Autumn 2018 MEDREN Courses
MEDREN 2510 - "The Court of Charlemagne" *Canceled*
Description: Barbarian invasions, Dark Age church history, Charlemagne's campaigns to rebuild the Empire and thwart Muslim incursions, and the epics that relive it all. How can Dark Age climate change, war, political posturing and disease inform us as we face similar problems?
Class: 33645
Time: WeFr 2:20PM - 3:40PM
Room:
Instructor: Sarah-Grace Heller (French and Italian)
Required Texts:
1. The Song of Roland and Other Poems of Charlemagne, trans. Simon Gaunt and Karen Pratt. Oxford World’s Classics. ISBN 978-0-19-965554-0
Prereq: Not open to students with credit for Medieval 210. GE culture and ideas and diversity global studies course.
MEDREN 2666, "Magic and Witchcraft"
In this interdisciplinary course, students will explore the history and culture of witchcraft and magic from ca. 400 to 1700 C.E. within sociological, religious, and intellectual contexts. As students gain basic knowledge of the history of witchcraft and magic during these periods (both actual practice and contemporary beliefs about that practice), they will develop some ability to understand why these practices and beliefs developed as they did and what societal and cultural needs drove them.
Class: 33611
Time: MWF 10:20AM - 11:15AM
Room: Smith Lab 1009
Instructor: Sarah Iles Johnston (Classics)
Prereq: Not open to students with credit for Medieval 240. GE culture and ideas and diversity global studies course.
MEDREN 4217, “Early Modern London: Urban Spaces and Popular Culture”
Description: This interdisciplinary course studies the relationship between literature, society, and place in London from the Reformation to the English Civil War. Our focus will be the urban spaces and institutions that were central to the literary and cultural life of the metropolis (sites of cultural production and consumption). We will explore theatrical neighborhoods like the Bankside and plays performed there like Thomas Dekker’s Shoemaker’s Holiday that brought the city on stage. We will examine the erotic and satiric poetry composed by young law students like John Donne at the Inns of Court, England’s third university, as well as street pageants penned by men like Thomas Middleton to celebrate London’s civic achievements. We will spend time in and around St Paul’s Cathedral where London’s book trade was centered and where crowds congregated to hear the land’s best preachers. And we will be sure to visit less salubrious places, like the alleys and taverns that came to be associated with religious and political radicalism, as well as poetic invention. Students will come away from the course with a vivid sense of Renaissance London’s cultural topography, especially its defining literary spaces and their communities of writers, actors, and audiences.
Class: 34218
Time: TuTh 11:10AM - 12:30PM
Room: Hagerty Hall 455B
Instructor: Christopher Highley (English)
Required Texts: TBD
MEDREN 4504, "The Arthurian Legends"
Description: The medieval tales of King Arthur's court and the Knights of the Round Table in history, myth, literature, art, and music.
Class: 34876
Time: TuTh 12:45-2:05PM
Room: McPherson Lab 1035
Instructor:Ethan Knapp (English)
Required Texts: TBD
Prereq: 6 cr hrs in literature. Not open to students with credit for Medieval 504.
MEDREN 5610, "Manuscript Studies"
Description: This course introduces students to the pre-print culture of the European Middle Ages and trains them in the fundamental skills required to read and understand handwritten books, documents, and scrolls from ca. 500-1500 AD. Students will work with manuscripts held in the OSU library’s Special Collections and will benefit from numerous guest lectures. Knowledge of Latin and other medieval languages is NOT a prerequisite for enrollment.
Class: 33608 (UG), 33609 (G)
Time: TuTh 2:20PM - 3:40PM
Room: Thompson Library 150A
Instructor: Eric Johnson (Rare Books), Leslie Lockett (English)
Required Texts: Introduction to Manuscript Studies, Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham, Cornell University Press (2007).
MEDREN 7899, "Medieval and Renaissance Colloquia"
Description: This course consists of 1 credit hour per semester for attending CMRS lectures, faculty colloquia and subsequent discussions or preceding "open forum" events. This will amount to: 4 1-hour+ CMRS lectures by visiting professors and at least 1 internal lecture, plus subsequent (or preceding) discussion sessions (total = approx. 3 hours per event); at least one lunch with visiting faculty member (2 hours); active involvement with MRGSA and its activities; and meetings with the Center director (one hour once per term). With permission of the Director other professional activities (e.g. attendance at appropriate conferences, on or off campus; other relevant lectures hosted by OSU units if CMRS colloquia are not scheduled) may be substituted.
Prereq: Grad standing. Repeatable to a maximum of 3 cr hrs. This course is graded S/U.
Class: 9247*
Time: Fri 4:00PM - 6:00PM
Room: TBA
Instructor: TBD
CMRS Individual Studies
MEDREN 4193, 8193 – Individual Studies
Description: Students may register for individual directed study under this number for work not normally offered in courses.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 9 cr hrs or 3 completions. This course is graded S/U.
MEDREN 4998, 4998H, 4999, and 4999 - Undergraduate Research and Thesis Hours
If interested in enrolling in individual studies or research/thesis hours, please contact CMRS Associate Director and Student Advisor, Professor Leslie Lockett.
For more information about the Center’s Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization and Graduate Certificate programs, please visit this page.
*Enrollment open to graduate students, undergraduate students only with permission from the Center and the Graduate School. Attendance based upon lecture series schedule; see the CMRS Events webpage for more information.
[pdf] - Some links on this page are to Adobe .pdf files requiring Adobe Reader. If you need these files in a more accessible format, please contact cmrs@osu.edu.