Hist 6820: Writing and Reckoning in the Middle Ages

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course examines the impact of literacy and numeracy on ideas and behavior in the high Middle Ages. It will consider broad changes in record-keeping, the use of written instruments, and the creation of archives and also examine particular types of documents and explore their uses by medieval people and modern historians in a series of case studies. Some treatment given to related subjects such as memory, orality, law, and fiscality.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course will teach MA and PhD students to read different types of medieval documents and understand their use and value as historical evidence. This course will also help prepare history students for field exams by familiarizing them with some current trends in historical research. For those interested in medieval studies, this course will provide a theoretical perspective on source problems common to all medievalists.

REQUIRED BOOKS (for purchase in bookstore):
Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory, reprint (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) ISBN: 0521429730
Michael T. Clanchy, From Memory to Written Record, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) ISBN: 0631168575
Elizabeth A. Clark, History, Theory, Text: Historians and the Linguistic Turn (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004). ISBN: 0674015843.
Rosamund McKitterick, The Carolingians and the Written Word (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) ISBN: 0521315654
Barbara Rosenwein, To Be the Neighbor of Saint Peter: The Social Meaning of Cluny’s Property, 909-1049 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006). ISBN: 0801473454.
Daniel Lord Smail, Imaginary Cartographies: Possession and Identity in Late Medieval Marseille (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999). ISBN: 0801436265.
Brian Stock, Listening for the Text: On the Uses of the Past, reprint (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996). ISBN: 0812216121.

REQUIRED BOOKS (on RESERVE, for purchase if possible):
Lester Little, Benediction Maledictions, reprint (Cornell, 1996) ISBN: 0801481139
[Paper out of print, but widely available; hardback in print]
Alexander Murray, Reason and Society in the Middle Ages, reprint (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978) ISBN: 0198219857 (out of print, sometimes available) [Waldo: CB203 .M85]

REQUIRED ARTICLES (on E-RESERVE):
Constance Bouchard, “Monastic Cartularies: Organizing Eternity,” in Adam J. Kosto and Anders Winroth, eds., Charters, Cartularies, and Archives (Toronto: PIMS, 2002), 22-32. [Waldo: D113 .C48x 1999]
Richard Britnell, Pragmatic Literacy, East and West, 1200-1330 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1997), Introduction, 3-24. ISBN: 0851156959 [Waldo: P211 .P7 1997]
Warren Brown, “Charters as Weapons: On the Role Played by Early Medieval Dispute Records in the Disputes They Record,” Journal of Medieval History 28 (2002):227-48.
Marjorie Chibnall, “Forgery in Narrative Charters,” Fälschungen im Mittelalter 4(2):331-46 [Waldo: DD 3 .M83 Bd. 23 no. 4; Note: do not recall, Prof. Berkhofer has volume]
Giles Constable, “Forgery and Plagiarism in the Middle Ages,” Archiv für Diplomatik 29 (1983):1-41.
Georges Declerq, “Originals and Cartularies: The Organization of Archival Memory,” in Karl Heidecker, ed., Charters and the Use of the Written Word in Medieval Society (Brepols, 2000), 147-170. [Waldo: P211.3.E85 C53x 2000]
Theodore Evergates, Littere Baronum: The Earliest Cartulary of the Counts of Champagne (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 1-38 (introduction). [Waldo: DC611.C446 L58 2003]
Patrick Geary, “Living with Conflicts in Stateless France: A Typology of Conflict Management Mechanisms, 1050-1200” in Patrick Geary, ed. Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994), 125-62. [Waldo: BT825 .G36 1994]
Adam Kosto, “The Liber Feudorum Maior: The Cartulary as an Instrument of Power,” Journal of Medieval History 27 (2001):1-22.
Richard H. Rouse and Mary A. Rouse, “Statim Invenire: Schools, Preachers, and New Attitudes to the Page,” in Robert L. Benson and Giles Constable, eds. Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982), 201-25. [Waldo: D201.8 .R45 1982]

RECOMMENDED BOOKS (on RESERVE):
Martha Howell and Walter Prevenier, From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001); ISBN: 0801485606, and see additional readings below.

COURSE FORMAT: The course will be conducted in weekly seminars, which will include extensive discussion, translation, and student presentations, as well as some instructor presentations. Various written assignments will culminate in research paper on a group of primary documents, chosen by the student in consultation with the instructor. Discussions will focus on assigned readings and sources for each week.

GRADE COMPONENTS: Class participation 30%; final paper 40%; book précis 10%; peer review 10%; codex analysis 10%. You must complete all elements of the course to receive a passing grade. All late submissions will be penalized, in fairness to students who complete the assignments in a timely fashion. The grade scale is as follows: 93-100 = A, 87-92 = BA, 83-86 = B, 77-82 = CB, 73-76 = C, 67-72 = DC, 60-67 = D, and less than 60 = E.

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: The majority of your grade will be determined by your efforts in our weekly meetings. Mere attendance during class hours will not receive credit towards participation, which should instead be indicated through vocal outbursts giving evidence of cognition; in other words, you must talk about your ideas, your reflections on the readings, and the comments of others in class. To be an effective participant, you will need to complete all readings and translations prior to class. A class that only meets once per week cannot be skipped, if you wish to receive a satisfactory grade. Attendance is mandatory, absences must be documented and excused (preferably in advance, see contact information above). More than one absence could result in a lower course grade.

RESEARCH PAPER: In consultation with the instructor, students will select a group of primary sources, ideally a series of documentary records. Students must have met with Prof. Berkhofer and selected those sources before the end of Unit I (Feb 5th), when a two paragraph explanation of the topic with attached bibliography is due. Students will submit a complete draft of the paper on Apr 2nd and will conduct in class peer review of each others’ papers on Apr 9th. The total length of the final paper should be approximately 20 pages plus bibliography as needed, and it is due on the last day of class, Apr 16th. This paper will count for 40% of the final grade. You are also responsible for providing an electronic copy of your final paper in addition to submitting a hard copy (due when you hand it in). This electronic copy must be readable in MSWord.

BOOK PRÉCIS: In unit I, the students will write a short (2-3 page) analytic book précis on one of the books assigned. See schedule below for books and due dates. See attached directions on how to write the précis. This précis will count for 10% of the final grade.

CODEX ANALYSIS: Students will analyze a cartulary edition from a list of choices. Students will create a dossier describing the contents of the cartulary, including both analytic tables and a narrative. I will hand out guidelines later. The analysis is due Feb 26th in class and counts for 10% of the final grade.

CLASS PRESENTATIONS: During Unit II, each student will choose a week to take the lead in translating the source document(s) and explaining how they relate to the common weekly reading. During Unit I or II, students will also choose a week to read one of the “additional readings” and report on its content and argument in class. These presentations will be part of the class participation grade.

READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Introduction: Writing and Reckoning (Jan 8)
Brian Stock, Listening for the Text (entire)
Howell and Prevenier, A Guide to Historical Sources, ch. 1-2 (Review if read for Hist 6350, otherwise read carefully)

Additional Readings: Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy (Routledge, 2002)

Jan 15: No Class, MLK Day. Work on developing a paper topic: consult Typologie des sources du Moyen Age in Waldo Special Collections, find edition of sources in stacks, etc.

UNIT I: Literacy and Record-Keeping

Literacy and the Carolingians (Jan 22)
Rosamund McKitterick, The Carolingians and the Written Word (entire)
Warren Brown, “Charters as Weapons”
Sources: Edict of Pîtres, Plan of St. Gall
Précis due for group 1

Additional Readings: Warren Brown, Unjust Seizure: Conflict, Interest, and Authority in an Early Medieval Society (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001). Pierre Riché, Education and Culture in the Barbarian West, Sixth Through Eighth Centuries (University of South Carolina, 1976) Better: 4th rev ed., Editions du Seuil, 1995.

Literacy in the 11th and 12th Centuries (Jan 29)
Michael T. Clanchy, From Memory to Written Record (entire)
Sources: Greater Domesday Facsimile for Canterbury in Kent, case 1, fol. 3r-5v (in Waldo Special Collections, view on your own this week before class), Dialogue of Excheque excerpt
Précis due for group 2

Additional Reading: Robin Fleming, Domesday Book and the Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).

Numeracy and Reckoning in the 12th and 13th Centuries (Feb 5)
Alexander Murray, Reason and Society in the Middle Ages (entire)
Richard Britnell, Pragmatic Literacy, East and West, 1200-1330, introduction, 3-24
Sources: 1st Budget of Philip Augustus

Additional Reading: Jacques LeGoff, Your Money or Your Life: Economy and Religion in the Middle Ages (New Yrok: Zone Books, 1988); William Chester Jordan, Women and Credit in Preindustrial Societies (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993); Thomas N. Bisson, Fiscal Accounts of Catalonia under the Early Count Kings (1151-1213) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984)

Preliminary Topic Description and Short Bibliography of Sources due.

UNIT II: Selected Topics and Documents on Writing and Reckoning

Cursing and Conflict (Feb 12)
Lester Little, Benediction Maledictions (entire)
Patrick Geary, “Living with Conflicts in Stateless France: A Typology of Conflict Management Mechanisms, 1050-1200”
Sources: Clamores in Little’s appendix.

Additional Reading: Stephen D. White, Custom, Kinship, and Gifts to Saints (North Carolina, 1988); Megan McLaughlin, Consorting with Saints: Prayer for the Dead in Early Medieval France (Cornell, 1994)

Memory and Forgetting (Feb 19)
Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory, reprint (Cambridge, 1993)
Richard H. Rouse and Mary A. Rouse, “Statim Invenire: Schools, Preachers, and New Attitudes to the Page”
Sources: Hugh of St. Victor, Didascalicon

Additional Reading: Patrick Geary, Phantoms of Remembrance (Princeton, 1994); Jacques Le Goff, History and Memory (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992).

Archival Memory (Feb 26)
Constance Bouchard, “Monastic Cartularies: Organizing Eternity”
Georges Declerq, “Originals and Cartularies: The Organization of Archival Memory,”
Theodore Evergates, Littere Baronum: The Earliest Cartulary of the Counts of Champagne (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 1-38 (introduction).
Adam Kosto, “The Liber Feudorum Maior: The Cartulary as an Instrument of Power,” Journal of Medieval History 27 (2001), 1-22.
Sources: A Cartulary Prologue

Cartulary Analysis due today in class

Additional Reading: Two articles in Karl Heidecker, ed., Charters and the Use of the Written Word (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), part III: Laurent Morelle, “The Metamorphosis of Three Monastic Charter Collections in the Eleventh Century,” 171-204; Alexander Hecht, “Between Memoria, Historiography, and Pragmatic Literacy: The Liber Delegacionum of Reichersberg.” 205-214.

Mar 5 No Class: SPRING BREAK

Charters and Territory (Mar 12)
Barbara Rosenwein, To Be the Neighbor of Saint Peter: The Social Meaning of Cluny’s Property, 909-1049 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006). ISBN: 0801473454.

Additional Reading: Jeffrey A. Bowman, Shifting Landmarks: Property, Proof, and Dispute in Catalonia Around the Year 1000 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004).

Notaries and Publicity (Mar 19)
Daniel Lord Smail, Imaginary Cartographies: Possession and Identity in Late Medieval Marseille (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999). ISBN:
Sources: A commenda

Additional Reading: John H. Pryor, Business Contracts of Medieval Provence: Selected Notulae From the Cartulary of Giraud Amalric of Marseilles 1248 (Toronto: PIMS, 1981)

Forgery (Mar 26)
Marjorie Chibnall, “Forgery in Narrative Charters”
Giles Constable, “Forgery and Plagiarism in the Middle Ages”
Sources: Royal charter of Louis VI, Excerpts from Suger’s Life of Louis VI and De administratione

Complete Draft of final paper due, with copies for instructor and all students in your peer review group.

Peer Review (Apr 2)
Peer Review conducted in class today; written evaluation of peers’ papers and editorial remarks due. Bring two copies of each review (one for instructor, one for each of your peers)

Writing and Rewriting (Apr 9)
No Class: Revisions (Apr 9) Perfect your paper based on peer review responses.

Textuality, History, and the Past (Apr 16)

Elizabeth A. Clark, History, Theory, Text: Historians and the Linguistic Turn (entire)

Final Paper due in class today