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 Classics Program at BGSU
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Fabrizio Baldo, Astolfo rides the
hippogriff
(illustration for Orlando Furioso)
CLCV 3880/3880H-1001: Medieval Legend
Tuesday/Thursday 2:30-3:45
Eppler Center 223
James M. Pfundstein, Ph.D.
Shatzel 222
Office Hours:12:30-1:20 Tuesday, and by appointment
Office phone: 419-372-8278
e-mail: jmpfund@bgsu.edu
web-page: https://blogs.bgsu.edu/pfundblog/syllabi/
facebook: james.enge
Bluesky: jamesenge
Mastodon: @jamesenge@mastodon.sdf.org
links to Amazon (which is not an endorsement; you can get these texts elsewhere)
or Archive.org (which is an endorsement, although you can still get these texts elsewhere):
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Brittaniae (selections)
PDF available here (and elsewhere online):
https://archive.org/details/britishhistoryg01geofgoog/page/n6/mode/2up
Guest, Charlotte (transl.) Mabinogion (selections: “The Lady of the Fountain”; “Peredur, Son of Evrawc”)
PDF available here (and elsewhere online)
https://archive.org/details/mabinogion01schr
Weston, Jessie (transl.) Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight (1897)
original edition here (free, but in a rather soupy, marked-up PDF)
https://archive.org/details/sirgawaingreenkn00west
reprint edition here (not free, but you can get a clean hardcopy)Malory, Morte d’Arthur (selections)
https://www.amazon.com/Gawain-Green-Knight-Dover-Literature/dp/0486431916/
in various formats at Project Gutenberg
volume 1: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1251as a single PDF at Archive.org:
volume 2: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1252
https://archive.org/details/lemortedarthursi00malorich
Matarosso, Pauline The Quest of the Holy Grail (Penguin, 1969)
Cable, The Death of King Arthur (Penguin, 1972)
Sayers, Dorothy (transl.) The Song of Roland (Penguin, 1957)
used copies available here
also online for free at archive.org here: https://archive.org/details/thesongofrolandReynolds, Barbara (transl.) Orlando Furioso Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 (Penguin, 1975/1977)
Online Resources:
What is standard manuscript formatting? For the purposes of this class, see the link below.
https://jamesenge.com/GenericMythArgument.wordformat.pdfThe T.E.A.M.S. Middle English texts series has an extremely rich website, including texts in Middle English, and jumping-off points for research, including the Robin Hood Project and (more relevant for our topic) the Camelot Project.
https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams
Bouchier (et al.), Huon of Bordeaux (Ruskin, 1985)
https://archive.org/details/huonofbordeauxdo00bernuoft
The Labyrinth at Georgetown University's website is a repository for studies of medieval Europe in general, and has a section of Arthuriana.
https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/A couple readings for the Matter of Rome:
Hunt's modernized version of the Middle English romance, Sir Orfeo is available at archive.org. Tolkien's is also online, but I'm dubious about whether the site has the right to post it. Another modernized version, by Richard Scott-Robinson, is here.
Richard Scott-Robinson's modernized version of Octavian is online here.Weston's Gawain at the Grail Castle (1903) is online at The Internet Archive and elsewhere.
https://archive.org/details/SirGawainAtTheGrailCastle1903/page/n7/mode/2upetc!
If you find any other good sources, let me know. I'll be expanding this section as more stuff comes to my attention.
Course
Expectations:
1. Expectations for Behavior: Abide by Wheaton's Law. For details, see the BGSU Codes of Conduct.
2. Expectations for Learning: This is a survey course in medieval legends, and will involve readings in translation from a variety of sources (Latin, Welsh, Old French, Middle English). By the end of it you should have a good sense of what myth is (as opposed to, say, religion), and what medieval legend is in particular; you will have had a chance to read and write and think about these myths and their applicability to our culture and our time.
Survey courses are, of necessity, somewhat heterogeneous. This means that I'll be covering a lot of topics which may not obviously be related to each other, and also I will use a lot of words like "heterogeneous". You might think of the myths as the members of an extended family. They're not all the same, and none of them are exactly the same. But there is an undeniable organic relation between them, and the more of them you know the more you will see the resemblance.
3. Course Aim: To extend your opportunities to study mythology and its impact on the modern world; to give you opportunities to read and write and think about difficult cultural material; to build a bridge from the ancient to the modern world.
(see schedule below for due dates)
Arguments are 500-word essays based on the readings, lecture notes, and discussions as listed in the schedule. They should include a brief thesis statement ("Medieval legends are really about potatoes!"), defended by an argument ("Because potatoes are the only thing that appear in every one of the myths that we saw in this section!") supported by evidence ("[Potato-Legend 1], [Potato-Legend 2], [Potato-Legend 3]," etc.) documented by precise citations.
Cite the source of anything you quote or paraphrase, and always cite as specifically as possible. For a modern book (like Matarosso's) this means page numbers. For Roland this means stanza numbers; for Orlando Furioso it means canto and stanza numbers; etc. Don't cite sources other than the required readings unless you have some very strong reason for doing so: I want you to show me that you know the assigned material, not that you know how to google something. Do make copious use of the assigned readings. If you've finished the assignment without mentioning the assigned readings, go back in and include citations from these sources.
Use standard manuscript formatting for the arguments and the final project.
You'll submit the arguments online through the assignment page on Canvas. (Don't email them to me or send me hardcopies.)
Quizzes are strictly objective (true/false, matching, short ID, visual ID, etc) based on the readings, slideshows, and lecture notes. They'll be administered in class.
The Final Project is a 1000-word paper (submitted via Canvas), which could be a longer version of the argument-style essay, or some other writing project as negotiated with the instructor. But similar standards (e.g. intensive use of the required materials, use of standard MS. format, etc.) apply.
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2 arguments 4 quizzes 1 final project |
30% 40% 30% |
| No makeups given due to absence without prior arrangement with the instructor. |
| No one
can pass the course without passing the final quiz and
turning in the final project. |
| Incompletes will only be issued for pressing reasons and by prior arrangement with the instructor. |
| "Mouse is a syllable. A syllable doesn't
eat cheese. Therefore a mouse doesn't eat
cheese."--Seneca |
| The instructor reserves the right to recognize significant improvement (or decline) in student performance when awarding the final grade. |
| The maximum amount of extra credit which may count towards the final grade = 5% of the total course points. |
| The syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor; changes will be announced via Canvas and posted on-line. |
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