MDVL 1000: The Middle Ages, Then and Now

Manuscript illustration of a person wearing armor, holding a shield and a sword, attacking a giant snail.

There's often a big difference between how we use "medieval" and what the Middle Ages actually were. Come discover the medieval past (and the modern imagination of it) in this fun and dynamic course, which uses games, video and roleplaying alongside historical texts and images. 

MDVL 1000: The Middle Ages, Then and Now, is a course designed to introduce you to the medieval past in the modern imagination. You will 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.