Early and Late Medieval

Study of the Middle Ages at the University of Chicago is normally interdisciplinary, with students taking courses in several departments.  Of central importance to the community is the Medieval Studies Workshop at which students and faculty gather to present and discuss their own work and listen to papers by visiting scholars.

Old English is regularly taught both at the University of Chicago and in seminars sponsored annually by the Newberry Library.  These seminars are led by professors from all over the area; recent seminars include Constructions of 'Self' in Anglo-Saxon England (Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe, University of Notre Dame),  The Other Texts in the Beowulf Manuscript (Susan Kim, Illinois State University), Beowulf (Christina von Nolcken), The Exeter Book (Tom Hall, University of Illinois at Chicago), Sin and Forgiveness in Anglo-Saxon England (Allen Frantzen, Loyola University of Chicago), Holy Men and Holy Women (Paul E. Szarmach, Western Michigan University), The Discovery and Invention of Old English Literature (John D. Niles, University of Wisconsin at Madison), and Law and Literature in Anglo-Saxon Literature (Jana Schulman, Western Michigan University).

Primary Faculty

Christina von Nolcken
Old English language and literature, history of literacy and late medieval devotional texts

Jay Schleusener
Chaucer, medieval philosophy, and literary theory

Mark Miller
Philosophy, medieval representations of gender and sexuality

Associated Faculty

David Bevington (Emeritus)
Medieval Drama

Michael Murrin
Epic and Romance 

Selected Courses

• Old English
• Beowulf
• The Exeter Book
• Sin and Forgiveness in Anglo-Saxon England
• Holy Men and Holy Women
• Chaucer
• Arthurian Romances
• Medieval Epic
• Medieval Allegory
• Medieval Dream Poetry
• The Politics of Literacy in Pre-Modern England
• Perfection and Utopia in Late Medieval England
• Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in the Middle Ages