HUM-H390 — Saints, Sinners and Swords: Medieval European Literature — winter 2017–2018

This table shows what you should do for each classday; all work should be completed before the start of class on the date for which it’s listed. To put it another way, tests are listed on the day they will be given and assignments on the day they are due.


Week Three
Monday, 11 December Read Canto One The Exile from the Poem of the Cid (pages 7 – 44 in our edition.)
Think about To whom is the narrator sympathetic in the dispute between the Cid and the King? The description of the first battle is short; as a reader are you frustrated by this? What thing(s) do they spend more time depicting than the fighting? What different religions (or people of what different religions) are referenced in the text? How much money did the Cid get from Raquel and Vidas? How much does he win in the first battle (the battle of Castejón)?
Assignment Three-day-long Cid Scavenger Hunt! Before you start, bear in mind that literature is not a scavenger hunt! But I am doing this as a means of engaging with the text. Finding these things should simply be incidental to your reading of the text, not your goal in reading it. You should still read all of the assigned pages and think about all aspects of what they describe. We will use many of the items below as a springboard to talk about various aspects of the story and how it is told. There may well be more than one good answer to many of the items on the scavenger hunt.
Find at least 15 of the following in today's reading. This is a written assignment; you will need to do it before class and turn it in during class. If possible, please include page number (or line number if your printing of the poem does not have page numbers, or has page numbers different from our edition) to indicate where you found your answer. You may simply write the number of the item from the list below, and then your answer:
• 1 Someone giving thanks at a time when others would be cursing.
• 2 Something pagan.
• 3 A comment critical of the King.
• 4 Something representing innocence.
• 5 Another name / combination of words by which the Cid is called.
• 6 A deception.
• 7 A promise made.
• 8 A simile. [A simile is a figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison, for example, “The lightbulb was blinding as the sun.”]
• 9 A divine visitation.
• 10 Advice accepted.
• 11 A battle where someone is outnumbered.
• 12 An act of mercy (or at least depicted as merciful.)
• 13 Someone who doesn’t follow orders.
• 14 A reference to St. James.
• 15 Something that comes in groups of three.
• 16 A promise kept.
• 17 A partial forgiveness
• 18 A beard!
Tuesday, 12 December Read Canto Two The Wedding from the Poem of the Cid (pages 47 – 86 in our edition.)
Think about How does the Cid feel about the marriages? Why do you think the Cid agrees to them, and why does he arrange things as he does? You needn’t try to arrive at an exact figure now, but how would you characterize the Cid’s financial worth at this point in the story? How does the Cid treat people in the lands that he conquers, and why? How would you characterize the relationship between the Cid and the King, what changes do notice in their relationship and what do you think may have brought about those changes?
Assignment Day two of the Cid Scavenger Hunt!
Find at least eight of the following in today's reading. This is a written assignment; you will need to do it before class and turn it in during class. If possible, please include page number (or line number if your printing of the poem does not have page numbers, or has page numbers different from our edition) to indicate where you found your answer. You may simply write the number of the item from the list below, and then your answer:
• 19 Suffering caused by the Cid.
• 20 Something that is depicted sort of in fast-forward (sometimes referred to as summary, versus scene.)
• 21 A vow.
• 22 Someone with power over Church affairs.
• 23 A pardon.
• 24 The return of some characters we may have almost forgotten about.
• 25 A horse with a name.
• 26 An expression of great confidence.
• 27 A priest who kills.
• 28 Something odd about a marriage (or pair of marriages.)
Thursday, 14 December Read Canto Three The Outrage at Corpes from the Poem of the Cid (pages 89 – 139 in our edition.)
Think about Do you think the court case is tried in a fair manner? Why or why not? Can you group the characters into good and bad? Is there any middle ground? What points of view are used in this story and what points of view are lacking? What characters have agency [the capacity to act in a given environment] and what characters do not, and why? And what’s the deal with beards?
Assignment Last day of the Cid Scavenger Hunt!
Find at least nine of the following in today's reading. This is a written assignment; you will need to do it before class and turn it in during class. If possible, please include page number (or line number if your printing of the poem does not have page numbers, or has page numbers different from our edition) to indicate where you found your answer. You may simply write the number of the item from the list below, and then your answer:
• 29 Something frightening.
• 30 A lie.
• 31 A kiss refused.
• 32 Something hard to believe.
• 33 Something misunderstood, or taken the wrong way.
• 34 A sword with a name.
• 35 Something shocking!
• 36 An excuse.
• 37 A kiss accepted.
• 38 Someone dressing to impress.
• 39 Something misogynistic.
• 40 Another beard!
Friday, 15 December Today we will finish what we started earlier in the week relating to the Poem of the Cid, or do something else if we've already finished what we started.
There may be an additional reading or assignment for today; I’ll decide once we get closer to this date.