IMC 2008: Sessions
Session 1611: From Birth to Death: Vernacular Instruction on How to Live a Good Life in the Middle Ages
Thursday 10 July 2008, 11.15-12.45
| Sponsor: | Department of English Language, University of Glasgow / Glasgow Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of Glasgow |
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| Organiser: | Jennifer Scammell, School of Critical Studies (English Language), University of Glasgow |
| Moderator/Chair: | Graham D. Caie, School of Critical Studies (English Language), University of Glasgow |
| Paper 1611-a | Negotiating the Nativity: Motherhood and Meaning in Late Medieval Society (Language: English) Index terms: Daily Life, Lay Piety |
| Paper 1611-b | Morality for Dummies: Pedagogical Use of the Disticha Catonis in Glasgow University Library, MS Hunter 259 (Language: English) Index terms: Education, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Manuscripts and Palaeography |
| Paper 1611-c | Seeking Salvation: Preparing for Death in the Exeter Book's Judgement Day I and Contrition A and B (Language: English) Index terms: Manuscripts and Palaeography, Religious Life |
| Abstract | The panel considers the didactic qualities of a range of moral and religious works in Old and Middle English. The first paper explores the social function of late medieval literary, as well as artistic, accounts of Christ's birth, with particular regard to lay female audiences and the role of Mary as mother. The second paper examines the potential educational uses of the Middle English translation Distichs of Cato contained in Glasgow University Library. The final paper compares the effectiveness of three adjacent poems in the Exeter Book in preparing men for death and afterlife when considered individually and as a 'conceptual unit'. |