Welcome to Medieval Studies

Explore the human condition

The Medieval Studies minor offers the opportunity to address a variety of questions about the Middle Ages as well as about our own time: Why did thousands of Christian soldiers march off to uncertain wars against the "infidels" in the Crusades? How does an understanding of these holy wars enable us to think about conflicts fought over competing religious ideologies today? How does an understanding of medieval antifeminism assist our analysis of modern sexual inequality and discrimination?

Whether you study the past for the sake of its own triumphs and failures, or as a distant mirror reflecting our own, the academic pursuit of medieval culture opens up innumerable opportunities to explore the human condition in its many varied forms.