Nipissing University

HISTORY 4505 – Topics in Medieval History

Topic for 2008-9: Chivalry

              Course Outline

      1. Version of August 15, 2008

Instructor: Dr. Steve Muhlberger

What this course is about:

The subject of this year's seminar is "chivalry." What did this mean to medieval people? Where did the idea come from? How did it relate to ideas such as nobility, prowess, courtesy, and love? What tensions and contradictions did "chivalry" contain? What is the significance of the idea today? Students will read medieval documents and treatises and some of the best modern scholarship in an effort to answer these questions.

Professor:

Steve Muhlberger

Office:                 H 312

Office Hour:       Mon. 3-4 

Office Phone:      474-3461 ext. 4458

Home Phone:      776-1247 (not after 9 p.m.)

E-mail:                 stevem@ nipissingu.ca

Personal Home Page:  http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/muhlberg.htm

Course Home Page:   http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/4505/chivalry.htm

 

Required Books:

Muhlberger, ed.  Chivalry:  A Reader

Ramon Lull’s Book of Knighthood and Chivalry & the Anonymous Ordene de Chevalerie

Geoffroi de Charny, A Knight’s Own Book of Chivalry

 

Other readings will be located on the open Web or at the password-protected course website.   The course website will also be available through WebCT.   Details on the use of WebCT will be available in class.  

 

Grading scheme:

1.  Class participation, first term (25%)

2.  Class participation, second term (25%)

Active participation, going beyond simple attendance and answering direct questions, is required of all students.    Everyone will be required both to make formal presentations and take part in informal discussion.   Furthermore, you will be expected to write short papers on a regular basis.  These short papers should be posted to WebCT before the class in which the topic is discussed.

 

Because participation is so important to your course grade, I have decided to grade you separately, with comments, in each term.    This should allow for improvement in the second term.

                  

3.  First term exam -- 20%

This exam will be a take-home assignment distributed during the seminar meeting of November 26 and due at the beginning of the seminar meeting of December 3.   It will give you a chance to demonstrate an understanding of the material to date, apart from your in-class participation

4.  Research paper – Due end of second term -- 20%

A list of potential topics can be found at the end of this handout.

5.  In -class presentation of research topic -- 10%

Starting on February 25th, students will begin to present on the topic they are researching for their research paper.  An effective presentation takes different skills and requires a different focus from writing the paper itself.  Even if you were finished with your paper, reading it in class would not produce an effective presentation.  An effective presentation generally focuses on one major aspect of your topic, one that can be discussed in 20 minutes, that relates to the larger themes of the course, and is comprehensible to your audience, other students who have some background in the concepts of chivalry, thanks to their own research and the common material you all will have read.   An effective in-class presentation is interesting to the audience, concise yet illustrated with good examples, anecdotes, and pictures (if available), and provides hooks for in-class discussion.    A good discussion has its own thesis which may not be identical to your paper’s thesis.   A good discussion may suggest new ideas to your audience, and give you an opportunity to rethink and improve your research paper.

For all these reasons, your in-class presentation requires serious preparation.  It would take unusual talent for you to wing it successfully, and I don't suggest you try.

    

Outline of Seminar Topics and Readings:

There are two kinds of material used in this course, material that NU students have free, legal access to, and material subject to Cancopy (copyright) fees.   All the free material is on the open Web, in a specific course website,  or in databases in the library collection.   You will need to print out this free material yourself if you want a hard copy, which I recommend.   This may be tedious but it will save you a great deal of money.

First term:

Sept. 10 – Intro to Course – Images of Chivalry

Sept. 17 – Influential Treatises

Ramon Lull’s Book of Knighthood and Chivalry & the Anonymous Ordene de Chevalerie

Peace of God http://tinyurl.com/jzknt

Truce of God http://tinyurl.com/zdav5

 

Sept. 24 – Medieval Warfare

Armor:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1248suitarmr.html

http://www.chronique.com/Library/Armour/armyd1.htm

Battle:

http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/cologne.htm

http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/born.htm

Castles: 

Rebuilding of Castle of Safad, The Templars, 84-86

Dangers:

http://tinyurl.com/m9tkt

http://tinyurl.com/opgmm

http://tinyurl.com/paog2

http://tinyurl.com/lvggp

Gillingham “Richard I”

 

Oct. 1 – Origin of Knights

 

Agreement

http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/source/agreement.html

Fulbert of Chartes

http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/fulbert1.html

Charter of Homage and Fealty

http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/source/atton1.html

Scammell, “The Formation of the English Social Structure”

Bonnassie, pp. 206-217

Poly and Bournazel, pp. 97-113

 

Oct. 8 – Knights and Crusade

 

Urban II http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html

On the New Knighthood

 http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/religion/monastic/bernard.html

Peace of God http://tinyurl.com/jzknt

Truce of God http://tinyurl.com/zdav5

 

Oct. 15 – Study Week – no class

 

Oct. 22 – What Knights Do, Part I

 

Charny’s Questions on War (on course website)

 

Oct. 29 – What Knights Do, Part II

 

Anna Comnena

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/comnena-cde.html#alex109

Strickland, “Provoking or Avoiding Battle?”  317-343

Froissart on trials by combat and challenges:

http://tinyurl.com/9ve9m

http://tinyurl.com/esdrr

http://tinyurl.com/godvp

http://tinyurl.com/op6bb

William Marshal at tourney http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/marshal1.htm

 

 

Nov.  5 – Knights of Epic

 

Roland 13-39, 56-64, 78-92, 105-110, 119 (121), 126 (114)-135, 145-160, 164-177. (on course website)

http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/marshal3.htm (Wm Marshal, Lincoln)

Andrew Taylor, “Chivalric Conversation and the Denial of Male Fear”

 

Nov. 12 – Knights of Romance

 

Erec and Enide (on course website)

Duby, “Youth in Aristocratic Society,” 112-122

 

Nov. 19 – Courtly Love, Part  I

 

Lancelot 247-982, 2451-2793, 3319-4263, 4441-5007 (on course website)

 

Nov. 26 – Courtly Love, Part II

 

Andreas Capellanus (Andrew the Chaplain) http://tinyurl.com/l2ekz

Peter Abelard and Heloise (on course website)

Manesse Codex            http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/cpg848

Lewis, Courtly Love, 1-43

Cheyette in Aristocratic Women, pp. 138-77

 

Dec.   3 – Review of First Term

 

Second term:

Jan. 7 –  Combat of the Thirty against Thirty

(on course website)

Jan. 14 – 14th Century Jousts

(on course website)

Jan. 21 – Knights and Peasants

Wright, Knights and Peasants 1-13, 25-44.

Gilllingham “William Marshal.”

Gentlemen vs. commoners

http://tinyurl.com/lvggp

Froissart on peasant rebellion

http://tinyurl.com/hraov

http://tinyurl.com/kqqfm

Other rebels (?)

http://tinyurl.com/l4oza

http://tinyurl.com/qjc9b

King of France and Paris and French towns

http://tinyurl.com/n7jbh

http://tinyurl.com/hwq9p

http://tinyurl.com/pros5

 

Jan. 28 – Geoffroi de Charny, Part I

 

Feb. 4  – Geoffroi de Charny, Part II

 

Feb. 11 – Modern Chivalry

 

Feb. 18 – Study Week, no class

 

Feb. 25 – RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS BEGIN

 

 

Research Paper Topics:

Between the NU library, the Web, and my personal collection there are many primary sources in translation available that might make good research topics.  There are also a number of historiographical topics for those who want to explore the current scholarly debates on chivalry and related topics.

 

Here is a partial list of possibilities.

 

Sources or Writers

 

  1. St. Inglevert
  2. Unconquered Knight
  3. Song of Roland
  4. Combat of the Thirty against Thirty
  5. Chretien de Troyes Knight of the Cart
  6. Duarte
  7. Christine de Pisan
  8. Bouvet
  9. Castiglione
  10. Gawain and the Green Knight
  11. Chivalry and the early modern duel
  12. Rene’s Book of the Tournament, Book of Love
  13. Livonian Rhyme Chronicle (and Baltic Crusades)
  14. Ramon Llull
  15. Froissart and his audience
  16. Walter Scott
  17. Tirant lo Blanc
  18. Knight of the Tower and Menagier de Paris
  19. The Cid
  20. Orlando Furioso

 

Historiographical Debates

 

  1. Chivalry and courtliness
  2. William Marshal
  3. Feudalism and chivalry
  4. Terry Jones and Chaucer’s Knight

 

Other Topics

 

  1. Beowulf and chivalry
  2. Elizabethan chivalry
  3. Tournaments, jousting and a career at arms
  4. Knights and government in England
  5. Chivalry and Crusade

 

Topics requiring French

 

30. Charny’s War Questions

31. Le Tournoi de Chauvency

32. The Book of the Good Duke

33. Boucicaut

 

An Off-the-Cuff Guide to Quizzing the Sources:

There are certain questions that have to be asked of every source, primary or secondary, which discusses chivalry.  Don’t be a passive reader; ask these questions as you read – and be willing to come up with an answer.

 

Who is the author talking to?

 

Who or what is the author arguing against?

 

What mistaken ideas is he at pains to correct?

 

What virtues does he hold up for emulation, and why? 

 

What vices does he condemn or point out, and why?

 

What authors or documents that we have read is this author similar to?

 

Does the author seem to be avoiding some topics or problems?