SEMESTER 1 GROUP RESEARCH PROJECT: A Guide for Research

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1 ENG 10 Mr. Wheeler S1 Research Project 1 SEMESTER 1 GROUP RESEARCH PROJECT: A Guide for Research DIRECTIONS Included below is a list of questions, suggestions, and key search terms to guide each group s research for this project. Your group need not cover all of the topics recommended below, but you should address many of them. If anything, use this information as focused entry points into the broader world of your research subject. You are also not limited to these suggested topics, though they give you plenty to work from; you are encouraged to cover subject matter that is not addressed in the following lists. GROUP 1 Visions, Warnings, and the End Times: The Prophetic Tradition in Biblical Literature What role does the prophet play in biblical literature? Describe vision writings as a genre of biblical literature. What are some famous and culturally influential apocalyptic visions (e.g., those of Isaiah and Ezekiel in the OT, John in the NT)? What is the story of Jonah & the Whale? What is the story of Daniel and the Lions? Book of Revelation: Who was St. John of Patmos? Discuss the historical context in which his epistle was composed (Revelation isn t really a book, it s a letter but to whom and for what purpose?). Discuss some of the book s most famous and influential signs and symbols, such as the Seven Seals, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Grapes of Wrath, Michael vs. the Dragon, the Whore of Babylon, the Mark of the Beast, Armageddon, the New Jerusalem, the Second Coming (of Christ). apocalypse, eschatology, soteriology, John of Patmos, Revelation, Jonah, Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Armageddon, Second Coming, Messiah

2 ENG 10 Mr. Wheeler S1 Research Project 2 GROUP 2 Raiding, Wandering, and Trading in the Viking Age: The Norseman s Influence on Medieval Europe Who were the Vikings? How did they live at home and abroad? What are some popular misconceptions of Vikings? What technology did the Vikings create for land and sea? For travel? For battle? For civilization? What should your audience know about the geography of Scandinavia? The Vikings were notorious raiders, expert tradesmen, and intrepid explorers. What determined whether they would raid a community or trade with it during their travels abroad? Hoe was Viking society organized? What does Viking architecture, art, and literature reveal about the Vikings as a people? Can you give your audience a sense of what the Vikings religion was like? Who were the primary gods? What were some noteworthy Viking customs and ceremonies, such as their famous funerary and burial rituals? How were marriages determined? Are there any famous Vikings we should know about? (e.g., Eric the Red, Leif Ericsson) Scandinavia, Norse, Nordic, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, Geats, Swedes, Frisians, Mead hall, Longships, Lindisfarne, Jorvik, Sutton-Hoo, Odin, The Eddas, The Sagas of Icelanders

3 ENG 10 Mr. Wheeler S1 Research Project 3 GROUP 3 The Power, Portability, and Permanence of the Written Word: The Book and Its Influence on the Middle Ages How were books produced? Materials? Cost? What did books look like? What were in them? Scroll vs. Codex / Papyrus vs. Parchment Who was responsible for making books? Who were books made for? Missionaries? Emperors? Monks? Students? Aristocrats? Priests? Collectors? Everybody? What role did monasteries play in medieval learning and scholarship? What were illuminations? Who were some famous illuminators and scribes of the medieval period? Discuss and provide some examples of the illuminated manuscript tradition (Book of Kells is a famous example). How did the invention of the printing press change the future of the book and language at the end of the Middle Ages? manuscript, parchment, codex, vellum, scriptoria, quill, illumination, psalters, Book of Hours, monastery, scribe

4 ENG 10 Mr. Wheeler S1 Research Project 4 GROUP 4 Sin and Redemption in Camelot: The Origins and Legacy of the Myths and Legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the Quest for the Holy Grail Who is the King Arthur of legend? Was there a real King Arthur? What do we know about him, if anything? What is the institution of chivalry? What role did it play in the Arthurian romances? Though Arthur is a Christian hero of the Middle Ages, to what degree are the legends and stories of him and his knights indebted to pre-christian Celtic myths and legends? Who are some of the important figures in the Arthurian legends? (e.g., Merlin, Guinevere, Lancelot, Gawain, Galahad) What was the Holy Grail? What role did it play in the Arthurian cycles? Who were some of the notable medieval and modern authors responsible for developing the Arthurian mythology? Discuss the most significant texts that contributed to the myths and legends of King Arthur, noting their similarities and differences? How does the time period in which each author wrote influence the type of Arthur and Round Table being presented? myth, cycles (in literature), legends, hero, romance (in literature), chivalry, courtly love, Camelot, Excalibur, Round Table, Grail, Siege Perilous, Avalon

5 ENG 10 Mr. Wheeler S1 Research Project 5 GROUP 5 Law and Order in Medieval Society: Feudalism and the Code of Chivalry in European Christendom What are the Three Estates? What kind of people lived in each Estate? What was the relationship like between the Three Estates? Can you paint a picture of medieval life by comparing the Three Estates? Can you give your audience a sense of what systems of justice held society together during medieval times? Was they effective? Were they flawed? Based on your research, was the medieval period indeed a dark age as it is sometimes called? Were there moments or long stretches of light? What role did Christianity and the Papacy play in medieval society? Do castles and cathedrals give us any insight into the organization of medieval kingdoms, cities, and communities? Who were the intellectuals and merchants that began to appear in the Late Middle Ages, whose development in medieval society was coeval to the breakdown of the medieval three estates structure? Three Estates, clergy, nobility, commoners, peasantry, clerics (i.e., intellectuals), merchant, mercantilism, New Man of the Middle Ages, chivalry, Crusades, Christendom

6 ENG 10 Mr. Wheeler S1 Research Project 6 GROUP 6 Women and the Feminine in the Middle Ages: Virgins, Whores, and Other (Mis)Representations of Women in Medieval Culture Discuss the three feminine estates of women in Middle Ages: virgin, wife, and widow. What do these classifications reveal about women during this time period? What options were available to women as far as the role they played in society? What did women wear? How did they dress, and on what occasions? What are some of the authoritative medieval writings about the nature of women? What are some writings by medieval women? What do we know about the sexuality of medieval women (vs. what male authorities from the period presumed to have known about it)? What are some of the fundamental problems with the medieval conception of women? Who are some notable medieval women and proto-feminists that had a significant impact on medieval culture? Some examples to begin with are Hildegard von Bingen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Margery Kempe, Heloise (lover of Peter Abelard), Joan of Arc, etc. How have some of the medieval attitudes towards and stereotypes about women and the feminine shaped or even persisted into contemporary American or Western culture? Eve, virgin, wife, widow, nun, prioress, anchoress, Hildegard von Bingen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Margery Kempe, Heloise, Joan of Arc, feminism, misogyny, patriarchy

7 ENG 10 Mr. Wheeler S1 Research Project 7 GROUP 7 The Cult of Saints and Relics in the Middle Ages: Miracles, Pilgrimages, and Hagiography What was the significance of saints and their relics in the Middle Ages? How old is this tradition? Where were these relics kept? What is the etymology for saint and relic? What are reliquaries? How did the nature of these vessels summon the best of local artists? What scriptural basis is there for the power of relics? Can you provide some examples of famous saints and their relics? What is a martyr? What role did the martyr play in the medieval imagination? What were some of the famous pilgrimages that medieval people made to the shrines of saints? Who was Thomas Becket? Why was he made a saint and given a shrine? hagiography, martyr, martyrdom, martyrology, relic, reliquary, cult, pilgrimage, shrine, Thomas Becket, Canterbury Cathedral

8 ENG 10 Mr. Wheeler S1 Research Project 8 GROUP 8 Topics in Medieval Science: Cosmology, Cartography, Astrology, and Medicine in the Middle Ages What influence did Platonism have on the medieval conception of the universe? How did the works of Aristotle and Ptolemy influence the medieval conception of the universe? Cosmologically, what was the universe comprised of and how did it operate according to the medieval mind and imagination? What influence did religion have on medieval cosmology and metaphysics? To the medieval mind, what did the world (i.e., terra firma) look like? Are there any maps you can share with your audience? What was the relationship between astrology and human health in the Middle Ages? What is the Zodiac Man? What was it used for? What were the Four Humors? What medical concepts were they used to explain? What is alchemy? What role did the Hermetic tradition play in medieval lore and science? cosmology, cosmogony, cartography, astrology, plane of the ecliptic, zodiac, Primum Mobile (Prime Mover), Empyrean, spheres, geocentric, firmament, Plato, Platonism, Aristotle, Timaeus (by Aristotle), Ptolemy, Amalgest (by Ptolemy), four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile)