Medieval Studies, Minor
An interdisciplinary course of study that covers the period from 476 to 1517.
About the Minor in Medieval Studies
The College of Liberal Arts offers the interdisciplinary minor in Medieval Studies for both undergraduate and graduate students. Beginning with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the European "Middle Ages" (5th to the 15th centuries) was comprised of a wide variety of cultures, artistic trends, literatures, languages, philosophies, and religious practices.
Be an academic detective. Modern technology preserves and publishes one-of-a-kind manuscripts and artifacts once available only to few scholars. However, meticulous research cannot always locate the missing pieces needed to solve a scholarly question. Students can learn how to work with limited information, and to speculate about potential answers and prospective approaches.
- Undergraduate Minor Sstudents can craft a course of study that speaks to their individual interests, from Gothic architecture to Vikings to feudalism to Chaucer. By developing a deeper appreciation for the past, students better understand the foundations of our fast-paced, ever-changing world. They develop and sharpen critical thinking and writing skills.
- Graduate Minor Graduate students in full standing to a master's, specialist, or doctoral degree may pursue a graduate minor in medieval studies. The graduate minor would imply to prospective employers that he or she has received the interdisciplinary training distinctive to and expected of medieval scholars.
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Program Information
Degree
Required Credit Hours
18
Program Type
Minor
Program Location
School
Academic Requirements
Undergraduate students in the Medieval Studies minor complete 18 credit hours, including one required introduction course and five courses at the 300-level or above from the approved list of courses. Students must select courses in at least three different areas (e.g. English, art history, German) and have at least five courses in an area that is different than the student's major.
Select one of the following introductory courses
- Hst 309: The Bright Ages, 1100-1300
- Eng 316: Introduction to Medieval Studies
- Mlll 375: Intro to Medieval Studies
Complete 5 courses from the following
- AH 330: Medieval Art
- AH 332: Early Christian, Byzantine & Islamic Art
- AH 334: Early Medieval Art and Archaeology
- AH 336: Viking Art and Archaeology
- AH 338: Romanesque and Gothic Art
- AH 530: Topics in Medieval Art
- Eng 316/Mlll 375: Intro of Medieval Studies
- Eng 317: Chaucer
- Eng 318: Medieval Romance
- Eng 319: Medieval Drama
- Eng 320: The Heroic Age
- Eng 321: Literature of Medieval Europe
- Eng 322: Studies in Medieval Literature
- Eng 417: Early Middle English
- Eng 418: Advanced Studies in Chaucer
- Eng 419: 14th Century English Literature
- Eng 420: Medieval Lit of the North Atlantic
- Eng 421: Literature of Medieval Europe
- Eng 422: Literature of Medieval Piety
- Eng 423: Special Topics in Medieval Literature
- Eng 424: Medieval Forms and Genres
- Eng 506/Lin 521: Old English I
- Eng 507/Lin 522: Old English II
- Eng 508/Lin 524: History of the English Language II
- Eng 513/Lin 525: Old Norse
- Fr 574/Lin 531: History of French Language
- Fr 577: Survey of French Literature I
- Fr 582: Medieval and Renaissance French Lit
- Germ 574/Lin 534: History of the German Language
- Germ 577: Survey of German Lit. & Culture I
- Hst 307: History of Ancient Christianity
- Hst 309: The Middle Ages
- Hst 310: History of Medieval Christianity
- Hst 311: Medieval Church and Empire
- Hst 317: Late Middle Ages and Renaissance
- Hst 348/G St 348: Women Who Ruled in European History
- Hst 350: History of the Muslim World: Origins to Middle Ages
- Ital 331: Intro to Italian Lit & Literary Analysis
- Lat 321: Latin Prose
- Lat 322: Roman Historians
- Lat 323: Roman Oratory
- Lat 329: Medieval Latin
- Lat 331: Latin Poetry
- Lat 332: Vergil
- Lat 333: Ovid
- Lat 334: Roman Lyric
- Lat 335: Roman Elegy
- Lat 337: Roman Comedy
- Lat 338: Roman Satire
- Lat 342: Early Roman Literature
- Lat 343: Literature of the Late Republic
- Lat 344: Latin Epigraphy
- Mus 501: Music of the Medieval/Renaissance Period
- Phil 301: History of Philosophy I
- Phil 307: Medieval Philosophy
- Rel 323: Islam
- Rel 326/G St 326: Saints and Sexuality
- Rel 342: Jesus and Mohammad
- Rel 372: Rise of Christianity
- Span 574/Lin 538: History of Spanish Language
- Span 577: Survey of Spanish Literature I
- Span 581: Medieval Literature
Admission
A student may pursue a graduate minor in medieval studies if he or she has been admitted in full standing to a master's, specialist, or doctoral degree program. Prospective students will submit a petition to the medieval studies core faculty after having completed half (6 credit hours) of their course work toward the minor. In this petition, the student will describe his or her past study in the field, outline his or her future course work, and explain how the course work completed for the medieval studies graduate minor coheres with his or her scholarship and career plans.
Requirements
Graduate students in the Medieval Studies minor complete 12 credit hours of approved courses from the list below and a Latin requirement. No course below the 500 level may count toward the graduate minor. A maximum of 6 hours may be taken in the student's home department; a maximum of 6 hours may count toward both the student's home degree program and the medieval studies graduate minor.
Art History
- AH 530: Topics in Medieval Art
- AH 532: Early Christian, Byzantine, and Islamic Art
- AH 534: Early Medieval Art and Archaeology
- AH 536: Viking Art and Archaeology
- AH 538: Romanesque and Gothic Art
English
- Eng 506: Old English I
- Eng 507: Old English II - Beowulf
- Eng 508: History of the English Language
- Eng 513/Lin 525: Old Norse
- Eng 703: Studies in Early English Literature
- Eng 705: Middle English
- Eng 706: Chaucer
Latin
- Lat 621: Latin Prose
- Lat 629: Medieval Latin
- Lat 631: Latin Poetry
- Lat 632: Vergil
- Lat 633: Ovid
Modern Languages
- Fr 574: History of the French Language
- Fr 577: Survey of French Lit 1 (Medieval to 17th Century)
- Fr 582: French Medieval and Renaissance Literature
- Germ 574: History of the German Language
- Germ 577: Survey of German Literature and Culture to 1600
- Eng 513/Lin 525: Old Norse
- Span 574/Lin 538: History of the Spanish Language
- Span 577: Survey of Spanish Lit I
- Span 581: Medieval Literature
- Span 582: Cervantes
Music
- Mus 501: Medieval and Renaissance Music
Latin Requirement
Students may satisfy the Latin requirement in one of three ways.
- Students with no prior Latin training can take Lat 101 and Lat 102.
- Students with prior Latin training can earn a "High Pass" on a Latin reading exam.
- Students with prior Latin training may take a 500-level or 600-level Latin course from the approved list and earn a grade of B or higher. This course may count toward the graduate minor.
Welcome from the Director
Founded in 2010, the Medieval Studies minor is the only one in Mississippi, yet there are dozens in the country. Although its focus is the distant past, Medieval Studies is timely now when "interdisciplinarity" promotes intellectual flexibility, creativity, and empathy. As scholars of the Middle Ages would point out, medieval universities based their curricula in interdisciplinary approaches. Science and the humanities were interconnected; medieval theologians were also "scientists." Thus, Medieval Studies is well-suited to unconventional thinkers, students whose various interests are dispersed across several academic disciplines.
Mary Elizabeth Hayes
Associate Professor of English and Director of the Interdisciplinary Minor in Medieval Studies
Affiliated Faculty
Sarah Baechle
- Assistant Professor of English
Drew Billings
- Instructional Associate Professor of Philosophy & Religion
James Bos
- Associate Professor of Religion
Valerio Cappozzo
- Associate Professor of Modern Languages
Brad Cook
- Professor of Classics
Michael Gardiner
- Associate Professor of Music
Mary Hayes
- Associate Professor of English and Director of the Interdisciplinary Minor in Medieval Studies
Christopher Hutchinson
- Assistant Professor of German
Bokyung Kim
- Instructional Assistant Professor of Art History
Frances Kneupper
- Associate Professor of History
Shem Miller
- Instructional Associate Professor of Philosophy & Religion
Daniel O'Sullivan
- Chair and Professor of Modern Languages
Maria Garcia Otero
- Croft Instructional Associate Professor of Spanish
Mary Thurlkill
- Professor of Religion
Nicolas Trepanier
- Associate Professor of Middle East History
Nancy Wicker
- Distinguished Professor of Art History
Publication
Enhance Your Academic Experience With an Internship
According to national surveys, employers are more likely to hire students who have:
- had professional internships,
- worked with people from diverse backgrounds on community service,
- collaborated with peers on projects,
- taken multiple courses with significant writing,
- produced a senior project or thesis, and
- studied abroad.
These experiences are about core liberal arts skills of thinking, communicating, interpersonal skills, and understanding the world around us. Showcase and enhance these skills in an internship opportunity for that first step into the professional world.
We encourage students to combine coursework with these hands-on, experiential learning opportunities.
Medieval Studies on a college transcript suggests a motivated student, one who likes a challenge. It indicates their knowledge of vast periods of time and diverse cultures. For its expansive scope, Medieval Studies relies on synoptic thinking: the capacity to see everything, all together, all at once. This ability to "the big picture" is a desirable skill for college graduates, yet it is not prioritized in academic specialization.
Alum Spotlight
Rev. William Boyle wrote his honors thesis on "Redefining the Insular Tradition: Illuminated Manuscripts of the Seventh through Ninth Centuries." He worked on the Lazarus Project with an English professor to recover and analyze medieval Gospel manuscripts. They were searching for a link between the iconography of angels in Irish Illumination and their use as a vehicle for divine inspiration for the scribes. William attended Virginia Theological Seminary after graduation.
Rev. William Boyles (B.A. in Religious Studies, minor in Medieval Studies '15)
St. Luke's Episcopal Church
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