INTRO PROSEMINAR: Holy Warriors in Anglo-Saxon England
AS2026
A proseminar for first year BA students.
The course complements the Introductory lecture taught by Dr Vuille, ‘Introduction to Old and Middle English’.Students will have the chance to study in more depth texts discussed by Dr Vuille: there will be another Intro PS and Lecture next semester. Please enroll in both Intro courses in either AS or SS.
Some of the most exciting narratives told by medieval writers are those of ‘holy warriors’: the stories are sometimes fantastical and bizarre, sometimes violent and pornographic, sometimes human and moving. ‘Holy warriors’ can be male or female, and may be models for imitation, but also may be superhuman beings whose lives bear no relation to the practice of ordinary daily piety. The accounts of their lives may reflect social realities of class or gender, or they may contribute to the construction of gender and class difference -- or they may transcend such realities. Stories may be conformist and conservative, or may offer resistance to social, religious and politic institutions in the medieval world.
- Enseignant·e: Elisabeth Dutton