Note: A placement exam will be required when you arrive on site.

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This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of four semesters (or six quarters) of college-level Spanish. However, students must take a placement exam to determine the course level into which they will be able to enroll.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this Course is to offer students the possibility of gaining a general overview of Spanish Medieval Literature.

METHODOLOGY
Four key literary works from the period will be the subject of comment during class sessions.

SYLLABUS
1) Introduction.
The Concept of the Middle Ages. Specific Characteristics of the Middle Ages in Spain.
2) Spanish Medieval Literature.
Periodization. Genres and Channels of Dissemination of Works of Medieval Literature.
3) Medieval Lyric: from the ‘jarcha’ to Jorge Manrique.
4) Medieval Epic: El Cantar del Mío Cid. The Ballad Tradition.
5) Narrative Prose: El Conde Lucanor
6) Drama: La Celestina.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
• At the beginning of each syllabus section, students will be provided with both general bibliography and specific sources to be consulted.
• The following compulsory reading texts will be used during the Course.

Poema de Mío Cid, ed. de Pedro M. Cátedra. Barcelona: Planeta.
DON JUAN MANUEL. El Conde Lucanor, ed. de José Manuel Blecua. Madrid: Castalia
MANRIQUE, Jorge. Coplas por la muerte de su padre, en Poesía, ed. Madrid: Castalia.
ROJAS, Fernando de, La Celestina, ed. de Pedro M. Piñero. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe.

Secondary Sources
ALVAR, Carlos. La prosa y el teatro en la Edad Media. Madrid: Taurus, 1991.
LÃ"PEZ ESTRADA, Francisco, Introducción a la literatura medieval española, Madrid, Gredos, 1952.
NICASIO SALVADOR, Miguel, El mester de clerecía, Madrid, La Muralla, 1973.
RICO, Francisco, Historia y crítica de la literatura española. 1. Edad Media. Barcelona, Crítica,1980.

COMPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES
In order to facilitate contextualization, while making practical use of reading texts from the period concerned, during the Course, visits will be made to different monuments within the city of Sevilla, linked with the Middle Ages (The Don Fadrique Tower, The Royal Naval Arsenal, The City Walls, etc.).
Listening sessions involving music from the epoch will also be held (Alphonsus X’s Canticles and Examples from the Traditional Ballad Corpus).
Movies and documentary films related to aspects of syllabus content will also be screened.

ASSESSMENT
The final grade will take into consideration active participation in class discussions, while there will also be an exam mid-way through the Course and another at the end of the semester. These will consist of text commentaries of extracts chosen from among the works studied. Lecturers may also propose a final assignment on one of the topics dealt with.