Postgraduate Course: The Sources of Medieval History (PGHC11214)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course provides an introduction to a range of the primary sources available for the study medieval history. It also introduces students to the methodologies and theoretical approaches employed by historians in dealing with these sources.
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| Course description |
This course is designed to provide an overview for MSc students of a selection of surviving medieval sources, the social contexts in which they were produced, the differing ways in which they have been interpreted by modern scholars and, where appropriate, a brief introduction to the technical skills needed for their study, such as codicology, palaeography, and diplomatic. The course is delivered through a programme of seminars. Each topic in the course is studied in two linked seminars, the first of which introduces the source and the second provides a workshop in which the student is asked to discuss how medieval historians have approached and used the source in question. Topics for discussion may include (depending on the research interests of available staff): Hagiography; Early Medieval Annals, Chronicles and Historical Tracts; Medieval letters and letter collections; Papal Archives and Medieval Trade; Heraldry; charters; sources for medieval gender history.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2018/19, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 24 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
One essay of 3500 words (75%)
Two 750 word source commentaries (25%) |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- In the essay and portfolio a detailed and critical command of the body of knowledge concerning the Sources of Medieval History
- In the essay and portfolio an ability to analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship and conceptual discussions about the Sources of Medieval History
- In seminar contributions and the forms of assessment, an ability to understand and apply specialised research or professional skills, techniques and practices considered in the course
- The ability to develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in oral and written form] by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course
- Originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of academic autonomy
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Reading List
Paolo Delogu An Introduction to Medieval History, (Duckworth: London, 2002)
Deborah Mauskopf Deliyannis (ed.) Historiography in the Middle Ages (Brill: Leiden, 2002)
Bartlett, R., Why Can the Dead do such Great Things? (Princeton, 2013) - a recent survey by a very distinguished medievalist.
Brown, P., The Cult of the Saints. Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (Chicago, 1981)
Camargo, M., Ars Dictaminis, Ars Dictandi (Turnhout, 1991)
Cheney, C. R., revised Jones, M., A Handbook of Dates for Students of English History (Cambridge, 2000)
Clanchy, M. T., From Memory to Written Record. England 1066-1307, 2nd edn (Oxford, 1993)
Constable, G., Letters and Letter Collections, Typologie des sources du Moyen Age Occidental, fasc. 17 (Turnhout, 1976)
Flanagan, M. T., and Green, J. A. (eds.), Charters and Charter Scholarship in Britain and Ireland (Houndmills, 2005)
Heffernan, T. J., Sacred Biography: saints and their Biographers in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1988)
Heidecker, K., (ed.), Charters and the Use of the Written Word in Medieval Society, Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy, 5 (Turnhout, 2000)
Gransden, A., Historical Writing in England, 2 vols. (London, 1974, 1982) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | SourcesofMedHist Sources Medieval History |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr William Aird
Tel: (0131 6)50 9968
Email: William.M.Aird@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk |
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