Aims

•This module aims to introduce students to the histories and cultures of several different world regions within the period c. 500 to c. 1500 AD, to some of their interconnections, and to the questions of ‘the Middle Ages’ as a concept and of whether ‘the Middle Ages’ was a global phenomenon. This introduction aims to enable students to identify and reflect on resemblances and contrasts between the different regions, the extent of their influence upon each other, and whether they underwent similar historical developments. Chronology, Comparison, and Connections are the major concerns. Students should acquire: knowledge and understanding of chronology – periodisation, and issues of continuity and change – and connections; and the confidence to engage in comparative history.

•An overall aim is that students broaden their knowledge and understanding of the past by studying regions and topics that are probably unfamiliar to them, as well as ones that have been traditional content in curricula. This is in line with the School’s aim of supplementing traditional focuses with diversity and inclusive ways of thinking about the past. Students should be able to see familiar things and places in a new light, and to see unfamiliar places and things as more central than they had previously understood.

•The module is shaped by research-led teaching, by specialists from the disciplines of Archaeology and of History in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology. An overall aim is to introduce students not only to new ideas and the approaches of different disciplines, but also to different sorts of evidence

•A general overall aim of the module is to provide students with an opportunity to acquire a sound general knowledge of the subject, reading widely and critically in the literature that is set by the lecturers.

•Another general aim is to develop students’ capacity for independent study.

Outline Of Syllabus

The module will typically be delivered following this kind of syllabus:

Themes and Topics
•Week 1 - The concept of ‘the Middle Ages’ and its different dates in different regions
•Weeks 2-6 - The political, economic, religious, cultural, and social circumstances, trends and developments in the histories of several world regions within the period/particular centuries within the period c. 500 -c. 1500.
•Week 7 - The global phenomenon of sacred landscapes
•Week 8 - Localities that have global as well as local significance
•Week 9 - Networks and connections of various kinds (e.g. disease networks, trade networks, intellectual networks)
•Week 10 - the year 1000, turning points and globalisation
•Week 11 - ‘the Global Middle Ages’, reviewing the concept and the actuality

World regions
Different geographical regions will be included in the module in varying proportions, four different regions being featured in most weeks. These regions will include most, or all of the following, listed in alphabetical order, but will not necessarily be limited to them:
•The Arab/Islamic world
•Armenia
•Britain
•Byzantium
•Europe
•China
•India
•Japan
•The world of the Mongols

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures and non-synchronous lecture materials will be provided by experts and will introduce topics and core knowledge and outline knowledge that students are expected to acquire and to think about. In almost every week, the combination of the in-person lecture and the lecture materials will introduce students to the week’s topic in four different world religions. Lecture materials can be viewed at any point in the week, though they should be viewed before that week’s seminar, and can be viewed at any time subsequently.

Seminars are intended to consolidate students’ learning and enhance their understanding, by (1) providing an opportunity to review the week’s lecture and lecture materials and its set reading materials, and to discuss any questions that students have about them, but more importantly (2) providing an opportunity for creative work, in group discussion and debate that engages in comparative history, comparing the different societies/regions that the lecturers have introduced and that the students have read about.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Work submitted during the delivery of the module forms a means of determining students' progress. The assessments for this module are designed to test students' knowledge outcomes while helping them develop research and academic writing skills. The three short essays which make up the summative portfolio assessment provide students with the opportunity to explore the breadth of topics and methodologies covered in the module while developing concise academic writing skills. This portfolio forms a means of assessing students’ attainment of the knowledge and skills outcomes as set out in the learning outcomes section.

The formative assessment provides students with the opportunity to work on and submit a draft version of one of their three short essays for the portfolio, and to receive advice and feedback from staff before completing the summative assessment.