Medieval culture is often inherently multilingual and translations therefore play an important role. While translations of sacred texts, esp. the Bible, into the various vernacular languages have been well studied, the practice of translation is much more varied and widespread – from the intersections between Arabic, Hebrew, Latin and vernacular learning in Al-Andalus to the use of Low German as a lingua franca in the Hanseatic League for trade across the Baltic; from interlinear glossing of Latin texts intended for school instruction to free adaptations of literary texts from one vernacular into another (e.g. German and Sicilian courtly love songs using Northern French or Occitan songs as their models), sometimes across religious boundaries (e.g. the Yiddish adaptations of Medieval German courtly romance). Often, the aim of translating goes beyond linguistic transfer and offers modes of understanding or adopting cultural practices, either by allowing access to learned knowledge to wider audiences in the vernacular (e.g. vernacular encyclopaedic writing about nature, drawing on Latin and sometimes Arabic or Greek sources), or by exploring radical ideas in a vernacular which is less tightly constrained and controlled by institutions (e.g. mystical theology).

The Special Subject will allow participants to study theoretical approaches to such modes of creative adaptation but will also encourage them to explore examples of translation as cultural transfer in pre-modern literary examples, and to evaluate the different techniques of translation. No previous study of medieval culture necessary.