HUMANITIES
4930-901/6939-901
MONASTICISM AND THE ARTS
Wednesday, 6-9 PM, CPR 355
JAMES D'EMILIO
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HUMANITIES
CPR 382/phone:
974-9404/demilio@shell.cas.usf.edu
Office hours: Wednesday 1-3 (or by
appointment)
DESCRIPTION
The idea for this course arises from a simple
paradox: monks and nuns separate themselves from the world, subject
their bodies to extraordinary trials, and devote considerable efforts
to contemplation and spiritual development. Yet medieval monasteries
have left us an extraordinary legacy of art and learning: libraries of
illuminated manuscripts and liturgical service books, chants
accompanying the divine office, majestic buildings decorated with
murals and architectural sculpture, sanctuaries adorned with
altarpieces and reliquaries, and works in diverse media depicting the
lives and works of monks and nuns and the histories of their
communities. This course will explore the monastic life through the
rich legacy of writings, art works, and music from early Christian
times through the Mendicant orders of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. In using these varied works to illuminate the monastic life,
we will also think about the paradoxical place of learning and the arts
within medieval Christian monasticism.
The first part of the course is organized
topically, not chronologically. I highly recommend that you consult
reference works, surveys, or additional bibliography to help clarify
the overall historical framework for our discussion. Over eight weeks,
we will move from the monastic individual to the community and its
place in the world. Beginning with the individual, we will read the
lives of monastic saints, focusing on two enormously influential texts
from both ends of the time frame of the course: Athanasius’
fourth-century Life of Antony,
and Bonaventure’s thirteenth-century
Major Life of St. Francis (Legenda maior). From these, we turn
to the
texts and teachings designed for the spiritual improvement of men and
women seeking a contemplative life; we read selections from fourth- and
fifth-century writers imbued with the traditions of Egyptian
monasticism, texts by St. Francis, and an early Franciscan text, the
Sacrum Commercium, that
focuses on Francis’ devotion to poverty. In the
second section on the monastic community, we consider the formal
regulation of the monastic life and community through rules, including
Caesarius’ Rule for Nuns, the rules of Benedict and Columbanus, and the
Franciscan Rules of 1221 and 1223. Then, we look at the organization of
monastic communities in time and space: the daily routine of reading
and the Divine Office (the monastic liturgy), and the physical and
architectural setting of the cloister and its dependencies. Finally, we
look at the place of monastic communities in the wider world: the
churches that were open to the laity and catered to their religious
life; the worldly relationships of monasteries with rulers, wealthy
patrons and the secular clergy; the reform movements that sought,
periodically, to disentangle monastic communities from the world; and
the particular place of women’s communities within a church and society
in which men held a preponderance of power and prescribed limited roles
for women. Throughout the course, we will appreciate the
diversity and complexity of Christian monasticism over a thousand-year
period, and the topical organization will invite us to compare and
contrast the early monastic movements of the fourth through seventh
centuries with the Mendicant orders of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries.
After spring break, we will concentrate on
your research papers and roundtables focused on particular problems.
REQUIRED TEXTS
1.Saint Athanasius. The Life of St. Anthony
the Great. Willits, Ca:
Eastern Orthodox Books.
2. Berman, Constance H. Women and Monasticism
in Medieval Europe:
Sisters and Patrons of the Cistercian Reform. Kalamazoo:
Medieval
Institute Publications, 2005
3. La Corte, Daniel Marcel and Douglas J. McMillan. Regular Life:
Monastic, Canonical, and Mendicant Rules. Kalamazoo: Medieval
Institute
Publications, 2005.
4. Venarde, Bruce. Women’s
Monasticism and Medieval Society. Ithaca:
Cornell UP, 1997.
5. Habig, Marion A (ed.). St. Francis of Assisi:
Writings and Early
Biographies. English Omnibus of the Sources for the Life of St.
Francis. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 2000.
PREPARATION FOR CLASS
Given the small size of the class, it is
important to come ready and
willing to participate. Read actively.
First, be sure to get an
overview of the week’s assignments, and consult the notes that I will
post on the website. Then, as you read, select issues and questions
that are of interest. Be ready to ask questions, make comparisons among
the assigned texts, and draw together
material from different parts of
the course. It is completely appropriate - and highly recommended - to
look for issues and problems in the
assigned readings that may relate
to your own paper topic, and come to class prepared to raise and
discuss them. Find themes within the
course that interest you, and
pursue them through the weekly discussions and your own
paper.
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT
Your final grade will be based on the following components:
1. Class participation (general): 30%.
A precondition for effective
participation is keeping up with the assigned readings and, as the
course progresses, working on your own research project in a way that
contributes to the class. I am looking for an informed participation in
the class discussion that reveals insights
into the assigned works, an
effort to make connections among the
diverse materials of the course,
an ability to deal critically with
different types of sources, texts,
and works of art, and an interest
in tackling broader issues and
historical problems about medieval monasticism and the arts. I
expect
participation to be constructive,
in that we will work together to
develop each other’s ideas and answer one another’s questions.
2. Structured participation
(reports/roundtables): 20%. Periodically, I
may ask you to report briefly (10-15 minutes) and/or lead a discussion
on one particular aspect of the readings. In the second part of the
course, we will schedule one, two or three roundtables in which each
person will be responsible for reporting on one facet of an overall
problem. One example might be considering and comparing the provisions
for dress, diet, and punishment in a selection of monastic rules, with
each student focusing one topic or one rule.
3. Term paper:
50%. You will
write a 20-25 page term paper
on a topic of
your choice (within the general parameters of Christian monasticism in
the Middle Ages). The paper will be completed in stages, and you will
be assessed on your progress on the paper throughout the term. A paper
topic and annotated bibliography will be due by February 22; a first
draft will be due by April 5;
the final paper will be due by MONDAY,
May 1 - no extensions. I will provide more complete guidelines
for the
paper by February 1.
****ANY WRITTEN MATERIAL WHICH YOU
SUBMIT IN THIS COURSE MUST BE YOUR
OWN. PLAGIARISM IS GROUNDS FOR FAILURE IN THE COURSE - if you have
questions about proper citation of sources, err on the safe side or
consult with me.***