DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY

HISTORY 5701
MEDIEVAL CIVILISATION

Winter 2010 Fridays 9:30-12:30

Instructor: Professor C.J. Neville

Office: McCain Arts and Social Sciences Building, Room 3171
Telephone: 494-3361
E-mail: cneville@dal.ca
Department Website: www.history.dal.ca

Office hours: Mondays 12:00-1:00; Fridays 12:30-1:30

This class has been mounted on the Blackboard system, so be sure to check the site regularly
for copies of handouts, announcements and various postings relevant to the class.

Students enrolled in HIST 5701 follow the same schedule of readings, with the same obligation to
participate fully in weekly discussions, as students taking the class as HIST 4003, with the
following differences.

MA students are expected to submit, by 4:00 p.m. on the Wednesday preceding the Friday class, a
brief written critical review (2-3 pages each) of each of readings that have been assigned for that
week. In the case of the single text being used in the class, these reviews may be slightly longer

HIST 4003 students will be dismissed after two hours every week, with the third scheduled class
hour devoted discussion with MA students alone. Readings will be explored in greater depth and
students’ weekly written assignments reviewed and discussed.

HIST 5701 students will submit a research paper consisting of some 30-35 pages, and are expected
to demonstrate in that work a graduate-level ability to work with primary source materials. Bonus
points will be awarded to students who are bale to work with Latin-, French- or Italian language
sources, as appropriate.

Assignments and grades

In assessing final grades, the written assignment will carry the principal weight, as follows:
Outline and bibliography due no later than 29 January 2010 10%
Completed paper, due12 March 2010 30%
A list of essay topics will be distributed in the second week of term. All assignments must by typed
or word-processed. Under no circumstances will an extension be granted to the due date of the
essay. Essays submitted after the deadline will be severely penalized; no exceptions.

Note that the correct use of grammar and language is one of the criteria used in evaluating the
written assignment.

The written reviews of assigned readings, noted above, will constitute 30% of the final grade.

General class participation in weekly discussions will constitute the last 30% of the final grade.

Attendance in class is strictly required, and the instructor reserves the right to alter the final grade
to reflect undue absenteeism. A student who is absent for more than one seminar session without
acceptable cause will be adjudged as having failed to meet class requirements.

In summary, then, grades are assigned as follows:

Essay outline and bibliography 10%

Completed essay 30%
Written reviews of weekly readings 30%
Class participation 30%
-------
Total 100%
Statement re. plagiarism
Plagiarism is considered a serious academic offence that may lead to loss of credit, suspension or
expulsion from the university, or even the revocation of a degree. It is essential that there be correct
attribution of the authorities from which facts and opinions have been derived. At Dalhousie there
are University Regulations that deal with plagiarism and, prior to submitting any paper in a course,
all students in this class are to read and understand the policies on plagiarism and academic honesty
as referenced in the Undergraduate Calendar at the following address:
http://registrar.dal.ca/calendar/ug/UREG.htm#12. Ignorance of such policies is no excuse for
violations.
The Senate has affirmed the right of any instructor to require that student papers be submitted in
both written and computer readable format. As a student in this class, you are henceforth required
to keep an electronic copy of any paper you submit.
See also the handy student guide to writing papers entitled “Doing History at Dalhousie”, available
in the Main Office of the Department of History, or online at the Department’s Website.

Students with disabilities

Students with disabilities are encouraged to register as quickly as possible at the Student
Accessibility Services if they want to receive academic accommodations. To do so please phone
494-2836, e-mail, drop in at the Killam, G28 or visit our website at
www.studentaccessibility.dal.ca.

H1N1
For the 2009 fall academic term, section 16.8 of the University’s Academic Regulations, which
require a medical certificate due to illness, is suspended for those individuals experiencing
influenza-like symptoms.
In all cases, students are required to immediately advise their instructors of an absence due to
influenza-like symptoms as this will assist in monitoring the extent of illness across the University.
Students are encouraged to follow the decision chart guidelines to assist in making care decisions in
the event of flu-like symptoms.
A Senate determination will be made on whether to extend this modified regulation into the
2009/2010 winter term.
Class programme – HIST 4003/5701

Week 1 Introduction to History 4003/5701

9 Jan.

Week 2 Topic for discussion: Popular culture in the Middle Ages I

15 Jan. Class readings: Dutton, Charlemagne’s Mustache, Introduction AND first three
essays

Week 3 Topic for discussion: Popular culture in the Middle Ages II

22 Jan. Class readings: Dutton, Charlemagne’s Mustache, rest of the book

Week 4 Topic for discussion: Marriage and the family

29 Jan. Class readings: articles under heading Marriage and the family
*Essay outline and bibliography due no later than today*

Week 5 No class this week - Friday is Munro Day

5 Feb.

Week 6 Topic for discussion: Youth and old age

12 Feb. Class readings: articles under heading Youth and old age

Week 7 Topic for discussion: The poor and the sick

19 Feb. Class readings: articles under heading The poor and the sick

Week 8 FEBRUARY STUDY BREAK

26 Feb.

Week 9 Topic for discussion: Dying and the dead

5 Mar. Class readings: articles under heading Dying and the dead

Week 10 Topic for discussion: Literacy

12 Mar. Class readings: articles under heading Literacy
*Completed essay due today *

Week 11 Topic for discussion: Wealth and work

19 Mar. Class readings: articles under heading Wealth and work

Week 12 Topic for discussion: Popular revolts

26 Mar. Class readings: articles under heading Popular revolts

Week 13 No class this week - Good Friday holiday

2 Apr.

Week 14 Topic for discussion: Criminal society - the example of Italy

9 Apr. Class readings: articles under heading Criminal society - the example of Italy

Week 13 Topic for discussion: The medieval other

4 Dec. Class readings: articles under heading The medieval other
Readings for HIST 4003/5701 – all available online through Dal Killam Library

MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

Didier Lett, ‘Adult Brothers and Juvenile Uncles: Generations and Age Differences in Families at
the End of the Middle Ages’, History of the Family 6:3 (2001), 391-400.

Fiona Griffiths, ‘Siblings and the Sexes within the Medieval Religious Life’, Church History 77:1
(2008), 26-53

Geneviève Ribordy, ‘The Two Paths to Marriage: The Preliminaries of Noble Marriage in Late
Medieval France’ 26:3 (2001), 323-336

YOUTH AND OLD AGE

Jonathan R. Lyon, ‘Fathers and Sons: Preparing Noble Youths to be Lords in Twelfth-century
Germany’, Journal of Medieval History 34:3 (2008), 291-310.

Rosalynn Voaden and Stephanie Volf, ‘Visions of My Youth: Representations of the Childhood of
Medieval Visionaries’, Gender & History 12:3 (2000), 665–684.

Elaine Clarke, ‘Some Aspects of Social Security in Medieval England’, Journal of Family History
7:4 (1982), 307 - 320.

THE POOR AND THE SICK

S. Farmer, ‘Down and Out and Female in Thirteenth Century Paris’, American Historical Review
103 (1998): 345-372.

Zimmerman, Susan, ‘Leprosy in the Medieval Imaginary’, Journal of Medieval & Early Modern
Studies 38:3 (2008), 559-587.

Susan McDonough, ‘Impoverished Mothers and Poor Widows: Negotiating Images of Poverty in
Marseille's Courts’, Journal of Medieval History 34:1 (2008), 64-78.

DYING AND THE DEAD

Marta Van Landingham, ‘The Dying and the Dead in Gratian's Decretum’, Comitatus: A Journal of
medieval and Renaissance Studies 24:1 (1993), 61-78.

N. Caciola, ‘Wraiths, Revenants and Ritual in Medieval Culture’, Past and Present 152 (1996): 3-
45.

Elizabeth A. R. Brown, ‘Authority, the Family and the Dead in Late Medieval France’, French
Historical Studies 16:4 (1990), 803-32 . OR EARLIER ARTICLE????
LITERACY
C. Annette Grisé, ‘Women’s Devotional Reading in Late-Medieval England and the Gendered
Reader’, Medium Aevum 71:2 (2002), 209-25

C. F. Briggs, ‘Literacy, Reading, and Writing in the Medieval West’, Journal of Medieval History
26:4 (2000), 397-420.

John-Henry Wilson Clay, ‘Gift-giving and Books in the Letters of St Boniface and Lul’, Journal of
Medieval History 35:4 (2009), 313-25.

WEALTH AND WORK

John J. Contreni, ‘’Building Mansions in Heaven’: The Visio Baronti, Archangel Raphael, and a
Carolingian King’, Speculum 78:3 (2003), 673-706.

Samuel Cohn, ‘. After the Black Death: Labour Legislation and Attitudes towards Labour in Late-
medieval western Europe’, Economic History Review 60:3 (2007), 486-512.

David Nicholas, ‘Child and Adolescent Labour in the Late Medieval City: A Flemish Model in
Regional Perspective’, English Historical Review 110: 439, 1103-1131.

POPULAR REVOLTS
Jan Dumolyn, ‘’Criers and Shouters’: The Discourse on Radical Urban Rebels in Late Medieval
Flanders’, Journal of Social History 42:1 (2008), 111-135.

Montgomery Bonha, ‘Armed Force and Civic Legitimacy in Jack Cade's Revolt 1450’, English
Historical Review 118:477 (2003), 563-582.

Norman Housley, ‘Insurrection as Religious War, 1400-1536’, Journal of Medieval History 25:2
(1999) 141-154.

CRIMINAL SOCIETY – THE EXAMPLE OF ITALY

G. Ruggiero, 'Law and Punishment in Early Renaissance Venice', Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology 69 (1978): 243-256.

M. Becker, 'Changing Patterns of Violence and Justice in Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-Century

Florence', Comparative Studies in Society and History 18:3 (1976): 282-296.

Laura Ilkins Stern, ‘Public Fame in the Fifteenth Century’, American Journal of Legal History,
44:2 (2000), 198-222
THE MEDIEVAL OTHER
J. Gillingham, ‘The Beginnings of English Imperialism’, Journal of Historical Sociology 5 (1992),
392-409.

Carol Stone, ‘Anti-Semitism in the Miracle Tales of the Virgin’, Medieval Encounters 5:3 (1999),
365-374.

V. A Kolve, ‘Ganymede/Son of Getron: medieval monasticism and the drama of same-sex desire’,
Speculum 73:4 (1998), 1014-1067.