| Description |
A study of the relationship between politics and language in the late Middle Ages. Close readings and comparative analyses of selected moral and political works produced in Abbasid Persia, Byzantium, and Western Europe from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. Special attention will be given to the theoretical elaboration of monarchical power in relation to virtue, divinity, law, and social welfare. Questions of political theory, literary criticism, and cultural history will be treated with view to understanding the processes of symbolic construction and rhetorical consolidation of supreme authority and charismatic leadership. |