgin: Image, attitudes and experience in twelfth-century France U Chicago P, 1985
Haskins C H The renaissance of the twelfth century Harvard U P, 1955
Morris C The discovery of the individual 1050-1200 U Toronto P, 1987

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