Medieval & Renaissance Studies

Undergraduate Curriculum

Declaring a Major or Minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies
The application form for Medieval and Renaissance Studies can be found here. You must submit this form, together with a Declaration of Major form and a CAPP report, to the Charles Center, Tucker Hall, Room B2.

Requirements for Major
(These requirements went into effect in the 2005-2006 academic year.)

The Interdisciplinary major in Medieval and Renaissance Studies shall consist of not less than 34 credit hours, earned from among the courses listed below. At least 25 of the 34 credit hours must come from 300-level or 400-level courses. Students must take at least one three-credit course from each of groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 below. At least three of those four courses must be 300-level or 400-level courses. Students may petition the Director of the program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies to count appropriate non-listed courses (such as independent studies courses, or irregularly offered upper-level colloquia and senior seminars) toward their major. No more than 15 credit hours from any one department can be counted toward the major, and students may use no more than three one-credit courses (INTR 350) toward their major. Each major must fulfill the Major Writing Requirement and the Computer Proficiency Requirement by fulfilling those requirements in any of the participating departments within the program. Students are strongly encouraged to take at least one upper-level seminar or colloquium whose subject matter falls within the field of Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

In addition, majors must complete one course above the 202-level in a modern European language, in Arabic, in ancient or modern Hebrew, in Latin, or in ancient Greek (but not including literature in translation courses). Majors who intend to pursue graduate studies are strongly encouraged to seek language training beyond the minimum requirement, and also to prepare a second major, or at least a minor, in one of the traditional disciplines represented.

Students will have a designated faculty Advisor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies to help them arrange a coherent program in keeping with the degree requirements of the College and to certify that progress is being made toward graduation. The Director of the program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies will help majors choose an advisor corresponding to the department of their greatest academic interest (including second major or minor, if any). Majors who do not easily fit into an area will be advised by the Director of the program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. For more information contact the Director of the program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Prof. Alison Beach in the Dept. of Religion.

Reguirements for Minor
A minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies shall consist of not less than 21 credit hours. Students are required to take one course from each of the four Medieval and Renaissance Studies groups listed above; at least three of those four courses must be 300-level or 400-level courses. Students are also required to take three additional courses selected from among the courses listed above; at least two of those three courses must be 300-level or 400-level courses. Students may petition the Director of the program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies to include non-listed courses in their minor (such as departmental independent studies courses) when appropriate.

Medieval and Rennaissance Studies Groups

1 - Historical Context
HIST 240 The Crusades HIST 355 Europe in the Middle Ages I (to 1000)
HIST 356 Europe in the Middle Ages II (post-1000)
HIST 358 The European Renaissance
HIST 359 The Reformation in Western Europe*
HIST 387 England Under the Tudors and Stuarts
HIST 388 England Under the Tudors and Stuarts

2 - Art History and Music
(all are four-credit courses)
ARTH 351 Medieval Architecture
ARTH 352 Medieval Figure Arts
ARTH 353 Early Christian & Byzantine Art
ARTH 360 Italian Renaissance Art, 1250-1600
ARTH 362 Northern Renaissance Art, 1300-1600
ARTH 363 Baroque Art, 1600-1750
ARTH 364 Renaissance & Baroque Architecture and Town Planning
ARTH 365 Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting
MUS 381 Medieval & Renaissance Music

3 - Language and Literature
ENG 203 British Literature I
ENG 205 An Introduction to Shakespeare
ENG 303 History of the English Language
ENG 314 Old English
ENG 315 Beowulf
ENG 322 Medieval Literature
ENG 323 English Renaissance
ENG 324 The Early Seventeenth Century
ENG 420 Chaucer
ENG 421 Shakespeare
ENG 422 Shakespeare
ENG 426 Milton
ENG 429 English and Renaissance Drama
ENG 434 Arthurian Literature
ENG 435 Epic and Romance
FR 316 Middle Ages
FR 318 Renaissance
FR 321 Early Modern French Theater
FR 322 Comedy & Humor in Early Modern France
FR 332 Topics in Early Modern Literature and Culture
FR 410 French Philology
GER 301 German Literature from the Beginning to 1700
HS 374 Knights, Witches, and Savages: Introduction to Early Modern Hispanic Culture HS 401 Medieval Spanish Literature
HS 402 Cervantes
HS 403 Spanish Literature of the Golden Age
HS 482 Love & Prostitution in Medieval Spain
HS 486 Spanish Language, Epic and Nationalism
ITAL 301 Italian Literature from the Beginning to the 17th Century
ITAL 309 Dante & the Medieval Tradition
ITAL 312 Italian Renaissance Literature in Translation
LAT 310 Medieval Latin

4 - Religion and Philosophy
PHIL 332 Medieval Philosophy
REL 210 Introduction to the History of Christianity
REL 211 Introduction to the History of Jewish Thought
REL 212 Introduction to Islam
REL 328 Midrash: Jewish Interpretation of Scriptures
REL 329 The Rabbinic Mind
REL 331 The World of Early Christianity
REL 332 Religion and Society in the Medieval West
REL 333 Knowledge and Belief: Origen to Ockham
REL 334 The Protestant and Catholic Reformations*
REL 339 Midrash: Jewish Interpretation of Scriptures

* Students may count either HIST 359, The Reformation in Western Europe, or REL 334, The Protestant and Catolic Reformations, but not both, toward a Medieval and Renaissance Studies major or minor.