The Graduate Minor in Medieval Studies
The graduate minor in medieval studies offers students a broad, interdisciplinary approach to the rich and fascinating cultures that flourished from 500 to 1500 in Europe, Asia Minor, the Near East, and Russia. This minor encourages medievalists or other qualified graduate students to acquire the languages and skills needed to do serious research in the period, to broaden their experience of the Middle Ages beyond their own discipline, and to learn something about the methodologies used by medievalists in other fields. This interdisciplinary minor, then, is fundamentally different from a minor within the student's major field.
Graduate majors in any department may declare a Medieval Studies minor with the approval of their departmental faculty advisor. Any student may, of course, take Medieval Studies courses without declaring a formal minor. Interested students should consult their departmental advisors.
The student who wishes to earn a minor in Medieval Studies must take at least five courses chosen from the following:
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Two advanced (graduate) courses in a foundational language, including a course in reading primary materials in the original, manuscript, setting. In the case of most students studying the medieval West, these courses will be in Latin and Latin paleography, respectively. For some students, equivalent courses in Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, or Old Church Slavonic may be more appropriate. (If the equivalent of a paleography course is not available in the student's foundational language, the student's faculty advisor in cooperation with the Graduate Advisor in Medieval Studies will determine an appropriate equivalent.) This requirement of Latin or a similarly "foundational" language is intended to ensure that students who adopt the minor have a sound preparation and are ready to use primary sources in a language basic to literate culture, as Latin was basic to Western European learning and literature. (It is assumed that students will also acquire expertise in other, vernacular, languages in their major departments; but those languages do not qualify as satisfying this requirement.)
Interested students are advised to consult with the Graduate Advisor in Medieval Studies as well as with their departmental faculty advisor early in their major program concerning meeting this requirement. Substitution of some other foundational language in place of Latin requires approval of both the Graduate Advisor in Medieval Studies and the student's departmental faculty advisor.
- Three courses from at least two departments, curricula, or programs listed below. A student may not count courses taken in the major department toward this minor (with the exception of the Introduction to Medieval Studies, course number 201 in the Art, English, History, and Romance Languages Departments).
- Art: 111, 112, 154, 350, 351.
- Asian Studies: Arabic 103, 104
- Classics: 118; Classical Archaeology 148, 149A, 310; Latin 115, 130, 203, 230.
- Comparative Literature: 153, 170, 241.
- English: Celtic 105A/B, 106A/B; English 151, 153, 237A/B, 238, 250, 251A/B/C, 252, 350, 351.
- Germanic Languages: German 160, 171, 210, 255, 260, 261, 270, 275.
- History: 106, 108, 110, 133, 134, 223, 243, 311.
- Philosophy: 152.
- Religion: 106, 137, 169, 269, 308.
- Romance Languages: French 126, 221, 222, 233, 248, 331; Italian 111, 128, 134, 221, 231, 232; Romance 220, 225, 324; Spanish 221, 222.
- Slavic Languages: 100; Russian 259.
Appropriate courses and seminars may be substituted for the above courses with the permission of the instructor and the Medieval Studies Advisor. Duke classes are acceptable substitutes, upon approval by the Medieval Studies advisor, and the student's departmental advisor.