Cross listed with MDVL_REN 4105/7105

Early medieval women ruled as queens, managed powerful monasteries, and copied and decorated elaborate manuscripts. Others lived exemplary religious lives, worked in their family households and on farms, or were forced into enslaved labor. In early medieval English literature, we encounter women who spur their people to battle, are dragon-slaying saints, give speeches at banquets, yearn for their lovers, and assert their authentic selves in various ways. 

This course studies women in both the literature and the history of early medieval England, covering texts produced ca. 700 to ca. 1150 C.E. Readings (in translation) will be writings for and about women, such as heroic poetry, shorter narrative poetry, saints’ lives, biblical narratives, laws, riddles, and historiography. We will examine topics such as the influences of religious and secular authorities on the lives and literary representations of women, gendered sainthood, female patronage of literary production and textual culture, and the education of women. Current scholarship will supplement our knowledge of this period with a special focus on using feminist approaches to early medieval literature. Assignments will include shorter informal writings, research papers, in-class engagement, and hands-on work.

This is a Writing Intensive Course and is eligible to be taken as a Capstone.