READING GUIDE, WEEK 1: Introduction
[note: each week I will deliver to you a sheet such as this. Use it in the following manner: 1) read over these questions before you do the reading (they will give you an idea of what to read for); 2) as you do your reading, take notes, making sure that you understood the questions and have an idea of what the answers are; 3) on the days for which the particular text is assigned, be prepared to answer these questions, or to talk about why you found them difficult to answer. Obviously I cannot anticipate every question you might have on this sheet, so be sure to jot down any points from the reading that you found exceptionally interesting, difficult, or otherwise worthy of discussion. I will also ordinarily provide questions for your weekly short-writing assignment on this sheet. Answer one of the questions in a 2-paragraph, typed response, and turn it in on the last class meeting of the week]
A. “A Medieval Document”
This is a text that I translated from the Latin for my own research
purposes (kudos to anyone who tracks it down in print!). For our purposes
I have consciously left it untitled and undated even though I have my own
feelings about what it ought to be called and when it took place.
1. Who wrote this document? Should we care about him/her? Why or why
not?
2. What kind of person is the author? What do we know about his/her
social rank, personality, political status, age, etc.?
3. Who or what may have caused this document to be preserved? Is this
person different from the author?
4. When was this document written? Even if you can’t assign a particular
date to it, how might we as scholars begin to establish a date for it?
What other information would we want to know about the text or the individuals
mentioned in it to help us establish a date? Does dating the text matter?
Why?
5. Where was it written? Does this matter? Why?
6. This document belongs to the genre of texts known as ‘charters’
(genres are ways of classifying texts according to their style, appearance,
and conventions; letters, diaries, novels, account-books, chronicles, and
wills are all genres). Genres are important because the person creating
a particular document (or reading it) expects that document to conform
to the conventions of the genre (you don’t, for instance, expect to find
personal romantic reminiscences in a ledger book). What are some of the
conventions of this genre (charters)? What sorts of things does the author
feel it important to convey? Why, for instance, does he include the long
list of witnesses?
7. Why did the author compose this text? What were his goals? What
did he hope to accomplish by writing this stuff down? Almost no author
writes without a purpose, so it’s important to identify the specific purpose
or argument of an individual author.
8. Turn to the specific facts of the text. What can we learn about
medieval society from this text?
a. How did churches acquire property?
b. Why did laymen donate wealth to churches/monasteries?
c. What role did women have in this society? Does class play
a role here?
d. What caused the argument? What does this suggest about the
power of lords?
e. How was the argument resolved? Was the process similar to
modern dispute resolutions?
f. What does the text tell us about servitude?
g. Why were all the witnesses included?
9. Why should we care about this text? That is, does it have any significance,
or is it just a random piece of historical writing? Think here about relating
the specific facts of the texts to larger concepts or themes.
INFORMAL WRITING ASSIGNMENT: [applicable only to 221-02]
There is no short writing assignment for week 1