- Department: Language and Linguistic Science
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: C
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Learning a language can be a transformative and enriching experience. Both the process and the outcomes are beneficial at various levels, from increased neuroplasticity to improving your overall academic performance, fostering empathy and intercultural awareness, and enhancing your career opportunities. This module builds on the basic principles of Latin grammar, so that students are able to translate some simple primary source material by the end of the course (e.g. chronicles and court poetry). Students will also be introduced to elements of Medieval York political-religious intrigues in order to develop an understanding of the culture in which the medieval texts to be studied were produced.
Medieval Latin: Lower Intermediate or equivalent
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
B | Semester 2 2024-25 |
This module will steadily build the knowledge, skills, and strategies necessary to examine and interpret a range of Medieval Latin documents over the course of a semester, and develop a comprehensive knowledge of Latin translation skills at Intermediate level.
Students will engage, individually and in groups, in comprehension activities and tasks emphasising three core research skills:
reception activities (reading comprehension);
production activities (prose composition);
analytical activities (cultural context & literary style).
The mediums of instruction are English and Latin.
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Recognise and employ core Latin vocabulary, as well as appreciate the basics of Latin morphology and the historical relationship between the Latin and English languages.
Understand and deploy the basic principles of Latin grammar and syntax in order to engage with and interpret a range of Latin source material.
Compose short sentences in Latin on a variety of topics in order to support and develop grammatical learning.
Understand the Medieval world and its literature, which enables the student to critically evaluate a range of source material in relation to the politics and culture of the society in which it was created.
Translation Passages
For the first few weeks of the module, translation passages will comprise some short, basic sentences (many of which will be taken from Medieval authors). Students will then progress onto short paragraphs of Latin, which will include:
Chronicles
Letters
Hagiography
Philosophical works
Courtly poetry
Liturgical material including prayers and hymns
Grammar topics at Intermediate Level:
Review of subjunctive constructions covered at Lower Intermediate Level
Cum clauses
The use of the relative pronoun with the subjunctive
Impersonal verbs, plus the impersonal passive
Verbs of Fearing
Time and Place
Direct and Indirect Questions
Constructions using quominus and quin
Seminars will include a range of different exercises including both translation (Latin to English) and prose composition (English to Latin) to help explain and build grammatical knowledge, with plenty of opportunities for revision as the semester progresses.
Medieval Latin Culture: Primacy, Controversy and Political Intrigue
This course will provide students with an interdisciplinary introduction to the controversial relationship between Canterbury and York throughout the Middle Ages. Through integrating eyewitness narrative evidence, papal letters, forged medieval documents, and later chronicle accounts, this module will try to elucidate how from 627 until the twelfth century, Canterbury tried to impose its primacy over York and how Archbishop Thurstan, advocating the position of York in front of the pope in Rome, finally settled the controversy. By studying twelfth- and thirteenth-century documents such as papal bulls, Bernard of Clairvaux’s letters and the Life of St William, this module will also explore the political intrigues behind the election, suspension, deposition and re-instatement of William fitzHerbert as Archbishop of York: a controversy in which kings, popes, abbots, bishops and archbishops were protagonists.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) | 60 |
Essay/coursework | 40 |
None
Written exam:
50% Comprehension, 50% Translation of a 150-170 words text
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) | 60 |
Essay/coursework | 40 |
Weekly feedback on translations. Feedback on exams and essays as per University regulations.
There is no text book for this module. All materials will be provided during the course.
You will need to have access to a Latin dictionary. Should you wish to purchase a paper dictionary, the following works are recommended for this course:
Please note that there is no need to buy a dictionary, as you can access a number of academic Latin dictionaries online for free. One particularly useful volume is:
This work is now available via: http://logeion.uchicago.edu