LAT 320-000: Medieval Latin (Spring 2010)

In this course we will read the stormy letters exchanged between Pope Gregory VII and the Emperor Henry IV during the eleventh-century Investiture Controversy. The European Middle Ages saw many quarrels between kings and popes, but the bitter struggle between Henry and Gregory ranks as one of the more dramatic. Unlike the later dispute between Becket and Henry II of England, which was more celebrated than consequential, the fifty-year wrangle over lay investiture altered the political geography of Europe for the next several generations. The polemics of Henry IV's and Gregory's letters became more than idle threats as Germany fell into papally inspired civil war, northern and central Italy suffered at the hands of one or the other's supporters, Rome was ransacked by Gregory's own Norman allies, and in the end the two antagonists each in his own way died a bitter death. From a modern perspective the letters are fascinating and also timely because they illustrate what can happen when a society is struggling to find the right relation between politics and religious authority.

While the content and historical context of the letters will be discussed and is important, the primary focus of this course will be on continued improvement in reading Latin so that students might gain greater facility in approaching any Latin text, whether classical or medieval.