Offered This Year

Medieval Studies is not offering any summer courses.

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.

Monday and Thursday 11:30 - 1:00

 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.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 12:30 - 1:30

Instructor: Dr. Michael Reed

MEDI 320B: Petrarch's Poetry and Legacy

Considers the career of Francis Petrarch, his influential love poetry and letters, his literary friendships and his enduring obsession with Laura. Highlights the milieu of his work in fourteenth-century Europe. Emphasizes the lyrics of the Canzoniere but also includes Petrarch's correspondence, On Familiar Matters and Of Riper Years, reflections on his life and thought over four decades.

Instructor: Dr. Joseph Grossi

MEDI 348: Themes in Medieval Literature

Topic: Children's Literature

Children were objects of affection and close attention in the later Middle Ages. We will consider a variety of evidence including school grammars, animal fables, and didactic manuals directed at the young, starting with elementary primers on the ABCs and ending with mature fictions devoted to class identity, sexual activity, and racial difference.

Instructor: Dr. Allan Mitchel

MEDI360: Selected Topics in Medieval Culture

Topic: Medieval Warefare

An interdisciplinary investigation of a selected topic in the evolution of medieval culture, with an emphasis to be placed on artistic, intellectual, or spiritual life of the time.

 Instructor: Dr. Evanthia Baboula

MEDI 398: Life and Death in the Viking World

A detailed look at the nature and impact of the Viking expansion in the North Atlantic (including the British Isles, the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland and North America) in the period defined rather broadly from c. 800-1300 AD. The social and ecological consequences of migration are explored, drawing on a variety of sources including archaeological data, saga literature and historical sources. Misrepresentation of the Vikings in the modern world will be addressed.

Instructor: Dr. Erin McGuire

Please note, this course requires 3rd year standing.

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.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 1:30 - 2:30

Instructor: Dr. Michael Reed

MEDI 304: Encountering the Middle Ages

Topic: Medieval Scotland in 24 objects

Did the Picts really paint their faces blue? Why did a group of Vikings leave a hoard of Christian silver buried in a field? Did William Wallace actually wear a kilt into battle? What led Scotland’s barons to write a letter to the pope on a piece of sheepskin? Why did Stewart kings prefer massive glass windows? In Encountering the Middle Ages: Medieval Scotland in 24 Objects, we will unpack the history of medieval Scotland, from the end of Roman rule to the start of the Renaissance. Moving beyond the textual record, we will explore Scotland’s past through a multidisciplinary, object-centred lens—from carvings, coins, and castles to charters, clarsachs, and crowns. Students are encouraged to critically examine the historical sources, both textual and artefactual, and to particularly consider gaps or biases in the record.

This course will be fully online, Monday and Thursday at 11:30

Instructor: Dr. Christina Cowart-Smith

MEDI 420: Topics in Medieval Objects

Topic: Experimental Archaeology and Medieval Textiles

Approaches to material culture in the premodern world. Draws together methods and topics from various disciplines, including art history, archeology and digital humanities.

Instructor: Dr. Erin McGuire