Week 11. Aesopus

Readings | Weekly Activities

Aesop's fables were one of the few genres of ancient Greek and Roman literature to survive and thrive in the European Middle Ages. There are collections of Aesopic fables in verse and in prose from all the corners of Europe, many of which have still not been translated into English. The fables were widely used by preachers in their sermons, and can be found in the many "preacher's handbooks" from the Middle Ages.

This week we will read Aesopic fables from three different sources: Ademar of Chabannes, a tenth-century cleric and scholar; the famous thirteenth-century preacher Odo of Cheriton; along with some fables in verse by Walter of England, the 12th-century archbishop of Palermo..