The ‘Dark Age’ of Allegheny’s history department

For many Allegheny students, the history department lacks options

Photo contributed by commons.wikimedia.org

Photo contributed by commons.wikimedia.org

Looking around during my last semester here on campus, I am reminded of what Allegheny’s history department is severely missing: Professors specializing in certain time periods, specifically, the Middle Ages.

In my first year at Allegheny, the only medieval historian, history professor Stephen Lyons, retired. And with him, any last hope of taking a true medieval history was lost. Since his retirement, the history department, as I know of, has not made any moves to hire a new medieval history professor.

You cannot have a full and exceptional department when you are missing a huge chunk of history, so the absence of medieval history studies is infuriating. History from 476 to 1500 A.D. is missing in the department, a time period in which my senior project is based.

In my current History 600 class, I am the only medievalist in the room. One student out of 21. My professor has mentioned it too, saying that I could be the last medievalist to pass through the senior project classes.

I do not know which is sadder, the fact that I may be the last medievalist for quite some time at Allegheny or the fact that the department does not seem to want to fill this gaping hole.

Students miss out on important events that have been proven to influence later historical events. Not to mention, the amount of amusing and fascinating stories within this time period are so enjoyable to learn about. The Crusades, Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire, the Hundred Years’ War, the Black Death, and so much more existed within this immense time period.

This list is not exhaustive and does not even include any literary works which are still influential today, the works of Chaucer, Dante or St. Augustine, for instance. I do not know how many times I need to reiterate it, but medieval history is important. 

The lack of medieval historians in the history department is also reflected in the medieval and renaissance studies minor. I have a MEDRN minor but am missing many of the requirements because there are no professors teaching classes for it. Exceptions have been made for coursed to fulfill requirements, but the fact that exceptions need to be made is ridiculous.

If you do not know already, the MEDRN minor is more than likely going to disappear in the next five years, maybe even sooner. It is still being offered to students, but professors insist that students declare it sooner rather than later.

But why try to attempt a minor you will never be able to fully finish?

It frustrates me that the minor is offered when students cannot fully finish. I am all for students becoming interested in medieval history and potentially declaring a MEDRN minor at Allegheny and having more students attracted to this specific history is good. But with so few classes to inspire that curiosity into medieval history, how can we expect to bring it back if there are no classes to appeal to students?

How can we bring medieval history back if no one is advocating for it? Professors I have talked to  agree that it is sad to see the MEDRN minor and medieval history disappear from the curriculum, but nothing official has been done. I know it may take time to fix this problem, but Allegheny needs to act soon, or there may not be anything left to salvage.

For Allegheny’s history department, it seems that it has reached its “Dark Age.”