Last updated: August 15, 2008 @ 11:17AM

Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Director
R. Andrew McDonald

Adjunct Professor
André Basson (Campus Ministries)

Participating Faculty
Lynn Arner (Women's Studies), Michael J. Carter (Classics), Fanny Dolansky (Classics), Dianne Dutton (Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures), Corrado Federici (Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures) Rosemary Hale (History), Mathew Martin (English Language and Literature), R. Andrew McDonald (History), Carol Merriam (Classics), Behnaz Mirzai (History), Catherine Parayre (Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures), Brian Power (Music), Virginia Reh (Dramatic Arts), Felipe Ruan (Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures), Elizabeth Sauer (English Language and Literature), David Schimmelpenninck (History), Angus Somerville (English Language and Literature), Ernesto Virgulti (Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures)

Academic Adviser
Liz Kaethler

General Information

Administrative Assistant
Cathy Bouwers

905-688-5550, extension 5325
Glenridge 248

The Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies offers an interdisciplinary program focused on the period from Late Antiquity to the year 1660. Faculty and courses are drawn from many different disciplines within the University emphasizing the interrelations among art, architecture, history, music and literature. The program encourages the study of Medieval and Renaissance culture(s) across disciplinary boundaries.

Course offerings and faculty interests range from the last centuries of the Roman world to Renaissance Italy, from Byzantium to Iceland, and from the reading of Latin literature to the analysis of Chaucer, Dante and Shakespeare among many others, as well as the music and art of the period.

The Middle Ages and Renaissance are instrumental in shaping the cultures in which we live. The interdisciplinary understanding of how Medieval and Renaissance cultures worked will illustrate their legacy to us, and their importance in shaping who and what we are. The program seeks to develop the skills and habits of critical inquiry, analysis, argument and expression needed for the rigorous treatment of these questions.

The Centre advises students to have their programs reviewed each year by the Faculty of Humanities Undergraduate Adviser and/or the Director. Students planning to enter fourth year are required to have their programs approved by the Faculty of Humanities Undergraduate Adviser as well as the Director.

Students considering graduate work in Medieval and/or Renaissance Studies should note that graduate programs normally require competence in Latin and other languages depending on the specific area of study.

Language Requirement for Humanities Majors

Students in the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies are required to complete one credit in a language other than English. Where half-credit courses are used to satisfy the requirements, both half-credits must be in the same language. It is recommended that students satisfy this requirement by year 2. Latin is strongly recommended.

Program Notes
  1. Honours students must complete 5.0 credits from List Courses: 2.0 credits from List A, 2.0 credits from List B and 1.0 credit may be chosen from either List A or List B. Pass students must complete 4.0 List Courses: 2.0 credits from List A and 2.0 credits from List B.
  2. Students may fulfil one of their required List courses by taking a maximum of 1.0 credit from the following courses: CLAS 3M20-3M29, HIST 2F62, 2P96, 3P60, MUSI 4P55.
  3. In all 20 credit degree programs, at least 12 credits must be numbered 2(alpha)00 or above, six of which must be numbered 2(alpha)90 or above and of these, three must be numbered 3(alpha)90 or above. In all 15 credit degree programs, at least seven credits must be numbered 2(alpha)00 or above, three of which must be numbered 2(alpha)90 or above.

List Courses

List A
·   ENGL 2P19, 3P91, 3P92, 3P95, 3P96, 3P97
·   HIST 2P03, 2P04, 3P30, 3Q93, 4V29
·   MUSI 4P50
·   WISE 2V22
List B
·   DART 3P91
·   ENGL 2P21, 2P24, 2P84, 3P20, 3P22, · 2P80, 2P81, 2P82, 2P83
·   HIST 2P61, 2P91
·   MUSI 4P51, 4P96

Honours Program

Year 1
·   MARS 1F90
·   one language credit other than English (see language requirement)
·   one Science context credit
·   one Social Science context credit
·   one elective credit
Year 2
·   MARS 2P90 and 2P91
·   two credits from List Courses (see program notes 1, 2 and 3)
·   two elective credits
Year 3
·   MARS 3P90 and 3P91
·   two credits from List Courses (see program notes 1, 2 and 3)
·   two elective credits (see program note 3)
Year 4
Thesis option:
·   MARS 4P80, 4P81, 4P98 and 4P99
·   one credit from List Courses or MARS 3V90-99 (see program note 3)
·   two elective credits (see program note 3)
Course Work option:
·   MARS 4P80 and 4P81
·   one credit from MARS 3V90-99
·   one credit from MARS list (see program notes 1, 2 and 3)
·   two elective credits (see program note 3)

Pass Program

Satisfactory completion of the first three years of the honours program entitles students to apply for a Pass degree.

Description of Courses

Note that not all courses are offered in every session. Refer to the applicable term timetable for details.

# Indicates a cross listed course
* Indicates primary offering of a cross listed course

Prerequisites and Restrictions

Students must check to ensure that prerequisites are met. Students may be deregistered, at the request of the instructor, from any course for which prerequisites and/or restrictions have not been met.
MARS 1F90
Medieval and Renaissance Civilizations
Key themes, problems and topics in Medieval and Renaissance civilizations, including: the development of concepts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; notions of decline, renewal, rebirth and reformation in the West; sources and methods of inquiry.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.

MARS 2P90
Beowulf to Boccaccio: Great Books and Writers of the Middle Ages
Major medieval writers and selections from their works. Writers include the Beowulf poet, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Chaucer and Christine de Pisan
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to MARS majors until date specified in Registration guide.
Prerequisite: MARS 1F90 or permission of the Director.

MARS 2P91
Castle, Cathedral and Manor: Medieval Architecture and Society
Relationship of trends in military, religious, domestic, urban and monumental architecture of the Middle Ages to changes in medieval society; the relationship of medieval architecture and art to thought.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to MARS majors until date specified in Registration guide.
Prerequisite: MARS 2P90 or permission of the Director.

MARS 3P90
Prose and Poetry of the Renaissance
Themes and style in the works of 15th- and 16th-century continental writers; humanism and philosophical treatises; realism and classicism; Petrarchan ideal in lyric poetry; quérelle des anciens et des modernes; imitation and originality; the status of the vernacular. Authors may include Machiavelli, Castiglione, Ariosto, Pico, Valla, Ficino, Erasmus, the Plaeiade poets, Rabelais, and Montaigne.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to MARS majors until date specified in Registration guide.
Prerequisites: MARS 2P90 and 2P91 or permission of the Director

MARS 3P91
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Debates concerning the early manifestations of Renaissance art; principal works of painting, sculpture and architecture of the Italian Renaissance; overview of the Northern Renaissance; representative artworks from France, Spain, Portugal, England and Scotland; Christian and Classical iconography; ecclesiastical and secular art; the sacred and the profane; interconnections among artworks and literature.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to MARS majors until date specified in Registration guide.
Prerequisite: MARS 3P90 or permission of the Director.

MARS 3V90-3V95
Themes in Medieval-Renaissance Civilizations
Seminar, 3 hours per week.

MARS 3V96-3V99
Problems in Medieval-Renaissance Civilizations
Seminar, 3 hours per week.

MARS 4P80
End of the Ancient World and the Making of the Middle Ages
Transformation of the Roman world between the third and ninth centuries from a variety of critical perspectives, emphasizing recent historical and archaeological work.
Restriction: students must have a minimum 70 percent major average and approval to year 4 (honours).
Prerequisite: MARS 3P91.

MARS 4P81
The Cross Goes North
Conversion of Europe to Christianity as a significant theme in the history of the first millennium and the development of medieval European culture. Processes in the conversion of the so-called barbarian peoples of northern Europe between about 500 and 1000.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: students must have a minimum 70 percent major average and approval to year 4 (honours).
Prerequisite: MARS 4P80.

MARS 4P98
Honours Seminar in Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Critical approaches to Medieval and Renaissance studies from a variety of disciplines and perspectives.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: students must have a minimum 75 percent major average and approval to year 4 (honours).
Prerequisite: MARS 3P90 and 3P91.

MARS 4P99
Honours Thesis
Major project in Medieval and Renaissance Studies on a topic of mutual interest to the student and instructor.
Restriction: students must have a minimum 75 percent major average and approval to year 4 (honours).
Prerequisite: MARS 4P98.