Tag Archives: medieval latin course

CHRISTOPHER DAWSON CENTRE 31th ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOL IN MEDIEVAL AND LATER LATIN

FR JOHN WALL CENTRE, NEW TOWN, HOBART

9 – 13 JANUARY, 2023

Latin is arguably the mother tongue of Europe. Its literature is immensely rich. In a sense it never died; original work continued to be written in Latin up to modern times. This course will offer a general introduction to Latin with particular emphasis on the enormous body medieval and later literature. We shall read original passages of Scripture, liturgy, history, theology and poetry, both secular and secular. There will also be an introduction to palaeography, including an opportunity to handle original medieval manuscripts. There will be a strong emphasis on the pronunciation of Latin in speech and music.

Designed for students of all standards, absolute beginners should purchase a self-instruction primer and work on the basics between now and the start of the course. Participants will never be embarrassed by their shaky Latin: the teaching method leaves the entire task of translation and exposition to the Lecturer. This approach has been useful to relative beginners as well as those who are more experienced. The instructor is Dr David Daintree.

Where: The Fr John Wall Community Library, Fr John Wall Centre, 31 Tower Road (Rear), New Town, 7008.

When: Monday 9 January to Friday 13 January 2023

Time: 9.00 am to 3.00 pm each day for five days

Cost: $200 (concession available). Tea and coffee will be available daily. Registrations are essential: email director@dawsoncentre.org.

THE PROGRAMME
There will be four lectures a day on each of the five days, from Monday 10 to Friday 14, starting at 9.00 am. There will be only one lecture after lunch each day, to free up the afternoons for private study.

Day 1 Liturgy and Scripture.

Day 2 Latin prose narrative: including passages from the Venerable Bede, St Brendan, Isidore of Seville, Robert Grosseteste

Day 3 Hymns, sequences and religious poetry, including works by St Ambrose, Venantius Fortunatus and St Thomas Aquinas .

Day 4 Secular Poetry, including songs from the Carmina Burana

Day 5 Theology and patristics: St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, St Benedict, St Patrick and Thomas a Kempis.

Any Latin Primer designed for self-instruction can be used, but F Kinchin Smith’s Teach Yourself Latin (out of print, but copies are available from www.abebooks.com) is particularly recommended. A free digitised version is available at https://archive.org/details/TeachYourselfLatin_201810/mode/2up.

Participants should bring both their grammar and a small dictionary to class each day.

All proceeds from this course go to the Christopher Dawson Centre (http://www.dawsoncentre.org).

For further information contact director@dawsoncentre.org.