Rebecca Rush

Current Program Director

Contact

THE MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES CONCENTRATION IN ENGLISH

is designed for English majors who are intrigued by the cultural forms of the past and the varied perspectives they offer on the cultural forms of the present. Concentrators pursue their own interests in literature from the centuries between the writing of Beowulf and the publication of Paradise Lost and dive into the social, historical, and intellectual currents of English writing in a time when it was deeply entangled with mixed, migrant, and pan-European languages and cultures. The Concentration is an opportunity to work especially closely with scholars in the field while exploring English in the world before modernity. Recent work by students has investigated the histories of race and color, divinity, sexualities, genre, monstrosity, heroism, prayer books, the stage, lyric subjectivity, women writers, and more. Students from the Concentration have gone on to graduate work in English at the University of Chicago, Harvard, and UVa, to professional degrees at Darden and UVa Law, and to interesting employment at places like IBM, Teach for America, and top private schools and consulting firms.

(Please note: this concentration should not be confused with the interdisciplinary Medieval Studies undergraduate major but is often combined with it through a double major or minor.)

Prerequisite:

Complete one ENGL 2500-level course with a grade of at least C-   or   take any two advanced ENGL courses (not ENCW or ENWR) at the 3000-level or above with an average grade of B or higher across both. 

Courses taken to satisfy the prerequisite provide credit toward the major.

Program Requirements:

Students in the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Concentration in English take at least 30 credits for the major.  These must include:

  1. ENGL 3002 History of Literatures in English II (3 credits).  ENGL 3001 is encouraged, but not required.  Beyond ENGL 3002, further courses in 18th and 19th century English are encouraged, but not required.

  2. At least four other courses (12 credits) in English literature written before 1700, excluding ENGL 3001.  At least two of these courses should be at the 4000 or 5000 level.

Outside English: we warmly support Concentrators taking Medieval and Renaissance studies courses in other departments, for example, in Art History, History, Religious Studies, Philosophy, and in literatures in other languages. Consequently, in consultation with the Director of the Concentration, 3 such courses (9 credits) may be counted toward the 30 credits required of the Concentrator. We strongly encourage language acquisition, especially the study of Latin. Thus, language courses taken in excess of the UVa Foreign/World Language Requirement (http://college.as.virginia.edu/competency-requirements) may also be included in the up-to-9 credits students may present towards the major from outside the English Department.

DECLARING THE CONCENTRATION

No application is required. Students may declare the Concentration at any point in their undergraduate careers by filling out a major declaration form (even if they have previously filled out the form to declare the English major). Transfers and double majors are welcome. Before declaring the concentration, students should consult the Director of the Concentration, Rebecca Rush, rmr2x@virginia.edu. When completing the declaration form, the Department major contact is Rebecca Rush. The title of the major is English, Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Proposed courses should satisfy requirements specific to this concentration.

COURSES OUTSIDE ENGLISH

Here follows a partial list of courses that qualify for presentation as part of the 9-credit allowance; students should consult the Director of the Concentration about approving others that might enhance their particular plans of study.

ARTH 2151 – Early Christian and Byzantine Art
ARTH 2154 – Early Medieval Art 
ARTH 2252 – High Renaissance and Mannerist Art 
ARTH 2282 – The Age of Rubens and Rembrandt 
ARTH 3254 – Leonardo da Vinci 
ARTH 3591 – Medieval Manuscript Illumination 
ARTH 4591 – Castles and Cathedrals of the High Middle Ages 
ARTH 4591 – New Towns of the Middle Ages 
CHTR 3010 – Survey of Traditional Chinese Literature 
FREN 4110 – Medieval Saint’s Lives 
FRTR 3814 – Gender, Sexuality, Identity in Premodern France 
GETR 3590 – Medieval Stories of Love and Adventure 
HIAF 2001 – Early African History 
HIEA 2011 – History of Chinese Civilization 
HIEA 2091 – Korean Civilization to 1900 
HIEU 2061 – The Birth of Europe 
HIEU 2111 – The History of England to 1688 
HIEU 3131 – The World of Charlemagne 
HIEU 3231 – Reformation Europe 
HIEU 3321 – The Scientific Revolution, 1450-1700 
HIEU 3471 – English Legal History to 1776 
ITAL 3110 – Medieval and Renaissance Masterpieces 
ITTR 2260 – Dante 
JPTR 3010 – Survey of Traditional Japanese Literature 
JPTR 3290 – Feminine Fictions in Japanese Court Literature 
LATI 3090 – Introduction to Mediaeval Latin 
MEST 3492 – The Afro-Arabs and Africans of the Middle East and North Africa: Premodern Texts and Modern Contexts 
MSP 3501 – Medieval Identities, Cultures, and Conflicts 
MUSI 3010 – Studies in Early Modern Music 
PHIL 2110 – History of Philosophy: Ancient and Medieval 
PHIL 3140 – History of Medieval Philosophy 
PHIL 3150 – 17th-Century Philosophy 
PLPT 3010 – Ancient and Medieval Political Theory 
RELA 3559 – Introduction to Islam in Africa Through the Arts 
RELC 3006 – Augustine’s City of God 
RELC 3559 – Medieval Theology 
RELI 2070 – Classical Islam 
SPAN 3400 – Survey of Spanish Literature I, Middle Ages to 1700 
SPAN 4711 – 1492 and the Aftermath 
SPTR 3402 – Don Quixote in English 

ADVANCED POSSIBILITIES

We encourage students in the Medieval and Renaissance Concentration to apply for summer research funds (https://undergraduateresearch.virginia.edu/) to study archival materials or visit relevant sites, to consider an independent study project with relevant faculty in order to development specialized research ambitions, and, if they are qualified, to consolidate their work by writing a thesis in the English Department’s undergraduate Distinguished Majors Program (http://english.as.virginia.edu/distinguished-majors). Concentrators are good candidates for the Fulbright and other international programs of support for advanced scholars (https://citizenscholars.virginia.edu/). Students are welcomed at lectures by visiting scholars throughout the year. Consider the BA/MA program in English if you are interested in an extra year of achievement at an advanced level (http://english.as.virginia.edu/bama-program). Faculty are eager to consult with students on these ambitions and on any aspect of their education.

 

AFFILIATED FACULTY


The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only.  The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements. These publications may be found at http://records.ureg.virginia.edu/.