Desire, the Devil, and Death

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Using as a guide Durer’s engraving Knight, Death, and the Devil, often interpreted to represent moral virtue in medieval Scholasticism, this course will investigate the interconnectedness of desire, the devil, and death in the medieval world. Weaving illustrations in codexes, psalters, and books of hours with morality plays, legends, Arthurian romance, the Breton lai and the fabliau, we will examine ways in which written texts are both altered and enhanced by visual representations. Some of the authors we will read are Hrotswitha and Hildegarde, Chaucer, Marie de France, and the ubiquitous medieval author Anonymous. (Counts as HUMW II course)