Best Medieval and Renaissance Studies graduate PHD programs - Updated 2022

This is a six-year interdisciplinary research degree designed to allow students to develop as scholars and teachers. One of these must be in palaeography, codicology, or other methods with original medieval documents. Language proficiency is an especially essential part of the Medieval Studies program, and students are encouraged to fulfill their language requirements as early in their studies as possible.

The Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame is one of the leading centers in the United States for the advanced study of medieval culture. The graduate program provides students with superb technical training, but it also equips them with a holistic vision of the Middle Ages, grounded in a mastery of sources and languages and extending to the whole of its life and culture. Generous fellowship support and light service demands allow students to devote themselves fully to their course of study. Students in the Medieval Institute pursue the Ph.D. in Medieval Studies, a rigorous, interdisciplinary degree with a focus on one of the classic disciplines: history, Latin or vernacular literature (English, Italian, German, Spanish, French), theology, philosophy, music, or art history.

It offers comprehensive training in a wide range of departments and disciplines. Students combine seminar work in intellectual and cultural history, material culture, and languages to supplement their traditional doctoral studies. To be admitted to the Designated Emphasis in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, an applicant must already be accepted into a PhD program at the University of California, Berkeley. Students are invited to apply for admission to the DE during their second semester of graduate study at Berkeley.

Binghamton University’s Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, offers a graduate certificate at both the Master’s and doctoral levels as part of its larger mission to promote innovative interdisciplinary work on topics that fall between late antiquity and the early modern era. The graduate certificate program is intended to foster the highest levels of concentrated work both within departments and across departmental lines, enabling students to build an interdisciplinary program in either Medieval or Early Modern Studies.