18 undergraduate courses in the 2025–26 Undergraduate Calendar.
An introduction to Medieval European civilization focusing on essential aspects of the discipline: history, literature, philosophy, religion, art, architecture and archaeology, law, and science and technology.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
This course examines the historical events and cultural assumptions that led to the European phenomenon of crusading, or holy war, between 1095 and 1453.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
This course introduces students to the medieval myths and legends of the Norse peoples using original sources in translation. It explores Norse mythology in the context of historical and archaeological evidence and reflects on the purposes served by contemporary adaptations such as the television series "Vikings: Valhalla" or the "Thor" movies, which are ubiquitous in popular culture, but bear little resemblance to the myths they purport to represent. Through close reading/viewing, writing, and discussions, the course builds historical, cross-cultural, and literary competencies.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
A survey of Medieval civilization featuring such topics as the individual, political institutions, art, architecture, religion, philosophy, literature, social life, and leisure activities.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
This course will examine the Viking Age cultures, which flourished in Northern Europe and beyond from c. 800 to 1100 CE. The goal of this course is to familiarize students with the Viking Age and to deepen students' understanding of the processes through which peoples in the present give meaning to the past.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
This course surveys the diverse history of Islamic societies from the seventh to the thirteenth century. The primary focus is on the central Islamic lands from Egypt to Iran. In addition to the standard narrative, the course also examines salient aspects of Islamic civilization on a thematic basis.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
This course studies in comparative fashion the rise, consolidation, and decline of the three major Islamic empires of the early modern period (c. 1300-1800): the Ottomans in Anatolia, the Balkans, and the Middle East; the Safavids in Iran; and the Mughals in India.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
This course exposes students to a number of disciplinary methodologies (historical, anthropological, geographical, literary, archaeological, philosophical, and philological). Each focuses on exploring the common theme of medieval monsters, such as werewolves, giants, summoned spirits, demons, revenants, centaurs, wild men and wild women, and political monsters.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
The political, cultural, economic, and ecclesiastical development of Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire to the end of the high middle ages.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
Special topics will be offered from time to time as announced by the Medieval Studies program. Topics will be dependent upon special research and/or instructional interests of faculty.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
An exploration of the impact of social crises on late medieval religious modes of expression. Topics will include the Great Famine, the Black Death, the Avignon Papacy and Western Schism, the development of heretical movements, and the eventual disintegration of European religious unity.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
What does it mean to die well? This course explores the medieval Ars moriendi tradition in its historical, literary, and cultural contexts and how this tradition can help us recover the human side of dying within contemporary society's medicalized approach to the end of life.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
This course explores the concept of public health in the Middle Ages to understand the diverse meanings and forms that this idea can take in different cultural contexts. Students will engage in critical readings of primary and secondary sources to learn about the care of bodies, management of disease and contagion, waste disposal, and food distribution in various medieval cities. This work will allow students to explore how notions of "health" and "disease" are cultural constructions that vary depending on the times and spaces in which they are used. Students will acquire humanities-based skills and theories to interrogate notions of health and well-being both historically and in today's societies.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
This course introduces students to three paradigms in Western medical history, characterized by the primary clinical locations at which they were practiced: bedside medicine (a holistic approach), hospital medicine (a localized approach), and laboratory medicine (a lab-based approach). It does this by exploring the origins of Western medicine in premodern and medieval contexts. Students will engage in close readings of primary and secondary sources to explore how and why certain diseases, like cancer and tuberculosis, were understood differently within these three paradigms. They will learn to engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue by applying humanities-based methodologies and vocabularies to the study of health and disease. By focusing on historical case studies and asking students to look at how ancient, medieval, and premodern people conceived of health, the course shows how all perceptions of well-being, including our own, are socially constructed and in constant negotiation.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
The medieval love story "Tristan and Isolde" guides an exploration of transgressive, requited, passionate, sexual love across the centuries. We analyze the medieval German text in translation, study adaptations of the story and theme in different media (writing, film, opera) in later centuries, and consider change across time in the ways that people imagine the loving self in the social world.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
Special topics will be offered from time to time as announced by the Medieval Studies program. Topics will be dependent upon special research and/or instructional interests of faculty.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
This course is a special study of a selected topic in medieval studies. See course instructor for details.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines
This course offers learners an intensive introduction to archaeological methods and interpretation through fieldwork. It focuses on a live excavation. Learners will also, to a more limited extent, experience field lectures and discussions, hands-on training, laboratory work, and visits to archaeological sites and museums. Learning sessions will include topics such as the history and archaeology, stratigraphy, general principles of artifact conservation, identification of the main classes of artifacts and procedures to follow in the archaeology lab, use of survey tools and software, heritage protection, and appropriate display of finds.
Archived calendar entryRequirements, Fall 2025Course outlines