Welcome to the Program in Medieval Studies at the University of Illinois!
Our mission is to foster the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural study of the history, literature, languages, religion, philosophy, art, and archaeology of cultures across the globe from approximately the fourth through the fifteenth centuries C.E., by sponsoring activities such as seminars, conferences, symposia, and lectures, visiting scholars, and exchange and outreach programs. We offer an undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies Major and Minor in Medieval Studies and a graduate Concentration in Medieval Studies. The Program spans departments in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the College of Fine and Applied Arts. Participating Departments and Programs in LAS include Anthropology, Classics, Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Cultures, English, French, Germanic Languages and Literatures, History, Philosophy, Religion, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Spanish, Italian & Portuguese, and Speech Communications; and in FAA, Architectural History, Art History, Landscape Architecture, and Music; as well as the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and University Library.
A distinctive feature of our Program is its global approach to the discipline of Medieval Studies. We sponsor the new academic journal The Medieval Globe, and our curricula and programming strive to foster cross-cultural study of the period and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The Program aims above all to create a community of scholars and students sharing interests in these fields both within the University of Illinois and between the Program in Medieval Studies and other Medieval Studies programs and institutes around the world.
Renée R. Trilling, Associate Professor of English, Program in Medieval Studies