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AH4003: MATERIALISING FAITH: WOMEN, ART AND RELIGION, 1150-1500 (2021-2022)

Last modified: 31 May 2022 13:05


Course Overview

From Hildegard of Bingen to Isabella D’Este, women played a defining role in the commissioning, making and experiencing of devotional art and architecture. This course explores the opportunities nuns, sisters, mystics, wives and widows had to express their faith, status and power by material means. Equally it focuses on the way in which such devotional works could shape women’s visions and modes of contemplation. Case studies are drawn from across Europe, with a primary focus on Italy and Germany during the period 1150-1500.

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 4
Session First Sub Session Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Joanne Anderson
  • Dr Marie-Luise Ehrenschwendtner

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Programme Level 4
  • Any Undergraduate Programme (Studied)

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

From Hildegard of Bingen to Isabella D’Este, women played a defining role in the commissioning, making and experiencing of devotional art and architecture. This course explores the opportunities nuns, sisters, mystics, wives and widows had to express their faith, status and power by material means, including the financial circumstances that enabled them to realise their ambitions. Equally the course focuses on the way in which the objects could shape spiritual experiences and modes of contemplation. Close attention is therefore paid to the design of objects and the surviving traces of usage as means to determining their agency.

Case studies are drawn from across Europe, with a primary focus on Italy and Germany during the period 1150-1500. Objects of investigation will include rosaries, dolls, needlework, manuscripts, music, paintings, sculptures and architecture. Alongside the objects of investigation, we will look at the textual sources which help to evaluate the norms and conventions of women’s spiritual experience, including inscriptions, hagiography, confessional literature and vitae.


Coursework includes: poster, presentation and essays


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 31 August 2023 for 1st half-session courses and 22 December 2023 for 2nd half-session courses.

Summative Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 50
Assessment Weeks 11 Feedback Weeks 14

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback

Students will develop their own questions in consultation with the course coordinators 

 

Written feedback and additional verbal with student as required 

Word Count 3000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualApplyDemonstrate a broad understanding of women as makers and consumers of devotional art and architecture during the middle ages and Renaissance.
ProceduralEvaluateApply knowledge of objects and texts critically evaluate for the interpretation of women’s materialised faith.
ProceduralEvaluateShow a critical understanding of medieval and Renaissance discourses on gendered experiences of art and devotional practice.
ReflectionCreateDemonstrate confidence in researching, organising and delivering written and oral academic work in a class presentation on a defined topic, and an essay on a self-defined topic.

Poster + presentation

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 20
Assessment Weeks 5 Feedback Weeks 6

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Feedback

Students will present their posters to the group. Written feedback and additional verbal with students as required 

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualApplyDemonstrate a broad understanding of women as makers and consumers of devotional art and architecture during the middle ages and Renaissance.
ProceduralEvaluateApply knowledge of objects and texts critically evaluate for the interpretation of women’s materialised faith.
ProceduralEvaluateShow a critical understanding of medieval and Renaissance discourses on gendered experiences of art and devotional practice.
ReflectionCreateDemonstrate confidence in researching, organising and delivering written and oral academic work in a class presentation on a defined topic, and an essay on a self-defined topic.

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 30
Assessment Weeks 8 Feedback Weeks 11

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback

Written feedback and additional verbal with students as required 

Word Count 2000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualApplyDemonstrate a broad understanding of women as makers and consumers of devotional art and architecture during the middle ages and Renaissance.
ProceduralEvaluateApply knowledge of objects and texts critically evaluate for the interpretation of women’s materialised faith.
ProceduralEvaluateShow a critical understanding of medieval and Renaissance discourses on gendered experiences of art and devotional practice.
ReflectionCreateDemonstrate confidence in researching, organising and delivering written and oral academic work in a class presentation on a defined topic, and an essay on a self-defined topic.

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualApplyDemonstrate a broad understanding of women as makers and consumers of devotional art and architecture during the middle ages and Renaissance.
ProceduralEvaluateApply knowledge of objects and texts critically evaluate for the interpretation of women’s materialised faith.
ProceduralEvaluateShow a critical understanding of medieval and Renaissance discourses on gendered experiences of art and devotional practice.
ReflectionCreateDemonstrate confidence in researching, organising and delivering written and oral academic work in a class presentation on a defined topic, and an essay on a self-defined topic.

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