Reading Schedule for Travel Study Course

                          Reading Schedule for Travel Study Tour

Each day we will discuss issues and ideas based on your reading of  The Cathars (called Cathars) and several assigned selections from the anthology of medieval literature, Women and Writing in Medieval Europe (called anthology). As you travel and study, you will be thinking about a topic for your research paper, whether historical or literary, which will be due at the end of Spring Semester.

Obviously, it’s difficult the first and last day to do any reading on the plane, so I suggest you read ahead before the trip starts. Students are required to attend each class meeting if they are taking the course for credit. Class hours will vary, depending on the trip schedule each day.

Day 1/2 in transit

Day 3: ch 1-2 Cathars and Ch 1 in anthology: Intro, Good wives, Forward Young Woman, Duties of Bourgeois Housewife; Ch 3 Old English pregnancy charms, Trobairitz on child rearing, Horrors of motherhood, Mothers in Montaillou, Division of Labor

Discussion: The Midi in Middle Ages; real medieval women as maids, wives and mothers; French lit before 11^th c.; chansons de geste

Day 4: ch 3 Cathars; and in anthology: Ch 2 Intro,  Sexual Passion recalled, Two Later love lyrics, About Love, The Trobaritz, About Love, Love Between Women, Il Dolce Stile Nuovo, An Alba       

Discussion: Revival of Europe 11^th c: trade, towns, and trade; rise of heresy; “revolution of sensibility” in literature; theories of courtly love

Day 5: ch 4 Cathars; and selected trobadour poems: http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/G/GuilhemIXofP/Joyousinlove.htm , http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/B/BernartdeVen/WhenIseelark.htm,  http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/G/GirautdeBorn/ReisgloriosG.htm, http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/A/ArnautDaniel/firmdesireth.htm

Discussion: Growth of Catharism;  ethos of courtly love-elements and contemporary criticism; the troubadours I

Day 6: ch 5 Cathars and selected poems by two troubadours: http://www.trobar.org/troubadours/jaufre_rudel/, http://www.trobar.org/troubadours/cercamon/

 Discussion:  Catharist beliefs and practices; the troubadours II

Day 7: ch 6 Cathars and pp. 55-58 in anthology and Countess of Die: http://www.languedoc-france.info/190401_troubadoursong.htm

Discussion: Church’s first responses to Catharism; trouveres in Northern France and minnesangers in Germany; the trobairitz

Day 8: ch 7 Cathars and and in anthology: Ch 4 Intro, Hildegards’s Vision of the Ecclesia and pp. 238-42 and Clare of Assisi Letters

 

Discussion: The Albigensian Crusade; monastic women

Day 9: ch 8 Cathars and in anthology” pp.23-25  

Discussion: Destruction of Albigensians; courtly “novels” and “matter of Brittany”; Tristan and Isolde

Day 10: ch 9 Cathars and http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/eliduc_rickert.pdf  and in anthology pp. 20-22

Discussion: The Inquisition arrives in the South; the lais of Marie de France

Day 11: ch 10 Cathars and pp. 20-22 and in anthology: pp. 41-48   

Discussion: The Inquisition and its process; women’s religious love poetry I

Day 12: ch 11 Cathars and pp. 242-48 in anthology

Discussion: The last Cathars and their legacy; women’s religious love poetry II

Day 13: ch 12 Cathars and http://www.languedoc-france.info/060600_mistral.htm

Discussion: Heresy and the Church after the Cathars; the position of women by Late Middle Ages; modern poets of troubadour/courtly love tradition.  Review the “revolution of sensibility” of the High Middle Ages  

Day 14 in transit

Please bring along a journal (or a laptop) and do an entry each day we have class (11) reflecting your reading and learning on the trip.

There are 4 quizzes and a final. You may take these upon return to LA if you wish

The research paper will be due the end of the Spring semester. 10 pages for undergrads; at least 15 pages for grads. Instructor will help choose a topic.