Okay, picture me in my courtroom heels, but instead of a trial I’m calling the Middle Ages to the stand. You—fifteen, curious, maybe a little nostalgic for fairy tales—are the jury. Our evidence? A dazzling (some might say scandalous) mix: The Mabinogion, Asnapium (Charlemagne’s estate inventory c. 800), R. W. Southern’s "From Epic to Romance," Tale of Genji: A Reader’s Guide, Janet Lewis and Natalie Zemon Davis on Martin Guerre, Eleanor Janega’s graphic history, Gladstone on theatre, Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie's World for big ideas, and a cheeky look at The Disney Middle Ages. I’ll take you step by step.
Step 1 — Hook (Day 1): Read a Mabinogion tale aloud. Let myth and magic sweep you. Ask: what feels timeless? What feels medieval? This gets emotion and curiosity on the table—very Ally.
Step 2 — Close reading of evidence (Days 2–4): Break into stations. Station A: Asnapium inventory—examine lists of tools, animals, rents. What does daily life actually look like? Station B: Southern’s chapter—trace the shift from epic heroes to courtly romance. Station C: Janega’s graphic panels—visual timelines of everyday life and power. Students rotate, annotate, and collect contradictions between fantasy and paperwork.
Step 3 — Comparative global lens (Day 5): Introduce Tale of Genji: use Puette’s reader’s guide to draw parallels—court culture, gender roles, literary form. Ask students to jot two similarities and two surprises. This cracks Eurocentrism open, which I adore.
Step 4 — Case study and role play (Days 6–8): Martin Guerre. Read Lewis’s fictionalized account side-by-side with Davis’s historical analysis. Hold a mock trial: one student is Martin, one the accuser, others are jurors and legal experts. Use Gladstone’s theatre history to stage the courtroom—blocking, voice, spectacle. The trial teaches identity, law, and historical argument.
Step 5 — Big ideas and philosophy (Day 9): Sophie's World snippets to introduce medieval philosophy and how people explained the world. Keep it conversational: imagine explaining the cosmos over coffee with a medieval scholar (or Larry, but less perky).
Step 6 — Modern myths and critique (Day 10): Watch short Disney clips and read excerpts from The Disney Middle Ages. Discuss stereotypes: knights, princesses, castles. Compare to our primary sources.
Assessment & Creative Projects: Offer choices—design a graphic page in Janega’s style that combines Asnapium details with a Mabinogion scene; perform a 10‑minute courtroom drama of Martin Guerre; compose a reflective Sophie‑style letter questioning medieval beliefs; or curate a mini‑exhibit uniting all texts with captions. Evaluate for historical thinking, use of evidence, and creativity.
Wrap up: We’ll debrief like only I can—equal parts earnest and theatrical. The goal? Students leave knowing the Middle Ages isn’t a single fairy tale but a messy, fascinating courtroom of ideas, documents, stories and stagecraft. And yes, there will be a little romance—because history without a plot twist is just a long footnote.