HST6079   Early Medieval Clerical Exemption in a Digital Age   (15 credits)

Description

This course provides a long-term perspective on a single contentious issue: whether and how early medieval clerics could be put on trial in secular courts. The course also however situates this topic in a new context, that of global public humanities. It requires its learners to use the knowledge they acquire about early medieval clerical exemption to improve Wikipedia, and to reflect on the implications of this form of dissemination. In doing so, it juxtaposes developments in early medieval knowledge about clergy, and in how that information was transmitted, with shifts in the creation and dissemination of contemporary historical knowledge.

Reading List