Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) Minor
The undergraduate minor in medieval and early modern studies provides students with a broad, humanities-based approach to the rich and fascinating cultures that flourished globally from around 500 CE to 1800 CE.
Requirements
In addition to the program requirements listed below, students must:
- take at least nine hours of their minor "core" requirements at UNC–Chapel Hill
- earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000 in the minor core requirements. Some programs may require higher standards for minor or specific courses.
For more information, please consult the degree requirements section of the catalog.
This interdisciplinary minor requires students to take five classes representing at least three different subject codes.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Requirements | ||
| One core course chosen from: | 3 | |
| Medieval Art in Western Europe | ||
 History of the Indian Subcontinent to 1750 | ||
| Introduction to Islamic Civilization | ||
| Great Books I: Epic and Lyric Traditions | ||
| British Literature, Medieval to 18th Century H | ||
| Medieval History | ||
| Early Modern European History, 1450-1815 | ||
| Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Music | ||
| At least one course at the 300 level or above | 3 | |
| No more than three courses at the 100 level (including the core course) | 9 | |
| Total Hours | 15 | |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
The following courses are approved for the MEMS minor. With the prior approval of the MEMS minor supervisor up to two courses can be applied to the minor as transfer credits from other institutions.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Medieval and Early Modern Studies Course List | ||
| AMST/ANTH 54 | First-Year Seminar: The Indians' New Worlds: Southeastern Histories from 1200 to 1800 1 | 3 |
| AMST/HIST 110 | Introduction to the Cultures and Histories of Native North America | 3 |
| ANTH 121 | Ancient Cities of the Americas | 3 |
| ARTH 54 | First-Year Seminar: Art, War, and Revolution 1, H | 3 |
| ARTH 151 | History of Western Art I H | 3 |
| ARTH 264 | Medieval Art in Western Europe | 3 |
| ARTH 265 | Medieval Iconography H | 3 |
| ARTH 274 | European Baroque Art | 3 |
| ARTH 450 | The City as Monument H | 3 |
| ARTH 466 | History of the Illuminated Book | 3 |
| ARTH 471 | Northern European Art of the 14th and 15th Centuries | 3 |
| ARTH 472 | Early Modern Art, 1400-1750 H | 3 |
| ARTH 490 | Special Topics in Art History (based on topic) | 3 |
| ASIA/HIST 131 | Southeast Asia before 1800 through Digital History | 3 |
| ASIA/HIST 135 | History of the Indian Subcontinent to 1750 | 3 |
| ASIA/HIST 138 | History of Muslim Societies to 1500 | 3 |
| ASIA/RELI 180 | Introduction to Islamic Civilization | 3 |
| ASIA/RELI 183 | Asian Religions | 3 |
| ASIA/RELI 284 | The Buddhist Tradition: East Asia | 3 |
| ASIA/RELI 285 | The Buddhist Tradition: Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka | 3 |
| ASIA/RELI 487 | Mountains, Pilgrimage, and Sacred Places in Japan | 3 |
| ASIA/RELI 488 | Shinto in Japanese History | 3 |
| ASIA/RELI 489 | Animals in Japanese Religion | 3 |
| ASIA/RELI 581 | Sufism | 3 |
| ASIA/RELI 582 | Islam and Islamic Art in South Asia | 3 |
| ASIA/RELI 584 | The Qur'an as Literature | 3 |
| ASIA 300/RELI 283 | The Buddhist Tradition: India, Nepal, and Tibet | 3 |
| ASIA 301/RELI 286 | Premodern Japanese Religions | 3 |
| ASIA 303/RELI 288 | Chinese Religions | 3 |
| CLAS 259 | Pagans and Christians | 3 |
| CLAS/CMPL 364 | The Classical Background of English Poetry H | 3 |
| CMPL 120 | Great Books I: Epic and Lyric Traditions | 3 |
| CMPL 121 | Great Books I: Romancing the World H | 3 |
| CMPL 122 | Great Books I: Visual Arts and Literature from Antiquity to 1750 H | 3 |
| CMPL 123 | Great Books I: Politics and Literature from Antiquity to 1750 | 3 |
| CMPL 124 | Great Books I: Science and Literature from Antiquity to 1750 | 3 |
| CMPL 223 | Global Authors: Cervantes | 3 |
| CMPL 317 | Myth, Fable, Novella: The Long History of the Short Story H | 3 |
| CMPL 452 | The Middle Ages | 3 |
| CMPL 453 | The Erotic Middle Ages | 3 |
| CMPL 454 | Literature of the Continental Renaissance in Translation H | 3 |
| CMPL 456 | The 18th-Century Novel | 3 |
| CMPL 473 | Drama, Pageantry, and Spectacle in Medieval Europe | 3 |
| CMPL/ENGL 621 | Arthurian Romance | 3 |
| ENGL 120 | British Literature, Medieval to 18th Century H | 3 |
| ENGL 153 | Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in the Premodern World | 3 |
| ENGL 223 | Chaucer H | 3 |
| ENGL 224 | Survey of Medieval English Literature, excluding Chaucer H | 3 |
| ENGL 225 | Shakespeare H | 3 |
| ENGL 226 | Renaissance Drama H | 3 |
| ENGL 227 | Literature of the Earlier Renaissance H | 3 |
| ENGL 228 | Literature of the Later Renaissance H | 3 |
| ENGL 230 | Milton H | 3 |
| ENGL 237 | 18th-Century Drama H | 3 |
| ENGL 325 | Shakespeare and His Contemporaries H | 3 |
| ENGL 327 | Renaissance Literature and Its Intellectual Contexts | 3 |
| ENGL 329 | Medieval Feminisms | 3 |
| ENGL 330 | Perspectives on the Renaissance | 3 |
| ENGL 331 | 18th-Century Literature H | 3 |
| ENGL 430 | Renaissance Literature--Contemporary Issues | 3 |
| ENGL/PWAD 660 | War in Shakespeare's Plays | 3 |
| FREN 315 | Imposteur!: Faking and False Identities in French and Francophone Drama and Film | 3 |
| FREN 370 | French and Francophone Studies to 1789 | 3 |
| FREN 387 | Paris/Versailles: The Court and the City in the 17th Century | 3 |
| FREN 554 | Writing the Mediterranean | 3 |
| FREN 675 | Literature and Enlightenment, 17th - 18th Centuries | 3 |
| GERM 210 | Getting Medieval: Knights, Violence, and Romance | 3 |
| GERM 216 | The Viking Age | 3 |
| GERM 500 | History of the German Language | 3 |
| GERM 505 | Early New High German | 3 |
| GERM 511 | Old Saxon | 3 |
| GERM 514 | Old Norse I (Old Icelandic) | 3 |
| GERM 515 | Old Norse II (Old Icelandic) | 3 |
| GERM 615 | Foundations in German Studies II | 3 |
| GERM/WGST 220 | Women in the Middle Ages | 3 |
| GERM 508 | Old High German | 3 |
| GSLL 53 | First-Year Seminar: Early Germanic Culture: Myth, Magic, Murder, and Mayhem 1 | 3 |
| HIST 107 | Medieval History | 3 |
| HIST 127 | American History to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 142 | Latin America under Colonial Rule | 3 |
| HIST 151 | European History to 1650 | 3 |
| HIST 177H | Honors Seminar in Early European History | 3 |
| HIST 228 | Medieval Science | 3 |
| HIST 255 | Manor to Machine: The Economic Shaping of Europe | 3 |
| HIST 306 | Princes and Reformations in Germany, 1400-1600 | 3 |
| HIST 307 | War and Enlightenment in Germany, 1600-1815 | 3 |
| HIST 398 | Undergraduate Seminar in History (based on topic) H | 3 |
| HIST 431 | The Medieval Church | 3 |
| HIST 432 | The Crusades | 3 |
| HIST 434 | Medieval England | 3 |
| HIST 435 | The Medieval University | 3 |
| HIST 437 | Aristocratic Culture in the Central Middle Ages | 3 |
| HIST 452 | The Renaissance: Italy, Birthplace of the Renaissance, 1300-1550 | 3 |
| HIST 453 | Mediterranean Societies and Economics in the Renaissance World | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 254 | War and Society in Early Modern Europe | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 266 | Global History of Warfare | 3 |
| HIST/RELI 454 | The Reformation | 3 |
| HIST/WGST 280 | Women and Gender in Latin American History | 3 |
| ITAL 241 | The Renaissance Mind and Body | 3 |
| ITAL 357 | Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio in English | 3 |
| LATN 205 | Medieval Latin | 3 |
| MUSC 251 | Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Music | 3 |
| PHIL 215 | Medieval Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 220 | 17th and 18th Century Western Philosophy H | 3 |
| PHIL 415 | Medieval Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 421 | Rationalism | 3 |
| PHIL 422 | Empiricism | 3 |
| PHIL 470 | Political Philosophy from Hobbes to Rousseau | 3 |
| PORT 501 | Survey of Portuguese Literature I | 3 |
| RELI 64 | First-Year Seminar: Reintroducing Islam 1 | 3 |
| RELI 161 | Introduction to the History of Christian Traditions H | 3 |
| RELI 165 | Mysticism H | 3 |
| RELI 362 | Mary in the Christian Tradition H | 3 |
| RELI 366 | Medieval Religious Texts | 3 |
| RELI 367 | The Art of Devotion in Medieval and Early Modern Europe | 3 |
| RELI 450 | Sexuality in Jewish Tradition and History | 3 |
| RELI 489 | Animals in Japanese Religion | 3 |
| RELI 525 | Seminar in Religion and Literature | 3 |
| RELI 566 | Islamic and Jewish Legal Literature | 3 |
| RELI 586 | Women and Gender in Japanese Religions | 3 |
| RELI/WGST 371 | Women Mystics | 3 |
| SPAN 280 | Cervantes in English Translation | 3 |
| SPAN 371 | Studies in Spanish Literature | 3 |
| SPAN 383 | Medieval Spanish Literature | 3 |
| SPAN 384 | Spanish Renaissance | 3 |
| SPAN 613 | Colonial and 19th-Century Spanish American Literature | 3 |
| SPAN 617 | Cervantes and the Quijote | 3 |
| SPAN 650 | The Spanish Comedia of the Golden Age | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
- 1
Restricted to first-year students only.
See the program page here for special opportunities.
Department Programs
Majors
Minors
- Comparative Literature Minor
- Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Literacy Minor
- Creative Writing Minor
- English Minor
- Global Cinema Minor
- Latina/o Studies Minor
- Medicine, Literature, and Culture Minor
- Medieval and Early Modern Studies Minor
Graduate Programs
Department of English and Comparative Literature
Greenlaw Hall, CB# 3520
(919) 962-5481
Chair
Marsha Collins
