Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Bulletin of Yale University
 
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Medieval Studies

53 Wall, Rm 310, 432.0672
www.yale.edu/medieval/
M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.

Chair and Director of Graduate Studies
Anders Winroth [F]
Alastair Minnis (Acting [Sp])

Professors
R. Howard Bloch, Gerhard Böwering, Carlos Eire, Margot Fassler, Roberta Frank, Paul Freedman, Harvey Goldblatt, Beatrice Gruendler, Dimitri Gutas, Valerie Hansen, Bentley Layton, Ivan Marcus, Dale Martin, John Matthews, Giuseppe Mazzotta, María Rosa Menocal, Alastair Minnis, Robert Nelson, Lee Patterson, Denys Turner, Anders Winroth

Associate Professors
Jessica Brantley, Jaime Lara

Assistant Professors
Jay Fisher, Jacqueline Jung, Óscar Martín, Nicole Rice, Youval Rotman

Lecturers
Adel Allouche, Marcia Colish, Walter Goffart, Susanne Roberts, Yechiel Schur, Barbara Shailor, William Whobrey

Fields of Study

Fields in this interdisciplinary program include history, history of art, history of music, religious studies, languages and literatures, linguistics, and philosophy.

Special Admissions Requirements

The General Test of the GRE is required. A writing sample of ten to twenty pages should be included with the application.

Special Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

Languages required are Latin, French, and German. Latin may be replaced with Arabic or Hebrew when appropriate. Proficiency in Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew is tested with an examination administered and evaluated by the department during the first term. Proficiency in French and German is demonstrated by passing the departmental examinations and should be achieved by the third term. Students will design their programs in close contact with the director of graduate studies. During the first two years students take fourteen term courses and must receive an Honors grade in at least four term courses the first year. Students take an oral examination, usually in the fifth term, on a set of three topics worked out in consultation with the director of graduate studies. Then, having nurtured a topic of particular interest, the student submits a dissertation prospectus that must be approved by the end of the third year. Upon completion of all predissertation requirements, including the prospectus, students are admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. What remains, then, is the writing, submission, and approval of the dissertation during the final two years.

Students in Medieval Studies participate in the Teaching Fellows Program in the third and fourth years.

Master’s Degrees

M.Phil. See Degree Requirements. In addition, the program offers an M.Phil. in Medieval Studies for students enrolled in the Ph.D. programs of relevant humanities departments. Requirements for this degree are (1) six courses in the medieval area from departments other than that in which the student is enrolled (two of these will normally be the Medieval Studies interdisciplinary seminar and either a course in research methodology [HIST 540 or NELC 850] or in Latin or Arabic Paleography); (2) proficiency in Latin, Arabic, or Hebrew as tested by an examination administered and evaluated by the department; and (3) an oral examination. These requirements are in addition to those in force in the student’s home department. The M.Phil. in Medieval Studies thus requires a year of study in addition to the five years required by the student’s home department. Fellowships that provide support for this extra year are available from the Graduate School; application forms may be obtained from the program in Medieval Studies.
M.A. (en route to the Ph.D.). Students enrolled in the Ph.D. program may qualify for the M.A. degree upon satisfactory completion of the first year. Minimum requirements include a High Pass average in courses and passing the Latin examination.
Master’s Degree Program. For this terminal master’s degree students must take at least seven term courses with a general average of High Pass and with at least one term course of Honors. Two languages are required: Latin and either French or German. No thesis is required.

Courses

MDVL 550a or b, Directed Reading.
By arrangement with faculty.

MDVL 551a, Theologies of Love in the Twelfth-Century Renaissance.  Margot Fassler.
W 1.30–3.20
The course focuses on five theologians who worked within particular religious communities to foster varying ideals of Christian love: Abelard, Hugh of St. Victor, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, and Richard of St. Victor. Attention is on their theological writings, the texts and music they created or promoted as theologians and as liturgists, and the historical understanding of changing trends in exegesis and the writing of liturgical texts in the course of the twelfth century. All texts are read in English translation, but students who wish to work with Latin texts and translations for their projects and other written work are encouraged to do so.

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