MDVL 1000: The Middle Ages, Then and Now

Do you like Lord of the Rings? Vikings? Roleplaying games like D&D or LARP? Robin Hood? Game of Thrones? E-Sports? Renaissance Faires? Board games like Carcassonne or Catan? 

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. 

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:

 

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.