Fall/Winter 2023-24 Courses

> Art History
> Classical Studies
> Comparative Literature and Culture
> English Studies

> French Studies
> German
> History
> Latin

> Medieval Studies
> Music
> Philosophy
> Religious Studies
> Theological Studies

See Western Academic Timetable for course delivery details.

Medieval Studies

Medieval Studies 1022 (001) - Introduction to Medieval Studies
The medieval aesthetic, political and moral outlook, sense of the divine and (most obviously) languages all frustrate modern expectations. To study the Middle Ages, therefore, the modern student must engage with the academic disciplines (art history, philosophy, theology, comparative literature, etc.) which seek to illuminate these points of contrast.

This course will not attempt to survey the entire 1000 years of European history, literature, and culture that constitute the medieval world. Instead, we will focus on four topics: early monks and nuns (400-700), the age of Vikings (800-1100), tournaments and courtly society (1300s) and the fall of Constantinople (1453). We will approach each topic from a variety of points of view, using a variety of academic disciplines. The course will introduce you to some of the topics that define the Middle Ages and it will provide training in some of the many disciplines necessary to understand the medieval world. 1.0 course
DRAFT Syllabus

Medieval Studies 3022G (001) - Introduction to Medieval Manuscripts (cross-listed with Classical Studies 3906G)
Using materials available in the Rare Books Room and from private collections, this course will familiarize students with the investigation of medieval manuscripts. It will introduce medieval scripts, the description of a medieval manuscript, issues of provenance and date, and the decoration used. Students will consider the preparation of ink and pigments, and the kinds of illumination and decoration available through the medieval period. 0.5 course
Syllabus

Art History

Art History 2622F/G (001) - Italian Renaissance (Spring/Summer 2024)
A survey of selected examples architecture, painting, and sculpture from Italy during the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. 0.5 course

Classical Studies

Classical Studies 2200 (650) - Classical Mythology
Asynchronous Online Students will be introduced to the major myth cycles of ancient Greece and Rome, with reference to the cultural contexts in which they were produced and received. Students will become familiar with the ancient images and original texts (in translation) that provide us with evidence for the mythic narratives. Some of the major theoretical approaches to the study of myth will be briefly introduced. 2 lecture hours, 1.0 course
Instructor: A. Suksi

Classical Studies 3050G - Study Tour to Italy: Roman History, Archaeology and Culture (Spring/Summer 2024)
This intensive 3-week long study tour to Italy offers students a unique international learning experience. Roman history, literature and culture will be discussed in direct relation to the physical remains in museums and archaeological sites, such as the Forum Romanum, the Colosseum, the Vatican Museum and Pompeii. Extra Information: Field trip to Italy, minimum of 39 lecture hours.

Classical Studies 3905G (001) - Special Topics in Classical Studies: The Crisis of the Roman Republic
As Rome came into conflict with Carthage in the mid-third century BCE, foreign relations took on a new meaning: for the first time, the city on the Tiber played a part on the world stage. Some two hundred yearslater, the face of the Roman republic was about to change forever. In surveying the history of Rome from the third to first centuries BCE, we will examine the particular problems and developments in the Roman constitution and administrative system; the organization of the military; the question of Rome's "empire"; personal politics and the relationship between culture, history and the literature of the period. Sample topics for research and discussion include: was the ‘fall’ of the Republic inevitable? Can we determine when the Republic ended? How much do our own modern ideas about politics and empire affect our answers to these questions? 3 lecture hours, 0.5 course
Instructor: Nousek

Classical Studies 4585F (001) - Vindolanda Research Project
The course comprises the research component of the Vindolanda Field School. Students will write a research paper focused on some aspect of Roman history or archaeology. These papers should be related to or inspired by the student’s experiences at Vindolanda but need not be about the site itself. 1 tutorial hour, 0.5 course
Instructor: Greene

Comparative Literature and Culture

Comparative Literature 2141A (001) - Food and Health in the Middle Ages (cross-listed with German 2270A and Italian 3380A)
Discover the fascinating world of medieval food culture and explore the role nutrition played in the theory of health and wellness. Study the presumed medicinal properties of the foodstuffs available in pre-Columbian Europe, their preparation and consumption, and try your hands on period recipes from the different regions. 0.5 course

Instructor: M. Adamson

Comparative Literature 2292G (001) - Special Topics in Comparative Literature and Culture: Life and Love in the Middle Ages (cross-listed with German 2261G)
Please consult Department for current offering. 0.5 course

English Studies

English 2076G (001) - Medieval Heroes, Villains and Other Outsiders: King Arthur
This course will explore the role of medieval heroes and villains in European literature and culture. We will focus our attention on the stories surrounding King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table to examine the development of models of heroism and villainy. Using Arthur himself, but also Gawain, Lancelot, Yvain, Mordred, Morgana and a rogues gallery of giants, sorcerers and witches, we will trace the developments of stories that pit good versus evil and that problematize the relationship between the two. 0.5 course
Instructor: Moll

English 3300E (001) - History of English Language
A study of the historical development of English phonology, morphology, orthography and syntax from Old English to the modern period. At the same time, we examine the changing roles of English (commercial, literary, and administrative) and the different varieties of the language available to its many speakers. 1.0 course
Instructor: Toswell

English 3316E (001) - Love in the Middle Ages
This course explores representations of love and desire in the culture of Europe from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. While introducing the Middle English language, we will read romances, dream visions, mystical visions, love letters, and plays in their scientific, historical, and religious contexts. 1.0 course
Instructor: Schuurman

English 3321F (001) - Paradise Lost
This half-course will examine such topics as Milton’s grand style, Satan, epic heroism (is Paradise Lost an epic or anti-epic?), the nature of innocence, what it means to “fall,” and whether there can be a “fortunate fall.” Attention will also be paid to seventeenth-century politics, science and astronomy. 0.5 course
Instructor: Leonard

English 3327B (001) - Remediated Shakespeare
This half-course will explore four major plays through a range of media including early and later print, staged performance, film, and live stream. Study of Shakespeare as text and performance will include students annotating, editing and staging scenes, and creating websites and/or blogs to reflect on their acts of making. 0.5 course

English 3330E (001) - Shakespeare
Shakespeare has inspired poems, novels, films, and new drama, and his plays remain a touchstone of artistic achievement, both on the stage and the page. There is also much to interrogate about Shakespeare’s place in the canon of literature in English. This course, taught by one of the department’s awarding-winning professors, will introduce you to twelve of Shakespeare’s plays. We will study comedies, histories, and tragedies, beginning with Richard II, which we will see at the brilliant new Patterson Theatre at the Stratford Festival. There will be emphasis on the plays in production and students will be given the interpretive tools and confidence to make Shakespeare their own. 1.0 course
Instructor: Kidnie
DRAFT Syllabus

English 4311E (001) – Seminar in Medieval Language and Literature: Tolkien and Old English (cross-listed with English 9171)
When he was sixteen, Ronald Tolkien acquired an Anglo-Saxon primer from a master at King Edward’s School in Birmingham, which he devoured with enthusiasm before turning to the reading of Beowulf, then Middle English, then Old Norse, and then Germanic philology in general. After that, he turned to inventing languages. In this course, we will study Old English as Tolkien did, beginning with introductory short prose texts, then some of the shorter poems, and then Beowulf, making links with Tolkien’s life and work along the way. When we get to Beowulf, we will read his landmark Gollancz Lecture from 1936, which arguably turned the study of the poem away from the quarrying philologists and archaeologists and towards scholars of literature and culture. We will also consider the other poems which Tolkien addressed in his scholarly role as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford, and the changes he brought to the curriculum of the Faculty of English Language and Literature along with his friend C.S. Lewis. We will also engage with the works that Tolkien wrote himself, inspired by the medieval texts he studied professionally, reading The Lord of the Rings, and some of his other works. If time and energy permit, we will also delve into Tolkien’s own compositions in Old English, and his other engagements with issues of early medieval English culture. The course is set up so that individual students can learn Old English in detail, or can choose to focus more on Tolkien and his engagement with the medieval as a principal feature of the interdisciplinary subject of medievalism. 1.0 course

Instructor: Toswell
Syllabus

French Studies

German

History

History 2401E (001) - Medieval Europe
This course examines the transformation of European economies, political structures, religious and social institutions, and cultures in the thousand years between the fall of Rome and the European voyages of discovery, and the degree to which ordinary people shaped their societies and affected the course of historical change. 2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour, 1.0 course

History 2450F (001) - Renaissance & Religious Reform in Europe, 1450-1600
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Europeans wrestled with the legacy of antiquity, and religious dissent within Catholicism triggered violent upheaval. This course explores the culture of the Renaissance, European efforts to reconcile ancient learning with awareness of a “new” American continent, and the breakdown of Christian religious unity. 2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour, 0.5 course

History 2818F (001) - Plague and Death from Antiquity to the 18th Century
From ancient 'plague' pestilences to the Black Death to outbreaks in London and Marseille, this course examines the disruption and uncertainty that characterized these disease episodes. How society and medicine understood disease causation, treatment options, and regulation will be examined through the lens of power, class, race, and gender. 2 hours per week; lecture; no tutorials, 0.5 course

History 3430G (001) - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Early Modern Europe, 1400-1700
Early modern Europe was defined by religious conflict: warfare between Christians and Muslims, the breakdown of Christian unity, and persecution of smaller Jewish minorities. But warfare was not the entire story. This course explores ideologies, conflicts, and reciprocal cultural influences among societies that viewed religion as a pillar of identity. 3 hours, 0.5 course

History 3602F Crusaders and Muslims in the Holy Land
This course examines the social and economic factors behind the Crusades, both in medieval Europe and in the Middle East. It explores the Crusaders kingdom in the context of medieval Islam and Christianity, as a neighbor of the Islamic states, and as a link to Mediterranean Europe. 2 hour seminar, 0.5 course

History 4416F (001) - Witchcraft in the Early Modern World
During the early modern period, tens of thousands of people, mostly women, were executed as suspected witches in Europe and its colonies. Witchcraft trials are remarkable windows into everyday life. This course explores the social conditions that enabled witchcraft accusations and considers their impact between ca. 1450 and 1700. 2 hours, 0.5 course

History 4603G (001) - Silk Roads and Spice Routes: Ancient and Medieval Asia and World Contacts
This course will investigate the economic, political, religious, cultural, and technological impact of long distance land and sea trade between Asia and other world religions in ancient and medieval times up to around 1500. 1 lecture hour, 2 seminar hours, 0.5 course

Latin

Latin 2000 - Advanced Latin
In the first half of this course we’ll complete our study of Latin grammar and vocabulary that began in LA1000. In the second half of the course we’ll read extended passages of unadapted Latin prose and poetry. By the end of the course, students will have all the skills necessary to begin reading some of the greatest works of Western literature in the original Latin. 3 lecture hours; 1.0 course
Instructor: Gervais

Music

Philosophy

Philosophy 2202G (001) - Early Modern Philosophy
A critical examination of key works of selected figures of the 17th and 18th centuries. 0.5 course
Instructor: Hill

Religious Studies

Theological Studies

Course listings are subject to change. See Western Academic Timetable for date, time, and location of specific courses. See Undergraduate Sessional Dates for more details and deadlines.