Medieval Studies
The medieval studies major is interdisciplinary in nature and enables the student to develop an integrated understanding of medieval civilization through the study of its history, art, music, literature, ways of thought, and religion. Beyond its intrinsic interest, such an understanding of a premodern society provides comparisons and contrasts that shed light on modern values and assumptions, and on the origins of many modern institutions. As is the case with liberal arts majors in general, medieval studies majors finish their course of study well prepared for professional careers that require cultural awareness and critical thinking.
Program Activities
The Center for Medieval Studies sponsors an annual lecture series and conference, and hosts receptions and class visits to medieval exhibits and collections in the area.
For more information
Our Courses
MVST 1210. Literature and Society. (3 Credits)
This course explores different literary genres (such as saga and myth, romance, ballads and poetry, drama and devotional treatises) from different medieval cultural contexts (such as Icelandic society, feudal society, the clergy and urban society). The texts chosen for study, as well as the particular societal contexts, will vary from instructor to instructor.
Attribute: MVLI.
MVST 1250. Traditions of Storytelling. (4 Credits)
Comparative study of traditions of storytelling, placing questions of narrative form within global cultural and historical contexts. Selections from ancient forms of storytelling will be considered alongside modern examples from European and American literature. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST.
MVST 1999. Tutorial. (1 Credit)
Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.
MVST 2360. Illuminated Manuscripts. (4 Credits)
Before the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, every book was a precious, hand-produced object. Often these manuscripts were richly decorated with painting, called illumination. This course examines the development of manuscript illumination over the length of the Middle Ages in Europe (circa 300 to 1500). Issues examined include illuminated manuscripts and the establishment of the church, illumination and royal power, manuscripts and popular devotion, relations between Christians and Jews, and the role of the artist as illuminator. This course includes site visits. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AHAM, MVAM, MVST, OCAH, OCST.
MVST 2370. Art and Science in the Middle Ages. (4 Credits)
This course investigates intersections of art and science from the Carolingian period through the 14th century and the historical role images played in the pursuit of epistemic truths. Science in the Middle Ages included a broad range of intellectual pursuits into both the supernatural and natural worlds, and scholars have classified these pursuits in various ways (e.g., experimental or theoretical science, practical science, magic, and natural philosophy). A particular focus of this course is placed on the assimilation of Greek and Islamic scientific advances in cartography, cosmology, and optical theory into the Latin theological tradition. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attribute: AHAM.
MVST 2999. Tutorial. (2 Credits)
Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.
MVST 3057. Medieval German Literature: Potions, Passions, Players, and Prayers. (4 Credits)
This course will introduce students to the rich literary and cultural heritage of Medieval Germany. The texts will all be read in English translation, but we will go over some passages in their original languages in class to catch some of the flavor of the Medieval German. Topics covered will include pre-Christian charms, the epic of the Nibelungs, love poetry, and urban carneval plays. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ALC, GERM, MVLI, MVST.
Prerequisite: GERM 2001.
MVST 3102. Medieval Women Writers. (4 Credits)
Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: MVLI, WGSS.
MVST 3210. King, Court, and Crusade: Writing Knightly Life in the High Middle Ages. (4 Credits)
This course will view the medieval world through a lens provided by the life and writings of one man, John of Joinville (d. 1317). John was a knight, a crusader, and a close friend of King Louis IX of France (canonized as Saint Louis). He wrote a Life of Saint Louis that is rich with information about his own life, as well as the saintly king's. We will use the Life to open an examination of key themes in the knightly experience in the high middle ages, including: power, faith, the crusades, noble culture, family and social relations. It will also consider the usefulness of biography/autobiography in understanding the past.
Attributes: AHC, HIMH, HIST.
MVST 3215. Medieval Fashion and Its Meanings. (3 Credits)
In medieval Europe, the importance of dress as a signifier of identity changed drastically over time. Relatively unimportant in the early Middle Ages, by the 14th century dress had become a primary means of expressing individual identity as well as class, gender, status, and other forms of group membership. In this course, we aim to demonstrate the ways in which dress and culture shape and are shaped by one another, illuminating the Middle Ages in a non-traditional way and encountering new tools for historical analysis. Our work will culminate in a research project: students will choose a particular type of medieval garment and trace its evolution, the factors which shaped it, and the effect of that garment or those garments on society.
Attributes: FASH, HIMH, MVAM.
MVST 3225. Hollywood's Holy Grail: Medieval French Literature on the Screen. (4 Credits)
This course examines the foundational texts about King Arthur and the Holy Grail that have made their way into American and French films. Why do these thirteenth-century stories about the fourth century continue to fascinate us today in the twenty-first century? Why do they remain so successful as sources for compelling narratives? We will explore the cultural adaptation of these stories to their times and in particular changes made to the role gender plays in them. Topics covered will include: gender; folklore; high and low art; adaptation of text to screen; translation; the political use of the past. Course in French. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, ALC, AMST, COLI, FFPM, FRME, IPE.
Prerequisite: FREN 2600.
MVST 3500. The Knights of the Round Table. (4 Credits)
In this course, we will look for the traces of King Arthur and his Knights in modern-day London and its environs. Reading the foundational texts of Arthurian literature right where it all happened, we will be able to go to the sites and see the artifacts that remain. We will be reading excerpts from the early annals and chronicles, which laid the foundation for Arthur’s fame in history, and we will follow the exploits of some of the most prominent members of the Round Table as they were depicted in medieval literature: Sir Gawain, the ladies’ man (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath’s Tale), Sir Perceval, the Grail Knight (Chretiende Troyes, Perceval), Sir Tristrem, the knight who fell in love with his uncle’s wife, (Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristen and Isolde) and Merlin the sorcerer (in the modern rendition by Mary Stewart, The Crystal Cave). We are planning excursions that will take us to Winchester to have a look at the tangible, wooden, “Round Table,” Stonehenge, the mythical stone circle associated with Merlin and his craft, and Canterbury, the destination of the most important pilgrimage on English soil. In London, we will visit Westminster Cathedral, the British Library, Museums holding Arthurian artifacts, and the Crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields for some brass rubbing and afternoon tea. This immersion into medieval culture will allow us to read Arthurian literature in a way uniquely possible in London. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attribute: MVLI.
MVST 3501. Between Conquest and Convivencia: The Spanish Kingdoms of the Middle Ages. (4 Credits)
Like many Mediterranean regions in the Middle Ages, the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal) had diverse kingdoms composed of Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Historians have often framed Iberia’s medieval past as either a constant religious war (the Reconquista) or a precursor to modern notions of tolerance. As with most dichotomies, the truth lies somewhere in between. This course examines how the diverse polities and peoples of the Iberian Peninsula lived together from approximately 711 to 1492. It illustrates violent moments of conflict alongside irenic instances of cultural production through a variety of primary sources—chronicles, romances, pilgrim’s guides, architecture, notarial documents, military treatises—supplemented by scholarly research in history, literature, anthropology, and other disciplines. Through lectures, discussions, as well as oral and written projects, students will learn how ideas about holy war, kingship, philosophy, economics, and more led to the rise and eventual fall of Iberia’s diverse society. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ANTH, COLI, ENG1, ENGL, ENHD, HIST, HIUL, IPE, JSHI, LALS, LAUH, MEST, MLL, MVLI, MVTH, PJRC, POCP, REST.
MVST 3502. The Clerkenwell Tales: England's Literature. (4 Credits)
Where did Oliver Twist learn to pick pockets? In Clerkenwell. Where did William Shakespeare submit his plays to the Master of the Revels? In Clerkenwell. And where did the Knights of the Order of St. John have their headquarters? Indeed, in Clerkenwell, too. In this course, we will read texts that are quintessentially “British”—because they are linked to people, places, and historical events, and because they address issues of gender, race, and social class in ways that are grounded in their environment and thus have a specifically Londonesque character. The medieval romance of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight will start us off by looking at concepts of gender and nobility that have been formative for the way in which English aristocracy defines itself up to this day—an uninterrupted tradition which we can witness at our trips to Westminster Abbey and the Tower. The Globe Theatre will provide us with the opportunity to experience a Shakespeare play as “groundlings”: standing, eating, drinking, and rubbing elbows with audience and actors alike. By the time Charles Dickens wrote "Oliver Twist," London had expanded into a metropolis with a large population of urban poor. It is only logical that England’s oldest orphanage would be located in London, too, a museum today which we will be able to visit in addition to Dickens’ house, both a stone’s throw from our campus. The concluding text will be "The Clerkenwell Tales," Peter Ackroyd’s modern-day take on Chaucer’s "Canterbury Tales," which will bring together the main themes addressed in our discussions—gender, race, and social class—and place them right at our doorstep. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ALC, COLI, ENBE, ENGL, HIST, HIUL, ISEU.
MVST 3535. Building the Ideal City: Ethics and Economics Foundations of Realizable Utopias. (4 Credits)
This course introduces students to the investigation of the role that economic concepts such as profit, work, utility, and exchange play in defining the ideal city as a realizable political project. Students will explore ethical and economic concepts and their interrelation in the debate on the best form of State and government that developed from antiquity to modern American utopian communities. This course includes texts from various sources - philosophical, theological, juridical, and literary. Through these readings, students will learn how theoretical and practical ideas on the best form of society developed in time and still influence modern political thought. The course also focuses on the impact of the socioeconomic doctrines of the Catholic Church in shaping the idea of a possible, realizable, ideal city. Among the texts and authors included are Plato, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Boccaccio, Thomas More, Leon Battista Alberti, Tommaso Campanella, Francis Bacon. Taught in English with coursework in Italian for credit in Italian. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, ALC, AMST, APPI, ASHS, ASRP, INST, ISIN, ITAL, ITMA, ITRE, MVPH, MVST, URST.
MVST 3542. Medieval Latin Literature. (4 Credits)
This course offers a broad survey of medieval Latin literature from the Vulgate and St. Augustine to the Carmina Burana and Petrarch. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ALC, CLAS, COLI.
MVST 3552. Medieval Philosophy. (4 Credits)
The origins of medieval philosophy. The Carolingian renaissance. Anselm. Abelard and 12th-century humanism. Philosophical currents of the 13th century; introduction of Aristotle into the University of Paris; the reaction of the Augustinian philosophers to Aristotle; Bonaventure, Aquinas and Siger of Brabant. Duns Scotus. William of Ockham and the rise of nominalism. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: MVPH, OCHS, OCST, PHIL, PHMD.
Prerequisites: PHIL 3000 or HPLC 1001 or HPRH 1002 or HPRH 1103.
MVST 3590. Medieval Political Philosophy. (4 Credits)
An investigation of the major political theories of the Middle Ages from the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West until the eve of the Protestant Reformation. Students will read the classic texts of this era from Augustine's "City of God" to Masilius of Padua's "The Defender of Peace." Special attention will be given to different theories of kingship and of the basis of political authority and the relationship between papacy and empire. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: MVPH, OCHS, OCST, PHIL, PHMD.
Prerequisites: PHIL 3000 or HPLC 1001 or HPRH 1002 or HPRH 1103.
MVST 3700. Medicine, Magic, and Miracles: Sickness and Health in the Early Middle Ages. (4 Credits)
This course provides an introduction to the systems of learned medicine of western Europe from Late Antiquity to the High Middle Ages. Using a wide range of sources, including medical texts, hagiography, liturgy, and modern scientific studies, we will explore the distinctions between medical theory and practice, the relationship of secular and ecclesiastical authorities to the compilation of medical knowledge and the fundamental question of what constitutes medicine and what does not. In addition, we will consider the changing definition of illness and health through an investigation of medieval responses to the cataclysm of the Black Death. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AHC, HIMH, HIST.
MVST 3701. Royal Saints of Medieval Europe: Politics, Liturgy and Gender. (4 Credits)
This course investigates how kings and queens became saints during the European Middle Ages, alongside broader debates about medieval notions of sanctity, gender, and power. Using varied sources including hagiography, liturgy, chronicles, and material culture, we will explore the reasons why royal saints were remembered and the ways they were venerated in the celebrations of the Church. Through a series of case studies, we will also consider the uses of royal saints as propaganda by church and secular authorities to legitimize their rule, promote ongoing Christianizing efforts, and engender zeal for the Crusades.
MVST 3800. Cloisters, Castles, and Kings: Medieval Bavaria. (4 Credits)
This course will explore medieval secular and church history as it manifested itself in the literature and culture of Bavaria. Includes a study abroad component. Spring break visit to Regensburg and Munich. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ALC, COLI, GERM, MLL.
MVST 3999. Tutorial. (3 Credits)
Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.
MVST 4003. War and Peace: Just War Theory. (4 Credits)
This is a Senior values seminar, usually offered in Philosophy. It is a course in applied ethics. It will involve the application of a normative ethical theory to the moral problems associated with war. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attribute: MVPH.
MVST 4005. The Medieval Traveler. (4 Credits)
This course follows the routes of pilgrims, crusaders, merchants, nobles, and peasants as they charted a course for lands of promise and hoped-for prosperity. In The Medieval Traveler, we will read selections from the diaries, chronicles, and historical literature written by and about travelers in the Middle Ages. We will begin and end with travelers who sought miracles, marvels, and new trading routes on the cusp of the known world. We will focus in particular on the practicalities of medieval travel, as and well as the reasons for traveling: the sacred, the profane, and everything in between. This will be an interactive class; be prepared to discuss and debate issues of interest. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ENGL, ENRJ, GLBL, HIMH, HIST, HIUL, ICC, MVLI, OCST, REST.
MVST 4006. Dante's Cosmos: Science, Theology, and Literature. (4 Credits)
This course investigates Dante's cosmos in the Divine Comedy through medieval science, theology, and poetry. Disentangling the context of the Comedy from Dante's encyclopedic culture through reading in the disciplines of his time will lead students to a deeper comprehension of the multidimensionality of Dante's universe than is possible through any singular disciplinary. The course will broaden students perception of the medieval cosmos in contrast with contemporary notions of cosmology. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMCS, COLI, ICC, ITAL, ITMA, MLL, MVTH.
MVST 4007. The Medieval Foundations of Modernity: Petrarch and the Origins of Modern Consciousness. (4 Credits)
This course retraces the foundations of modern consciousness in Petrarch's works through poetry and philosophy. Students will concentrate on Petrarch's library and philosophical works to explore the passage from a medieval to a humanist vision of the self and of the world. The interdisciplinary approach of the course will provide a deeper understanding of Petrarch's ideas on the educative role of the intellectual, the crisis of scholastic thought, and the emergence of a new perception of the self. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: COLI, ICC, ITAL, ITMA.
MVST 4008. Medieval Autobiographies. (4 Credits)
Although writing about oneself is often considered classical or modern, and autobiography was not classified as a genre until the eighteenth century, a handful of medieval clerics, monks, mystics, nobles and merchants wrote about their own lives. These autobiographical accounts, and the conventions and societies that shaped them are the topic of the course. By asking both the questions of genre, narrative voice, subjectivity and authorship usually posed by literary analysis, and the historical questions of what such sources about past authors, audiences and the societies that read and copied the lives, the goal is to understand autobiography and the sources themselves from an interdisciplinary perspective. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: HIST, ICC, MVLI.
MVST 4009. Medieval Jerusalem. (4 Credits)
What has made Jerusalem so beloved to - and the object of continual strife for – Jews, Christians, and Muslims? This course will explore the ancient and medieval history of Jerusalem, from its Jebusite inhabitants before the time of King David through Suleiman’s construction of the modern city walls in the 1540s. Students will learn to analyze a variety of literature, through which we will explore the themes of sacred space, conquest, destruction and lament, pilgrimage and religious polemic. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ICC, JSPM, JWST, MEST, OCHS, OCST, REST.
MVST 4010. Medieval Franciscans and the Dream of a Just Economy. (4 Credits)
The medieval Franciscan Order struggled continually to define what poverty meant. This definition impacted them internally, as an order dedicated to renouncing property personally and collectively, but also had implications for the world around them in their capacity as preachers, confessors, and spiritual advisers. In struggling with these questions they became, as Giacomo Todeschini called them, “professionals of poverty,” experts in discerning the true value of things and arbiters of proper economic behavior; some have even gone so far as to claim that they invented capitalism avant la lettre. While this has been strenuously (and rightly) contested, Franciscans provide a useful lens through which to examine the relationship between religion, especially activist religion, and the economy; between economic theory and its sometimes messy practice. By drawing on texts from the medieval Franciscan Order (c. 1220–1517) on a variety of economic problems (especially: trust, contracts, and the just price; theories of interest, condemnations of usury, the ethics of lending, and the obligation to restitution; concerns about consumer society and the proper uses of wealth) supplemented by secondary readings in theology and economics, this course explores the nature of ethically and religiously motivated intervention in the realm of economic activity, and the responsibilities of consumers, producers, and other economic actors to act ethically, which echo down to the present day. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMCS, COLI, HIST, ICC, PJEC, PJST, PPWD, REST, RSHR, RSTE, THEO.
MVST 4040. Exploring Medieval New York. (4 Credits)
All five boroughs of New York City bear traces of the medieval, despite having been built long after the period that corresponds with the European Middle Ages (c. 500 to c. 1500 CE) ended. This course aims to explore the medieval, broadly understood, in New York City, using the sources and methodologies of digital humanities, history, art history, and medievalism studies. In doing so, we will keep in mind several broad categories of what constitutes medieval: Medieval objects and artifacts in New York City. How did they get here? Where and when are they from? This embraces both medieval history and the collecting activities of tycoons and scholars as they decided what was medieval. How do the accumulations of cultural patrimony show the history of the city, and how are they experienced by different populations within the city today? Medieval-inspired objects and architecture. Why do “medieval” structures within the city look the way they look? From apartment buildings to houses of worship to colleges and universities to monuments, the medieval takes a particular form in New York City and has a number of not always obvious meanings. Medieval-inspired people and communities of practice. How do self-professed medieval practitioners (crafting, music, art, combat, etc.) define their relationship to the medieval? How have public literary or artistic figures interpreted the medieval in New York? New York during the Middle Ages. What did New York look like during the period that corresponds with the European Middle Ages? How did the Indigenous people who lived there experience and interact with the land that we stand on now? How can we, standing at such a distance, hope to glimpse what they might have seen? New York City through the lens of the medieval city. What can New York, arguably the archetypical modern megalopolis, tell us about medieval cities, and vice versa? How can we use comparison with a medieval city to shed light on urban life more broadly? Students will participate in the Medieval New York project sponsored by Fordham’s Center for Medieval Studies. This project aims to investigate these issues and to craft walking itineraries around the city, showcasing these sites and ideas through the use of audio guides and multimedia materials for a broad public audience. By the end of this project, in addition to talking through these issues, students will collaboratively craft an itinerary of Fordham’s Rose Hill campus and its surroundings, and lead a walk-through of the itinerary open to members of the community. The itinerary and related materials will be featured on the project’s site at medievalny.ace.fordham.edu.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASHS, HIST, ICC, PPWD, URST.
MVST 4100. Modern Sounds, Early Music. (4 Credits)
Medieval and Renaissance music's fragmentary survival has inspired scholars, performers, composers, and artists to realize what remains according to varying creative urges and ideological preoccupations. This course examines the cultures of early music as well as their living legacies. Studying musical traditions from 1000 to 1600, we build a technical vocabulary for discussing music and seek to understand how historical change affects aesthetics, music-making, and listening from 1000 to the present. We also study the reception of medieval music—how it has been rejected, restored, recreated, and reimagined—to consider how "the medieval" is historically produced. No prior musical experience is required. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attribute: MVAM.
MVST 4301. Jews and Christians in Antiquity. (4 Credits)
In this seminar, we will discuss the emergence of Christianity from its Jewish matrix, as well as the coexistence of Jews and Christians in classical and late antiquity. We will examine change and diversity within these two religions, as well as their interactions and rhetorical depictions of one another. While the seminar has a strong historical and diachronic component, its main focus will lie on the question of religious otherness within a confined geographic and intellectual space, as well as on related issues of racial, ethnic, linguistic, and geo-cultural diversity. Thus, in addition to acquiring knowledge about an important topic in a formative period of religious history, students will gain insight into the processes whereby religious difference is articulated and religious identity is shaped. The first goal of the course is to familiarize students, through the study of key texts and events, with the main landmarks in the history of coexistence between Christians and Jews over the long late antiquity. The second goal of the class is to allow students to acquire or consolidate skills in pursuing independent research. The third goal of the course is to increase students’ ability to examine critically diverging historiographic perspectives and to analyze, explain, and historically contextualize primary sources. This course fulfills the History, Culture, and Society advanced seminar requirement and the Ancient/Medieval period requirement for the theology religious studies major and minor. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: THAM, THHC.
MVST 4654. Medieval London. (0 to 4 Credits)
This course draws on material and documentary sources to explore the townscape of medieval London-its wards, streets, and buildings- and the social life of its people, including their daily routines, work, and rituals. We will examine such documentary sources as chronicles, charters, and wills, along with material evidence from human skeletons, excavated houses and churches, coins pottery and clothing.
Attributes: HIMH, HIST, ICC.
MVST 4997. Medieval Studies Honors Thesis Tutorial. (4 Credits)
The honors thesis can be completed during the fall or spring semester of a student's senior year. To qualify, students must have at least a 3.0 GPA in the medieval studies major at the time of application. Students able to pursue an honors thesis option through their double major must make a compelling case for why they wish to pursue the thesis under medieval studies. If approved to write a thesis, the student registers for MVST 4997, a four-credit Medieval Studies Honors Thesis Tutorial. This course counts for credit toward the medieval studies major as an elective and will not replace a major requirement. Faculty advisors will be provided with a design and grading rubric. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
MVST 4998. Study Tour: Medieval Spain. (4 Credits)
One of the great medieval pilgrimage routes, the Camino de Santiago crosses northern Spain from the passes of the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela. This study-tour will consider the legends of the Camino, some of its many surviving monuments, and the modern revival of the pilgrimage by walking for two weeks with the peregrinos/-as from Leon to Santiago de Compostela. This class will meet periodically at Fordham before the walk to discuss reading assignments and prepare. A journal is required at the end of the course. Fees and travel costs not included. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: HIMH, HIST, HIUL, ICC, LALS, LAUH.
MVST 4999. Tutorial. (4 Credits)
Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.
Courses in Other Areas
The following courses offered outside the program have the MVST attribute and count toward the Medieval Studies major and minor:
Course | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
AMCS 3535 | Building the Ideal City: Ethics and Economics Foundations of Realizable Utopias | 4 |
ANTH 3110 | Ancient Cultures of the Bible | 4 |
ANTH 3111 | New World Archaeology | 4 |
ARAB 1001 | Introduction to Arabic | 5 |
ARAB 1501 | Intermediate Arabic I | 3 |
ARAB 1502 | Intermediate Arabic II | 3 |
ARAB 2001 | Arabic Language and Literature | 3 |
ARHI 2230 | Islamic Art | 4 |
ARHI 2250 | Ancient American Art | 4 |
ARHI 2320 | The Fall of Ancient Rome: A Material Culture Investigation | 4 |
ARHI 2341 | Medieval Desire and Devotion | 4 |
ARHI 2360 | Illuminated Manuscripts | 4 |
ARHI 2361 | Italian Art, Politics, and Religion in the Age of Dante | 4 |
ARHI 2365 | Medieval Art and the Museum | 4 |
ARHI 2370 | Art and Science in the Middle Ages | 4 |
ARHI 2410 | Northern Renaissance Art | 4 |
ARHI 3350 | Age of Cathedrals | 4 |
CLAS 3050 | Pagans and Christians | 4 |
CLAS 5050 | World of Late Antiquity: Introduction to History, Art, and Culture | 4 |
COLI 3010 | Politics and Poetry in the Middle Ages: The Rise of Vernacular Culture in the Mediterranean | 4 |
COLI 3031 | Medieval Monsters | 4 |
COLI 3123 | Surviving the Barbarians in Early Medieval Britain | 4 |
COLI 3135 | Irish and British High Medieval Literature: Connections and Comparisons | 4 |
COLI 3145 | Medieval Love in Comparison: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Perspectives | 4 |
COLI 3146 | Science and Magic in Medieval Literature | 4 |
COLI 3440 | Arabic Literature in English Translation | 4 |
COLI 3535 | Building the Ideal City: Ethics and Economics Foundations of Realizable Utopias | 4 |
ENGL 3031 | Medieval Monsters | 4 |
ENGL 3088 | Medieval Britain: History and Prophecy | 4 |
ENGL 3100 | Medieval Literature | 4 |
ENGL 3102 | Medieval Drama | 4 |
ENGL 3103 | Early English Drama | 4 |
ENGL 3104 | Medieval English Blackness? | 4 |
ENGL 3105 | "Game of Thrones" and the Modern Medieval | 4 |
ENGL 3107 | Chaucer | 4 |
ENGL 3109 | Arthurian Literature | 4 |
ENGL 3111 | Medieval Romance and Adventure | 4 |
ENGL 3113 | Introduction to Old English | 4 |
ENGL 3114 | The (Medieval) Walking Dead | 4 |
ENGL 3115 | Medieval Women Writers | 4 |
ENGL 3121 | The Pearl Poet and His Book | 4 |
ENGL 3123 | Surviving the Barbarians in Early Medieval Britain | 4 |
ENGL 3125 | Beowulf in Old English | 4 |
ENGL 3127 | Dreams in Middle Ages | 4 |
ENGL 3131 | Medieval Tolerance and Intolerance | 4 |
ENGL 3134 | Love in the Middle Ages | 4 |
ENGL 3135 | Irish and British High Medieval Literature: Connections and Comparisons | 4 |
ENGL 3136 | Medieval Mystics | 4 |
ENGL 3140 | Myth of the Hero: Medieval Memory | 4 |
ENGL 3144 | Other Worlds | 4 |
ENGL 3145 | Medieval Love in Comparison: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Perspectives | 4 |
ENGL 3146 | Science and Magic in Medieval Literature | 4 |
ENGL 3834 | History of the English Language | 4 |
ENGL 4005 | The Medieval Traveler | 4 |
ENGL 4019 | Seminar: Love Letters from Ovid's Heroides to Heloise's Letters to Abelard | 4 |
ENGL 4027 | Seminar: Race, Ethnicity, and Contact in Early Medieval Ireland and Britain | 4 |
ENGL 4096 | Hobbits/Heroes/Hubris | 4 |
ENGL 4111 | Seminar: Medieval and Contemporary Women, Travel, and Power | 4 |
ENGL 4141 | Death in the Middle Ages | 4 |
ENGL 4142 | Contemplating the Cloisters | 4 |
ENGL 4148 | Medieval Drama in Performance | 4 |
ENGL 4151 | Performing Medieval Drama | 4 |
ENGL 4155 | The Seven Deadly Sins | 4 |
ENGL 5203 | The Postcolonial Middle Ages | 3 |
ENGL 5213 | Studies in Old English Literature | 3 |
FREN 3040 | Changing Climate, Changing Culture | 4 |
FREN 3100 | Medieval French Literature | 4 |
FREN 3103 | Medieval Other, Modern Ethics: Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval France | 4 |
FREN 3225 | Hollywood's Holy Grail: Medieval French Literature on the Screen | 4 |
GERM 3057 | Medieval German Literature: Potions, Passions, Players, and Prayers | 4 |
GREK 1001 | Introduction to Greek I | 3 |
GREK 1002 | Introduction to Greek II | 3 |
GREK 1004 | Intensive Ancient Greek | 4 |
GREK 1501 | Intermediate Greek I | 3 |
GREK 2001 | Greek Language and Literature | 3 |
GREK 3211 | Greek Prose Composition | 4 |
GREK 5211 | Greek Prose Composition | 3 |
HEBW 1001 | Introduction to Hebrew I | 5 |
HEBW 1501 | Intermediate Hebrew I | 3 |
HEBW 1502 | Intermediate Hebrew II | 3 |
HEBW 2001 | Hebrew Language and Literature I | 3 |
HIST 1300 | Understanding Historical Change: Medieval | 3 |
HIST 1750 | Understanding Historical Change: Islamic History and Culture | 3 |
HIST 1850 | Understanding Historical Change: Jews in the Ancient and Medieval World | 3 |
HIST 3012 | Medieval France | 4 |
HIST 3018 | Medieval Nobility: Love, War, and Devotion | 4 |
HIST 3019 | Medieval Paris: A City and Its People | 4 |
HIST 3050 | Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval Iberia | 4 |
HIST 3051 | The Black Death, 1348-1450 | 4 |
HIST 3145 | Medieval Barbarians | 4 |
HIST 3203 | Medieval Family Life | 4 |
HIST 3204 | Sex & Celibacy in the Middle Ages | 4 |
HIST 3205 | Medieval Medicine | 4 |
HIST 3206 | Global Middle Ages: Culture, Communication, and Conquest | 4 |
HIST 3207 | Late Medieval Religion and Society | 4 |
HIST 3208 | The Medieval Other | 4 |
HIST 3209 | The Origins of Christianity from the Apostles to the 4th Century | 4 |
HIST 3210 | King, Court, Crusade: Writing Knightly Life in the High Middle Ages | 4 |
HIST 3211 | Medieval Sin, Sinners, and Outcasts | 4 |
HIST 3212 | The History of Medieval Christianity | 4 |
HIST 3213 | Monsters, Magic, and the Undead in Medieval Europe | 4 |
HIST 3214 | Plagues and Peoples: Health and Disease in Medieval Europe | 4 |
HIST 3215 | Middle Ages and West | 4 |
HIST 3216 | Rich and Poor in the Middle Ages | 4 |
HIST 3217 | Islamic History, 1000–1600 | 4 |
HIST 3220 | Medieval Hollywood | 4 |
HIST 3230 | Criminals, Outlaws, and Bandits: Solving Crime in Medieval Europe | 4 |
HIST 3260 | Medieval Ireland to 1691 | 4 |
HIST 3270 | The Crusades | 4 |
HIST 3300 | The History of the Medieval Book in the Latin West | 4 |
HIST 3301 | Medieval Women's Lives | 4 |
HIST 3302 | Gender and the Body in the Middle Ages | 4 |
HIST 3303 | CSI Then and Now: Forensic Medicine in Medieval and Modern Europe | 4 |
HIST 3305 | Medieval Warfare | 4 |
HIST 3310 | Medieval England: From Viking Invasions to Henry VIII | 4 |
HIST 3364 | Environmental History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1650 | 4 |
HIST 3638 | Technology From Antiquity to Middle Ages | 4 |
HIST 3700 | Sickness and Health in Early Ma | 4 |
HIST 3983 | Apocalypticism and Messianism in Islamic Thought and History | 4 |
HIST 4007 | Medieval Autobiographies | 4 |
HIST 4195 | The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem | 4 |
HIST 4308 | Antisemitism | 4 |
HIST 4654 | Medieval London | 4 |
HIST 4666 | SEM Know Your Enemy: The Devil in History | 4 |
HIST 4704 | Seminar: The First Crusade: Themes and Sources | 4 |
HIST 4705 | Seminar: Disease in the Middle Ages | 4 |
HIST 4998 | Study Tour: Medieval Spain | 4 |
HIST 5204 | Medieval Environmental History | 4 |
HIST 5423 | Religion, Magic, and Science in the Late Medieval and Renaissance World | 4 |
HIST 6077 | The Angevin Empire | 4 |
ITAL 2800 | Italy and the Arts: Politics, Religion, and Imagination in Medieval and Renaissance Italy | 4 |
ITAL 3011 | Dante and His Age | 4 |
ITAL 3012 | Medieval Storytelling | 4 |
LACU 3010 | Politics and Poetry in the Middle Ages: The Rise of Vernacular Culture in the Mediterranean | 4 |
LACU 3012 | Medieval Storytelling | 4 |
LACU 3203 | Dante and His Translators | 4 |
LACU 3333 | Eunuchs, Dwarves and Dragon Ladies: The Universe of Game of Thrones | 4 |
LACU 3440 | Arabic Literature in English Translation | 4 |
LACU 3800 | Cloisters, Castles, and Kings: Medieval Bavaria | 4 |
LACU 4006 | Dante's Cosmos: Medieval Science, Theology, and Poetry in the Divina Commedia | 4 |
LATN 1001 | Introduction to Latin I | 3 |
LATN 1002 | Introduction to Latin II | 3 |
LATN 1004 | Intensive Latin | 4 |
LATN 1501 | Intermediate Latin I | 3 |
LATN 2001 | Latin Language and Literature | 3 |
LATN 3015 | Caesar's Commentaries | 4 |
LATN 3021 | Roman Love Poetry | 4 |
LATN 3041 | Ovid | 4 |
LATN 3045 | Livy | 4 |
LATN 3051 | Cicero's "De Oratore" | 4 |
LATN 3052 | Cicero: A Survey | 4 |
LATN 3060 | Readings in Vergil | 4 |
LATN 3061 | Christian Latin | 4 |
LATN 3300 | Advanced Latin | 4 |
LATN 3542 | Medieval Latin Literature | 4 |
MLAL 3057 | Medieval German Literature: Potions, Passions, Players, and Prayers | 4 |
MLAL 3535 | Building the Ideal City: Ethics and Economics Foundations of Realizable Utopias | 4 |
MUSC 1303 | Collegium Musicum | 0-1 |
MUSC 3110 | Music Before 1600 | 4 |
MVST 2360 | Illuminated Manuscripts | 4 |
MVST 3057 | Medieval German Literature: Potions, Passions, Players, and Prayers | 4 |
MVST 3535 | Building the Ideal City: Ethics and Economics Foundations of Realizable Utopias | 4 |
PHIL 3520 | Philosophy of Aristotle | 4 |
PHIL 3525 | Philosophy of Plato | 4 |
PHIL 3530 | Philosophy After Constantine | 4 |
PHIL 3552 | Medieval Philosophy | 4 |
PHIL 3557 | Confessions of Augustine | 4 |
PHIL 3559 | Dante and Philosophy | 4 |
PHIL 3560 | Philosophy of Aquinas | 4 |
PHIL 3565 | Four Medieval Thinkers | 4 |
PHIL 3570 | Beauty in the Middle Ages | 4 |
PHIL 3591 | Medieval Political Philosophy | 4 |
PHIL 3753 | Philosophy of the Islamic World | 4 |
PHIL 3910 | Shakespeare and Aquinas | 4 |
PHIL 4442 | Fantasy and Philosophy | 4 |
PHIL 4473 | War and Peace: Just War Theory | 4 |
POSC 3424 | Political Philosophy between Islam and the West | 4 |
SPAN 3540 | Spain and Islam | 4 |
THEA 4148 | Medieval Drama | 4 |
THEA 4151 | Performing Medieval Drama | 4 |
THEO 1006 | Sin and Salvation in Medieval Theology | 3 |
THEO 1050 | Syriac Language and Literature I | 3 |
THEO 3100 | Introduction to Old Testament / Tanakh | 3 |
THEO 3102 | Book of Genesis | 3 |
THEO 3105 | The Torah | 3 |
THEO 3120 | The Prophets | 3 |
THEO 3200 | Introduction to New Testament | 3 |
THEO 3207 | The First Three Gospels | 3 |
THEO 3212 | Gospel of John | 3 |
THEO 3310 | Early Christian Writings | 3 |
THEO 3314 | St. Augustine of Hippo | 3 |
THEO 3316 | Byzantine Christianity | 3 |
THEO 3320 | Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther | 3 |
THEO 3330 | Medieval Theology Texts | 3 |
THEO 3332 | Christians, Muslims, Jews in the Medieval Period | 3 |
THEO 3340 | Christian Mystical Texts | 3 |
THEO 3345 | The Book of Revelation | 3 |
THEO 3620 | Great Christian Hymns | 3 |
THEO 3711 | Sacred Texts of the Middle East | 3 |
THEO 3713 | Classic Jewish Texts | 3 |
THEO 3715 | Classic Islamic Texts | 3 |
THEO 3833 | Christian Thought and Practice II | 4 |
THEO 3849 | Eschatology | 4 |
THEO 3882 | Comparative Mysticism | 3 |
THEO 4420 | Early Christian Art in Context | 4 |
THEO 4430 | Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Early Christianity | 4 |