Language and literature in the Middle Ages runs like a network between different political entities sharing and exchanging new cultural protocols. In Medieval Networks, we will look at how English medieval literature is the product of a series of contacts with the Celts, Germanic mercenaries, Norse Vikings, Latin scholars and French fashion all for the making of a new kind of literature. Medieval England is always in flux. No period remains stable, forms and genres change. In this class, you will watch the English language, and its literary fashions, change in startling ways when in contact with other languages. Two ideas will be fruitful when thinking about this class: translatio or “translation,” the literal movement of an object—usually a precious relic—from one location to another, and rejuvinatio or “rejuvenation,” the act of making an old image or idea fresh by moving it from an expected literary locale to an unexpected one. We will watch not only how authors dealt with a changing language, in a variety of seemingly stable genres, like lyric poetry, narratives and drama, but also how they adopted to new trends, often from foreign sources, and altered old ones, to create exciting new texts. Our reading will include a Danish king with monster problems (Beowulf) to a supernatural knight crossing the threshold into King Arthur’s court looking for a fight (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), as well as selections from a new kind of love lyric and comical dramas rooted in the Bible. By the end of the course, you will not only be comfortable reading Old and Middle English literature, but you’ll also discover how enjoyable older literature can be.