Medieval and Early Modern Studies

The Renaissance gave us the "Uomo Universale," the idealized "Renaissance Men or Women" who mastered many fields of human expression to serve the needs of their community and to lead a more fulfilled life.

Today, Assumption, with its roots in the Liberal Arts and Catholic intellectual tradition takes inspiration from that idea. The minor in Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) offers you the opportunity to explore the richness and diversity of the Medieval and Early Modern world by combining studies in history, literature, languages, the arts, music, philosophy, politics, and religion to deepen and broaden your understanding of Medieval and Early Modern civilizations.

Knowledge of our pre-Modern heritage is what makes a Liberal Arts education distinctive. By exploring the period from Constantine through Napoleon, or about 1500 years and the whole world of geographical diversity, MEMS deepens our appreciation of our cultural richness and complex inheritance from the distant past.

The MEMS minor should be taken in conjunction with the student’s primary discipline and is especially recommended to complement participation in a study abroad program in Europe or Latin America. Students studying in Rome gain the advantage of Rome itself as their classroom. Students considering pursuing Medieval or Early Modern Studies as a specialty in graduate school or as a career are also strongly encouraged to obtain proficiency in one or more foreign languages, especially Latin.

MEMS Lectures

Scholars from all over the world and across America come to Assumption University to deliver lectures every fall and spring semester as part of the MEMS Lecture Series. The disciplines represented include art and architectural history, literature, politics, music, theology, philosophy, archaeology, and history, representing the characteristic breadth of MEMS scholarship. In the fall of 2018, Assumption University hosted the New England Renaissance Conference with the theme of “Resistance and Refashioning in the Early Modern World,” joining institutions like Harvard, Yale, Brown, Boston University and others in sponsoring this oldest of scholarly conferences dedicated to the Renaissance. Because of Assumption’s ongoing collaboration with the Archaeological Institute of America, the MEMS lecture series is further enriched. Recent lecture titles include "Grave Bj 581: the Viking Warrior that was a Woman,” “Suffering, Art, and Meaning: Friedrich Schiller on Tragedy,” “The Castles of Ireland,” "Whim Rules the Child: The Archaeology of Childhood in Scandinavian Scotland,” and “Catholic Miracles in the Age of Reformations: a History of the Impossible?” given in Fall 2017 by Carlos Eire from Yale in Commemoration of the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation 1517-2017. Please click on the following links for more information about lectures hosted at Assumption:

• New England Renaissance Conference
• New England Renaissance Conference at Assumption