The majority of lessons will be focused on some basic plots or problems and will be based on selected passages of medieval texts that will be read together with relevant chapters of HA.

All the texts will be made available in Modern English translations. The schedule below may be enlarged or modified to suit students’ needs and tastes.

(0) Introductions. Syllabus. Goals and requirements.

(1) Material aspects. Manuscript as a medium of transmission. Variants and variety. Codices and their composition.

(2) The story as a whole. Its structure. Episodes and their relations. Test of overall knowledge of the Latin Historia Apollonii regis Tyri.

(3) The scene. Space-time of the story. Ancient oecumene. Sea as a locus of transition be-tween islands and cities. Romance as a translation from antiquity to medieval presence. Further reading: Chrétien de Troyes’ Cligès.

(4) Characters. Families. Parentage. Heroic deeds and their impact. Changes of character and gender roles. Further reading: Aucassin et Nicolette.

(5) Signs and symbols. Reliability of signs and names. Links between persons and places. Further reading: De Ortu Waluuanii Nepotis Arturi.

(6) Riddles. Writing and speech, through enigma to wit and wisdom. Dialogues and storytell-ing. Further reading: troubadour devinalh poems.

(7) Body. Sex and death. Body parts. Bodily fluids. The body used and degraded. Further reading: Marie de France’s Lays.

(8) Emotions. Desire (corporal and spiritual). Sorrow. Feeling of loss. Lethal love. Further reading: Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar.

(9) Fate, fortune, and will. Machina mundi and Rota fortunae. Motivations and the human endeavor to over-come it. Further reading: Boëthius’ De consolatione philosophiae.

(10) Crime, sin and punishment. Socially destructive action and its repercussions. Law, in-justice and mercy.Further reading: Dante’s Commedia.

(11) Economy and society. Liberality. Trade and honor. Commodities bought and sold. Re-ward and redemption. Further reading: Trubert.

(12) Text and image. Illuminations. The power of image. Further reading: Guillaume de Lorris’ part of Roman de la Rose.