HISTORY 1041 - Before the Da Vinci Code: The Holy Grail

Institution:

Temple University

Subject:

Description:

This course is intended to acquaint students with the interlinked problems of cultural violence, history writing, and the invention and popularity of Grail romances in 12th century Europe. The Grail romance cycle emerged in the wake of violence perpetrated by Christian Crusaders who traveled to the Eastern Mediterranean to capture Jerusalem and other pilgrimage sites from their Muslim rulers. We will study how the Grail story stages a crisis in chivalric masculinity and enacts fierce contests over knowledge, power, capital, and religious difference endemic in 12th and 13th century Europe. We will also explore why the Grail never lets go in the Western imaginary. We will study how bits and pieces of the Grail story recycled themselves in imperial fantasies of the 19th century, in Nazi Germany, as well as post-War new-Nazi fantasies, up to the Da Vinci Code.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

WWW.TEMPLE.EDU

Phone Number:

(215) 204-7000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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