The travel-study portion of Track Two of European Studies includes a month-long exploration of the Continent including, in France, Paris, Chartres and Beaune; in Italy, Rome, Siena, Florence, Padua, Venice and Ravenna; in Germany, Nurnberg, Bamberg and Munich; in Belgium, Bruges and Ghent; and concludes with a week in London, including a study visit to the National Gallery. Each student produces a daily academic journal and should acquire the ability to look at a building, a painting, or a sculpture and understand its period, its function, the materials and techniques used in its production, as well as the artist’s intentions. (Credit, full course.) Staff.

This course provides a broad-based, chronological survey of the art and architecture of Western Europe, from the emergence of Christian art in the early fourth century to the development of Mannerism at the end of the Renaissance. Many of the themes and works of art that are explored further on the Continental tour are introduced. Slide lectures trace the general developments of style throughout the period, set within their historical contexts, and focus on individual buildings, manuscripts, pieces of sculpture, metal work or paintings as case studies of technique or patronage. Visits to the Bodleian Library and Ashmolean Museum in Oxford enable students to view examples of the objects studied in the course. (Credit, full course.) Staff.

This course begins with the exploration of the history and literary development of the medieval hero, Arthur, king of the Britons, with special concentration on the trials of heroic identity in medieval literature.  Students read the first story of Arthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain and explore the development of the legend in French courtly and spiritual literature before studying Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.  The second part of the course addresses the representation of heroic character in English Renaissance literature, focusing on issues of ambition, temptation and honor.  Plays read include Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus and Jew of Malta, as well as William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Merchant of Venice.  (Credit, full course.)  Staff.

This course begins with an examination of the organization and character of the Western Catholic Church before the Reformation. It considers the distinctive systems of belief that were fostered and seeks to understand how particular beliefs prompted distinctive behavior in the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Visits to medieval churches in Oxford and environs facilitate an exploration of what was being commissioned and built by different classes of lay men and women before the Reformation, the better to understand the tenor of faith and pious activity at that time. The course continues through the reign of the Tudors, and the evolution of the Reformation in Britain, Italy and the Mediterranean, and Northern Europe.  (Credit, half course.)  Staff.

This course covers the history of Europe during the Middle Ages, roughly 500-1500 A.D.  It also introduces students to the rise of Christianity as a world religion within the Roman Empire, leading to its eventual domination in Western Europe, and to its interaction with medieval Judaism and emerging Islam.  The course combines the study of religion with that of history, precisely because one of the features of the Middle Ages was the centrality of religion to politics, society, and culture.  The study of primary sources, including, among others, the writings of Sidonius Apollinaris, Rabia of Basra, Bede, Einhard, Hildegard of Bingen, Thomas Aquinas, Christine de Pisan and Petrarch, underpin the structure of the course.  (Credit, full course.)  Staff