Syllabus
Topics: - analysis of historical texts (chronicles) - analysis of legal texts (laws, charters, wills) - analysis of religious texts (sermons, homilies) - analysis of private correspondence - analysis of late medieval and renaissance drama - analysis of poetic texts
Annotation
The seminar will focus on reading and analysis of selected Old English texts. Each text is presented as a self-contained whole with a glossary, philological commentary and basic information on its literary background.
The aim of the seminar is a) to provide students of the history of the language with a wider empirical basis; b) to encourage the students who aim to pursue their study of historical linguistics, English medieval literature and medieval studies to develop a firmer philological grasp of medieval English. Previous knowledge of Old English is not required.