WOODSWORTH COLLEGE

University of Toronto
Summer 2013 Program at the University of Oxford
August 10 – September 3, 2015 (4 weeks)

FAH392Y0 – Medieval England: Art and Architecture

Instructor: Adam S. Cohen
E-mail: as.cohen@utoronto.ca

Course Overview
Despite its location at the edge of the Christian world, England produced some of the most
remarkable art and architecture of the Middle Ages. This course explores one thousand years
of English history through the buildings and artifacts created and used by the crown, the
church, and the people. Topics to be covered include the conversion of England to
Christianity, Vikings, the Norman Conquest, the Crusades, and the Hundred Years’ War.
Drawing on the rich collections of the Ashmolean Museum and the Bodleian Library, and
above all by spending significant time visiting local buildings, we will take full advantage of
being in Oxford to experience and understand medieval art and architecture. Each week, two
sessions will be held in the classroom and two will be conducted in the field, usually in Oxford
itself or the surrounding area. In this way, the course will not only cover such well-known
monuments as the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Bayeux Tapestry, and Canterbury Cathedral, but
also such local gems as Iffley Parish Church and the Coxwell Barn. The course will also
include the medieval buildings of Oxford University itself.

Prerequisites: At least one half course in the Art departmant or permission of the instructor.

Course Work
Four (4) short written assignments worth 5, 15, 20, and 20% (the first will be a pre-course
activity). The three class essays, each approximately three to four (3–4) pages, will be based
on a visit to a different Oxford landmark and will not require any secondary research. Instead,
these assignments will take advantage of the availability of primary monuments of medieval art
and architecture and allow students to develop their skills of looking at and analyzing these
monuments directly. (Total: 60%)

Class Participation: 10% Final: 30%

Course Readings: A reading package will be made of a small number of required texts.

Instructor: Adam Cohen teaches the history of medieval art at the University of Toronto.
After working in the Manuscripts Department at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, he
taught at a number of institutions before coming to Toronto, where his dynamic style has made
him a sought-after lecturer. Here are a sample of comments from RateMyProfessors.com:
“Amazing prof. If you are going to take one art history course at U of T, take Professor
Cohen's classes, it's worth it!” and “Awesome prof! I can't believe I almost didn't take this
course- even if Medieval art isn’t your thing, he'll make you love it. Don't want it to end.”
(Don’t believe the odd negative comment!)
 Course Outline

Week 1: Early Medieval England (ca. 500–1066)

Themes Conversion from Polytheism to Christianity
Monasticism
Vikings
Anglo-Saxon Culture
Objects Sutton Hoo Burial Complex
Lindisfarne Gospels
Skellig Michael
Field Trip I Deerhurst Parish Church
Field Trip II London — British Museum and British Library
Assignment Ashmolean Museum (Oxford)

Week 2: The Norman Conquest to the Magna Carta (1066–1215)

Themes Norman influence in England
Monasticism
Romanesque and Gothic Architecture
Objects Bayeux Tapestry
St. Albans Psalter
Canterbury Cathedral
Field Trip I Iffley Parish Church
Field Trip II Tewkesbury Abbey (Gloucestershire) and Kempley Church
Assignment St. George’s Tower and Oxford Castle (Oxford)

Week 3: The High Middle Ages (1215–ca. 1350)

Themes Rise of Universities
Crusades
Urbanism
Objects Lincoln Cathedral
Hereford World Map
The Luttrell Psalter
Field Trip I Salisbury Cathedral and Avebury
Field Trip II Uffington Parish Church, Coxwell Barn, Stanton Harcourt

Week 4: Hundred Years’ War to the Reformation (ca. 1350–ca. 1525)

Themes Political and intellectual dissent
Female literacy and vernacular literature
Oxford University expansion
Objects Westminster Palace and Abbey
Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde manuscript
Divinity School; New College; Duke Humfrey’s Library (Oxford)
Field Trip I Gloucester Cathedral, Northleach & Fairford Parish Churches
Field Trip II Divinity School; New College (Oxford)
Final Assignment Christ Church Cathedral (Oxford)