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Key facts
| Type | Weekly Classes |
|---|---|
| Location | Oxford |
| Address | Ewert House Ewert Place Summertown Oxford |
| Dates | Wed 3 Oct to Wed 5 Dec 2012 Day: Wednesday Time of meeting: 10.30am-12.30pm Number of meetings: 10 |
| Subject area(s) | Local and Social History |
| CATS points | 10 |
| Fees | From £165.00 |
| Application status | Course ended |
| Course code | O12P669LHW |
| Course contact | If you have any questions about this course, please email ppweekly@conted.ox.ac.uk. |
Overview
Churches are usually the biggest buildings in a village: why do they look like they do, and what was their significance to the medieval communities which built, maintained and worshipped in them, from the earliest beginnings to the Reformation?Description
Our medieval parish churches are usually the biggest buildings in a village, and in previous centuries they had a significance and importance to their communities which was commensurate with their size. We will look not only at the architecture and furnishings of the church, but also at their significance and meaning for those using them. Dating the architecture is important, but we will also investigate why churches had so many doors, mostly redundant today? what were rood screens for? why are chancels and naves so often of different periods? We will also look at the relationship between people and buildings, and the development of the parish, from the earliest beginnings to the Reformation, covering the place of monasticism, the effects of medieval piety, the cults of saints, pilgrimage, and the growth of chantry chapels. There will be one or two field trips during the course.Programme details
Week 1: General introduction; architecture; naming the parts; what is it all for?Week 2: Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Christianity – the beginnings of the church
Week 3: The development of the parish; growth of parish churches; tithes and parish boundaries
Week 4: Monasteries and nunneries; monastic landlords
Week 5: Early sources for church history; collegiate churches and chantries
Week 6: The cult of saints; pilgrimages
Week 7: Liturgy, ritual and belief in the medieval church
Week 8: Field trip
Week 9: The parish as a social and administrative unit
Week 10: The final flowering of the Gothic/Perpendicular style
Background Reading:
Bettey J H., Church and Parish
Platt C., The Parish Churches of Medieval England
Friar S., The Companion to the English Parish Church
Morris R., Churches in the Landscape
Duffy E., The Stripping of the Altars
Staff
Mrs Deborah Hayter
Role: Tutor
Deborah Hayter has taught courses in Local and Landscape History for OUDCE for several years, and also teaches on the Summer Schools Programme. She...more
Course aims
Course Aim:To provide an introduction to the history and significance of parish and other churches.
Course Objectives:
1. to look at churches as buildings with architectural features
2. to study their significance as the foci of local communities and parishes
3. to introduce the history of the wider institution, ‘The Church’, and how it is reflected in church buildings and furnishings.
Assessment methods
Option A will consist of 3 pieces of work, each analysing and commenting on one of the handouts given during the course.Option B: either a review of one of the books on the reading list;
or an oral presentation (topic to be agreed with the tutor)
or a small research project into one of the topics covered by the course (the relics of pre-Reformation religion in a particular church, for instance), the topic to be agreed with the tutor.
Teaching methods
A variety of teaching and learning methods will be employed, using much visual material, mainly presented by Powerpoint. This will be a 'hands-on' course, with plenty of handouts for the students to study, using a variety of original documentary sources. They will be expected to participate in their interpretation, using their own local knowledge to illuminate general historical developments. They will be encouraged to visit churches, and to read introductory texts, and more specialist books in pursuit of their own interests.Teaching outcomes
By the end of the course students will be expected to:-1. recognize and understand the main features of a church & understand methods of dating churches
2. understand how parishes & tithes came about, and the economics of the church
3. interpret some of the documentary sources for the history of the medieval church
Apply for this course
Sorry, this course is not currently accepting applications. If you have any questions about this course, please use the course enquiry form.