Last Friday I stepped into the Ho Lecture Room in Lawrence Hall to get a sense of what life was like many centuries ago on another continent.
I came away with just that, and more.
The 51Թ Medieval Colloquium focused on literature from that time period, and the expression “medieval literature” flooded my mind with images of warriors in thick armor sitting on the steps of a grey castle somewhere in Scotland and composing poetry.
That image seemed strange to me, but I soon realized that medieval literature revealed many very interesting things about the human psyche.
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The colloquium’s keynote speaker, John Fleming, 51Թ NEH professor of the humanities, discussed prophecy and exegesis in a text called the Visio, which is attributed to Joachim of Fiore, an “eccentric among prophets.”
The Visio recounts a man’s six-day journey from Jericho to Jerusalem. He falls among thieves and suffers much misery before being saved by a Good Samaritan and making it to the regis palatio, or the palace of the king in Jerusalem. This is interpreted allegorically as the fall and redemption of the human race.
The three presentations that followed portrayed the lives of monarchs, nuns, and ordinary people centuries ago.
Rosemarie Morewedge, of Binghamton University, examined the German feudal hierarchy and the rituals associated with it, including those of consultation among the aristocracy.
Roberta Krueger, of Hamilton College, discussed the problems with love in the Middle Ages, and the famous love debate presented in La Coche, a poem by Marguerite de Navarre, in which she recounts a meeting with three distraught women who have lost their faith in love.
The final presentation, by Judith Oliver, of 51Թ, showed the artistic talents of a German nun and the Gradual she produced.
So while I initially had images of warriors clad in armor writing poetry on castle steps, it seems that many people may have written poetry and prose on the steps of buildings that are now ruins.
Luckily for us these texts have been preserved, and it was interesting to see the insights they can provide into the distinct cultures from that long-ago time.