Worlding Old English: Literary Culture from Alfred the Great to the Norman Conquest - MST00021M
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2026-27 |
Module aims
The module aims to look at the place of Old English literature within the context of a multilingual Britain that was engaged with the full range of the known world. It both examines Old English from the perspective of the global Middle Ages by using the theoretical concept of ‘worlding’ and offers an introduction to the most well-known of Old English texts. Worlding does ‘not merely increase representation of previously ignored or underrepresented cultures, but rather present[s]’ a range of cultures, across time and space, ‘as dynamically related’. Throughout the module, texts from Europe, Asia and North Africa will be part of the discussion.
Module learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module, you should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with
key Old English texts from the late 9th to the early 11th century,
read in translation, with attention
to the original
language.
2. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and
engagement with Old English literature in contexts from the local to
the global.
3. Evaluate key debates within the relevant critical
fields dealing with the 9th -11th century English literature.
4.
Produce independent arguments and ideas which demonstrate an advanced
proficiency in critical thinking, research, and writing skills.
Module content
The module is organized in 4 clusters, each with two seminars:
1) King Alfred: The Power of the Written Word;
2) The Exeter
Book: Building in Time and Space;
3) Beowulf;
4) Monks and
Bishops in an Age of Reform.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100.0 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100.0 |
Module feedback
Students have the opportunity to submit a formative essay of up to 2,000 words and receive written or oral feedback, as appropriate, from a tutor. For the summative essay (3500-4000 words), students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback in line with the University's turnaround policy. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required.
Indicative reading
Primary
Texts will be drawn from the following:
Alfred the
Great’sPreface to the Pastoral Care
Beowulf
Ahmad ibn Fadlan’sMission to the Volga
Zayd al-Sirafi,Accounts of China and India
Exeter Book of Old English Poetry (Widsith,The Wander and
The Ruin)
Poetry from Vandal North Africa
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Old English Orosius
Apollonius of Tyre
Ælfric’s
Lives of Saints
Saints Lives from Byzantine World (Greek and Syriac)
Scholarship
Mark Amodio,Anglo-Saxon Literature Handbook(2014).
Atherton, Mark, Kazutomo Karasawa, and Francis Leneghan,
eds.,Ideas of the World in Early Medieval English
Literature(2022).
John Blair’sThe Anglo-Saxon Age: A
Very Short Introduction(2000).
Linda Georgianna, ‘Coming
to Terms with the Norman Conquest: Nationalism and English Literary
History’ REAL:Yearbook of Research in English and American
Literature14 (1998), 33-53.
Catherine Holmes and Naomi
Standen, ‘Introduction: Towards a Global Middle Ages inThe Global
Middle Ages, Past and Present238
(2018), 1-44.
Sharon
Kinoshita, ‘Worlding Medieval French’ in French Global:A New
Approach to Literary History, edited by Christie McDonald and
Susan Rubin Suleiman (2010).
Julia Smith,Europe after Rome: A
New Cultural History, 500-1000(2005).
Van Gerven Oei,
Vincent, ‘Finding Old Nubian, or Why We Should Divest from Western
Tongues’, Postmedieval 11 (2020) 301-309.