Living in the Middle Ages

Course code: HICL187S6

Tutor: Caroline Goodson

This course explores modes of living in the middle ages, specifically focusing on the material world: domestic architecture, the organization of living spaces, and the objects of everyday life. In which ways were they continuations of patterns of life which came before? In which ways do they reflect entirely new developments in agriculture, religion and politics? Studying the shape of life in the middle ages provides the opportunity to examine medieval society, industry and the ways in which people established and displayed their social status. The course will proceed chronologically, looking at the Earlier Middle Ages through the lens of regional studies of the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Islamic territories and the British Isles. The Central and Later Middle Ages will be examined through the distinct types of housing: castles, palaces, urban seigniorial residences and modest farming villages. Each unit of the course will explore the material environment, from architecture to decoration and even cooking implements and food preparation, when possible. Combining the study of domestic architecture with the objects of daily life will offer students a wide range of material culture and textual descriptions from which to reconstruct the modes of living in the middle ages from serf to elite. The study of daily life will place the emphasis on the role played by material culture in the definition of social position in medieval culture. It will also highlight lingering assumptions about the richness and poverty of life in the middle ages.

Preliminary Readings

Brown, R. Allen. English Castles (2004). 1843830698

Crabtree, Pam, ed. Medieval Archaeology. An Encyclopaedia (2001)

Delogu, Paolo. Introduction to Medieval History (Trans. M. Moran, 2003). 0715630792

Dyer, Christopher. Making a Living in the Middle Ages: The People of Britain, 850-1520 (2002). 0300090609

Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain. Cathedrals and Castles: Building in the Middle Ages (Trans. R. Stonehewer, 1995). 0810928124

Gerrard, Christopher. Medieval Archaeology. Understanding Traditions and Contemporary Approaches (2003) 0415234638

Hamerow, Helena. Early Medieval Settlements. The Archaeology of Rural Communities in North-West Europe, 400-900 (2002). 0199246971

Karkov, Catherine, ed. The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England: Basic Readings (1999). 0815329164

Le Goff, Jacques. Time, Work, & Culture in the Middle Ages (Trans. A. Goldhammer 1980).

Rosenwein, Barbara, ed. Reading the Middle Ages

Rosenwein, Barbara. A Short History of the Middle Ages (2nd ed., 2004). 1551116162

Sources from Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic World (2006). 1551116936