St. Michael’s has long been celebrated for Mediaeval Studies, with an impressive history of renowned professors, rich resources, and an exciting interdisciplinary approach to studies. Students studying the art, culture, history and thought of the years between the fifth and fifteenth centuries graduate backed by the best of the Humanities and well prepared for a range of careers or further studies, including work at St. Michael’s own Faculty of Theology or the University of Toronto’s Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS).
Undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto, regardless of college affiliation, are invited to join our Specialist, Major, or Minor in Mediaeval Studies.
Mediaeval Studies Program Requirements and Courses
U of T’s FAS Academic Calendar and Timetable
Go to U of T’s FAS Academic Calendar for St. Michael’s College Courses and Program Information
See U of T’s Timetable to find current course offering details
Introducing Mediaeval Studies Program Courses for 2021-22
This year Mediaeval Studies at St. Michael’s has developed new courses, some of which will be taught by instructors from CMS. We are very happy to have Elizabeth Rose and Katie Mendez teaching this fall and welcoming Emma Gabe and Graham Johnson in the Spring. This year we have a selection of both old and new. Dr. Alison More, for example, will be offering a new 200-level course, Women’s Lives in Mediaeval Europe, and Graham Johnson from CMS will teach How to be a Barbarian: Beard, Battles and Belief at the Dawn of the Middle Ages. St. Michael’s Dr. Stephen Tardif, meanwhile, will be offering a course on Dante and the Christian Imagination.
Featured Courses/Seminars
200 Level
MST231H1 On the Move in Mediaeval Eurasia
Elizabeth Rose
(Centre for Medieval Studies)
MST232H1S How to Be a Barbarian: Beard, Battles and Belief at the Dawn of the Middle Ages
Graham Robert Johnson
(Centre for Medieval Studies)
MST234H1F Women’s Lives in Mediaeval Europe
Alison More
(St. Michael’s)
MST242H1S Mediaeval Mythologies and Methodologies
Alison More
(St. Michael’s)
circa 1220-1230
300 Level
MST301H1F Special Topics in Mediaeval Studies: Anselm the Theologian
Jim Ginther
(St. Michael’s)
MST341H1F Middle Ages by the Numbers
Katie Menendez
(Centre for Medieval Studies)
13th century
400 Level
MST406H1S Mediaeval Seminar II: Women on the Margins: Orthodoxy, Controversy and Female Religious Identity
Alison More
Why Take Mediaeval Studies
The discipline known as Mediaeval Studies examines the mediaeval foundations of modern culture through history, thought, literature, and art. The program is an ideal example of the humanistic values of liberal education that reflect Catholic education at its best.
Students with a degree in Mediaeval Studies graduate with strong critical thinking skills and an awareness of cultural heritage, preparing them for a broad range of career paths, including professional studies in education, law, theology, museology, journalism, communication, politics, or graduate study in related fields including history, literature, archaeology, folklore, and library science.
By crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries and an intense study of a variety of cultural materials from the Middle Ages, students can improve their cultural literacy, cultivate their sense of internationalization, learn to use an unbounded array of theories and methodologies, and communicate with skill – qualities with important implications for civic engagement and good leadership.
Recent Mediaeval Studies News and Insights
Special to the Mediaeval Studies Program
A Leader in Teaching and Research in Mediaeval Disciplines
St. Michael’s well-deserved reputation for teaching and research in mediaeval disciplines is bolstered by the university’s John M. Kelly Library, which has rich resources in the field, including the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (PIMS) collection. PIMS, located on the St. Michael’s campus, is Canada’s oldest research institute in the Humanities and is widely regarded as the birthplace of mediaeval studies in North America. Since its founding in 1929, the Institute has been associated with prominent scholars such as Étienne Gilson and Jacques Maritain and has provided training at the highest level in the fundamentals of mediaeval scholarship in languages, manuscript studies and related disciplines.
Photos courtesy of the University of St. Michael’s College Archives.
The Mediaeval Studies Undergraduate Society
Life as a Mediaeval Studies student is not only enhanced by small class sizes and access to professors, but it is further enriched via the Mediaeval Studies Undergraduate Society (MSUS), which provides regular social and academic activities for students throughout the school year. MSUS offers academic assistance and peer mentoring within the field of medieval studies and hosts campus-wide events such as a masquerade ball, seminars in mediaeval self-defence, medieval feasts, lectures, workshops and movie nights. During COVID, the group also arranged virtual tours of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, the Aga Khan Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
For more information about MSUS:
Program Faculty and Contacts
Faculty
Alison More, Assistant Professor, Comper Professorship of Medieval Studies
alison.more@utoronto.ca
Alexander Andrée, Professor
alexander.andree@utoronto.ca
Michael O’Connor, Associate Professor
michael.oconnor@utoronto.ca
Giulio Silano, Professor
gsilano@chass.utoronto.ca
Ann Dooley, Professor Emerita
ann.dooley@utoronto.ca
Joseph Goering, Professor Emeritus
goering@chass.utoronto.ca
Kelly Library Liaison
Richard Carter, Librarian
Kelly Library, Room 127
416-926-1300 ext. 3444
richard.carter@utoronto.ca
Contact Richard Carter with any library-related questions, including using online resources, arranging library instruction, ordering new titles, and getting help with research.
St. Michael’s College Programs
For more information about the program, including queries about enrollment and completion, contact smc.programs@utoronto.ca
Learn more about Mediaeval Studies Program Requirements and Courses
Mediaeval Studies Program Requirements and Courses
U of T’s FAS Academic Calendar and Timetable
Go to U of T’s FAS Academic Calendar for St. Michael’s College Courses and Program Information
See U of T’s Timetable to find current course offering details