Diploma in Medieval and Renaissance Studies

The Medieval and Renaissance Studies (MARS) program is an interdisciplinary minor that invites students to examine European society and culture from Late Antiquity to 1700 from a series of diverse perspectives. It was during this exciting period that distinctly European civilization was forged. It was an age of faith—but also an age of brutal violence. It was a period of rigid stratification, but one which saw people chaffing to break social and cultural boundaries. Most people were illiterate, but it saw the production of some of the greatest treasures of European art and literature. It was the age of the original information revolution.

Drawing upon the resources of a range of UPEI departments, the minor will invite students to examine and investigate the dynamics and tensions inherent in this crucial period and to understand how these were expressed across different social and cultural fields. In so doing, students will gain a richer understanding of the origins and meaning of many familiar modern ideas and institutions that have their roots in this period. But in addressing historical problems from an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural and trans-national perspective, students will be able to imagine new answers to some of the problems facing today’s society.