Book of Hours, the Netherlands, second half of 15th century Medieval Studies Program Description

Cornell’s Medieval Studies Program is designed to provide students with expertise and professional success in the fields of particular departments, the members of whom will likely form the majority of the students’ Special Committees.  But Medieval Studies also presents graduate students with combinations of scholars in clusters of study that might not be as visible in traditionally defined departmental graduate training.  At the right are listed just some of the possible clusters of graduate study available in Medieval Studies, with the names of members of the Medieval Studies Graduate Field who regularly teach and mentor students in those clusters, and some information about courses or other resources.  For further information about individual faculty listed here, see http://www.arts.cornell.edu/medieval/People/faculty.htm.

This section also contains information for undergraduates and from Cornell University's Procedural Guide for the graduate field of Medieval Studies, in addition to a comprehensive list of the Medieval Studies course offerings since 1993. More information on student life is available under the "People" heading.

Archaeology; Art History; Asian Studies; Celtic Studies; English Literature & Language; Gender & Sexuality Studies; German Studies & Germanic Philology; History; Iberian Peninsula Studies; Latin Language & Literature; Linguistics; Literary & Critical Theory; Musicology; Near Eastern Studies; Old Norse Studies; Paleography & Textual Studies; Philosophy; Romance Literary & Linguistic Studies; Russian Language & Literature

 Cornell University Facilities

Undergraduate Concentration in MS

 Procedural Guide for the Graduate Field of MS

 Course Descriptions



Latin Language and Literature

Field Members:   Charles Brittain, Andrew Galloway, Thomas Hill, Scott MacDonald, Eric Rebillard, Carin Ruff, Samantha Zacher

Courses in Philosophy, Classics, and English regularly present aspects of the medieval Latin intellectual and literary tradition spanning the Middle Ages, and Medieval Studies offers a Survey of Medieval Latin.  There, Professor Ruff introduces students to the special linguistic features of post-classical Latin and the characteristic genres and modes of discourse of learned culture in the Middle Ages, including scriptural, exegetical, encyclopedic, narrative, epistolary, hagiographical, and homiletic texts.  Before enrolling in that course, students should have significant reading experience and a solid grasp of Latin grammar and should be prepared to undertake the study of advanced topics in Latin syntax, lexicon, and prosody.  A Topics in Medieval Latin course is also offered by Medieval Studies, treating special subjects in more depth.