Medieval 600

Tuesday and Thursday 5:30-8:00 pm

Dr. Teviotdale
113E Walwood Hall
269-387-8830
elizabeth.teviotdale@wmich.edu
Office hours: MF 4:00-6:00 p.m. and by appointment

A recent edition of The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White is available in the WMU bookstore in the Bernhard Center. If you do not already own a copy of this book, please purchase one as the required text for this course.

Students are responsible for three transcription assignments, four“dictionary entries” (100-1500 words), three short seminar reports (10 minutes), a list of manuscript images, and one long seminar report (30 minutes), as well as the completion of reading assignments and participation in class discussion. Meetings with the instructor outside of class time about progress on assignments will unquestionably help students succeed in the course. Each assignment will be described in greater detail at least seven days in advance of each due date. A full letter grade will be deducted for any assignments delivered after their due date. Written assignments must be submitted in hard copy, and all final versions of dictionary entries must be submitted both in hard copy and electronically.

• As a class project, we will create a “Dictionary of the Psalms,” to which each student will contribute one short entry (100-200 words), two medium-length entries (200-500 words), and one long entry (1000-1500 words). Each entry will consist of a prose treatment of the subject and a short (1-4 item) essential bibliography. The topic of the long entry will be the same as the topic of the student’s long seminar report. The topics will be assigned during the first class period. [55% of the final grade]

• Each student will present three short seminar reports (10 minutes each), the first on a particular Psalm, the second on Cassiodorus’s exegesis on that Psalm, and the third on the illustration of that Psalm in the Eadwine Psalter. Each student will present a long seminar report (30 minutes) on the illustration of a Psalm or group of Psalms (also the topic of his/her long dictionary entry). [35% of the final grade]

• Each student will create a Psalterium triplex of an individual Psalm (or portion of a Psalm), the culmination of three Latin transcription assignments prepared from facsimiles and microfilm of medieval manuscripts. [5% of the final grade]

• Participation in class discussion, some of which will be focused on assigned readings, is required. [5% of the final grade]

In accordance with the WMU Graduate Catalog, grades carry the significance indicated:

The grade of incomplete will be given only when illness, necessary absence, or other reasons beyond the control of the student prevent completion of course requirements by the end of the session.

Although there are no prerequisites for the course and no knowledge of particular foreign languages is assumed, students will be working with some texts in foreign languages; in most cases, translations of these texts into modern English are available.

Most assignments require some work in the Rare Book Room of Waldo Library (or a comparably richly endowed collection). Students should be aware that the Rare Book Room is open 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday and Friday, and 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon, Tuesday-Thursday. They will need to plan their schedules accordingly.

All written assignments, whether first drafts or final versions, should be in good strong prose (see Strunk and White for advice on how to achieve this) and professionally presented, following the guidelines for Medieval Institute Publications (available as a pdf file at http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/mip/index.html, click on MIP Stylesheet), except that italics are acceptable in place of underlining.

Students are expected to attend class regularly. Any absence must be explained to the instructor, in advance when possible, via E-mail.