Medieval Violence

The Middle Ages have a reputation for extraordinary violence, but why? In this course, we study the medieval literary record for answers, exploring the artistic, historical, and social conditions compelling these authors to write about war, murder, and other brutalities. How did Viking economy and religion converge to make raiding and slavery moral enterprises? How did antisemitic theology dehumanize Jews, exposing their bodies to real and symbolic violence and outlawry? Why were the first several centuries of English written poetry modeled on preliterate barbarian war chant? To answer these questions and others, we will survey texts from medieval English, Norse, French, and German literary traditions; by the end of this course, students will understand medieval relationships between literature, violence, and the imagination, and how medieval literature and its cultural lineage construct modern ideas about the upper limits of human ferocity. Texts in English or English translation; no knowledge of medieval languages required.