Courses in the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program
ME/R 246 Monsters, Villains, and Wives
Lynch (Med/Ren and English)
This course will select its monsters, villains, and wives from early English, French, and Anglo-Norman literature, ranging from the giant Grendel (and his mother) in Beowulf to the arch-villain Ganelon in The Song of Roland, from Guinevere to the wife of the enigmatic Green Man in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. We will finish by considering the survival of the magical villain in a modern-day fantasy classic like the medievalist J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit, or a volume in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, and in John Gardner’s recasting of the Beowulf-story, Grendel.
Prerequisite: None
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Spring Unit: 1.0
ME/R 247 Arthurian Legend
Wall-Randell (Med/Ren and English)
NOT OFFERED IN 2009-2010. The legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, with their themes of chivalry, magic, friendship, war, adventure, corruption, and nostalgia, as well as romantic love and betrayal, make up one of the most influential and enduring mythologies in European culture. This course will examine literary interpretations of the Arthurian legend, in history, epic, and romance, from the sixth century through the sixteenth. We will also consider some later examples of Arthuriana, on page and movie screen, in the Victorian and modern periods.
Prerequisite: None
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0
ME/R 248 Medieval Women Writers
NOT OFFERED IN 2009-2010. This course explores a variety of texts by medieval women writers and the contexts in which and against which they were written. These texts raise questions about the role of the female body and about strategies of self-authorization which remain important today. The writers we will consider in depth are Marie de France, Heloise (and Abelard), selected medieval mystics, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, and Christine de Pizan.
Prerequisite: None
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0
ME/R 344 Tales of Love
NOT OFFERED IN 2009-2010. Love becomes a central subject of literature in the Middle Ages and remains so in our own time. This course explores some canonic medieval tales of love and selected Renaissance dramatizations of the power of passion. Topics range from Tristan and Iseult's transgressive love to the ill-fated wartime infatuation of Troilus and Criseyde.
Prerequisite: Open to juniors and seniors or by permission of instructor. Preference given to medieval/renaissance majors.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0
ME/R 350 Research or Individual Study
Prerequisite: Open by permission to juniors and seniors.
Distribution: None
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 1.0
ME/R 360 Senior Thesis Research Prerequisite: By permission of the directors of the medieval/renaissance studies program. See Directions for Election and Academic Distinctions.
Distribution: None
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 1.0
ME/R 370 Senior Thesis
Prerequisite: 360 and permission of department.
Distribution: None
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 1.0
Related Courses For Credit toward the Major
For more information about these courses, please visit department websites.
History of Art
ARTH 100 Introduction to the History of Art Part I: Ancient and Medieval Art
ARTH 100/WRIT 125 Introduction to the History of Art Part I: Ancient and Medieval Art
ARTH 101 Introduction to the History of Art Part II: Renaissance to the Present
ARTH 101/WRIT 125 Introduction to the History of Art Part II: Renaissance to the Present
ARTH 201 Medieval Art and Architecture
ARTH 202 Byzantine Art and Architecture
ARTH 218 From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Painting in the Netherlands in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth-Centuries
ARTH 221 Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Painting
ARTH 227 Islamic Architecture in the Age of the Caliphates
ARTH 244 Sixteenth-Century Art in Italy
ARTH 246 The Baroque and Rococo in Italy
ARTH 247 Islamic Art and Architecture
ARTH 251 Fourteenth and Fifteenth-Century Art in Italy
ARTH 267 Cross-Cultural Encounters in the Early Medieval Mediterranean
ARTH 268 Art, Architecture, and Pilgrimage in the Medieval World
ARTH 305 Seminar. History of Prints: New Media of the Renaissance
ARTH 330 Seminar. Italian Renaissance Art. Topic for 2009-10: Women Artists in Renaissance and Baroque Italy
ARTH 331 Seminar. The Art of Northern Europe. Topic for 2009-10: Bosch and Bruegel
ARTH 332 Seminar. Topics in Medieval Art. Topic for 2009-10: At the Crossroads of the Medieval Mediterranean: Southern Italy and Sicily (1000-1300 CE)
ARTH 369 Seminar. Conservation Studies: The Material and Techniques of Painting and Sculpture
Studio Art
ARTS 107 Book Arts Studio
Classical Civilization
CLCV 211/311 Epic and Empire
English
ENG 112 Introduction to Shakespeare
ENG 213 Chaucer
ENG 222 Renaissance Literature
ENG 223 Shakespeare Part I: The Elizabethan Period
ENG 224 Shakespeare Part II: The Jacobean Period
ENG 225 Seventeenth-Century Literature
ENG 227 Milton
ENG 315 Advanced Studies in Medieval Literature
ENG 324 Advanced Studies in Shakespeare. Topic for 2009-10: Hamlet versus Lear. Which is Shakespeare's Greatest Play?
ENG 325 Advanced Studies in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Literature
ENG 383 Women in Literature, Culture, and Society.
ENG 387 Authors. Topic for 2009-10: Shakespeare Our Contemporary
Extradepartmental/Experimental
NOT OFFERED 2009-10
French
FREN 301 Books and Voices in Renaissance France
FREN 333 French Classical Tragedy
History
HIST 208 Society and Culture in Medieval Europe
HIST 209 The British Isles: From Roses to Revolution
HIST 213 Conquest and Crusade in the Medieval Mediterranean
HIST 214 Medieval Italy
HIST 219 The Jews of Spain and the Lands of Islam
HIST 222 The Barbarian Kingdoms of Early Medieval Europe
HIST 227 The Renaissance in Italy and Northern Europe
HIST 232 The Transformation of the Western World: Europe from 1300 to 1815
HIST 246 Vikings, Icons, Mongols, and Tsars
HIST 279/379 Heresy and Popular Religion in the Middle Ages
HIST 307 Seminar. Religious Change and the Emergence of Modernity in Early Modern Europe, 1600-1800
HIST 330 Seminar. Revolution and Rebellion in Twelfth-Century European Society
Italian Studies
ITAS 263 Dante (in English)
ITAS 311 Theatre, Politics, and the Arts in Renaissance Italy
ITAS 312 Rinascimento e Rinascimenti: Cultural Identities in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Italy
Music
MUS 200 History of Western Music I
MUS 224/REL 224 Hildegard of Bingen
Philosophy
PHIL 310 Seminar. Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
Religion
REL 109 Religions of the Silk Road
REL 215 Christian Spirituality
REL 216 Christian Thought: 100-1600
REL 224/MUS 224 Hildegard of Bingen
REL 226 The Virgin Mary
REL 240 Romans, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire
REL 242 Introduction to Rabbinic Literature
REL 260 Islamic Civilization
REL 261 Cities of the Islamic World
REL 262 The Formation of the Islamic Tradition
REL 269 Religion and Culture in Iran
REL 361 Seminar. Studying Islam and the Middle East
REL 364 Seminar. Sufism: Islamic Mysticism
REL 367 Seminar. Muslim Travellers
Spanish
SPAN 252 Christians, Jews, and Muslims: The Spirit of Spain in Its Literature
SPAN 300 Seminar. Honor, Monarchy, and Religion in Golden Age Drama
SPAN 302 Seminar. Cervantes
SPAN 307 Seminar. The Clothed and the Naked in Colonial Latin America
SPAN 318 Seminar. Love and Desire in Spain’s Early Literature
