skip to content

Bulletin Archive

This archived information is dated to the 2008-09 academic year only and may no longer be current.

For currently applicable policies and information, see the current Stanford Bulletin.

Medieval Studies

In this section:

Minor in Medieval Studies

Up one level:

School of Humanities and Sciences

Committee in Charge: Philippe Buc, Hester Gelber, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Robert P. Harrison, Nancy S. Kollmann, Seth Lerer, William Mahrt, Bissera Pentcheva, Jennifer Summit, Rega Wood

Affiliated Faculty: Cecile Alduy (French and Italian), Theodore Andersson (German Studies), Vincent Barletta (Spanish and Portuguese), Shahzad Bashir (Religious Studies), Carl Bielefeldt (Religious Studies), George H. Brown (English), Philippe Buc (History), Steven Carter (Asian Languages), Charlotte Fonrobert (Religious Studies), Hester Gelber (Religious Studies), Avner Greif (Economics), Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht (French and Italian), Robert Harrison (French and Italian), Michelle Karnes (English), Nancy S. Kollmann (History), Seth Lerer (English, Comparative Literature), Mark E. Lewis (History), William Mahrt (Music), David Malkiel (Religious Studies), Michael Markham (Music), Kathryn Miller (History), Patricia Parker (Comparative Literature), Bissera Pentcheva (Art and Art History), Orrin W. Robinson (German Studies), Jesse Rodin (Music), Behnam Sadeki (Religious Studies), Stuart Sargent (Asian Languages), Jeffrey Schnapp (French and Italian), Carolyn Springer (French and Italian), Edward Steidle (English), Jennifer Summit (English), Rega Wood (Philosophy)

Program Offices: Building 240

Mail Code: 94305-2022

Department Phone: (650) 723-3413

Email: idstudies.moore@stanford.edu

Web Site: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/medieval

Courses offered by the Program in Medieval Studies have the subject code MEDVLST, and are listed in the "Medieval Studies [MEDVLST] Courses" section of this bulletin.

The Medieval Studies Program is administered through Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, but the degree is conferred by the Dean of Undergraduate Studies Advisory Committee on Individually Designed Majors. The committee has approved the program as listed below. Students interested in pursuing a Medieval Studies major or minor should visit the program office in Building 240 and consult the Director of Medieval Studies. The major is normally declared by the beginning of the student's third year.

The major combines interdisciplinary breadth with a disciplinary focus. The interdisciplinary emphasis is provided by MEDVLST 165, Crusades: Interdisciplinary Approaches, by upper-division interdisciplinary colloquia, and by the requirement that students take courses in three different areas. Depth is ensured by the requirement that students take at least four courses in one area. A faculty adviser helps each student choose courses that integrate the requirements of breadth and depth. To that end, the following guidelines are provided.

The student should take a minimum of 60 units of course work from the list of Medieval Studies courses or appropriate alternatives approved by the director, including ten courses as follows:

  1. The introductory course, MEDVLST 165, Crusades: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Offered alternate years. Not offered 2008-09.
  2. Two upper-division courses, ideally with an interdisciplinary component, in any field dealing with the Middle Ages.
  3. Four courses in one of the following categories:
    1. Literature: English, French, German and Scandinavian, Italian, Latin, Slavic, Spanish
    2. History
    3. Art History, Drama, Music
    4. Humanities, Philosophy, Religious Studies (certain Humanities courses may fulfill requirements within other categories)
  4. Two courses in a second category from the above list.
  5. One course in a third category from the above list.

Students doing the Medieval Studies concentration for the Humanities major should use these requirements as guidelines for developing their programs of study.

In addition to the ten courses, a language proficiency equal to two years of college-level study is suggested in Latin or one of the following: French, German, Italian, or Spanish.

Medieval Studies has a Writing in the Major (WIM) requirement. It can be fulfilled in one of three ways:

  1. Through a course designated as WIM by a department contributing to the Medieval Studies major.
  2. Through a paper in a Medieval Studies course.
  3. Through an independent paper with a member of the Medieval Studies faculty.

Check with the program office regarding specific requirements for each of these options. Courses used to satisfy Medieval Studies major requirements must be taken for a grade.

OPTIONAL COURSES

Students may choose courses from the following list to complete the 60 unit major requirement:

ARTHIST 105/305. Introduction to Medieval Art

ARTHIST 106/306. Byzantine Art and Architecture, 300-1453 C. E.

ARTHIST 107/307. Age of Cathedrals

ARTHIST 108/308. Virginity and Power: Mary in the Middle Ages

ARTHIST 187/387. Arts of War and Peace: Late Medieval and Early Modern Japan, 1500-1868 (Same as JAPANGEN 87)

ARTHIST 207A. The Message of Light and Color: The Art of Mosaics in the Mediterranean

ARTHIST 409. Iconoclasm

ECON 228. Institutions and Organizations in Historical Perspective

ENGLISH 102. Chaucer

ENGLISH 301A. Medieval Affect

FRENLIT 130. Authorship, Book Culture, and National Identity in Medieval and Renaissance France

GERGEN 38A/138. Introduction to Germanic Languages.

GERGEN 50N. Charlemagne's Germany

GERLIT 257. Gothic

HISTORY 110A. Europe from Late Antiquity to 1500

HISTORY 133A. Yorkist and Tudor England

HISTORY 135/335. History of European Law, Medieval to Contemporary

HISTORY 182. Medieval Islamic History, 600-1500

HISTORY 212/312. Holy Wars: Medieval Perspectives

HISTORY 217A/317A. Poverty and Charity in Medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam

HISTORY 217B/317B. Land of Three Religions: Medieval Spain

HISTORY 232G/332G. When Worlds Collide: The Trial of Galileo

HISTORY 282B/382B. Islamic Thought and Culture in the Premodern Middle East, 800-1800

HISTORY 314. Graduate Core Colloquium in Medieval European History

HISTORY 317/322. Medieval Seminar: Classics and Key Works

ITALGEN 236E. Purgatorio/Paradiso

ITALGEN 264E. Petrarch and Petrarchism (Same as COMPLIT 216)

LAW 586. Classical Islamic Law (Same as RELIGST 201/301)

MUSIC 40. Music History to 1600

MUSIC 140/240. Studies in Medieval Music

MUSIC 141/241. Studies in Renaissance Music

MUSIC 221. Topics in the History of Theory

MUSIC 301A. Analysis of Music: Modal

MUSIC 310. Research Seminar in Musicology

PHIL 115/215. Problems in Medieval Philosophy

PHIL 248. Medieval Latin Paleography

RELIGST 84. Mystics, Pilgrims, Monks, and Scholars: Religious Devotion in Medieval Christianity

RELIGST 172. Sex, Body, and Gender in Medieval Religion

RELIGST 222. Literature and Society in Medieval Islam

RELIGST 223. Studying Islam: History, Methods, Debates

RELIGST 227/327. The Qur'ân

RELIGST 258/358. Japanese Buddhist Texts

RELIGST 263. Judaism and the Body

RELIGST 271A,B. Dante's Spiritual Vision

RELIGST 308. Medieval Japanese Buddhism

RELIGST 226/326. Philosophy and Kabbalah in Jewish Society: Middle Ages and Early Modern Period

SPANLIT 105N. Don Quixote

SPANLIT 157. Introduction to Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Literatures (Same as PORTLIT 157)

SPANLIT 216. Other Words: Crypto-Muslims in Early Modern Iberia

SPANLIT 314. Poetic Form and Performance: The Medieval Iberian Lyric

SPANLIT 329. The Valencian Segle d'Or

© Stanford University - Office of the Registrar. Archive of the Stanford Bulletin 2008-09. Terms of Use | Copyright Complaints