“Reading Medieval Catalan”
Mediterranean Studies Summer Skills Seminar
3 - 6 August 2026 • Remote
The Summer Skills Seminar, “Reading Medieval Catalan” will be held via Zoom from Monday, 3 August to Thursday,6 August 2026 from 10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm MDT.
Regular Registration to April 26
APPLY HERE
Course overview
The vast and rich corpus of medieval Catalan literature has yet to be given its full due in our overall understanding of medieval European literature and culture. This is the result, in large part, of the fact that medieval Catalan, unlike Old French or Old Spanish, has not evolved to become the major language of a modern European nation state. For similar reasons, there have been few opportunities, outside a few centers, to study this corpus or to learn to read it in its original medieval language. The present course seeks to begin to fill the gap in knowledge of medieval European vernacular literatures by offering the skills necessary to read medieval Catalan through study of key texts in the development of 13th through 15th century Catalan letters.
Medieval Catalan is fairly easy to read if one comes to it with a good reading knowledge of another Romance language, once a few phonological, orthographic, and syntactic traits are noted. We will work through selected literary texts keeping parallels and divergences with modern Spanish and French, in particular, in view. The emphasis will be on using these basic knowledge sets and the tools (dictionaries, glossaries, etc., most available online), together with a few tricks we will learn along the way, to plunge directly into the texts. This is not a course in medieval Catalan grammar or historical phonology and morphology. We will work directly with the texts, using our own common sense in consultation with the tricks and tools covered in the class to understand their meaning. We will also take time to take a look at some of these texts in their original manuscript context. Although this is not intended to be a course in diplomatics, the skills acquired here should also serve those who seek to work with original documents in medieval Catalan.
The Crown of Aragon in this period was an extraordinarily vibrant one, one whose interests spread across the Mediterranean as far as Asia Minor. This energy and geographical expanse are reflected in the literary texts of the day: we encounter not just the medieval Catalan-speaking lands, but many of the lands and cultures touched by them in this period. In particular, medieval Catalan literature is framed by a series of idiosyncratic individual authors, whose works reflect the broad Mediterranean engagement of this culture.
Ramon Llull: 13th-century Mallorcan philosopher, mystic, missionizer and author of more than 250 books in Latin, Catalan and Arabic promoting the complex mechanics of his "Art of Finding Truth". He is the founder of Catalan prose writing and his influence on European thought extends well beyond the Middle Ages. Along the way, he writes what could be considered the first European vernacular Bildungsroman, Blaquerna, a sharp political allegory in beast fable form, as well as a collection of 365 elusive prose poems 'in the style of the Sufis.'
The Four Grand Chronicles: Historical works on the 13th and 14th centuries that chart the reigns of two of Catalonia-Aragon's most important kings—Jaume I and Pere III—and the account by Muntaner of the Catalan Grand Company's conquests across the Mediterranean as far as Athens and Asia Minor. The fourth chronicle, by Desclot, draws on legends and epic poetry as well as on keen observation of authentic historical detail.
Anselm Turmeda: a 14th-15th century Mallorcan Franciscan friar who secretly travels to Tunisia and converts to Islam, becoming a translator in the customs office in the port of Tunis. Known henceforth as Abd Allah al-Tarjuman (Abdullah the Translator), he nevertheless continues to write books on ostensibly Christian topics in Catalan but, late in life, pens a fierce anti-Christian polemic in Arabic.
Frances Eiximenis: Along with Llull, one of the most prolific writers of the Middle Ages. Based for much of his career in Valencia, he completed only a small portion of the ambitious projects he proposed, but what remains would occupy at least 8,000 pages of modern printed text. As a moralist, a keen observer and theorist of human society, Eximenis, a Franciscan, fills his works with exempla, snippets of popular speech and song, citations from troubadours, 'citations' made up on the spot by Eiximenis himself, and glimpses of the lives and values of all sectors of the society of his day. His surviving works offer us one of the most thorough and entertaining portraits of any medieval life anywhere.
Vicent Ferrer: A Dominican friar and evangelist extraordinaire. Ferrer attained what today would be considered rockstar status. As he travelled across western Europe, riding a donkey, thousands of people, including troupes of flagellants, attended his sermons, which could last up to six hours. But Ferrer was also engaged at the highest political and ecclesiastical circles and participated in decisions that would change the course of Iberian history.
Bernat Metge: From Barcelona, and an important notary in the Aragonese chancery, he falls from grace when his king Joan I dies suddenly. In an attempt to return to royal favor, he writes his Somni (Dream) in which he encounters Joan in the afterlife and also has a chance to chat with Tiresias and Orpheus while there. His sober and elegant prose, as well as his themes, are often seen as among the first reflexes of Italian humanist culture in the Iberian Peninsula.
Ausias March: A Valencian and among the most profound poets of the European Middle Ages. He moves beyond troubadour language and conventions, or, better, repurposes them to meditate in highly personal mode on love, death and his own relationship to God. His themes and incisive diction will influence poets writing in Castilian in the following century, most notably Garcilaso de la Vega.
Tirant lo Blanc: The sprawling chivalric romance Tirant lo Blanch, written by the well-travelled and ever-irascible Valencian Johanot Martorell (and perhaps completed by Marti Joan de Galba), anthologizes not only the places of the Catalan-Aragonese world of the past two centuries, including the Byzantine and Ottoman East, Sicily, Rhodes, and North Africa. It is a rollicking, and sometimes risqué, novel, which Cervantes will later call 'the best book in the world.'
Isabel de Villena: a Valencian nun related to the royal houses of both Castile and Aragon. Her massive Life of Christ is a work of astonishing vision, originality, erudition and devotion. Her juggling of terrestrial, celestial and infernal timelines, her lively dialogue placed in the mouths of solemn divine figures and the deep affect that informs their story set this apart as one of the most fascinating and surprising works of medieval Catalan literature.
From our reading of these and other texts, students should come away with a solid grounding in the major works of medieval Catalan literature, the language they were written in, and the societies that created them.
Students who complete the course will receive a certificate attesting to their work in this area. Adding the skill of reading a less-studied medieval literature to one's curriculum can certainly be of use in the job market, but, in addition, it will allow students to do much-needed original work on medieval Catalan literature or to look at their own focus on, say, Spanish or French medieval literature from new and fruitful perspectives. We also hope that the mental moves learned here in acquiring an unfamiliar medieval language might serve students as they encounter unfamiliar texts in other languages.
This Summer Skills Seminar builds on the experience of earlier editions, which participants described as “transformative” in terms of their research, and which provided them with an opportunity to network and lay the foundations for future collaborations. For information and participant reviews of our former Skills Seminars see here.
Past participants said:
“It was truly amazing how much Prof. Dagenais packed into four days. The amount and variety of reading we did was impressive alone, but somehow he also managed to fit in pronunciation, paleography, and history as well. He even included a particular reading that I requested, when it seemed like the class was running out of time. A few times the pace was challenging, but overall, the class was rarely rushed or overwhelming.”
“The course was great. We were only four students, which meant that each of us had myriad opportunities to read and translate, as well as ask questions. It was well-structured, although we did not have time to get to some of the authors initially proposed in the course outline. Prof. Dagenais chose not only a good variety of readings but selections that were both challenging and fun.'“
“Before this course, I was rarely a fan of sight reading in class. It was usually very stressful and unpleasant. But Prof. Dagenais's instruction created such a welcoming and supportive environment that sight reading actually became fun as well as a great confidence builder for further study. His enthusiasm for and expertise on the subject, moreover, made you wish the course lasted much longer than four days.”
“Prof. Dagenais created a zoom classroom that was welcoming and great for learning. He was patient and encouraging, using both our triumphs and failures in reading as opportunities to explain grammatical or lexical elements, or as windows into the literature and culture of the period. His deep love for the subject and the depth and breadth of his knowledge were clear and inspiring, and his enthusiasm was infectious. He also has a wry sense of humor that we all appreciated. Finally, he assembled an amazing array of texts from the authors we covered as well as others and links (including instructions on how best to use those that concerned on-line collections) and pdfs to other relevant books, articles, dictionaries, etc. for further consultation. The materials he uploaded to the drop box are extremely valuable, well beyond the actual instruction we received in class.”
Faculty
John Dagenais is Professor of Medieval Iberian Literatures and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has studied medieval Catalan literature for nearly 50 years. He has published a pair of studies on the Catalan literary works of Anselm Turmeda/Abdallah al-Tarjuman: “Translation as the Sincerest Form of Plagiarism: Translation and Linguistic Repatriation in ‘Abd Allāh al-Tarjumān’s Disputa del ase” (2023) and “The Libre de bons amonestaments by 'Abd Allāh al-Tarjumān: A Guidebook for Old and New Christians” (2019). Other studies have focused on Ramon Llull's theory of speech as the sixth sense: "affatus" and on his Liber de les bèsties. Additionally, he has investigated Llull's 14th-century Parisian student Thomas le Myésier (2024) and his 18th-century student Junípero Serra (2018 and 2019). His other publications include The Ethics of Reading in Manuscript Culture: Glossing the “Libro de buen amor” (Princeton, 1994), a special issue of the Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies: "Decolonizing the Middle Ages" (2000), "The Postcolonial Laura" in MLQ (2004) and “Medieval Spanish Literature in the Twenty-First Century” for the Cambridge History of Spanish Literature (2004 and 2009). He wrote the chapter on “The Crown of Aragon” for Europe: A Literary History, 1348-1418, edited by David Wallace (Oxford University Press, 2016 and 2021). He recently published the first English translation of Ramon Llull’s Doctrina pueril (Barcino;Támesis, 2019) and is currently at work on a translation of Jaume Roig's 15th-century verse Spill. In 2011, he was awarded the Josep M. Batista i Roca Prize by the Institut de Projecció Exterior de la Cultura Catalana.
Prerequisites and preparation
Applicants should have at least a good reading knowledge of modern Spanish, French, Italian and/or Portuguese or some knowledge of Catalan. The language of instruction is English.
Some Resources
Diccionari català-valencià-balear
Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, Joan Coromines
Nou Glossari General Lul·lià
Please note: sessions will not be recorded; synchronous attendance is required.
Application & Information
The regular application period is until April 26.
There is an application deposit of $100USD or €100. This will be refunded when course payment is made.
Late applications will be accepted if there is availability and will be subject to a late fee.
If you are not accepted your application deposit will be refunded.
Applicants will be advised of acceptance by May 1. Payment is due on 15 May. Applicants waiting on a grant or subvention should contact us without delay to make arrangements.
Late applicants may be accommodated if space remains. For late applicants full payment will be due within three days of acceptance, including a $75 surcharge for late applications, or be subject to an additional fee.
All payments are final and non-refundable. A letter of confirmation/ receipt will be provided by the Mediterranean Seminar, together with a certificate of completion once the course has concluded.
NOTE: Numbers are limited; participants are encouraged to apply early.
Fees
There has been no increase in fees for 2026
• $1100 for Full Professors, Librarians & Professionals
• $825 for tenured Associates, Emerita/us, Retired Faculty, Independent Scholars & Non-Academics;
• $575 for non-tenured Associates and Assistants, Postdoctoral Fellows & Graduate and Undergraduate students;
• $400 for Adjuncts, Lecturers & Contingent faculty.
Limited reductions are offered to applicants who are (1) nationals; (2) current residents; (3) AND faculty or students in low-per-capita GDP countries may apply for a reduction (the Low-GDP Bursary program).
Payment information will be provided at the time of acceptance. Posted fees do not include a 5% processing fee.
How do we determine our fees?
Why have our fees gone up
Can I get a reduction in fees?
What is the low-GDP Bursary program?
Program
Monday, 3 August 2026
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Intro to the course: resources and its methodology
2. Our first texts: The life of Ramon Llull and a beast fable
Tuesday, 4 August 2026
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. The World According to Ramon Llull; Love and mysticism
2. Four Great Chronicles: Jaume I, Desclot, Muntaner, Pere III
Wednesday, 5 August 2026
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Anselm Turmeda: Rules to live by; Bernat Metge: A visit to the afterworld
2. Francesc Eiximenis and Vicent Ferrer: Angels, Demons, Women, Wine
Thursday, 6 August 2026
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Tirant lo Blanc: Derring-do across Mediterranean lands (and bedrooms)
2. Isabel de Villena, Jordi de Sant Jordi and Ausiàs March: Love, Death and the Birth of Catalan verse
Important dates:
Application period: 26 April 2026
Acceptance/stand by notifications: 5 May 2026
Full payment: 12 May 2026 (subject to extension for late applicants/ or pending grants)
NOTE: Numbers are limited; participants are encouraged to apply early.
Information
For general information regarding fees, enrollment, and administrative matters, contact the Mediterranean Seminar; for questions regarding seminar content and materials, contact the instructor directly.