COURSE DESCRIPTION Castles were the great power houses of the Middle Ages. They were the centers of conquest and oppression, the seats of government and the luxurious homes of the ruling classes. In this course, we’ll look at the castles of medieval England and Wales, from their arrival with the Normans in the 11th century to their evolution into country houses in the 16th century. We’ll explore their architectural development and the balance between fortification and domesticity. We’ll also think about how to attack and capture a castle and how to defend one and learn about the peaceful domestic lives of the owners and their servants. We’ll think about the organization of households and learn how to be a model servant according to contemporary training manuals, and we’ll also give some thought to the education of children within these establishments. We’ll learn about the complex codes of chivalry in the male-dominated world of the medieval household, about the knight and the lady, and also explore the reality of women’s role in this society. Our sources include the standing remains of these once-proud buildings and the written evidence of poets, chroniclers and clerks, as well as delicate imagery taken from medieval illuminated manuscripts. Together, they form an exciting picture of power in the Middle Ages.
COURSE EXCURSIONS Full day: Goodrich Castle and Raglan Castle Half day: Broughton Castle TUTOR Dr. Gillian White specializes in the history and visual arts of late medieval and early modern England. She previously worked for The National Trust as curator/collections manager at Hardwick Hall. She taught for many years in the Centre for the Study of the Country House at Leicester University and has been a member of the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education tutor panel for more than a decade. She also undertakes freelance teaching and lecturing and has contributed to the V&A’s course on the history of textiles.
Murder Most British: Victorian Detective Fiction
COURSE DESCRIPTION Though the mention of Victorian detective fiction
COURSE EXCURSIONS Full day: The City of London Police Museum or the Museum of London and the Charles Dickens House Museum Half day: Ingatestone Hall TUTOR Dr. Emma Plaskitt is a graduate of Merton College, Oxford. She has taught English literature 1640–1901 for various Oxford colleges as well as Oxford University’s Continuing Education Summer Programmes. Having
instantly brings to mind an image of Arthur Conan Doyle’s deerstalker-clad detective, in fact, Sherlock Holmes followed in the investigative footsteps of many earlier sleuths, both male and female, serious and humorous, amateur and professional. Between 1800 and 1900, roughly 6,000 pieces of crime fiction were published in English and were devoured by an enthralled audience of what Thomas de Quincey satirically called “Murder-Fanciers.” Today, crime and detective fiction remains a popular staple in literature, film and television. In this course, we’ll trace the development of the genre to discover why it was and remains so fascinating, especially when connected with that most heinous of crimes — murder. We’ll look at its connection to the most infamous crimes of the 19th century. We’ll study the origins of crime and detective literature and its relation to other transgressive subgenres of fiction: the penny dreadful, the gothic novel and the novel of sensation. We’ll simultaneously track the development of the amateur or unwitting detective into the professional sleuth — the honor of creating the first such professional going to American writer, Edgar Allan Poe. In addition to works by Poe and Conan Doyle, we’ll discuss Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, as well as true accounts by members of the constabulary and condemned criminals. What was the relationship between authors and the London police force and how were real crimes, including murder, utilized in bestselling novels? How did the Victorian middle classes view the police and what was their response to crime and criminality? Above all, why were they so fascinated by crime and detective fiction, particularly those stories dealing with murder, and why do we continue to be so?
worked for the “Oxford Dictionary of National
Participants will receive a suggested reading list for this course prior to the program.
Biography,” where she was responsible for writing many
articles on 18th- and 19th-century women
writers, she now focuses on teaching for the SCIO Study Abroad Programme and for Stanford University. Though a specialist in the literature of the 18th century, her research interests include the Victorian novel — particularly the gothic novel and novel of sensation.
People and Power: Medieval Castles in England and Wales
Participants will receive a suggested reading list for this course prior to the program.
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