Medieval Studies

Course detail Description

This Medieval Studies MA draws on our strengths in medieval teaching in departments including Classics, Digital Humanities, English, French, German, History, Music and Theology. The required module Visual & Verbal in Medieval Culture, partly taught in the British Museum, offers the opportunity for interdisciplinary study of the multi-media Middle Ages, especially the relationship between text and image. You will also be able to choose taught modules from an extensive options list, including skills modules in languages, Palaeography and Digital Humanities. We are also able to draw on the expertise of Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies academics to offer you an exceptional geographical and historical range.

Our definition of the Middle Ages extends from the late antique to the early renaissance periods and covers eastern as well as western Europe.
You will study medieval literature, languages, history, art and philosophy within a historicist framework, which will train you in a range of methodologies, from the traditional skills of palaeography and codicology to the theoretical tools of gender, sexuality and postcolonial studies. With huge flexibility and choice of module, you will be able to tailor your degree to your own interests, to the extent that no two Medieval Studies MAs are alike. At the end of the course you will bring all of the skills and knowledge you have developed to produce a 15,000-word dissertation on a subject of your choice.

You will automatically become a member of the Centre for Medieval Studies and you will be invited to take part in its activities, by attending and assisting at conferences and research events, and participating in staff-student study days.

Teaching
If you are a full-time student, we will give you six to eight hours of teaching each week through lectures, seminars and skills workshops, and we will expect you to undertake 34 hours of self-study.

If you are a part-time student, we will give you four hours each week through lectures and seminars in your first year and two to four in your second, and we will expect you to undertake 23 hours of self-study in your first year, and 11 in your second.

Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.

Assessment
You are assessed through a combination of coursework and exams. For your dissertation, you will write a 15,000-word essay.

Regulating body
King's College London is regulated by the Office for Students.

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Structure

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules. You will normally take modules totalling 180 credits.

You are required to take:

• Visual & Verbal in Medieval Culture (20 credits)
• Dissertation Medieval Studies (60 credits)

If you are a part-time student, you will take Visual and Verbal in Medieval Culture in your first year, and your dissertation in your second. You will split your optional modules over two years. For example, you may take three optional modules in your first year and two in your second.

• Arthurian Tradition in Literature & History (20 credits)
• Art as a Theological Medium (20 credits)
• Books & Bodies (20 credits)
• Byzantium & the West (20 credits)
• Contemporary Medieval (20 credits)
• Cyprus from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance (20 credits)
• Devotional Use of Art in Christianity (20 credits)
• Digital Approaches to Literature (20 credits)
• Exile & Identity: Jews of Muslim & Christian Spain (20 credits)
• Feudal Revolution (20 credits)
• Food & Drink in Medieval England (20 credits)
• Foundations & Records of English Royal Government 800–1300 (20 credits)
• The History of Medieval Women (20 credits)
• History of Script in Britain (20 credits)
• The Idea of Beauty in Western Theology (40 credits)
• Languages of Politics: Italy 1250–1500 (20 credits)
• Latin for Graduates: Intermediate (20 credits)
• Latin for Graduates: Beginners (20 credits)
• Law & Society from Constantine to Charlemagne (20 credits)
• Living in Byzantium I (20 credits)
• Living in Byzantium II (20 credits)
• Magna Carta & the Medieval Monarchy (20 credits)
• Material Culture of the Book (20 credits)
• Medieval Latin Literature (20 credits)
• Medieval Music from the Sources (20 credits)
• Medieval Philosophy (20 credits)
• Medieval Slavery (20 credits)
• Middle English Textual Cultures (20 credits)
• Official & Unofficial Religion (20 credits)
• One God, One Sea: Byzantium & Islam, 600–800 (20 credits)
• Palaeography (20 credits)
• Pre-modern Dialogues (20 credits)
• The Troubadours & their Legacy (20 credits)

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.