The training will take place fortnightly on Wednesdays from the 2 October, with a total of 6 sessions in the autumn.
TIMES TBC
French was one of the most widely-spoken vernaculars in medieval Europe and beyond, extending far beyond the confines of what we today call ‘France’ to encompass parts of Italy, the Low Countries, and even the Middle East. The best-known example of medieval French in use outside France is in the Kingdom of England, where in the centuries following the Norman Conquest, it was a language of the nobility, the law courts, and administrative classes. Across this broad swathe of the medieval world, French was also a rich literary language, used to write epics and romances, saints’ lives, histories, administrative and technical texts, and much more. For students researching the literature, history, or languages of medieval Europe, an ability to read medieval French opens up new avenues of study, connects texts and places, and offers a deeper insight into the medieval world.
This course, aimed at postgraduate researchers, will introduce participants to medieval French materials, and offer the tools to read and interpret texts written in French between the 11th and 16th centuries. The course is divided into two strands (Beginners and Improvers). Participants are welcome either to join both strands or to attend the one that would be most useful. Both strands run across six structured sessions, taking place fortnightly.
The ‘Beginners’ strand will run during the Autumn term. It is aimed at students with little or no modern French, or more advanced students who would like to develop a more thorough understanding of the fundamentals of medieval French grammar.
The ‘Improvers’ strand will begin the following January, and will take the form of a guided reading group, with a different type of text to be studied each week in accordance with participants’ own research interests. In addition to covering more advanced aspects of medieval French grammar, sessions will explore dialectal and diachronic variation in medieval French, the particularities of specific genres, and palaeography and manuscript transcription.
Classes will be conducted online, via Teams, and will be led by Dr Edward Mills. There will be no formal assessment on the course, but students will be expected to complete relevant preparation (of up to an hour) in advance of each class.
The expected learning outcomes of the course (across both strands) are as follows:
An introductory knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of medieval French.
An ability to read and translate medieval French materials, including manuscripts.
An awareness of the range of texts available in medieval French, and their relationships with texts in other languages of medieval Europe.
An awareness of the existing resources for research in medieval French.
If you would like to participate in the training, please fill out this form. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Emily Dolmans (e.dolmans@uea.ac.uk).