Course Instructor: Kevin Roddy
UCD Emeritus, Medieval Studies
Instructor email: kproddy@ucdavis.edu
Fall, 2025
Thursday morning from 10:30-12:00
Notre Dame Cathedral, Then and Now
Class Web Page: https://medieval.ucdavis.edu/OLLI/NOTRE.DAME/index.htm
Office Hours: TH 1:30-12:00
Instructor’s Co-Producer: Jeri Ohmart
Seminar Focus:
The course will explore the rich history of Notre Dame Cathedral as a mirror of human culture and artistic expression. This course traces the cathedral’s evolution,from its classical beginnings, to its medieval origins to its role in shaping cultural identity,culminating in a look at the restoration efforts following the devastating 2019 fire.This class, then, should increase your appreciation of these structures, with the end, I hope, of not convincing anyone to erect cathedrals, but rather to make their own sacred spaces.
Learning Outcomes:
My goal is to focus entirely on the practice of critical thinking in a rigorous, disciplined manner, as was habitual in medieval universities for almost five hundred years. Since I will treat this as a seminar, I expect participation, and if necessary will demand it by calling on students at random. No reading is necessary for this course, but some memory is, so please ask questions in order to avoid my doing so.
Each week, we will progress, partly in a chronological fashion, partly in a thematic one, to review basic concepts, starting with what makes the ’holy,’ how do various cultures approach it Thus historical context will always provide a rationale for the various designs and purposes that mark the history of the cathedral.
About the Instructor:
In my fifty years in teaching, I have offered courses from remedial writing to OLLI courses on Castles, Monasticism, as well as Cathedrals. In between these extremes have been classes in Davis, Sweden, England on general medieval culture, mysticism, literature, history, economics, politics. I have published on drama, on myth, and on medieval nutrition. To repeat what I wrote above, I have always been concerned with an interactive mode of teaching, in which I ask participants at random what they think of the material. Since they all think, I welcome their thoughts, and reward them with excellent grades. For you, I believe I can help impart the perspectives that you might want to have, and this motivation has led me to undertake this course.
Sites to get us started:
Architectural Glossary( Alison Stones, University of Pittsburg)
Church Terms, Courtesy of T.J. Ray, University of Mississippi, with additions and modifications
Excellent Information gathered by the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris
Schedule:
Week 1 (September 25): Introduction: The Idea of the Sacred
Cathedral Construction, Organization:
Week 2 (October 2):
Week 3 (October 9):
Week 4 (October 4): Class 4: The Disaster and Renewal
MAPS
More than you’ll ever want to know about architecture, and worth a scan
Class 1: Das Heilige: What makes the holy holy? Spirituality
Rudolf Otto’s Classical Book, The Idea of Holy, on the Sacred(before the class, just read and be able to comment on the Summary)
David Macauly's Cathedral
David Macaulay’s wonderful book, Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction, full of information on every aspect of the building of a cathedral in the late thirteenth- and early fourteen-centuries
Class 2:
Paris in Classical, Medieval Times, in Context; The Medieval Cathedral of Notre Dame
Roman Paris: Lutetia
Early Roman City
Early Map of Supposed City in 360
Paris in the Middle Ages
Map of Paris, towards 1550
Church of St. Jean le Rond
Church of St. Jean le Rond, anothe view
Class 3:
The Cathedral through the Centuries
Notre Dame Cathedral through time
Changes from the eighteenth century on (Cultural Background)
A Duke Emerita discovers secrets in the restoration
