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MUS41300

Academic Year 2026/2027

Creating the Musical Self in Medieval Europe (MUS41300)

Subject:
Music
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Music
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Matthew Thomson
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

In this course, students will think through how music enables people to form individual and collective identities. To do so, we’ll consider the operation of these processes in musical cultures quite different from our own, namely those of the European Middle Ages. We will be drawing on theories of subjectivity descending from Louis Althusser, working especially with his reception by feminist theorists such as Judith Butler. These theories see the identity of an individual person (or ‘subject’) as being determined by their placement within the cultural discourses and norms that surround them.
The course will begin by exploring how these theories might work in practice, using the twelfth- and thirteenth-century songs of the troubadours and trouvères as a case study. The rest of the course will then build on this foundation, examining the various ways in which medieval composers and performers could use music to form their own identity, reacting tactically to the cultural expectations and norms of their time in order to defy stereotypes and open up a societal space in which they could act. We will consider numerous media within which music could be used to shape identity, including medieval literature, manuscripts, institutions, and communities. The seminars will also invite students to consider how medieval interactions between music and identity compare to those in the present day, identifying the lessons that these repertoires might have to teach us as a society.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

– Explain different theoretical approaches to subjectivity and identity formation, including those specifically formulated for the medieval period under consideration.
– Apply such theoretical approaches to explain how music contributes to processes of subject and identity formation.
– Evaluate how medieval musicians used music to negotiate their identity and their place within the societal norms and cultural discourses of their time.
– Using theories of subjectivity, interrogate an individual piece of medieval literature, a manuscript, an institution, or a community to analyse how music was used within it to shape identity.
– Compare the medieval interactions between music and identity studied in the course with such interactions in the present day.

Indicative Module Content:

Week 7: Introduction to Theories of Identity and to Thirteenth-Century Song
(Two weeks of study period)
Week 8: The Emergence of the Self: Introduction to theories of subjectivity via troubadour and trouvère song.
Week 9: The Emergence of the Other: Defining yourself against others in troubadour and trouvère song.
Week 10: Literary Selves: Musical identity creation in medieval literature.
Week 11: Performed Material Selves: Making a self-consciously artificial artistic persona through manuscripts.
Week 12: The Communal Self: Making a group identity through music.

UNESCO highlights a set of key competencies that support individuals in their development and support society in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCD has adapted these competencies and is combining them with others to form a general framework of learning competencies. This module will help you develop the competencies below to the levels specified. 
Learning Competency Additional Information Level

Collaboration

 The ability to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving. Proficient

Critical Thinking

 The ability to question norms, practices and opinions; to reflect on one’s own values, perceptions and actions. Proficient

Systems Thinking

 The ability to recognize and understand relationships; to analyse complex systems; to think of how systems are embedded within different domains and different scales; and to deal with uncertainty. Proficient

Self-awareness

 The ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society; to continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions; and to deal with one’s feelings and desires. Proficient

Normative

 The ability to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions; and to negotiate values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interest and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions. Proficient

Wellbeing

 Wellbeing is having the resources and skills to meet life's challenges, including attributes such as personal development skills, resilience, stress management, strengths, lifestyle skills, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, alcohol/substance use, academic skills, time management, goal setting, interpersonal skills, group work, communication. Proficient

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


Goal Name Description Coverage

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 1

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 1

Reduce inequality within and among countries 2
 

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

54
Autonomous Student Learning

59
Lectures

12
Total

125

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Lectures; seminars; critical engagement with scholarship and individual case studies; group discussion.

AI Policy: Students may use AI tools for limited support in this module (including brainstorming, idea generation, information collation). However, students remain fully responsible for the accuracy and reliability of their learning. Any use of AI must be cited appropriately.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade Component repeat (in-module) Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Abstract for the essay Week 11 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
10
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay (4,000-5,000 words) resulting from the course Week 15 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
50
 No
Reflective Assignment: Reflective journal, comparing medieval interactions between music and identity with students’ contemporary experiences. One reflection for each session. Summative assessment on complete portfolio. Week 15 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
40
 No

As part of UCD's student support, under the Additional Consideration policy, extensions may be available for the following assessments in the module: Assignment (including essay/poster), Portfolio, Reflective Assignment, Report(s), and Individual Project.


Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Journal: Formative feedback will be given on entries for the first three weeks of the reflective journal. Students will be able to revise these three then submit them along with the reflections from the later part of the course as a final portfolio. Essay: Students will receive formative feedback on their essay abstract in an individual meeting with Dr Thomson, which will enable them to refine their ideas for their final essay submission.

Everist and Kelly, The Cambridge History of Medieval Music (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2018)
Judith Peraino, Giving Voice to Love: Song and Self-Expression from the Troubadours to Guillaume de Machaut (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011)
Kay, Sarah, Subjectivity in Troubadour Poetry (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990)
Megan Quinlan, ‘When Courtly Song Invades History: Lyricizing Blanche de Castile’, in Rachel May Golden and Katherine Kong (eds), Gender and Voice in Medieval French Literature and Song (University of Florida Press, 2021), 93-120.
Rachel May Golden, Mapping Medieval Identities in Occitanian Crusade Song (Oxford University Press, 2020)
Butterfield, Ardis, Poetry and Music in Medieval France: From Jean Renart to Guillaume de Machaut (Cambridge University Press, 2002)
Thomson, M.P. 2024, "Song, Dance, and Sex: The Social Role of the Carole in Thirteenth-Century Clerical Thought and Vernacular Literature", Music & letters, vol. 105, no. 2, pp. 153-176.
Baumgartner, Emmanuèle, 'Les Citations lyriques dans le "Roman de la rose" de Jean Renart', Romance Philology, vol. 35/no. 1, (1981), pp. 260-266.
Huot, Sylvia, From Song to Book: The Poetics of Writing in Old French Lyric and Lyrical Narrative Poetry (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987)
Salztstein, Jennifer, Song, Landscape, and Identity in Medieval Northern France: Toward and Environmental History (New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023)
Leach, Elizabeth Eva, Guillaume De Machaut: Secretary, Poet, Musician (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011)
Blasina, James J. , 'Nation, Identity, and the Liturgical Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Twelfth-Century England', in Buckley, A. and L. Colton, Music and Liturgy in Medieval Britain and Ireland (2021;2022;), 242-268.
Boynton, S. 2006, Shaping a monastic identity: liturgy & history at the Imperial Abbey of Farfa, 1000-1125, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 11:00 - 12:50
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