FFS 230 - The Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2025/2026a: Human, Animal, and Monster in the French Middle Ages: Fish knights, fox doctors, headless men, and werewolves—these are just some of the beastly oddities and half-humans that fill the pages of medieval French literature. While such creatures could provoke laughter and wonder, they also reflected anxieties about cultural difference, challenged the boundaries of the human, and satirized social norms and political institutions. Whose bodies are considered monstrous? Where does the human begin, the animal end, and where do they coincide? What can we learn from beasts and birds? Readings include tales of King Arthur (Le Conte du Papegau and Chrétien de Troyes’ Chevalier au Lion), adaptations of Aesop’s Fables (Marie de France), and accounts of travel to the ends of the earth (Jean de Mandeville). Alongside these texts, we pay close attention to depictions in visual culture and get hands-on experience with medieval manuscripts. Terrence Cullen.

Prerequisite(s): FFS 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS