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Department: Medieval Studies

Coordinator: Professor Sara McDougall

The Graduate Center

365 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10016

Email: medievalstudies@gc.cuny.edu

https://www.gc.cuny.edu/medievalstudies

FACULTY

Anna Ayse Akasoy, Ammiel Alcalay, Jennifer Ball, Glenn Burger, Cynthia Hahn, Eric Ivison, Steven Kruger, Erika Lin, Laura Mancia, Sara McDougall, Hyunhee Park, Kristina Richardson, Michael Sargent, Karl Steel, Anne Stone, Andrew Tomasello, Paola Ureni, Warren Woodfin

THE PROGRAM

The Certificate Program in Medieval Studies offers courses and seminars for students interested in Art History, Comparative Literature, English, French, Latin American, Iberian and Latino Cultures, History, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, and Theatre. Students who complete the interdisciplinary concentration receive a certificate in Medieval Studies.

The program enables students Interested in medieval studies to broaden their knowledge of medieval culture and to pursue their interests in a more comprehensive context than that afforded by specialization in a single field. Since it emphasizes interdisciplinary research, the Medieval Studies program also encourages students to follow a pattern of studies that reflects the interdisciplinary conditions in which the works of the Middle Ages were created.

Resources for Research and Training

In addition to the Graduate Center’s Mina Rees Library, the student engaged in medieval studies enjoys the resources of over sixty libraries, museums, and collections in the Greater New York area that have special medieval materials. Among these are the New York Public Library, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (including the Cloisters), the American Numismatic Society, the Grolier Club of New York, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the General Theological Seminary. A student association, The Medieval Study, provides opportunities for the presentation of papers and for mutual exchange among students in the various disciplines. The program also sponsors a series of colloquia.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CERTIFICATE IN MEDIEVAL STUDIES

Candidates for the certificate in Medieval Studies must already be enrolled in one of the programs at the Graduate Center. To earn the certificate, the student must take the following courses: MSCP 70100 Introduction to Medieval Studies, at least one Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies seminar (MSCP 80500), and at least two courses in disciplines other than the student’s own field of doctoral study. The student must also demonstrate a reading proficiency in premodern Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, or another language in use between 500-1500, selected on consultation with the MSCP coordinator.

Courses

The Medieval Studies Certificate Program offers the following courses under its own rubric:

MSCP 70100 Introduction to Medieval Studies

MSCP 70900 Readings in Medieval Latin

30 hours plus conference, 3 credits

MSCP 79800 Independent Studies

Variable credit

MSCP 80500 Seminar in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies

(Seminar topics have included ‘‘Women in the High Middle Ages,” “The Bible in the Middle Ages,” “Western Islam in the Middle Ages,” and “Orality and Literacy in the Middle Ages.”)

MSCP 80700 Seminar in Textual Studies

(Seminar topics have included ‘‘Editing the Medieval Text’’ and ‘‘Medieval and Early Renaissance Paleography.’’) In addition, the various doctoral disciplines offer about ten medieval studies courses each semester. To supplement these courses, independent study can be arranged with any member of the faculty (with the approval of the Executive Officer of the student’s home program).

MSCP 89000 Dissertation Workshop

30 hours, 0 credits

Representative Courses

Age of Giotto: Italy 1250–1400

Ancient and Medieval Political Thought

Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer Exclusive of The Canterbury Tales

The Historian and Medieval Visual Culture

History of the High Middle Ages 900–1215

History of the Jews in the Medieval Muslim World 622–1147

Image and Idea in Romanesque and Medieval Art

Introduction to Medieval Irish

Introduction of Old English

Levantine Culture between Empire and Nation

Libro de buen amor

Literature of Medieval European History

Maimonidian Controversy

Margery Kemp in Context

The Medieval Cathedral as Multivalent Symbol

The Medieval Epic

Medieval French Romance of Adventure

Medieval Literature in Britain

Medieval Philosophy

Medieval Poetics

Medieval Speculations

Medieval Welsh

The Medieval World in Travel Narratives, Geographies, and Maps

Paris, 1130–1270: Creation of a Capital

Performing Medieval Drama

Piers Plowman and Late Medieval Culture

Postcolonial Chaucer

Saints and Society in the Medieval West

Trecento Painting and Sculpture, 1250–1400