> I am in firm agreement with the essential nature of medieval Latin for any and
> all serious scholars of the period. But more than a few of us (graduate
> students) are finding it harder and harder to acquire the language. McGill
> University, one of the largest schools in Canada, allowed its sole Latin
> specialist who could teach medieval Latin to retire two years ago. She has
> not, and likely will not, be replaced. In fact, rumour has it that the entire
> Classics department will disappear. Self-taught medieval Latin is a Herculean
> task.
I think Terry spoke for most (all?) of the grad students on the list:
most of us have not had any formal tuition in Latin (mediaeval or
otherwise) simply because it is unavailable. Here at Nottingham the
MA students in Mediaeval History are required to undertake two double
modules over two semesters of first-year undergraduate classical
Latin, which is a good grounding in the language but has little
practical application for a budding mediaevalist.
Oh, to have been taught by Jesuits fifty years ago !
valete,
~jon
J. M. B. PORTER
Department of History : University of Nottingham
University Park : Nottingham : NG7 2RD : England
t: + 115 951 3639 f: + 115 951 5948
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