Curriculum
The cluster curriculum is divided into two groups.  One group requires students to take graduate seminars within two major disciplines of medieval studies, history and literature.  Rather than simply importing objects of study from other fields, the best interdisciplinary work requires rigorous training in multiple disciplines.  These seminars will expose cluster students to the theoretical approaches and practical methodologies of other departments so that their work will be interdisciplinary in the truest sense of the term. 

The second set of requirements focus on concrete skills through courses in Latin and paleography and generous funding for additional language study, specialized codicology and paleography workshops, and the like.  In the medieval studies field such skills are the fundamental tools of interdisciplinary study.  A student of literature, narrowly defined, can usually get by with knowledge of one or two medieval vernaculars—but his field of inquiry would be seriously constrained by lack of access to historical and theological works of the period, which are overwhelmingly written in Latin.  Similarly, a student of art history will be tempted to gloss over the texts that accompany a painted miniature if she does not have the skills to decipher the handwriting on the manuscript page, much less identify the date and provenance of a crucial marginal annotation.  These skills are thus in no way ancillary to the following program of study; they are among its core competencies.

All students electing to join the Medieval Studies cluster must take the following core courses: 

MED. ST. 410  Medieval Latin Workshop 

This workshop meets weekly throughout the academic year and is led by a different faculty member each quarter.  Participants at various levels of proficiency read and translate medieval Latin texts together, ranging from the Vulgate (Latin Bible) to a wide selection of literary, historical, and religious texts.   The workshop is not a beginning language course (students should have had at least a year of intensive Latin or two years of regular Latin instruction before joining it), but instructors review difficult points of grammar as well as specialized medieval vocabulary and orthography.  Students earn a single course credit for one year’s participation.  All medievalists must attend the workshop until they have certified proficiency in Latin by passing a rigorous translation exam. 

MED. ST. 420  Medieval Doctoral Colloquium 

A non-credit, yearlong colloquium.  The Medieval Studies cluster sponsors visits by five or six speakers in various disciplines every year.  Graduate students are expected to attend Colloquium talks as long as they remain in residence and are warmly encouraged to have lunch with the speakers closest to their fields.  The graduate lunches are an indispensable part of each visit and may prove invaluable for research assistance and recommendations later on. 

ENGLISH 422  Studies in Medieval Literature 

Every Cluster student must take at least one course under this rubric for credit.  Recent offerings have included The Canterbury Tales; The Piers Plowman Tradition; Heresy, Rebellion, and the Book; Medieval Shakespeare / Renaissance Chaucer; Allegory and Gender; Medieval Drama; and Middle English Vision Narratives. 

HISTORY 440  Literature of Medieval History 

Every Cluster student must take at least one course under this rubric for credit.  Offerings include The Fourteenth Century; Europe in the High and Later Middle Ages; Medieval Popular Religion; Medieval Women; Hagiography; and Medieval Marriage.   

Other pertinent courses include: 

MED. ST. 430  Paleography 

Instruction in Latin and vernacular paleography is offered through both individual and group tutorials and may be taken with or without formal credit, depending on a student’s particular needs and stage in the program. 

ART HISTORY 420  Studies in Medieval Art 

Offerings include Medieval Encounters with Islam; Art and Crusade; Late Antique and Byzantine Art; and The Medieval Gift:  Anthropological Theory and Art-Historical Practice. 

FRENCH 410  Studies in Medieval Literature 

Offerings have included Marie de France, Chrétien de Troyes, and Christine de Pizan.

MUSICOL. 350  History of Western Music to 1499

PHILOSOPHY 421  Studies in Medieval Philosophy

Additional opportunities 

Aside from their regular departmental coursework, Cluster students might also take Classics courses on Latin authors regularly studied in the Middle Ages; independent studies (499 registrations) within or outside their home departments; medieval courses at the University of Chicago (available through the CIC Travelling Scholars’ program); and regularly scheduled seminars at the Newberry Library’s Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

All Cluster students are eligible for summer grants which may at various points cover language acquisition, specialized training in paleography or codicology, and manuscript research in collections and archives.