Medieval Courses for Spring 2014
AH 334: Early Medieval Art and Archaeology
Dr. Nancy Wicker
Cross-listed with Anth 332, and meeting concurrently with AH 530: Topics in
Medieval Art. Graduate students may enroll for the course as AH 530.
Tuesday & Thursday, 9:30-10:45, Meek 120.
Course description:
Archaeological, art historical, and historical sources will be used to study early
medieval material and visual culture from the fourth century to the end of the
Ottonian period in the eleventh century. We begin with a study of the Ostrogoths,
Visigoths, Lombards, Anglo-Saxonx, Franks, and Merovingians in the context of the
transformation of the Roman world during the period of Christianization. Then we
consider the cultural renaissance of the Carolingian and Ottonian Periods.
ENGL 405: Chaucer
Dr. Gregory Heyworth
This course will introduce students to The Canterbury Tales and some of Chaucer’s
shorter works including The House of Fame and The Book of the Duchess through a
variety of primary materials, as well as to the most recent historical and poetic lines
of Chaucer criticism. We will locate Chaucer’s work in a “crisis of truth” in the late
14th century, a problem that involved political “truths” and philosophical and poetic
problems of the truth of fiction. To that end, we will be reading such modern
philosophers of language as Gadamer, Tarski, and Austen, alongside classical and
medieval theorists including Aristotle, Aquinas, and Ockham. While all readings will
be made in the original Middle English, no prior knowledge of medieval English is
necessary.
ENGL 504: Old English II (Beowulf)
Dr. Lindy Brady
Hwæt! We have heard of the glorious deeds of kings in the days of old, and we will
spend the semester studying them in depth through intensive translation of the Old
English epic poem Beowulf. This course covers translation, attention to style and
poetic form, and the history of Beowulf scholarship. Course requirements are
weekly translations and final seminar paper. Engl 504 is Part II of a sequence in Old
English, and course prerequisites are either successful completion of Engl 503 (Old
English I) or a beginning Old English course elsewhere and permission of the
instructor. This course is open to both graduate and advanced undergraduate
students and fulfills the department’s pre-1800 requirement.
HIS 355: Europe—Late Middle Ages and Renaissance
Dr. Courtney Kneupper
Contact instructor for more details.
HIS 375: History of Medieval Christianity
Dr. Les Field
In seminar and lecture format, this course examines major events and trends in the
development of Christian doctrines and disciplines from the time of the legalization
of Christianity under Constantine to the dawn of the Protestant Reformation.
Students who successfully complete this course will have gained an elementary
knowledge of medieval Christianity.
HIS 383: History of the Muslim World: From the Origins to the Middle Ages
Dr. Nicolas Trépanier
This course offers a survey of the history of the Muslim world, from its origins to the
thirteenth century. We will pay particular attention to the context in which Islam
was born and the life of its founder Muhammad; the “golden age” of the life of the
Prophet and his immediate successors, which continues to inform current debates
such as the Shi’i/Sunni divide; the rapid establishment of a united Muslim empire
ranging from Spain to India and its ultimate disintegration; and the interaction
between Islam and the Christian world through intellectual interactions, along
frontiers and during the Crusades.
The course will follow a chronological approach to the main events in the history of
the Muslim peoples while, in parallel, exploring a number of key themes in the
social, intellectual and artistic history of the region. Themes discussed will include
Islam as a religion and social phenomenon, Islamic law, Sufism (Islamic mysticism),
identity and ethnicity, literature, philosophy and science.
REL 372: Rise of Christianity
Dr. Mary Thurlkill
Contact instructor for more details.