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Week 1

• Aug 19 first meeting: introduction and class policies


• “What Every Medievalist Should Know” (a massive bibliography of important works in many fields) is here
• the Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies is here
• resources for medieval art history are here

Week 2

• Aug 24/26 Defining the Middle Ages: Augustine, Confessions


• James J. O’Donnell’s electronic edition of the Latin text, with an elaborate commentary, is online here
• a full text of an English translation is available here
• a Reading Guide “for beginners” is available here
• an excellent guide to online resources on Augustine is maintained by James O’Donnell here

Week 3

• Aug 31 Augustine continued.
• Sept 2 Introduction to Old English Literature: Bede’s story of Cædmon


• download the text here
• some excellent study questions for the story are here
• learn more about Bede and his world here
• more general resources for learning about the Anglo-Saxons are available here

Week 4

• Sept 7 Old English elegies: The Wanderer and The Ruin


• download the text here


• Sept 9 Beowulf


• visit my Beowulf Study Guide site here
• a collection of useful information for new readers of the poem is here
• a glimpse of a more challenging approach to the poem can be found here
• a bibliography of Beowulf studies (1979-2001) can be found here
• Carole Biggam’s online bibliography of Anglo-Saxon studies is here

Week 5

• Sept 14/16 Beowulf continued.

Week 6

• Sept 21 Arthurian Literature: Introduction


• one of the best guides to Arthurian resources is here
• another good collection of links for Arthurian studies is here
• yet another good source for Arthurian studies is here


• Sept 23 Malory, Morte Darthur


• a complete text of Malory’s work is here
• a good source for information on Malory is here
• crib notes on the text are available here
• information on William Caxton, the first printer in England, is here

Week 7

• Sept 28 (no class)
• Sept 30 Malory continued.

Week 8

• Oct 5 Romance: Guillaume de Lorris, Roman de la Rose


• view images of a manuscript of the poem here
• some basic questions for study are here
• links for the study of medieval French history and culture are here


• Oct 7 (no class)

Week 9

• Oct 12 Roman de la Rose continued.
• Oct 14 (no class – Fall break)

Week 10

• Oct 19/21 The Travels of John Mandeville


• an online English translation of the work is here
• a collection of early medieval maps is indexed here
• an essay on early travel writing and exploration can be read here

Week 11

• Oct 26/28 Gawain and the Green Knight


• a good place to start your study of the poem is here
• a few images of the manuscript are found here
• a set of study questions can be found here
• another set is here
• a collection of links for the poem is here
• information on the figure of Gawain in medieval literature has been collected here

Week 12

• Nov 2 Gawain continued.
• Nov 4 Pearl


• The Middle English text can be read online here
• online resources for the study of the Pearl-poet are here
• study questions for the poem are found here
• a project to create an online edition of this poet’s work is here

Week 13

• Nov 9/11 Pearl continued.

Week 14

• Nov 16/18 Selected Middle English lyrics


• begin reading about ME lyrics here
• selected lyrics with images can be found here
• a number of lyrics are edited and annotated by TEAMS here
• the Harley lyrics are online here
• another excellent online edition of the Harley Lyrics is here
• an introduction to the Harley lyrics is here
• resources for understanding Middle English language are here

Week 15

• Nov 23 Sir Orfeo
  
  
  • read Sir Orfeo online here (TEAMS website)
  • an online essay about the poem and its background is here
  
  
• Nov 25 (no class – Thanksgiving)

Week 16

• Nov 30 last meeting

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