Michigan State University Alumni Association’s Evening College
Burcham Hills Summer Seminars
Open to All Adults

 Evening College travels to Burcham Hills Retirement Community for a series of summer seminars that will explore the history of Medieval Feasts and Banquets, Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile and the Last Pharaoh, and the volatile year of 1857. All adults are welcome—you do not need to be a Burcham Hills resident to attend these Evening College noncredit personal enrichment seminars.

You must register with the Evening College office before attending.
Phone 517-355-4562, print registration form and mail payment, or register now.

Medieval Feasts and Banquets, Wednesday, July 8, 7-8:30 p.m.
During the Middle Ages (12^th-15^th centuries), feasts and banquets were a mainstay of pleasure and entertainment for the rich and famous. They were events of great interest and stagecraft as well. People ate different foods from the ones we enjoy, at different times of the day, using different utensils. Learn how the medieval table was set, who sat where, who served the food, how the food was prepared (including the features of the medieval kitchen), and how long banquets lasted. The course will conclude with a review of the sumptuous menu for the coronation banquet of King Henry VI of England in 1399.

Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile and the Last Pharaoh, Wednesday, July 15, 7-8:30 p.m.

Cleopatra was arguably one of the most beautiful and influential women of the ancient world. Although she only lived to the age of 39 (69-30 B.C.), she was the last Pharaoh of her family, the Ptolemies who had ruled Egypt for over three hundred years. She bore a son to Julius Caesar and three children, including a set of twins to Mark Antony. Discover what archaeologists are continuing to learn about Cleopatra as you take a closer look at this remarkable woman.

1857: Change Rocks the World!, Wednesday, July 22, 7-8:30 p.m.

Although the Civil War was only on the horizon in 1857, the inauguration of James Buchanan as America’s President and the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision only made war more likely. In India,  the Great Mutiny against the British Raj broke out, an event that would lead to the dissolution of all the great colonial empires. There were three on-going wars elsewhere in the world, as well as a series of major earthquakes. In England, Queen Victoria reigned, and in Paris the Bohemian age of artists and writers was in full swing. Two major French literary works were published and they rocked all the norms of their time: Flaubert’s novel, Madame Bovary, and Baudelaire’s poetry collection, Les Fleurs du Mal. Come explore the world of 1857, a year when foundations began to shake the world over!