• Dutton Elisabeth

The course will complement the PS taught by Dr Critten on Women's Saints' Lives, although it is NOT necessary to have attended that PS in order to follow this Seminar. 

Some of the most exciting narratives told by medieval writers are those of the lives of saints: the stories are sometimes fantastical and bizarre, sometimes violent and pornographic, sometimes human and moving.  Saints can be models for Christians to imitate, but also superhuman beings whose lives bear no relation to the practice of ordinary daily piety.  The accounts of their lives may reflect social realities of class or gender, or they may contribute to the construction of gender and class difference -- or they may transcend such realities.  In this course, we will explore lives of male and female saints, considering when they may be conformist and conservative, and when they may offer resistance to social, religious and politic institutions in the medieval world.

• Increased familiarity with Old and Middle English language
• Familiarity with narratives of saints' lives that are sources for much medieval and post-medieval writing
• Understanding of the role of the saints in Medieval Religion
• Appreciation of the role of saint's lives in constructing gender models
• Appreciation of changes, throughout the medieval period, in ideas of sanctity