MDVL 1000: The Middle Ages, Then and Now

  • The Middle Ages hides in every modern corner⁠⁠... Come on a journey of discovery with MDVL 1000: The Middle Ages, Then and Now, offered for the first time in fall 2022! Movies, TV shows, games, live-action role play... the Middle Ages is not so much past as present⁠—and there's often a big difference between how we use the idea of "medieval" and what life was actually like.

  • An image of Cary Elwes as Robin Hood from Robin Hood: Men in Tights, drawing 7 arrows on a bow.

Hear more about this class from the professor:

Video of MDVL 1000: The Middle Ages, Then and Now promo

 

MDVL 1000: The Middle Ages, Then and Now, taught through Western Michigan University's Medieval Institute, is a course designed to introduce students to the medieval past in the modern imagination. It encourages students to explore the Middle Ages (ca. 500 through 1500) using popular culture, primary source documents and performance to understand both the past itself and more recent uses of the past (such as films, novels, art, events, festivals and ideologies from the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries). 

MDVL 1000 meets the student learning outcomes in the WMU Essential Studies Level 1 – Foundations, Inquiry and Engagement – Course Category: Critical Thinking in the Arts & Humanities.

Have questions? Want more information? Email Professor Durham.