MEDVL 252: Medieval Monsters

Dive into the fascinating world of medieval monsters.

About MEDVL 252: Medieval Monsters

What you’ll learn

If the name of the course didn’t tip you off, you’ll be learning about different monsters found in medieval art and artifacts, literature, and music. These monsters are often characterized by their malevolent intent, scary appearance, and dangerous natures as explained by medieval societies trying to understand the world around them. Every online module is written by a different Medieval Studies professor at UW, meaning you’ll have the opportunity to learn about different Medieval Studies disciplines from a variety of research backgrounds. This course is open to all UW students, so you’ll be able to delve deeper into Medieval Studies no matter your faculty or major.

Major themes

• Monsters
  • Each weekly module covers a different medieval monster, allowing you to learn about various monsters including werewolves, summoned spirits, wild men/women, centaurs, and demons, among many others! You’ll explore how medieval peoples understood their existence and examine each monster through the lens of a different research discipline.
• Medieval societies
  • Learning about monsters can also communicate a lot about medieval societies and beliefs. You’ll get to examine how medieval ideas around monsters helped shape medieval peoples’ understanding of the world they lived in, while simultaneously learning how to empathize with different historical beliefs and belief systems.
• Medieval studies topics and research methodologies.
  • Because each module is written by a different Medieval Studies professor, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about the different areas of the Medieval Studies program. You’ll study monsters from various standpoints, including through anthropological, philosophical, literary, and geographical lenses. You’ll essentially be getting a year’s worth of Medieval Studies classes in one course!

Readings

Every week, you’ll learn about a different medieval-era monster. The primary sources read in class ranges from 500-1500 CE, roughly from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance period. Modules are multimodal, with readings, videos, pictures, and even modern recordings of medieval music included in the course content. You’ll have the opportunity to read legends, poetry, and folklore, look at images of tapestries, engravings, and paintings, and listen to lectures and interviews by the course writers each week, making for an exciting and informative online class experience. And as this course is offered online, you’ll be able to organize your own schedule for completing readings and module content.

Assignments

MEDVL 252’s assignments are designed to teach you how to write for university courses. The graded assignments each have a learning goal, such as being able to write a thesis statement, finding academic sources, and properly citing sources. You’ll also take part in weekly discussions based on the monster of the week, such as analyzing a monster from a specific methodology or tying what you’ve learned to modern pop culture. While there are quizzes throughout the course, there is no in-person exam. Other than the discussions, you’ll be able to complete all your assignments entirely asynchronously!

An average MEDVL 252 module

Each module in MEDVL 252 begins with a video of an interview between the course instructor and the author of the content for that week. Throughout the module, you’ll have the opportunity to delve deep into medieval folklore and beliefs through various readings, visual media, and ungraded test-your-knowledge questions. To demonstrate your knowledge, you’ll complete quizzes, discussion posts, and writing assignments by the due date outlined in the course schedule.

Why take this course?

This course is great introduction to the different areas of Medieval Studies for students looking to pursue it as a degree or minor. You’ll be able to explore different topics and research methodologies, allowing you to potentially discover something you’re interested in that you wouldn’t have found out otherwise. For students looking to take this class as an Arts elective, MEDVL 252 allows you to learn about one of the coolest aspects of medieval history while developing your writing, analytical, and online learning skills. So whether you’re a bona-fide medievalist or just a casual enjoyer of medieval lore, you’ll get to have fun while earning an Arts credit towards your degree!

About Dr. Moore

Dr. Andrew Moore teaches at St. Jerome’s University at UW and is passionate about Medieval Studies and environmental history. Specializing in the function of the manor in late medieval England, he is interested in the relationship between humans and the environment and how medieval societies documented and regulated land use. Dr. Moore was a finalist for the Governor General's Gold Medal for his PhD dissertation on this topic in 2022. Currently, he is completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Saskatchewan, is co-investigator for Environments of Change, and is an associate lab director for the DRAGEN Lab at St. Jerome's University.

Why do you like teaching this course?

“It’s cool! I think there aren’t other courses like it. There’s a range of students from all different backgrounds who take this course, and it’s very interesting to hear their experiences and perspectives. Every week is also a whole different topic, so it always keeps me on my toes. For me as a scholar early in my career, it’s also a great opportunity that makes me better as a teacher because I have to engage with a broad range of material that was developed by the whole Medieval Studies department. It helps me broaden my horizons and see how my colleagues operate.”

How do you engage students within the online format?

“I post announcements on LEARN every week about due dates and course content, as well as make myself available over Zoom if students want to chat face-to-face. As for the course content, we understand that people don’t just want to read text all the time. So, we tried to break up the text as much as possible with other things, like with videos and images, and it’s done in a very cool, cohesive style that the Center for Extended Learning (CEL) helped us develop. We also include interviews between me and whoever wrote the module for the week, which we hope makes students feel more connected with the writer and myself.”

What do you hope students will get out of this course?

“I think this course is a great way for students to practice their critical thinking and communication skills, which can serve them well in university as well as their careers post-grad. This course is also a unique opportunity to take a whole year’s worth of courses in one term. Every week is like a microcosm of one course you can take from different professors. Not only do you learn what professors you like or what courses you may want to take, you might also learn about which subjects you might like to pursue. There’s a whole world opened up to you, and you get a sampling platter where you can try a bunch of different things within one course.”

What is your favourite medieval monster?

“That’s a tough one! They’re all so interesting in different ways. It’s cool what different professors did with their topics. I like giants, but I’m biased because that was the module I wrote. Dragons are also super cool. My colleague did a really interesting module on the undead and various religious burial practices, and the module on Wild People had a lot of fascinating artworks represented. I guess I can’t pick just one favourite!”

About Noa

Noa (they/them) is a Medieval Studies major and Anthropology minor. They have also worked at the Dragen Lab at St. Jerome’s during two of their co-op terms.

Why did you take this course?

“I'm a history nerd, and one of my favorite things about history and medieval history specifically is the social aspect of history, like learning about the people rather than the leaders or the significant dates or the wars. Folklore and popular stories with monsters, like we learned about in this course, is really fascinating to me. I love to learn about the stories that people told each other and the things they believed in or were afraid of because it gives a special window into the way they saw the world. So when I learned there was a whole course about medieval monsters, I had to take it.”

What is the most important thing you learned in this course?

“The most important thing I learned in this class was how broad and rich the topic of medieval monsters is. I knew it would be interesting because who doesn't like learning about monsters? But I guess I hadn't thought about all the ways in which you could approach this study. A skill that I got to work on throughout this course was combining different perspectives in the study of history. It was neat to study monsters and their history for a bunch of different angles, especially the modules on ghosts and dragons.”

Would you recommend this course to other students?

“Yeah, I definitely would. I think the content is super cool and it would be cool if everyone else was learning about that as well. As a history nerd I'm a bit biased, but it's a unique and exciting subject, and it might make an interesting elective for students who maybe aren't in medieval studies or even history. This course deepened my interest in medieval history, and it introduced me to topics I was specifically interested in, like religion and how people interacted with it. This course also introduced me to Dr. Moore and the Dragen Lab, which I was able to use for my co-op positions, which allowed me to get a sense of what people in Medieval Studies do as a job. And besides, who doesn’t love learning about dragons?”

Special thanks to Dr. Moore and Noa for providing interviews for this article!