This course explores medieval France through its surviving objects—holy grails, caskets, maps, painted ceilings, stained glass, chess sets, and more—to understand how people in the Middle Ages made sense of their world through things. Focusing on material culture, we will examine how objects communicated ideas about power, gender, devotion, love, violence, race, and time.

From a battle horn tied to heroic death to a unicorn tapestry suggesting courtly desire, each week centers on a specific artifact or class of objects studied in its cultural and historical contexts. Alongside these materials, we will read poems and stories that flesh out their original environments and show them in action.

In addition to some analytical writing, students will complete a final creative project that reimagines, remixes, or responds to a medieval object—through experimental writing, visual art, digital media, or another craft—as a way of exploring its form, function, and symbolism. This hands-on engagement means that we'll approach medieval materiality not only as scholars, but also as active makers, translators, and interpreters.

Class conducted in English - no knowledge of French required.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills