ImportFS

HIS-1012: En middelaldermunk skildrer en farlig verden: Jocelin of Brakelond`s syn på religion, politikk og samtidssamfunnet

Utfyllende informasjon
Dette emnet studerer verden slik den ble sett av Jocelin of Brakelond, gjennom en bok han skrev i ca 1211. Han beskriver mange aspekter ved verden og gir en unik innsikt i hvordan en utdannet person som han tenkte om samfunnet, sosiale grupper, om Kirken og om Gud. Boka gir en stimulerende introduksjon til generelle tema i middelalderhistorie ettersom han både utfyller så vel som utfordrer modellene og forklaringene til de andre pensumforfatterne.

Among the sources used by historians for studying 12th-century Europe, one stands out as uniquely different. Jocelin of Brakelond, an English monk, wrote a narrative account of events affecting his monastery in the years 1173-120. What is particularly important about that book is the way Jocelin shares his thoughts with his readers; instead of a dull series of events, as with other chronicles, we can read deeply into the minds and mentalities of Jocelin and his fellow-monks. His chronicle is an attractive and vigorous work that brings many aspects of contemporary society to life.
Partly he tells us about events and scandals within his monastery of Bury St Edmunds, and his feelings about what he sees happening around him. For the most part, however, he gives us detailed and fascinating accounts of the monastery’s relationships with the rest of society. The details we learn, for instance, of the monks’ relationship with the powerful and unpredictable King Henry II tell us far more about the reality of the relationship between the medieval church and the state than any textbook can do. In the same way, Jocelin’s descriptions of the monastery’s dealings with its tenants teach us a great deal about how this feudal economy and society worked in practice.
The book is dominated by the figure of the dynamic and powerful Samson, who was abbot of the monastery of Bury St Edmunds during that time. As the head of one of the richest institutions of the English church, he had to combine many roles: as spiritual leader to his monks, as one of the greatest landlords of eastern England, and as one of the King’s most important servants. Perhaps not surprisingly, Jocelin’s admiration for this forceful man diminished over the years, as Samson became more concerned with worldly affairs and was corrupted by power. But behind Samson stands the far more terrible figure of St Edmund, the king of East Anglia martyred by vikings in 871 and by Jocelin’s time one of the most revered saints in England. The great church of the monastery was built around his tomb, and through Jocelin’s descriptions of miracles and the cult of St Edmund we are allowed to enter the religious mentality of the Middle Ages. For the monks who served St Edmund, and for everybody else, he was a living presence who would protect his church, help its friends, and punish its enemies: even kings feared St Edmund’s anger. The description of the opening of St Edmund’s tomb by Samson, who wanted to see and touch the saint he served, is one of the most compelling episodes in Jocelin’s book. Of all the dangerous aspects of Jocelin’s world, the most dangerous was the risk of offending God and his saints, and of losing one’s soul.
Using both Jocelin’s chronicle and the supporting pensum literature, the course will study general themes of the medieval church and monastic life, the economy and social relations, and the often difficult relations between church and state when both were growing in power. But other themes will be dealt with, such as the position of the Jews in that society, the Crusading movement, the belief in miracles and in trial by battle.


Varighet: 1 semester

Eksamen
2 essay av ca. 5 sider kvar blir avlagt i løpet av semesteret.
Vurderes samlet etter karakterene A-F. Det tilbys kontinueringseksamen ved karakteren F.

Forelesningene starter tirsdag 30. august, kl. 10.15-12.00
Tirsdag 10:15 til 12:00
torsdag 13.00. – 14.45
M-025 Breiviklia

1. 30.aug
2. 1. sept.
3. 6. sept.
4. 8. sept.

leseuker

5. 27. sept.
6. 29. sept
7. 4. okt
8. 6 okt

1. oppgave utleveres 11. oktober kl. 09.30. Veiledning 10.15
Innlevering 19.10. kl. 14.00.

9. 20. okt
10. 25. okt
11. 27. okt
12. 1. nov
13. 3. nov
14. 8 nov

2. oppgave utleveres 10.11., kl. 09.30. Veiledning 10.15
Innlevering 18.11. kl. 14.00.

Ut- og innlevering skjer i Ekspedisjonen i Breiviklia, rom N-229.

Pensum
PENSUM

Greenaway, D. & Sayers, J. (eds.), Jocelin of Brakelond: Chronicle of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds (Oxford University Press, 1989), 168 sider

The Rule of St Benedict: summary (The Catholic Encyclopædia)

Herlihy, D., Medieval Culture and Society: selected documents (Macmillan, 1968), s.56-64

Abbo of Fleury, The Martyrdom of St Edmund, King of East Anglia (Internet Medieval Source Book, 1998), 4 sider

Gransden, A., ‘The legends and traditions concerning the origins of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds’, English Historical Review 100 (1985), s.1-24

Schreiner, J., Middelalderen (Aschehoug, 1962), s.295-312

Barrow, G.W.S., Feudal Britain (Arnold, 1971), s.84-113, 146-62

Bagge, S., Europa Tar Form (Cappelen, 1996), s.198-239

Southern, R.W., Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (Penguin, 1970), s.214-37

Davis, R.H.C., A History of Medieval Europe (Longman, 1970), s.74-9, 260-77, 341-65

Southern, R.W., The Making of the Middle Ages (Hutchinson, 1953), s.74-117

Duby, G., Rural Economy and Country Life in the Medieval West (Arnold, 1968), s.173-96

Harvey, P.D.A., ‘The English inflation of 1180-1220’, Past & Present 61 (1973), og i Hilton, R.H. (red.), Peasants, Knights and Heretics (Cambridge, 1976), s.57-84

Miller, E. og Hatcher, J., Medieval England: Rural society and economic change 1086-1348 (Longmans, 1978), s.64-83

Edwards, J., ‘The church and the Jews in English medieval towns’, in Slater, T.R. & Rosser, G. (eds.), The Church in the Medieval Town (Ashgate, 1998), s.43-55

Clanchy, M.T., From Memory to Written Record (Arnold, 1979), s.151-9

Statham, M., ‘The medieval town of Bury St Edmunds’, i Bury St Edmunds: medieval art, architecture, archaeology and economy, red. Gransden, A., (1998), s.98-110

Davis, R.H.C. (ed.), The Kalendar of Abbot Samson (Camden Third Series 84, 1954), s.li-lvii

Douglas, D.C. (ed.), English Historical Documents 1042-1189 (Eyre Methuen, 1981), s.1034-6

Ross, J.B. & McLaughlin, M.M. (eds.), The Portable Medieval Reader (Penguin, 1977), s.248-61, 356-61