42757 - History of Medieval England - Advanced Course

Learning outcomes

To achieve advanced knowledge of a specific aspect of the history of early medieval England, also making use of written and archaeological sources.

Course contents

The Origins of English Christianity

The course will examine the origins and the first developments of Christianity in England, paying special attention to the mission sent by Gregory the Great in 596 and led by a monk named Augustine, who later became the first bishop of Canterbury. The mission and the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms will be studied through the evidence provided by Bede's Historia ecclesiastica and Gregory's correspondence. As well as the impact of the Roman mission, the course will take into account the origins of the cult of Gregory the Great in England through the analysis of the earliest Life of the pope, which was composed by an anonymous monk or nun at Whitby in c.700.

Readings/Bibliography

Two dossiers of primary sources can be obtained from the Library of the Dipartimento di Paleografia e Medievistica, in Piazza S. Giovanni in Monte, 2.

Secondary sources:

H. Mayr-Harting, The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England (third edition, 1991), pp. 40- 77

St Augustine and the Conversion of England, a cura di R. Gameson (Stroud, 1999), pp. 1-67, 107-201

H. Chadwick, Gregroy the Great and the Mission to the Anglo-Saxons, in Gregorio Magno e il suo tempo, XIX Incontro di studiosi dell'antichità cristiana in collaborazione con l'Ecole Francaise de Rome (Roma, 1991), pp. 199-212

I. Wood, The Mission of Augustine of Canterbury to the English, Speculum 69 (1994), pp. 1-17

[Photocopies of the last two articles can also be obtained from the above-mentioned Library]

The students who do not attend the course MUST get in touch with the lecturer about their reading list.

Teaching methods

Seminars

Assessment methods

Final oral test

Teaching tools

Students are encouraged to consult The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England, edited by M. Lapidge et al. (Oxford, 1999 and later reprints).