Course Details in 2026/27 Session

Module Title	LH Epic and Romance
School	Lan, Cult, Art Hist & Music
Department	Modern Languages
Module Code	09 30649
Module Lead	Nigel Harris
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Seminar-30 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	This course will analyse in detail two of the most notable examples of medieval German narrative literature, but will seek to integrate this work firmly into the new DoML curriculum model, with its emphasis on the linked and ultimately indivisible nature of ‘language’ and ‘content’ study. A weekly two-hour seminar will be spent discussing two major works from around c. 1200 that were to prove highly influential in subsequent centuries: the anonymous epic Das Nibelungenlied and a major courtly romance, usually either Erec or Iwein by Hartmann von Aue. These deal with a range of meaty and still very relevant questions, such as: the value or otherwise of living by an ethical code; the nature of personal development; the sometimes conflicting demands of ideology, society, family and individual ambition; the concept of heroism; love and gender roles; and honour and reputation. Each week a particular section of text will be set for student preparatory reading, along with a set of questions for them to think about in advance. The third weekly hour will have the function of undergirding and illuminating these works and medieval textuality in gender by more language-focused study. Each week an element of the Middle High German language (a lexical item or field, an aspect of historical grammar or syntax, or literary reflections of spoken regional dialect forms) will be foregrounded and explored, using such resources as the text analysis tool ‘Voyant ’, the wonderfully extensive online network of Middle High German dictionaries: http://www.woerterbuchnetz.de/cgi-bin/WBNetz/setupStartSeite.tcl, the Digitales Mittelhochdeutsches Textarchiv and http://www.mhgta.uni-trier.de/index.html and the brand new ‘Oxford Guide to Middle High German’, https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-guide-to-middle-high-german-9780199654611?cc=gb&lang=en& . Two or three seminars will also focus on medieval manuscripts and handwriting, involving both an introduction to the extraordinary rich online offerings on this subject and a hands-on visit to the Cadbury Research Library.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate a detailed knowledge and an understanding of the Middle High German texts covered in the module; demonstrate an understanding of the social, political and religious contexts in which the works studied in the module were written, and of the specificities of medieval manuscript culture; show an enhanced ability to read and understand written Middle High German, and to bring to bear that enhanced knowledge on the interpretation of particular texts; demonstrate enhanced powers of textual analysis, academic discussion, using digital resources.
Assessment	30649-01 : 4000 word essay : Coursework (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessments: One essay of 4,000 words in English or German. (100%) Reassessment: No resits are permitted in final year. If students miss the assessed task owing to extenuating circumstances, the failed task would be rescheduled at a later date.
Other
Reading List