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