Course Description: This course provides an introduction to the literary traditions of Medieval women through intensive study of the writings of  10th century Saxon canoness, Hrotsvit of Gandersheim.  We will read and translate selections from her writings, and focus on the legends and dramas.   Secondary readings will enable us to explore further the following topics: Medieval in relation to Classical Latin;  women's monastic roles and education in the Middle Ages;  the uses of Latin by and in relation to women in historical perspective;  systems of patronage and textual production;  reading and writing communities in the Middle Ages; gender and genre; canon formation and transmission.  Group projects will include staging a Hrotsvit play and producing a school edition of the legend of St. Agnes.

In addition to studying Hrotsvit's texts and contexts, this course provides an intensive review of Latin grammar, vocabulary and syntax, paying special attention to the formation and uses of the subjunctive, participles, and infinitives.

This course satisfies the core distribution requirement in Humanities and is a Women's Studies core course. It also provides a transition to advanced level Latin literature (491) courses.

Requirements: mid-term and final exams (translation; essay questions);  frequent short quizzes on grammar and vocabulary; daily translation and reading assignments; attendance and class participation;  oral and group presentations;  short (1-2 page) papers, as assigned.

Required Texts:  Griffin, Robin M. and Ed Phinney. A Student’s Latin Grammar
Literary Traditions of Medieval Women: Reading Hrotsvit  (xeroxed course reader)

Reserve Readings: All readings listed in the syllabus are on reserve at Beeghly Library
 
 
 

                                    Assignment and Reading Schedule
 
 

Week 1:   grammar review: infinitives, formation and uses, including indirect statement

Reading: J. Snyder (1989) "Women Writers in Rome and Their Successors" and "Conclusion" 122-56.

Week 2:  grammar review: participles, formation and uses, including ablative absolute and passive periphrastic

Reading/group presentation: read all entries in Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers on women who wrote in Latin; make a time-line based on these entries; what conclusions can you draw from these entries?  What questions does this investigation raise?  Present your findings in class.

Week 3:   grammar review: subjunctive, formation and uses; hortatory, purpose and result clauses

 Reading: L. R. Lind (1941) Medieval Latin Studies: Their Nature and Possibilities; S. Wemple "Monastic Life of Women from the Merovingians to the Ottonians" in Wilson (1987) 35-54; Gilchrist (1994) "The Handmaid's Tale" 1-21; "Symbolism and Seclusion" 150-93; "Gender and Medieval Monasticism" 188-93.

Week 4:   grammar review: subjunctive, formation and uses; indirect statement; conditions;  dependent clauses in indirect statement

Reading: Hrotsvit's "Prefaces" K. Wilson, trans.; K. Wilson "The Saxon Canoness: Hrotsvit of Gandersheim" in Wilson (1984) 30-46; B. Gold "Hrotswitha Writes Herself: 'Clamor Validus Gandeshemensis'" in Gold et al, eds. (1997).

Week 5:   Hrotsvit's Legends: "Basilius" lines 1-103

Week 6:   Hrotsvit's Legends: "Basilius" lines 104-184

Week 7:   Hrotsvit's Legends: "Basilius" lines 85-222

Reading: Hortsvit's "Pelagius," Wilson, trans. in Petroff (1986) 114-24.

Week 8:   Hrotsvit's Legends: "Basilius" lines 223-264

Mid-term exam

Weeks 9-10:Group Project: Produce a teaching edition of  Hrotsvit's "Passio Sanctae Agnetis Virginis et  Martyris" with commentary, grammatical notes, vocabulary, and bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

Week 11:   Hrotsvit's Dramas: "Passio Sanctarum Virginum Agapis, Chioniae et Hirenae," scenes 1-6

Reading:  S. Sticca "The Hagiographic and Monastic Context of Hrotswitha's Plays" in Wilson (1987) 1-54;  J. Tarr "Terentian Elements in Hrotsvit" in Wilson (1987) 55-62; E. R. Curtius (1953) "Literature and Education" 36-61 and "Classicism" 247-72.

Week 12: Hrotsvit's Dramas: "Agape, Chionia et Hirena" scenes 7-12

Reading: Hrotsvit's "Abraham," Wilson, trans. in Petroff (1986) 124-35.

Week 13:  Hrotsvit's Dramas: "Resuscitatio Drusianae et Calimachi," scenes 1-8

Reading:  "Literacy and Learning" in D. Bell (1995) 57-96. J. Newell "Education and Classical Culture in the Tenth Century: Age of Iron or Revival of Learning?" in Wilson (1987) 127-4.

Week 14: Hrotsvit's Dramas: "Drusiana et Calimachus," scene 9

Reading:  K. Wilson, trans. Hrotsvit's "Sapientia."
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Week 15:  Staging Hrotsvit: group translation of scenes from Hrotsvit's plays; staging in Latin and English; video-taping and critique.