Notre Dame Medieval Institute

Meet Us in the Middle Ages: The Crossroads of Everything

Medieval people made the modern world. Greek, Arab, and Latin natural philosophers built our scientific tradition. European poets and story-tellers invented vernacular literature while reading classical poetry and Middle-Eastern frame tales. Rabbis, priests, and imams—as they talked, and squabbled, with each other—constructed our religious traditions. Our representative democracies and university systems are essentially medieval institutions.

Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute, with fifty faculty fellows from thirteen different departments and an unparalleled library and growing manuscript collection, is the nation’s largest and most prestigious center for understanding the Middle Ages. Our conferences and lecture series bring the world’s leading scholars to campus, while our graduate and undergraduate programs train future medieval scholars and leaders in all walks of life.

Join us all—faculty, students, visiting fellows, friends and supporters—at this historical crossroads: help us explore it, map it, and make it known in our research, teaching, and community engagement. 

Inclusion Statement

The Medieval Institute affirms the understanding that individuals possess innate dignity, an idea underscored by the Judeo-Christian belief that all persons are made in the image and likeness of God. Informed by the University of Notre Dame’s “Spirit of Inclusion” statement (1997), the Medieval Institute welcomes "all people, regardless of color, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social or economic class, and nationality" and works to sustain an inclusive environment.