The medieval and renaissance studies minor reflects the interdisciplinary approach of the liberal arts tradition, allowing students to integrate a wide range of disciplines into the knowledge of a single historical period — the Middle Ages. Drawing on expertise from the fields of art, architecture, history, religion, philosophy and literature, students and faculty will concentrate on the time period in European history from 500 to 1650 C.E. During this time, we see the development of universities, parliaments and banks, as well as the emergence of cathedrals, chivalry as a code of personal and political conduct, cities as centers of commerce, global trade and the increasing use of vernacular languages for public functions. The late Middle Ages brought a series of challenges to Europe, including plague, war and the increasing persecution of non-Christians, yet the literature, art and architecture as well as the printing press and magnetic compass remain lasting legacies of the creative energy and inventiveness of Northern Europe and Renaissance Italy.
Best Medieval Movies (by historical accuracy [Halsall])
These are not necessarily completely accurate, but do try to stick to the period and known facts:
Mohammad, Messenger of God/The Message (1977)
Lebanon-UK, Religious, 180, Rated PG, Color
Director: Moustapha Akkad; Cast includes: Anthony Quinn, Irene Pappas
– In accordance with Islamic law, Muhammad is not actually shown on screen.
Becket (1964)
US, Historical/Drama, 148, No rating, Color
Director: Peter Glenville; Cast includes: Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton
– Based on Jean Anouilh’s play about Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas à Becket and his English King, Henry II. Although there is no historical data to support the suggestion, Anouilh sees a homosexual relationship. Superb film.
The Lion in Winter (1968)
UK, Historical/Drama, 135, No rating, Color
Director: Anthony Harvey: Cast includes: Katherine Hepburn (Eleanor), Peter O’Toole (Henry II), Anthony Hopkins (Richard the Lionheart)
– Probably the greatest of all “medieval movies.” For sheer enjoyment.
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
UK, Drama, 120, No rating, Color
Director: Fred Zinnemann: Cast includes: Paul Scofield
– The story of St. Thomas More as a man of conscience. Won six Oscars.
The Return of Martin Guerre (1982) [Alt: La Retour de Martin Guerre]
France, Historical, 111, No rating, Color
Director: Daniel Vigne, Jean Claude Carrierè: Cast includes: Gerard Depardieu
– Based on trial records about an impostor in 16th century Southern France. An excellent movie, with solid historical advice given by Natalie Zemon Davis to the film makers. Try to see subtitled version, not the dubbed one.
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) [Alt: La Passion de Jeanne D’Arc]
France, Historical, 77, No rating B&W
Director: Carl Dreyer; Cast includes: Renée Maria Falconetti
– held by Pauline Kael to be the greatest performance ever captured on film. The film was so powerful that it was initially banned in England. Based on actual trial transcripts.
The Mission (1986)
UK, Drama, 125, Rated PG, Color
Director: Roland Joffe; Cast includes: Robert DeNiro, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson
– The story of the Jesuit mission in Paraguay. Screenwriter Robert Bolt.
Best Medieval Movies (as films) [Halsall – In no particular order]:
Ben-Hur (1959)
US, Religious/Historical, 212, No rating, Color
Director: William Wyler: Cast includes: Charleton Heston, Stephen Boyd
– Based on Lew Wallace’s book. The story of Judah Ben-Hur and his boyhood friend Messala.
Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Russia, War/Historical, 107, No rating B&W
Director: Sergei Eisenstein, D.I. Vassillev; Cast includes: Nikolai Cherkassov
– The repelling of a German invasion in the 13th century. Score by Prokofiev. One of the great movies.
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Russia, Historical, 185, No rating, Color, B&W
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
– about the 15th-century icon painter.
– [From Mediev-l List “Worst Medieval Films” Discussion] On the other side of the ledger, has anyone else seen Tarkowski’s Andrei Rublev? I don’t know enough about Medieval Russia to judge it. It seemed to do a reasonable job portraying the period, and is cinematically outstanding, although Rublev’s character struck me as a bit too modern.
The War Lord (1965)
US, War/Historical/Drama, 123, No rating, Color
Director: Franklin Schaffner; Cast includes: Charlton Heston
– Based on Leslie Stevens’ The Lovers. Heston is a knight invoking the “right” to sleep with another man’s bride on their wedding night. (See Braveheart for the same myth)
-[From Mediev-l List “Worst Medieval Films” Discussion] -I must protest at the inclusion of The Warlord in this discussion. it is a very interesting film which Heston made after his success with Ben Hur and chose to do things like wear a bowl-cut hairdo which his PR men told him would ruin his reputation as a sex-symbol. Aside from the ius primae noctis, for which an interesting rationale is provided, the film is really quite realistic (the claustrophobic quarters of a dungeon fortress) and very interesting. recently re-released and worth a look.
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Sweden, Drama, 96, No rating B&W
Director: Ingmar Bergman: Cast includes: Max Von Sydow
– Set in 14th-century Sweden, about a knight returning from a crusade playing a chess game with death. The film made Bergman famo
Becket (1964)
US, Historical/Drama, 148, No rating, Color
Director: Peter Glenville; Cast includes: Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton
– Based on Jean Anouilh’s play about Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas à Becket and his English King, Henry II. Although there is no historical data to support the suggestion, Anouilh sees a homosexual relationship. Superb film.
The Lion in Winter (1968)
UK, Historical/Drama, 135, No rating, Color
Director: Anthony Harvey: Cast includes: Katherine Hepburn (Eleanor), Peter O’Toole (Henry II), Anthony Hopkins (Richard the Lionheart)
– Probably the greatest of all “medieval movies” for sheer enjoyment.
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
UK, Drama, 120, No rating, Color
Director: Fred Zinnemann: Cast includes: Paul Scofield
– The story of St. Thomas More as a man of conscience. Won six Oscars.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
US, Adventure, 102, No rating, Color
Director: Michael Curtiz, Willim Keighley ; Cast includes: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains
The Advocate [Alt: The Hour of the Pig]
US (1994): Historical/Drama/Crime
Director: David Thompson: Cast includes: Colin Firth
– A 15th-century lawyer defends a pig put on trial for murder.
The Return of Martin Guerre (1982) [Alt: La Retour de Martin Guerre]
France, Historical, 111, No rating, Color
Director: Daniel Vigne, Jean Claude Carrierè: Cast includes: Gerard Depardieu
– Based on trial records about an impostor in 16th century Southern France. An excellent movie, with solid historical advice given by Natalie Zemon Davis to the film makers. Try to see subtitled version, not the dubbed one.
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) [Alt: La Passion de Jeanne D’Arc]
France, Historical, 77, No rating B&W
Director: Carl Dreyer; Cast includes: Renée Maria Falconetti
– held by Pauline Kael to be the greatest performance ever captured on film. The film was so powerful that it was initially banned in England. Based on actual trial transcripts.
El Cid (1961)
US, War/Biography, 184, No rating, Color
Director: Anthony Mann; Cast includes: Sophia Loren (Chimene), Charlton Heston (Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar El Cid), John Fraser (King Alfonso).
– Quite good, in fact.
The Name of the Rose (1986)
France-Germany-Italy, Mystery/Historical, 130, Rated R, Color
Director: Cast includes: Sean Connery
– Based on the novel by Umberto Eco.
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988)
New Zealand, Fantasy/Adventure, 92, Rated PG, Color, B&W
Director: Vincent Ward; Cast includes: Bruce Lyons, Chris Hayward
– An odd story, but a good film. About an English boy who leads a group of villagers into a tunnel to escape the plague, and emerges in a modern city (Auckland?)
The Virgin Spring (1959)
Sweden, Drama, 88, No rating B&W
Director: Ingmar Bergman: Cast includes: Max Von Sydow
Story of religious medieval Swedish family whose daughter is raped by vagrants. Oscar for best foreign movie.
The Mission (1986)
UK, Drama, 125, Rated PG, Color
Director: Roland Joffe; Cast includes: Robert DeNiro, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson
– The story of the Jesuit mission in Paraguay. Screenwriter Robert Bolt.
Text and Artifacts
Museums and Art
Conferences
Graduate Programs
Myths Debunked
Fun and Fair/es
Video Clips
Dr. Saundra Weddle’s Book on Sister Giustina Niccolini
The Chronicle of Le Murate, completed by Sister Giustina Niccolini in 1598, is one of a small number of surviving documents that presents a nun’s own interpretation and synthesis of historical events. It recounts the roughly two hundred-year history of Florence’s largest convent, which attracted boarders, nuns and patrons from Italy’s elite families. The manuscript provides a view of life behind the enclosure walls and of nuns’ interaction with the world outside.
Dr. Cathy Blunk Continues Medieval Research
Dr. Cathy Blunk, Assistant Professor of French, had an opportunity to get medieval as she continued her research on textual and codicological representations of tournaments in late medieval narrative. Examining romances, chronicles, chivalric biographies, and other tournament accounts written in fifteenth-century French-speaking courts in the archives in Florence, Rome, Brussels, London, and Paris this past summer meant a deeper analysis of these texts, in particular a type of fifteenth-century tournament, the pas d’armes. In July 2015 she also presented a paper at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, England, in which she demonstrated how this research might help to determine whether jousts held in the city of Nancy in the mid-fifteenth century constituted, in fact, a pas d’armes. Continued research on this type of joust has been fulfilling as research is still necessary. The time spent researching the surviving documents, the meeting with other medievalists in an international setting, and a special viewing of a fourteenth-century tournament saddle at the Leeds Armoury helped confirm her interest in this field of study.
Administration of Premonstratensian Women’s Monasteries in 12th and 13th Century Germany
Monks and nuns together in a monastery? Dr. Shelley Wolbrink’s research examines the administration of Premonstratensian women’s monasteries in 12th and 13th century Germany. She extracts information from previously ignored witness lists, letters, property charters, and papal confirmations to demonstrate that male and female religious frequently worked together to coordinate economic transactions, make administrative decisions, and/or request the best relics. The article, “Necessary Priests and Lay Brothers: Male-Female Cooperation in the Premonstratensian Women’s Monasteries of Meer and Füssenich, 1140-1255” appears in Partners in Spirit: Men, Women, and Religious Life in Germany, 1100 – 1500, ed. by Fiona J. Griffiths and Julie Hotchin (Brepols 2014).
More information on how gender, spirituality, and authority intermingled in a medieval monastery can be found in the book’s description.
The medieval and renaissance studies minor offers preparation for students considering careers in education, publishing, museum administration, archival work and public service. For students contemplating their career plans, this minor provides a rigorous and broad-based liberal arts education that future employers will identify as evidence of creativity and critical thinking skills.
The Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor requires 15 credit hours of coursework. All prerequisites must be completed prior to enrollment in the following courses.
Choose 12 hours from at least two groups; no more than 6 hours in any one group.
*Medieval topics only
Study abroad is encouraged. Please check with the program director for consideration.
