Offered This Year

Medieval Studies is not offering any summer courses.

Elective credit is available for students interested in taking AHVS 373A: The Art and Architecture of Japan.

CRN: 31334

MEDI 100: Enter the Middle Ages

This thematic introduction to the medieval world will emphasize the interdisciplinarity of Medieval Studies and the methodological approaches of its cognate disciplines. Content will be structured and presented as a series of interconnected thematic units, including “Faith Traditions,” “Lords and Land,” “Books and Learning,” “Village and Town,” “Artists and Craftspeople” and “Knights and Warfare.” Conceptions of the Middle Ages will also be explored, ranging from the pejorative opinions of Renaissance Humanists to the Romantics’ idealism and re-enactments in contemporary film, literature and gaming.
For more information, visit us online at http://www.uvic.ca/humanities/medieval/
This course will emphasize scholarly approaches to both the Middle Ages and modern renderings of medieval material. Upon completion of MEDI 100, students will recognize the principal social, political and religious phenomena that defined the medieval world, including the impact of intercultural dialogue between Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities.

 Instructor: Dr. Michael Reed

MEDI 303: The Medieval World

An interdisciplinary introduction to the Middle Ages through a comparative overview of medieval cultures and civilizations until about CE 1500, with a focus on the formation of medieval Christian Europe and its relations with Judaism, Byzantine Christianity, and Islam.

Instructor: Dr. Michael Reed

MEDI 320A: Boccaccio's Decameron

Considers Boccaccio's collection of tales, The Decameron, in the context of his life as a pre-Humanist and his association with the poet Francis Petrarch; surveys interdisciplinary cultural productions inspired by the work.

Instructor: Dr. Joseph Grossi

MEDI 200: Myths and Legends of the Middle Ages

Heroes, Beasts, and Other-worldly Beings

This thematic introduction to selected myths and legends of the medieval world will emphasize heroes, fantastic animals, other-worldly beings and syncretic myth-making practices. Topics will include contexts for the use(s) of heroic and fantastic stories in various cultural and faith traditions (including Scandinavian, Chinese and Islamic); the relationship(s) between textual and visual depictions of heroes and fantastic stories; and the resonance of medieval heroism and the fantastic in contemporary societies. This course will emphasize scholarly approaches to medieval and modern renderings of myth and legend. Upon completion of MEDI 200, students will be apprised of the variety and use of heroic and fantastic stories in the medieval world.

Instructor: Dr. Michael Reed

MEDI 360: Selected Topics in Medieval Culture

Topic: The Lives of Ovadia HaGer

More information coming.

Instructor: Dr. Shamma Boyarin

Available this term for elective credit:

GMST 369:
From Crime in the Sagas to Crime Fiction in Today's Iceland

In the medieval Icelandic sagas crime is problematized in a different way from modern crime fiction. Nevertheless, crimes occur, some of them are hidden and need to be investigated. Building on this, we will study some of the Icelandic authors that have been translated to English, as well as crime films and television series from Iceland, looking for what they have in common with the saga writers, notably in their use of dreams, the paranormal and the role of the landscape.

Instructor: Dr. Torfi Tulinius, visiting scholar for the Richard and Marget Beck Lecture Series in Icelandic Literature, past Medieval Studies Lansdowne lecturer and Medieval Studies Conference speaker.