Medieval & Early Modern Studies, Bachelor of Arts College of Letters & Science
The Major Program
The Major in Medieval & Early Modern Studies serves as the nucleus from which to examine diverse cultures, intellectual movements, religions, politics, and literary traditions from a world-historical time frame that stretches from the fifth century to the eighteenth-century CE and into contemporary medievalisms. A transdisciplinary and interdepartmental program, the major includes studies across the humanities in art, drama, history, literature, music, national languages, philosophy, politics and political theory, religion, and rhetoric.
These premodern worlds were rarely static and the major encourages dynamic work across traditional boundaries of faiths, languages, economies, and peoples. The lower division series of Medieval Studies (MST) courses in the program provides the foundation for the major and prepares students for advanced work within individual disciplines. At the upper division level, students may choose humanities course work across geographic areas such as the Middle East, Europe, East Asia, South Asia, Africa, and America. There is also the option for students to choose to complete a senior thesis on a selected aspect of Medieval and/or early modern culture.
Career Alternatives
The major in Medieval & Early Modern Studies is a liberal arts degree providing excellent preparation for the rigors of professional schools as well as careers in law, museology, journalism, and teaching.
Major Advisor
See Program office.
The major requirements below are in addition to meeting University Degree Requirements & College Degree Requirements; unless otherwise noted. The minimum number of units required for the Medieval & Early Modern Studies Bachelor of Arts is 66.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Preparatory Subject Matter | ||
| MST 020A | Early Medieval Culture (Intro to Late Antique & Early Medieval Worlds) | 4 |
| MST 020B | The Culture of the High Middle Ages (Intro to Late Medieval & Early Modern Worlds) | 4 |
| Choose 12 units: | 12 | |
| Medieval & Renaissance Art | ||
| Baroque to Modern Art | ||
| Islamic Art & Architecture | ||
| Major Works of the Medieval & Early Modern World | ||
| Master Authors in World Literature: Gilgamesh, Ramayana, Beowulf, Nibelungenlied | ||
| Master Authors in World Literature: Metamorphoses, Decameron, Arabian Nights, Canterbury Tales | ||
| Master Authors in World Literature: Chanson de Roland, El Cid, Igor’s Campaign, Morte D’Arthur | ||
| Master Authors in World Literature: Sakuntala, Tristan & Isolde, Aucassin & Nicolette, Gawain | ||
| Master Authors in World Literature: Swift, Rabelais, La Celestina, Simplicissimus | ||
| Literatures in English I: To 1700 | ||
| Myth & Saga in the Germanic Cultures | ||
| History of Western Civilization | ||
| History of Western Civilization | ||
| Humanities Forum (Prior approval by Undergraduate Advisor necessary.) | ||
| Don Quixote & the Modern World | ||
| Philosophical Classics of the Ancient Era | ||
| Philosophical Classics of the Modern Era | ||
| MST 098/MST 099; total any combination: | 2 | |
| Directed Group Study | ||
| Special Study for Undergraduates | ||
| Language proficiency is a desideratum. Courses in Latin and other European languages are strongly recommended, particularly for students planning to pursue graduate studies in the medieval or early modern field. | ||
| Preparatory Subject Matter Subtotal | 22 | |
| Depth Subject Matter | ||
| In consultation with the undergraduate advisor, students choose a total of eleven courses; with at least three courses from the Medieval Period (denoted as M) and at least three courses the Early Modern Period (denoted as EM): | 44 | |
| The Islamic City | ||
| Arts of the Islamic Book EM | ||
| Early Italian Renaissance Art & Architecture EM | ||
| High & Late Italian Renaissance Art & Architecture EM | ||
| Baroque Art EM | ||
| Undergraduate Seminar in Art History: Medieval M | ||
| Undergraduate Seminar in Art History: Renaissance EM | ||
| Origins of Rhetoric M | ||
| Shakespeare & the Classical World EM | ||
| The European Middle Ages M | ||
| The Renaissance EM | ||
| Baroque & Neoclassicism EM | ||
| The Epic | ||
| Selected Topics in Comparative Literature 1 | ||
| Chaucer: Troilus & the "Minor" Poems M | ||
| Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales M | ||
| Topics in 16th- & 17th-Century Literature EM | ||
| Shakespeare EM | ||
| Milton EM | ||
| British Drama to 1800 EM | ||
| Topics in Drama 1 | ||
| Topics in Poetry 1 | ||
| Literature by Women Before 1800 1 | ||
| Topics in Literary & Critical Theory 1 | ||
| Seminar in Literary Studies 1 | ||
| Medieval French Literature & Society M | ||
| The French Renaissance EM | ||
| Baroque & Preclassicism EM | ||
| Private Lives & Public Secrets: The Early French Novel | ||
| Selected Topics in French Literature 1 | ||
| Survey of German Literature, 800-1800 | ||
| Topics in German Literature 1 | ||
| Survey of German Culture EM | ||
| The Medieval Period in German Literature M | ||
| Reformation & Baroque EM | ||
| Major Movements in German Literature 1 | ||
| German Lyric Poetry | ||
| Topics in German Intellectual History 1 | ||
| Love in the Middle Ages (Discontinued) M | ||
| Undergraduate Proseminar in History: Medieval M | ||
| Undergraduate Proseminar in History: Modern Europe to 1815 | ||
| Medieval History M | ||
| Medieval History M | ||
| Medieval History M | ||
| Selected Themes in Medieval History M | ||
| Topics in Early Modern European History EM | ||
| Christianity & Culture in Europe: 50-1450 M | ||
| Christianity & Culture in Europe: 1450-1600 EM | ||
| Early Modern European History EM | ||
| European History During the Renaissance & Reformation EM | ||
| The Old Regime: Absolution, Enlightenment & Revolution in Europe M | ||
| Crime & Punishment in Early Modern Europe EM | ||
| History of Science to the 18th Century EM | ||
| Scientific Revolution EM | ||
| Medieval & Renaissance Medicine | ||
| History of Germany, 1450 to 1789 EM | ||
| Women & Society in Europe: 1500-1789 EM | ||
| England: The Middle Ages M | ||
| England: The Early Modern Centuries EM | ||
| Middle Eastern History II: The Age of the Crusades, 1001-1400 M | ||
| Middle Eastern History III: The Ottomans, 1401-1730 EM | ||
| Introduction to Italian Literature | ||
| Medieval & Renaissance Poetry: St. Francis to Petrarch | ||
| Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) M | ||
| Boccaccio, Decameron, & the Renaissance Novella | ||
| Studies in the Cinquecento EM | ||
| Italian Literature of the Renaissance & the Baroque: From Cellini to Marino EM | ||
| Italian Drama from Machiavelli to the Enlightenment EM | ||
| Early Modern Italian Lyric EM | ||
| Italian Language & Society EM | ||
| Italian Literature in English: Boccaccio, Petrarch & the Renaissance EM | ||
| Italian Literature in English Translation: Dante, Divine Comedy M | ||
| Gender & Interpretation in the Renaissance EM | ||
| Readings in Latin Prose M | ||
| Livy M | ||
| Roman Comedy M | ||
| Vergil: Aeneid M | ||
| Sallust M | ||
| Catullus M | ||
| Horace: Odes & Epodes M | ||
| Horace: Satires & Epistles M | ||
| Roman Elegy | ||
| Ovid M | ||
| Cicero M | ||
| Lucretius M | ||
| Vergil: Eclogues & Georgics M | ||
| Roman Historians M | ||
| Readings in Republican Latin Literature M | ||
| Readings in Imperial Latin Literature M | ||
| Latin Prose Composition M | ||
| Medieval Latin M | ||
| Readings in Late Latin M | ||
| Special Themes in Medieval Cultures M | ||
| Special Themes in Renaissance Culture EM | ||
| Cross-Cultural Relations in the Medieval and/or Early Modern World | ||
| Seminar in Medieval & Early Modern Culture | ||
| Senior Thesis | ||
| Topics in Music Scholarship 1 | ||
| Philosophy of Religion | ||
| Christian, Islamic, & Jewish Philosophers of the Middle Ages M | ||
| Descartes EM | ||
| Spinoza & Leibniz EM | ||
| Locke & Berkeley EM | ||
| Medieval Political Thought M | ||
| Foundations of Political Thought | ||
| History of Political Theory: Ancient M | ||
| Christian Origins M | ||
| Mysticism | ||
| Topics in Religious Studies 1 | ||
| Survey of Spanish Literature to 1700 | ||
| Golden Age Literature of Spain EM | ||
| Don Quijote I EM | ||
| Don Quijote II EM | ||
| Special Topics in Spanish Cultural & Literary Studies 1 | ||
| Depth Subject Matter Subtotal | 44 | |
| Total Units | 66 | |
- EM
Early Modern Period
- M
Medieval Period
- 1
Consult with an undergraduate advisor regarding all “topics” related courses.