Medieval and Renaissance Studies MA

This MA provides exceptional opportunities to master medieval and renaissance languages and to acquire manuscript expertise working with original manuscripts; key skills for those who want to go on to original research. Students with primary interests in many different areas ‒ linguistic, historical, literary or archaeological ‒ will be able to build on and extend their expertise and skills.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.

The programme consists of 30 credits of core language modules, optional modules (90 credits), and a research dissertation (60 credits).

• Old and Middle English
• Medieval Latin (Beginners)
• Medieval Latin (Intermediate)
• Medieval French
• Old and Middle French
• Medieval Italian
• Medieval German
• Classical Hebrew
• Rabbinic Hebrew
• Introduction to Old Norse

Up to 90 credits of options drawn from the following:

• Identity and Power in Medieval Europe, AD 500-1300
• Magic in the Middle Ages
• Writing History in Europe, c. 900-1200
• A Global History of the Middle Ages?
• Russsian Monarchy: Court Ritual and Political Ideas 1498-1917
• Science and Medicine across Medieval Worlds
• Reframing the Renaissance
• Forging the Early Modern
• Unstitching the Early Modern: Archival and Book Skills
• Web 0.1: Early Modern Information Culture c. 1470-1750
• Confessional Cultures in the Dutch Republic and England, c. 1500-c. 1700
• Seeing Through Materials: Matter, Vision and Transformation in the Renaissance
• Sex and the Body in Early Modern Europe
• Men on the Moon: Cosmic Voyages in the Early Modern Period
• Metamorphosis: The Limits of the Human
• Wolfram von Eschenbach's "Parzival"
• Legendary Histories (Medieval French Literature)
• The Transformation of the Roman Mediterranean
• Themes and Debates in Islamic Archaeology and Heritage

This list is indicative only; the modules available are subject to change each year.

All students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a dissertation of up to 12,000 words.

The programme is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars and classes. Several modules include site visits to institutions, notably the British Library, the Warburg Institute, the National Archives and the Institute of Historical Research. Assessment is through unseen examination, long essays, coursework and the dissertation.