Close-up, neon-colored image of the arms and fingers of God and Adam almost touching, from Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” in the Sistine Chapel
Close-up, brightly colored pixilated image of a medieval French castle wall

About Us

The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies was established in 1968. Today Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Duke is a vibrant, cross-disciplinary humanities program that draws together faculty and students from many departments across the university to study and research the twelve-hundred-year period from 500 to 1700 that definitively shaped the civilizations of Western Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Americas of the New World. We aim to provide a community of intellectual engagement that respects the traditions of this past while carefully critiquing it and the ways in which we go about doing so.

Duke is one of a handful of American universities that offers a major and minor to undergraduate students, with access to a varied curriculum of more than a hundred courses. Graduate students may obtain our Certificate in Interdisciplinary Medieval and Renaissance Studies and participate in programming that affords opportunities to engage with faculty and students from disciplines beyond their own specialties. We actively collaborate with faculty and students at UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, and other nearby institutions. With over three hundred faculty and students working in our field in the Triangle area of Durham-Chapel Hill-Raleigh, Duke’s program is part of a true haven of scholarship and collaboration in medieval and early modern studies.

Academic Offerings

Undergraduate Program

Duke undergraduate students can get a Trinity College major, second major, or minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Our program, supported by close personal advising, is designed with maximum flexibility to promote students’ individualized intellectual pathways.

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Graduate Program

We offer a Graduate Certificate in Interdisciplinary Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Graduate students associated with the program—whether pursuing the Interdisciplinary Certificate or participating in our lectures, workshops, symposia, and conferences—are Ph.D. candidates in Arts and Sciences departments at Duke. Th.D. students in the Divinity School may also affiliate with the program.

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Featured Faculty Books