Course Description
This module concerns the status, roles and representation of women in medieval Irish and Welsh society. In broad strokes, the position of medieval women in the Celtic-speaking West will be introduced in relation to that of their contemporaries in Frankish, Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon societies. The primary materials for the study of medieval women in the Celtic-speaking West are law tracts, literary texts (both prose and poetry), historical texts and didactic writings, the originals of which were written in Irish, Welsh and Latin, and a selection of the most important of these will be read in translation.
The main topics to be addressed are:
- the legal status of women in the different Celtic-speaking societies, both the relative status of different categories of women, and their status relative to that of males.
- marriage and other kinds of union, and their dissolution;
- prominent female roles in secular society and the church (including that of queens, holy women, and women believed to have supernatural powers);
- the life-cycle of women;
- factors that wrought change in the status of women in medieval Irish and Welsh society
- Consideration will be given to the construction of femininities and masculinities in various genres of writing in the medieval Irish and Welsh vernaculars, and in medieval Latin.
- Learning outcomes:
- Knowledge of an important historical topic.
- Familiarity with a range of medieval Irish and Welsh sources, specifically those concerning the status, roles and representations of women.
- An understanding of gender as a construct.
- Essay writing skills, including the use of a range of literary and editorial conventions.
-
Course Name
Medieval Women in the Celtic-Speaking West
-
Sessions Available
-
Host University
University of Galway
-
Location
Galway, Ireland
-
Area of Study
English, European Studies, History, Literature, Poetry, Sociology, Women's and Gender Studies
-
Language Level
Taught In English
-
Course Level Recommendations
Upper
ISA offers course level recommendations in an effort to facilitate the determination of course levels by credential evaluators.We advice each institution to have their own credentials evaluator make the final decision regrading course levels.
-
ECTS Credits
5 -
Recommended U.S. Semester Credits2
-
Recommended U.S. Quarter Units3