Medieval French at Oxford

 

Why Medieval French?

From religious texts to the commemoration of knightly deeds, from fin' amor to bawdy tales, witness the exuberant birth of French literature, in texts that hide much subtlety behind their apparent simplicity. A new language was being invented as the French language was literally written for the first time (gradually replacing Latin as the prestige language) and new literary genres, heroes and themes were created that are still celebrated today: Charlemagne, the knights of the Round table, Tristan and Iseut, the Grail, courtly love,...

 

Why in Oxford?

The University has a rich tradition of medievalists in French and other languages (including C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien and more recently Helen Cooper and Elspeth Kennedy) and some of the most important medieval French manuscripts are to be found at the Bodleian library. Also, many Oxford Colleges are steeped in medievalism by dint of their having been founded during the Middle Ages.

 

Is it difficult to learn Medieval French?

Studying medieval French is not as difficult as it might seem especially for English-speaking students knowing French because it mixes both languages as well as intersecting with other European vernaculars. Indeed, historically French was brought into England by William the Conqueror and heavily influenced English language: for example, modern English words like feast or hostel are directly taken from medieval French festeand hostel (compared to Modern French fête and hôtel). A video podcast of 8 introductory lectures on Reading Medieval French is available on Canvas and individual tutors provide a lot of direct help to grasp the language during tutorials. Moreover, a lot of modern editions of medieval texts offer translations, notes and glossaries. Click here to read a few excerpts of medieval French texts with a translation in Modern French.

The first-year course offers one example of medieval French literature, a short verse narrative called La Chastelaine de Vergi, whose courtly love background dovetails with what you might know from A Level English Canterbury Tales (Chaucer). A special website devoted to the Chastelaine is available online via Canvas.

The University electronic library resources also offer online access to an Old French dictionary and to more than 900 medieval texts. On Canvas, you will also find than 900 medieval texts. On Canvas, you will also find, alongside podcasts and lecture materials,  a comprehensive list of more than 100 scanned scholarly articles about medieval French texts. So we might be dealing with an "old" language but we teach it with the most up-to-date resources, as well as using a range of approaches to interrogate its texts, such as postcolonial, feminist, and queer theories.

 

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Last updated : September 2021 ; email: sophie.marnette@balliol.ox.ac.uk