Primary readings include samples from different literary genres. The course emphasizes literary works by and for religious women, but there will be forays into the areas of art and music in our discussion of Hildegard of Bingen. Scivias is richly illuminated, and she is the presumed composer of a number of liturgical songs and the liturgical drama Ordo virtutum. The course will progress more or less chronologically. The focus will be primary texts, the writings of the women themselves.
Some secondary reading is required, and other selections are recommended.
Secrets of God. Writings of Hildegard of Bingen. Petroff, Elizabeth Alvilda. Medieval Women's Visionary Literature. Oxford University Press, 1986.