“To Sweeten my bitterness”: Love, sex and gender in medieval musicking

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the role of gender and sexuality in medieval culture
• how music, in particular song, was used to express matters relating to gender and sexuality in the Middle Ages
• the way that medieval musical practices more broadly (="musicking") have been been preserved and can be studied

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• express yourself in writing or an alternative format (podcast, workshop) at the highest UG level

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• transfer concepts from gender and sexuality studies to histories of medieval musicking (in particular song related to gender and sexuality)
• understand how gender, sexuality and other elements of human identity intersect with ways of doing and understanding music (practices of musicking)

This module offers understanding of the intricate relationship between gender, identity, and medieval music, exploring the cultural and societal dynamics that shaped musical expressions during this period. You will be introduced to important musical styles and genres of medieval music, placed in the the social and cultural contexts in which they were cultivated. We will critically examine intersections of sex, gender, and identity within this historical context, analysing how gender roles shaped compositions and performances. This course will investigate the gender norms and societal structures of the medieval world, and reveal the often overlooked musical contributions of women. By engaging with primary sources, scholarly literature, and musical compositions, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the intricate relationship between medieval music and the expressions of sex, gender, and identity in this era. You will have a choice of format for your final assessment: essay, podcast or workshop performance.

Indicative weekly topics could include:

• -introduction: what is "musicking"
• -sources of medieval music and where to find them
• -music (especially song) in medieval society
• -gender roles in the European Middle Ages
• -gender and genre in medieval music
• -sexuality and eroticism in medieval culture (euphemisms!)
• -gender bending: non-binary and transgender medieval song
• -troubadour and trouvere song in context (e.g. chivalry and courtly love)
• -songs by women through the lens of female subjectivity
• -singing nuns (and other members of religious communities)
• -historiography of gender and medieval song

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures

Discussion

Online interaction with classmates and tutors

Tutorials

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

(2022). Female-Voice Song and Women’s Musical Agency in the Middle Ages.

(2018). The Oxford Handbook of Music and Queerness.

Elizabeth Leech (2023). Medieval Sex Lives: The Sounds of Courtly Intimacy on the Francophone Borders. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External