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Medieval Studies

  • Minor

Medieval Studies is an interdisciplinary minor consisting of a wide range of courses that focus in significant ways on the civilization of the West in the medieval period, also known as the ‘Middle Ages’, ca. AD 500-1500. Arising out of the unique blending of Classical, Christian and Germanic elements beginning in late antiquity, medieval culture became a vital and formative part of the Western heritage. Medieval people created sophisticated philosophical systems; beautiful forms of art and music; innovative styles of architecture; new expressions of piety and varieties of religious life; lively and imaginative poetry; the first universities; and the earliest forms of French, German, English and other languages so commonplace today.

Undergraduate Programs

Curriculum Requirements

  • Requirements for a Minor in Medieval Studies

    The Medieval Studies minor consists of six courses in at least three disciplines, although students are encouraged to take courses from as many disciplines as possible.

    Required course (3 credits):
    HI 205 Priests, Poets, and Peasants: Medieval Thought and Culture

    Five courses from the following list (15 credits). Of these, at least three courses (9 credits) must be at the 200-level or above:
    EL 114 British Literature: Middle Ages to Restoration
    EL 147 Arthurian Literature
    EL 211 Medieval Studies
    EL 212 Chaucer
    AR 101 Art History I: Ancient through Renaissance
    MU 720 Gregorian Chant
    HI 103 Western Civilization II: Medieval and Early Modern Europe
    HI 110 English History to 1485
    HI 211 Sword and Siege: War in Medieval Europe
    HI 213 Mystics, Maids, and Monarchs: Women in Medieval Europe
    HI 227 “Bring Out Yer Dead!” The Middle Ages on Film
    HI 231 Blood and Roses: England in the Late Middle Ages
    HI 248 The History of the Christian Churches I: to 1500
    FR 321 Survey of French Literature I
    GE 321 German Literature of the Middle Ages
    LT 321 Latin Hymns of the Roman Church
    PL 202 Medieval Philosophy
    PL 280 Thomistic Philosophy
    TH 320 Theology of Medieval Christianity
    TH 342 The Benedictine Heritage

    Up to three of the six courses used for the Medieval Studies minor may also be used to satisfy core, major or other minor requirements. For those also minoring in Education, up to four of the six courses may also be used to satisfy core, major or other minor requirements. Since the content of HI 103 Western Civilization II was changed in Spring 2010, students who took it prior to that semester cannot count it toward the minor. 

Program Highlights

Student Learning Outcomes

The goals of the Medieval Studies minor program are:

  • To provide students with a broad understanding of Western Civilization in the medieval period by approaching it from a variety of disciplinary perspectives; 
  • To demolish the popular myth of the “Dark Ages, ” replacing it with a more objective study of a creative, formative, yet underappreciated era of the Western past; 
  • To familiarize students with the attitudes, outlooks, and modes of thought and expression of medieval people; 
  • To further the college’s liberal arts approach to learning by encouraging an interdisciplinary methodology in the study of past societies.

Undergraduate Programs
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