Going Medieval
The Annual Newsletter of the Wilfrid Laurier
University Medieval Studies Program
Spring 2016
Issue 5
In this issue
CONTENTS
Breaking News
The WLU Faculty Senate has approved the “re-branding” of Laurier’s
Medieval Studies program to the “Medieval and Medievalism Studies
Program,” effective September 1, 2016. This change reflects the fact that
Medievalism — an academic field that examines representations of the Middle
Ages in later times, including our own — has become a major aspect of our
course offerings over the past few years, including our new first-year course on
Game of Thrones (ML102), our new second-year course “The Middle Ages
Today: Medievalism in Contemporary Culture” (ML200), and many ML300
special topics courses offered in recent years. There are several other Ontario
universities with Medieval Studies programs, but Laurier’s Medieval and
Medievalism Studies Program is unique and distinctive in terms of its
extensive provision of courses that deal with Medievalism.
PAGE
Words of Welcome
Medieval Day Colloquium
ML Intersession Course
Alumna Update
Student Colloquium
Distinguished Speaker
Medieval Award Winners!
“Everyman” Performance
Magna Carta Trip
New Faculty Profile
Medieval Students’ Socie-
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Greetings from the Program Co-ordinator
Welcome to the fifth issue of “Going Medieval”!
dedicated and talented Contract Academic Faculty,
including Christine Kralik, Nicholas Must, Eileen
Kim, and Alicia McKenzie.
Laurier’s Medieval Studies Program enjoyed
continuing success in 2015-16, as both our number
of majors and our course enrollments continued to
I am very grateful to everyone who served on the
grow in response to the development of exciting new Medieval Studies Program Co-ordination Committee
courses and program innovations.
this year, including Dr. Debra Foran from the
Archeology Department, who joined the committee
Last Fall we launched our new first-year course on
this year. In particular, I must thank Dr. Nathalie
Game of Thrones medievalism (ML102), taught by
Friedel, who has contributed for many years to the
Prof. Alicia McKenzie with the assistance of eight
Program Committee, but will be stepping back from
senior Medieval Studies majors — Andrew Cardy,
her involvement with Medieval Studies for the next
Rachel Cogswell, Emily Dykeman, Joe Gervais,
few years as she will be busy as the new chair of the
Margaret Janse Van Rensberg, Ryan Orr,
Languages and Literatures Department. Many
Veronica Parkes, and Taylor Tryburski, — who
thanks, Nathalie, et bonne chance!
worked as Instructional Assistants, leading weekly
tutorial groups as part of their coursework in our
Finally, many thanks are due, as always, to the
teaching practicum course, ML402. All of the
executive officers of the Medieval Students Society,
students in ML402 had excelled in McKenzie’s
and to our wonderful administrative assistant,
ML300q (Game of Thrones and Transmedia
Sharon Lalor, who have provided terrific support to
Medievalism) either in Winter or Intersession 2015. the program’s regular operations and special events
this year.
As in previous years, Medieval Studies students
received excellent instruction in 2015-16 from our
Dr. Chris L. Nighman
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Going Medieval
Medieval Day 2016
Our Eleventh Annual Medieval Day Colloquium,
entitled “Time and Timelessness in the Middle
Ages,” was held on Tuesday, March 29th, in the
Senate and Board Chamber, with support from the
Vice-President: Academic and the Dean of Arts.
MS, L6” (2013) and also
has a book forthcoming
on the subject from the
Medieval Texts and
Studies series of
Liverpool University
After welcoming remarks offered by myself as the
Press: A Heraldic
organizer of this year’s Medieval Day, the first panel
Miscellany: Middle
session featured three WLU undergraduate students
English Texts on Blazon
who shared their research from ML400: “History
and the Office of Arms.
and historical novels: Philippa Gregory’s Wars of
For his presentation at
the Roses” (Fall 2015): Ryan Orr (Medieval
this year’s Medieval Day
Studies/History), Emily Dykeman (Medieval
Colloquium, entitled “The
Studies/English), and Joe Gervais (Medieval
Heraldic Profession in
Studies/History). The panel was chaired by Dr.
Late Medieval England,” Dr. Moll explained some
Deborah McLatchy (Vice-President: Academic).
of the more interesting aspects of this curious
Following a coffee/tea break featuring our traditional profession and its own mythological genealogy. The
medieval cookie, we had our first ever student poster audience responded with great appreciation, as
Professor Moll’s talk elicited numerous questions
session, which involved two exhibit re-design
and comments from students and faculty.
proposals by Erika Triggs (Medieval Studies/
History) and Rachel Cogswell (Medieval Studies/
After a lunch break, Dr. Nicholas Must (Medieval
Archeology). This was with reference to the
Studies/History) chaired the faculty research panel,
Medieval Students’ Society field trip to Fort York
with presentations by Dr. Christine Kralik
last November to visit the Magna Carta exhibit (see
(Medieval Studies), Dr. Eileen Kim (Medieval
details and photos on page 7).
Studies), and Dr. Chris Nighman (History).
The audience was then entertained by a lovely
For the final session of the day, the colloquium
musical interlude featuring renaissance lute music
transferred to the Turret for a performance of the
performed by Fiona Thistle
medieval morality play “Everyman”, the first
(Music).
production of the new Laurier Historical Theatre
Society, which involved over 20 Laurier students,
The morning session
mostly from the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of
concluded a with a
Music, including cast, crew, and musicians (for
presentation by our featured
details and photos, see page 6). Following the
guest speaker for the
performance, which was well attended and very
colloquium: Dr. Richard
much enjoyed by the audience, the director of the
Moll. A professor of English
play, Dylan McCorquodale (Medieval Studies/
at the University of Western
History), and Dr. Moll discussed the play itself and
Ontario, Professor Moll
this production of it and responded to questions and
received his MA and PhD in
comments from the audience. Finally, Laurier’s
Medieval Studies at the
Dean of Arts, Dr. Richard Nemesvari, offered
University of Toronto. He is the author of Before
Malory: Reading Arthur in later Medieval England concluding comments on the performance and on the
entire colloquium, and thanked everyone involved in
(2003) and edited William Caxton’s translation of
Ovid’s Metamorphoses: The Book of “Ovyde Named making this year’s colloquium a great success.
Methamorphose” (2013), as well as a number of
Once again, the Medieval Day Colloquium attracted
articles. The recipient of a SSHRC Insight Grant
a large and diverse audience comprised of WLU
(2012) for his research on “Vernacular Heraldry,”
undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and
Dr. Moll has published a journal article in Medieval
staff, and also members of the general public.
Studies entitled, “‘Brutus the Emperor’: National and
Heraldic Foundations in London, College of Arms
Dr. Chris L. Nighman
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Spring 2016 — Issue 5
Medieval Studies in Intersession
Over the past few years Prof. Alicia McKenzie has
taught several Medieval Studies special topics
(ML300) courses on medievalism during the 6-week
Intersession term (May-June), including “The
mysterious Middle Ages: pseudohistory, conspiracy
theories and secret societies” (2013), “Reliving the
Middle Ages: history, fantasy, and medieval reenactment” (2014), and “Game of Thrones and
Transmedia Medievalism” (2015).
Building upon students’ enthusiasm for this topic,
which was one of the modules in ML200: “The
Middle Ages Today” in Winter 2016, and also the
recent release of another film in the Star Wars
franchise, McKenzie’s course will explore not only
how medieval warrior monks known as the Templars
inspired the Jedi knights, but also various other
examples of how the medieval past has inspired
visions of the future in novels, film, video games,
and other media. One of Laurier’s Active Learning
classrooms has been booked, as it is ideally equipped
for this course.
Dr. Chris L. Nighman
This year she will be teaching yet another new
special topics course, ML300t: “Medievalism in
Science Fiction” during Intersession.
Alumna Update
Brenna Cook graduated from Laurier in 2010 with
an Honours BA in Medieval Studies and
Archeology, and then went on to pursue a Master of
Philosophy in Textile Conservation at the University
of Glasgow, in Scotland, which included a summer
internship at the Musée Galliera in Paris. After
graduating from Glasgow in 2012, Brenna returned
to Canada to take up internships in Kingston and
Ottawa, the latter at the Canadian Conservation
Institute in Ottawa, where she subsequently held a 2year fellowship. Last year she
was hired by the Royal Alberta
Museum in Edmonton, Alberta,
where she currently holds the
position of Assistant
Conservator - Textiles.
which I gained critical thinking skills and a lens with
which to examine and research. The structure of the
Medieval Studies program provided me with the
opportunity to take courses from a wide variety of
departments, in the process exposing me to experts
in many fields and their different perspectives and
approaches to research. I was given opportunities to
study and write about material culture, the flexibility
in scheduling to squeeze in those chemistry courses,
and even, with the encouragement of the excellent
teaching staff, put my skills with
a needle and thread to good use
for a creative final paper. I
cannot recommend the faculty in
this program highly enough.
They were key to my
overwhelmingly positive
experience and gave me the
encouragement and support to
pursue graduate studies
overseas. I could not have done
it without them!
It’s not such a great leap of
logic to go from studying the
medieval period to working in a
museum, but my role as a textile
conservator requires a unique
blend of art history, chemistry
and manual skills with a needle
and thread. The
interdisciplinary nature of the
Medieval Studies program at
Laurier was an exceptional
starting point for training in this
career. Pursuing a Medieval
Studies degree gave me the
universally-applicable
competencies offered by courses Brenna with her major conservation object
in the Faculty of Arts from
at the Canadian Conservation Institute
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We wish Brenna all the best
luck in this position and in all
her future endeavours!
For the Alumnae/Alumnus
Updates on Christine Girardi,
Caitlin Henderson, Simon
Newcombe, and Mackenzie
Glachan, see the previous
issues of “Going Medieval.”
Dr. Chris L. Nighman
Going Medieval
Medieval Students’ Colloquium
The Sixth Annual Medieval Students’ Colloquium
was held on April 1st. A little smaller than past years
(due to an unfortunately timed ice storm in late
March and the need to re-schedule), the Colloquium
nonetheless offered a range of fascinating panels and
presentations.
of her capstone research for Archaeology, for which
she created a database of Crusader castles, and Cat
MacEachern (Medieval Studies/History) presented
her mock medieval ‘movie pitch’ from History’s
2014 course, ‘The Middle Ages on Film’. A story of
female pirates in the late medieval Indian Ocean, it
sparked some lively discussion among the audience
The first panel involved students who took ML402
members about its historical setting and how the
(“Teaching, Learning, and Thinking Through
horizons of the medieval world were more distant
Medieval Studies”), the Medieval Studies Program’s
than we sometimes acknowledge.
unique teaching practicum course. Panelists
discussed their experiences while serving as
Finally, students from Dr. Chris Nighman’s ML400
instructional assistants in ML102 (“Game of Thrones seminar (“History and Historical Novels” Philippa
and Medieval Culture”) in Fall 2015. Veronica
Gregory’s Wars of the Roses”) discussed their work
Parkes (Medieval Studies/Ancient Mediterranean
with the Wars of the Roses and the novels of
Studies), Kelsey Miller (Medieval Studies/History), Philippa Gregory. Veronica Parkes, Kelsey Miller,
Joe Gervais (Medieval Studies/History), Emily
Joe Gervais, and Taylor Tryburski (Medieval
Dykeman (Medieval Studies/English), Ryan Orr
Studies/Ancient Mediterranean Studies) shed some
(Medieval Studies/History), and Rachel Cogswell
light on just why the period has been so attractive to
(Medieval Studies/Archeology), who had all taken
historical novelists like Gregory by discussing some
my third-year course “Game of Thrones and
of the vivid historical personalities of the time.
Transmedia Medievalism” in Winter or Intersession
2015, talked
about both the
joys and the
challenges of
leading tutorials,
touching on
everything from
the infamous
‘imposter
syndrome’ to
their experiments
with active
Last November they and their classmates in the
learning, as well seminar had the rare treat of a Skype ‘visit’ from
as their thoughts Philippa Gregory herself, who was kind enough to
on the
entertain a wide range of questions on her work.
pedagogical
ML400 is a perfect example of how the Medieval
sessions and
Studies Program balances medieval and medievalism
activities that were part of ML402 itself. Speaking as studies, and how the intersection between the two
the instructor of ML402, I was delighted to discover allows our students to develop deeper and more
that no matter what their post-graduate plans, our
profound insight into the medieval period and its
instructional assistants saw a great deal of value in
cultural legacy.
what they’d learned in the course. Not all of them
As always, I am left looking forward to next year’s
will find themselves in classrooms as they leave
Medieval Students’ Society Colloquium! Getting to
Laurier for new adventures, but I do believe that all
sit in the audience and simply enjoy listening as our
of them will benefit from enhanced self-confidence
students share their work is always a privilege.
and faith in their own abilities.
Many thanks to Rachel for organizing the
We were then treated to two stand-alone
Colloquium!
presentations. Rachel Cogswell presented the results
Prof. Alicia McKenzie
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Spring 2016 — Issue 5
2016 Distinguished Visiting Speaker
Our 11th Annual Distinguished
Visiting Speaker in Medieval Studies
was Dr. Elizabeth Ewan, Professor
of Medieval and Early Modern
Scottish History at the University of
Guelph.
Her research has received major
funding support, including seven
grants from the Social Science and
Humanities Research Council of
Canada. She has been a visiting
fellow at Cambridge University, the
National University of Australia, and
With a Ph.D. in History from the
the University of Edinburgh (twice).
University of Edinburgh (1985), Dr.
The recipient of two University of
Ewan is an expert in medieval and
Guelph teaching awards, she is
early modern Scotland, focusing
currently supervising seven PhD
especially on urban history, women’s
dissertations and two MA theses.
history, and the history of crime – all
Finally, Dr. Ewan has been named
of which come together in her lecture:
Distinguished Professor at the
“Rough Justice: Life and Death in
University of Guelph three times and
Medieval Edinburgh”. She is the
is currently the University Research
author of several books, including
Professor.
Town Life in 14th-Century Scotland
(1990) and Finding the Family in
This year’s event, held on 20 January,
Medieval and Early Modern
was attended by a large audience
Scotland (2008), and over 20 papers comprising Laurier students, staff,
published as book chapters or articles faculty, and members of the general
in academic journals. She has also
public, whose appreciation was
developed an extensive scholarly
demonstrated in a lively question and
website called Women in Scottish
answer session at the end of her talk.
History (with the charming acronym
Dr. Chris L. Nighman
WISH).
For a compete list of our
previous Distinguished
Visiting Speakers, as well as
the Featured Guest Speakers
at previous Medieval Day
Colloquia, prior to the launch
of “Going Medieval,” please
consult page 5 in the first
issue of the newsletter (2011).
Medieval Studies Award Winners!
This was an especially big year for the Medieval
Studies Program as one of our 4th-year students and
one of our faculty members were recognized by the
university with awards for their achievements.
Beer, explained to Alicia that the unanimous vote of
the selection committee was due to the fact that they
were “extremely impressed with your history of
curriculum, course, and pedagogical innovations,
and were particularly complimentary of your
Ryan Orr (Medieval Studies/History) received a
development of ML402 (“Teaching, Learning, and
Library Undergraduate Research Award ($350) for
Thinking through Medieval Studies”), which was
his seminar paper in ML400 (“History and Historical
considered to be a great example of high-impact
Novels: Philippa Gregory’s Wars for the Roses”) in
practices and experimental course design, along with
Fall 2015: “The White Knight: Anthony Woodville
the way you tailor the construction of the learning
— Identity, Idealism, and Politics in Yorkist
experience flexibly around the particular student
England c.1435-83”. Ryan has been accepted to the
cohort.”
History MA Program at Trent University, where he
will continue his study of late medieval English
Prof. McKenzie will be honoured at one of the
cultural and political history. Congratulations, Ryan, Faculty of Arts convocation ceremonies in June, and
and best wishes for your future endeavours!
her photograph will be permanently displayed along
with those of other teaching award recipients in the
Prof. Alicia McKenzie (Medieval Studies/History)
Bricker Academic Building. Many congratulations,
received the 2016 WLU Award for Teaching
Alicia, for receiving this well-deserved honour!
Excellence in Innovation. The Director of the Centre
for Teaching Innovation and Excellence, Joseph
Dr. Chris Nighman
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Going Medieval
“Everyman” @ Laurier
As the first production of the new Laurier Historical
Theatre Society, the medieval morality play
“Everyman” was performed in the Turret on March
28th in conjunction with the Medieval Day
Colloquium. The founder of the LHTS, Dylan
McCorquodale (Medieval Studies/History), was
also the director of the play. Other members of the
production team were Nicole Moreira (Executive
Producer), Catherine Freeman (Asst. Director &
Asst. Producer), Kelsey Millar (Stage Manager),
Danelle Kovar (Advertising Director), Braeden
Suggit (Set Design), and Veronica Parkes (Costume
Design), who was assisted in creating the costumes
by Tina MacKinnon, Stefanie MacKinnon, and
Dr. Debra Foran.
The Cast
Leah Molto
Mary Harrison
Eric Vero
Joe Gervais
Rebekah Timm
Célynne Mathieu
Jesse Hurst
Lea Sansom
Naomi Damasco
God/Confession
Death
Everyman
Fellowship/Five Wits
Kindred/Beauty
Cousin/Discretion
Goods/Strength
Good Deeds
Knowledge
From the playbill: “Everyman tells the story of the
eponymous Everyman, a personification of all
humanity. God is angry with Everyman for his many
sins, and summons Death to send Everyman to his
judgement. Death admits to Everyman that he may
Daniel Lantz (Musical Director) also played
bring a companion to his judgement in order to
mandolin, accompanied by Fiona Thistle (lute),
speak on his behalf, and so begins a journey of
Kasia Czarski-Jachimowicz (flute), Mike Schroth perseverance and redemption.”
(percussion), and Mike Fan (vocals).
This splendid performance was greatly appreciated
Funding for the production costs and a reception
by a large audience comprised of students, faculty,
following the performance was generously provided staff and members of the general public. It bodes
by the WLU Arts Undergraduate Society, the WLU very well for future productions by the LHTS.
Students’ Union, and the WLU Student Life Levy.
Dr. Chris L. Nighman
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Spring 2016 — Issue 5
Magna Carta Trip
Edward I’s re-issue of Magna Carta (1300),
from Durham Cathedral Library
In November 2015, a group of Laurier students and
faculty visited Fort York in Toronto to see the
Magna Carta Canada exhibit, which was organized
to commemorate the 800th anniversary of King
John’s signing of the original document in 1215 at
Runnymede, near Windsor Castle.
The trip was organized by Rachel Cogswell,
President of the Medieval Students’ Society, with
funding support from the Vice-President: Academic
and the Arts Undergraduate Society.
The timing was especially appropriate for this trip,
as the Medieval Studies Program offered ML301
(“Introduction to Medieval Manuscripts”) in Fall
2015, and several students who went on this trip
were taking that course from Dr. Christine Kralik,
who was also on hand at Fort York to offer her
insights on the documents, while I was able to
provide more details on the historical context.
Not only were the students able to examine these
tremendously important historical documents upclose, but by experiencing the rest of the exhibit,
they were able to observe yet another form of
medievalism in seeing how the legacy of the Magna
Carta was framed and discussed in terms of modern
popular culture.
Prof. Alicia McKenzie
New Faculty Profile
Dr. Debra Foran’s career as a Near Eastern
Archaeologist began when she participated in her
first excavation as a student here at Laurier, where
she received an Honours BA in Near Eastern
Archaeology in 1993. She then went on to receive
her MA (1995) and PhD (2003) in Near and Middle
Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto.
She also holds a License in Mediaeval Studies
(2005) from the Pontifical Institute in Toronto.
exploring the impact of landscape on the religious
and economic development of certain sites in this
region. Prof. Foran has taught many courses on Near
Eastern history and archaeology at Laurier, covering
such topics as the origins of agriculture, the rise of
urbanism, the influence of religion, and the nature of
empire. She also teaches a summer archaeological
field school in Jordan which affords students the
opportunity to contribute to her ongoing research.
Since 2006 Dr. Foran has directed the Tell Madaba
Archaeological Project and now also co-directs the
Town of Nebo
Archaeological
Project in Jordan.
Her research focuses
on pilgrimage and
trade of the Late
Byzantine period
(5th to 8th centuries),
Dr. Foran joined the Medieval Studies Program Coordination Committee this year and will be teaching
at least one ML300 special topics course in 2016/17.
She has taught Archeology courses at Laurier that
count towards the Medieval Studies major, but this
will be her first time teaching a Medieval Studies
course, enriching the Medieval Studies Program
with a material culture perspective and a focus on
the Byzantine world. Welcome aboard, Deb!
Dr. Chris L. Nighman
7
Medieval Students’ Society
Wilfrid Laurier
University
Medieval Studies
Program
Photography credits:
Erica Parnis
75 University Ave. W.
Waterloo ON Canada
N2L 3C5
Program Co-ordinator
Dr. Chris L. Nighman
History Department
[email protected]
519.884.0710 x.3134
Medieval Studies Program
Co-ordination Committee
(2015-16)
Dr. Alma Santosuosso
(Faculty of Music)
Prof. Alicia McKenzie
(Medieval Studies/History)
Dr. Nathalie Freidel
(Languages & Literatures)
Dr. Debra Foran
(Archeology)
Administrative Staff
Sharon Lalor
(since April 2015)
www.wlu.ca/arts/
medievalstudies
MSS Archery Excursion, Shooter’s Choice, Waterloo
The Medieval Students’ Society
continued to enhance Laurier’s
Medieval Studies Program this
year by organizing a series of
interesting and enjoyable events.
Sept 19th The Royal Medieval
Faire at Waterloo Park
The MSS strives to demonstrate
the social side of academics to
anyone who is interested, whether
they are majoring in Medieval
Studies or not, by organizing a
variety of activities that have a
medieval theme.
Oct. 8th Knight’s Tale movie night
Sept 23th General meeting
Oct 1st Meet the profs night
Oct. 23rd Archery at Shooter’s
Choice
Oct. 29th Ironclad movie night
Nov. 7th Magna Carta trip to Fort
York
Our events are a blend of academic
th
interest and fun that allow students Nov. 18 Catapult building
workshop and competition
to balance their social and
academic lives.
Jan. 21th Meet the profs night
Through the events held by the
Feb 25th Monty Python and the
MSS, more students were shown
Holy Grail move night
just how welcoming, fun and
March 11th Medieval Times in
interesting Medieval Studies at
Toronto
Laurier can be.
In addition to holding several
membership meetings, this year
we hosted or participated in the
following events:
8
April 1st Medieval Students’
Colloquium
Rachel Cogswell, MSS President