Faculty First Year Seminars 191ENG12 - Law and Literature in the Midd

The medieval world often appears as a lawless time where knights made right. But if we look closely at the writings of the Middle Ages, we see complicated legal codes and systems of justice. How did medievals understand law? How did they create it? And most of all, how did reimagine it in their literature? This FFYS will take up the questions of law and its representation in the pre-modern world. At the end of the course, we will look at the laws that govern student lives on this campus and beyond.
Readings will include the Wulfstan?s Anglo-Saxon Law Codes, the Magna Carta, Marie de France?s story Lanval, Geoffrey Chaucer?s Man of Law?s Tale and Wife of Bath?s Tale and the UMass Code of Student Conduct.

Freshmen Only