Welcome to my Blog

Greetings reader. Allow me to take this opportunity to welcome you to what will serve as my scholarly blog for the academic year 2022/23. I am a student on the University College Cork MA course: English – Texts and Contexts: Medieval to Renaissance. Today’s date is the 17th of October, meaning it is week 5 of this course. Undoubtedly, I have noticed a significant increase in the standard and workload expected from that of undergraduate level (of which I also completed in UCC). Despite this, I have enjoyed every minute of the course thus far, whether it be spent learning in class, reading in the library, or studying at home. As I continually tell myself “It wouldn’t be a Masters if it weren’t challenging” and nor would a degree of any kind be worth perusing should it not continuously stimulate the mind. In conclusion, I am delighted to be partaking in this course, and eagerly anticipate the challenges and opportunities it is to present.  

One such challenge is the creation and maintenance of an academic research blog. This blog is, of course, the one that you are currently reading the foremost edition of. Over the course of the academic year, I will on a regular basis add to this blog a variety of posts pertaining to classes and events I have attended, discussions I have partaken in, book I have studies, as well as articles, commentaries, translations, and even blogs that I have read and engaged with. For today, however, I wish to discuss a topic which I believe to be elementary to that which I am studying. For as long as I was accepted as a student on this MA course, I have received inquisitive looks and questions relating to why, exactly, I was interested in the study of medieval and early modern literature. These inquiries have never come from a place of antagonization, but genuine confusion. Therefore, today I wish to answer the question, once and for all, why I chose to study early literature.  

So why study Medieval literature? To truly do justice to the given question, I believe it necessary to step back and approach this topic with a certain degree of perspective. One could ask “why study old literature at all?” Or better yet, “why study history at all?” The answer to these questions appear to be obvious, and most people would respond to such a question by paraphrasing George Santayana’s famous line “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (The Life of Reason, 1905). Ironically, this quote is often misattributed to Edmund Burke, who in fact wrote in a similar vein “People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors” (Reflections, 1970). There is a common belief, based on the writings of individuals such as these, that it is necessary to account for our history for the purpose of remembrance. Yet, based on my personal experience, the medieval period is often met with puzzled questioning, from the same people who would affirm the common belief that History is a necessary avenue of research. I find myself intrigued by this phenomenon.  

There is an attitude directed at the medieval period which suggests it was a particularly dark time in human history. Hence, many will freely use the terms “middle age” and “dark age” interchangeably. The use of the term “dark age” to describe the entirety of the medieval period is highly misleading. It is true to argue that there were certain aspects of the medieval period that can be rightfully described as “dark.” One thinks of the expulsion of the Jews from many major cities across Europe, the witch trials that resulted in the deaths of many innocent women, the bubonic plague, among several other examples of “darkness” and can understand why many dismiss the medieval period. However, it does a great disservice to the period to define it using only its worst attributes. However, as with any period of history, there are gems to be found. The gems of the medieval period are, in my opinion, examples of triumphs of progress. Consider the monumental feats of architecture produced, without the use of power tools, throughout the Middle Ages. Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, including works of magnificence such as Brunelleschi’s dome, as well as countless examples of beautiful stained glass, which to the medieval eye was a picture of what heaven would look like. Note also, that the modern university, which is seen as the epicentre of academic learning and progress was both conceptualized and founded in the medieval period.  

And finally, of course, we come to the literature of the Medieval period, which is the area of study I have embarked on in my degree. Often overlooked in favour of the works that came before and after, medieval literature stands as among the most influential periods literature production in human history. Writers such as Giovanni Boccaccio, Dante, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, as well as countless anonymous authors that produced works of epic proportion throughout the medieval period, of a quality that to this day impresses historians and scholars. They engaged in topics relating to history, religion, society, morality and gender to the extent that through the study of medieval literature, one obtains the key to understanding the ideas and values on which medieval culture was built. Understanding this gives one insight as to where various western values such as chivalry originated.  

Throughout the course of this year, I wish to document, analyse, and engage with the various texts I study from both the medieval and early modern period. Through this I wish to gain a greater understanding of what I believe to be an underrepresented period of history. I wish to use this blog to explore and comprehend the medieval mindset that produced one of the fascinating periods of human history.