Dr. Shelley Williams

Unlock the secrets of medieval buildings—real and imagined! Step into a world of soaring cathedrals, fortified castles, sacred wells, and the fantastical architecture of Chaucer’s imagination. In this course, we’ll explore how medieval structures were built, used, and imagined, learning to “read” their stories, symbolism, and hidden messages. From dramatic sieges to miraculous springs, from intricate stained glass to impossible fictional spaces, you’ll gain the tools to explore medieval architecture on your own, uncovering the stories that these remarkable buildings have been telling for centuries. Session 1: The Temple of Solomon and Heavenly Jerusalem Session 2: The Temple of Solomon and Heavenly Jerusalem Session 3: Under Siege Session 4: Chaucer’s murals and the Italian Trecento: Chaucer's The Knight’s Tale, Session 5: Chaucer’s The House of Fame Session 6: Reading Stained Glass at Chartres Session 7: Sacred Wells and their Shrines Session 8: Reading St. Mary’s Church in Iffley, Oxfordshire [show less]

Descend into the medieval ‘Dark Zone,’ a world beneath the surface where dragons coil, cave-witches curse, and the earth itself becomes a site of danger, revelation, and transformation. This course plunges into the rich subterranean imagination of Old and Middle English literature, tracing caves, hollows, and underground spaces from the tenth through the sixteenth century. Moving between sweeping thematic frameworks and analytical close reading, we will examine how caves function as mythic thresholds, spiritual testing grounds, and spaces of exile, prophecy, and refuge. Through attentive readings of canonical and lesser-known texts, students will discover how medieval writers used the underground to think through fear, faith, gender, power, and the limits of the known world. Session 1: Let’s go spelunking! Plato’s Republic, Jung and more Session 2: Primordial ‘Earth halls’ in Old English poetry Session 3: Subterranean worlds in Beowulf Session 4: Arthurian Caves Session 5: Mapping Sir Gawain and the Green Knight's Green Chapel Session 6: Saturn’s “derke cote”: occult caves in Chaucer’s poetry Session 7: Anchorites and cave-witches Session 8: Wookey Hole: a case study of a cave, history, and cultural imagination through time [show less]