Medieval and Renaissance Studies at USD offers students a solid grounding in the historical context for many of the major cultural and intellectual developments that contributed to the foundations of our modern global society.
Students learn about the middle ages and the early modern period.
Middle Ages
Continent-wide expansion of the Church
Development of fundamental currents in philosophy and theology like scholasticism and nominalism
Europe's first universities
Flourishing cities, art and architecture that would be an inspiration for future ages
Early Modern
Printing press invented, lay literacy growth
Humanism and the beginnings of modern scientific and philosophical inquiry
Religious and ideological upheaval
Creation of the first modern nation-states
Europeans' encounters with previously unknown civilizations across the Atlantic
Complex relationships peoples of the Americas, Africa and Asia that led to the global economy
Faculty and Staff