School of Humanities  
 
 
HIS-30102 The Art of Dying: Death and Society in Medieval and Early Modern Europe  
Co-ordinator: Dr Kathleen Cushing    Room: CBB0.044, Tel:33207  
Teaching Team: Miss Amanda  Roberts, Mrs Christine  Edge, Miss Jo-Anne  Watts  
Lecture Time: See Timetable...  
Level: 3 Credits: 15 Study Hours: 150  
School Office: Tel: 01782 733147
 
 
 
Programme/Approved Electives for
History Dual Honours (Level 3)
History Major (Level 3)
History Minor (Level 3)
Available as a Free Standing Elective
Yes
Barred Combinations
None

Prerequisites
N/A

Description

'Dying well' was a fundamental concern for all in the Medieval and Early Modern Europe, but what did that mean? This module will explore the history of death in medieval and early modern Europe from /c/. 1000 to /c/. 1750.

If our society has what Geoffrey Gorer has called a 'pornography of death', whereby all practices surrounding death should be done out of public view, just like sexual pornography, it is important to understand how public death and dying were in medieval and early modern Europe. The module takes a comparative approach, comparing and contrasting ways of dying, burial, attitudes to good and bad death, especially suicide, expectations of the afterlife, and the experience of famine and plague, in medieval and early modern Europe. The ways in which a society treated death reveals a great deal about its assumptions and ideas, and so this module offers a fascinating insight into the social, religious and cultural history of a world which is very different from our own.

For an introduction, see Philippe Aries, Western Attitudes toward Death from the Middle Ages to the Present (1976), or dip into his The Hour of Our Death (1981).
Aims
To explore attitudes towards and depictions of death in medieval and early modern European society and its functions in organizing the thought world of its peoples, in order to advance students&© historical and historiographical knowledge as well as their ability to make meaningful comparisons across time, using a wide variety of primary and secondary sources.
Intended Learning Outcomes
analyse the role of social and religious change and their effects on position of and attitudes to death, dying and the dead in medieval and early modern Europe.
will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
evaluate scholarly debates on this topic, in particular the idea of $ùliving with the dead&© in medieval and early modern culture in order to empathise with medieval and early modern mentalités regarding death.
will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
evaluate continuity and change in the longue durée
and thereby develop the ability to make meaningful historical comparisons across time. will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
analyse a variety of visual and literary sources for the history of death, while addressing the issues of genre, content, perspective and historicity. will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
Study hours
150 hours: 10 x two-hour seminars, 50 hours seminar preparation, 30 hours extended document commentary preparation, 50 hours preparation for 32-hour take home examination.
Description of Module Assessment
01: Seminar weighted 20%
Seminar participation
Participation in seminars, assessed according to level of contribution as well as academic ability
02: Commentary weighted 30%
Extended document commentary
An extended c.1700-word comparative commentary on primary sources set by the tutors. Students will be expected to demonstrate a comparative approach.
03: 2 Hour Unseen Exam weighted 50%
Unseen examination
An unseen thirty-two hour take home examination in which students will be expected to answer two essay questions from a list of 8. Students will be expected to demonstrate a comparative approach.
Version: (1.06B) Updated: 03/Oct/2013

This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.