Institute for Medieval Studies
Institute for Medieval Studies

Undergraduate Elective Modules

(Course codes link to a description of each module.)

The Institute runs undergraduate interdisciplinary elective modules at all levels.  Undergraduate students based in any School can build Medieval Studies undergraduate elective modules into their own undergraduate programme at levels 1, 2, and 3.  For some students, our elective modules complement their degree programmes, and for others they offer the opportunity to study a completely new area.  Many students have found Medieval Studies elective modules a useful way in which to build up expertise in the area with a view to embarking on postgraduate Medieval Studies.  The following are the undergraduate elective modules currently available in the Institute.

For language requirements for Study Abroad students, please see http://www.leeds.ac.uk/studyabroad/incomers/downloads.htm

Level 1:

The Institute for Medieval Studies offers elective modules in both semesters:

Semester 1

Course code Course title Semester Credit weightings
MEDV1070 Anglo-Saxon Culture Semester 1 20

Semester 2

Course code Course title Semester Credit weightings
MEDV1080 Religion and Culture in the Western Middle Ages Semester 2 20

The modules are each worth 20 credits, and they may be taken singly, or together as a 40-credit package. Both modules provide an introduction to fundamental issues of cultural identity and change in the European Middle Ages, and to ways of examining and analysing a range of evidence, from artefacts to texts.

Level 2 & 3:

The Institute for Medieval Studies offers 20-credit elective modules in both semesters. These modules are open to all level 2 and 3 students:

Semester 1

Course code Course title Semester Credit weightings
MEDV3410 Visions of Ecstasy: Medieval Women Mystics and Their World Semester 1 20
MEDV3810 Early Medieval Manuscripts: text and image, production and use Semester 1 20
MEDV3610 The Age of Chivalry: The Idea of Knighthood in Medieval Europe, 1050-1350 Semester 1 20

Semester 2

Course code Course title Semester Credit weightings
MEDV3310 Magic & the Supernatural in the Middle Ages Semester 2 20

A list of Postgraduate modules is also available. For further information on these modules, contact Dr Mary Swan in the Institute for Medieval Studies at Parkinson 4.05, tel. +44 (0)113 343 3620.

Semester 1

MEDV1070: Anglo-Saxon Culture
Outline syllabus:
The aim of this interdisciplinary module is to provide an integrated introduction to Anglo-Saxon culture in its historical context, using texts from the period in translation, archaeology, architecture, manuscript illumination, and the art of decorated artefacts, such as stone sculpture, ivories and jewels. There will be opportunity for project-work using the library's resources and/or on-site and museum visits. Anglo-Saxon Culture is an innovative response at undergraduate level to the fundamentally interdisciplinary nature of early medieval studies.
It is a free-standing module, but in its methodology and content it will also prepare students for a wide range of modules which are offered at levels 2 and 3 in many departments. Anglo-Saxon Culture is open to all level 1 students in the University. Teaching will be provided by the Institute for Medieval Studies. The module will be taught by a weekly one-hour workshop, and a weekly one-hour seminar, at times to be arranged by tutors and students at the preliminary meeting, and will be assessed by two essays, or by one essay and one piece of project work.

Semester 2

MEDV1080: Religion and Culture in the Western Middle Ages
Outline syllabus:
This module will introduce students through interdisciplinary study to the various organisational and devotional features of medieval Christianity, from 500 to 1500. It will challenge students to envision a developing relationship between the Christian tradition and the cultural values of Western medieval Europe. On completion of this module, students will, through exposure to a variety of topics, have an understanding of how to critically engage with a culture which is separated from them by time. Teaching on the module consists of one workshop and one seminar per week.
The module starts with a one-off introductory lecture. Times for the one-hour workshops and seminars will be arranged to suit student availability, as far as possible.
The module will examine the basic tools of investigation (what is religion, what is culture). Workshops and seminars will establish a chronology of the period, and will then examine topics such as: ecclesiastical structures and their relation to secular institutions; the evolving expression of Christian morals and social values; religious expression through the arts; the basic features of intellectual traditions and doctrinal development in the Western Church. The module will also examine the relationship between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, whose interaction helped shape the Western medieval tradition. Seminars will mirror the topics related to the workshop of the same week, focusing on either primary sources or significant secondary literature as appropriate.

Semester 1

MEDV3410: Visions of Ecstasy: Medieval Women Mystics and Their World
Outline syllabus:
The later Middle Ages in Europe saw an increase in opportunities for women within the Christian church, the creation of many women saints, and the composition by women of many texts exploring spiritual experiences in their lives. In this module we will examine the content and context of these texts. Questions about wider attitudes to women’s writing in the Middle Ages, the position of mystics in the Christian church and the literary qualities of their writings will be addressed, as well as the ways in which women’s mystical writing reflects contemporary expressions of popular piety, such as manuscript art, paintings and sculpture, with particular reference to images of the Crucifixion. The module will focus on the writings of the English mystics Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, which will be read in Middle English, and on a selection of works by Continental women mystics, including Hadewijch of Brabant, Beatrijs of Nazareth, Angela of Foligno and Marie d’Oignies, which will be read in Modern English translation.
MEDV3810: Early Medieval Manuscripts: text and image, production and use
Outline syllabus:
This module provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the production, use and meaning of medieval manuscripts. It focuses on visual as well as verbal literacy and the way in which both helped to define culture. It also considers the distinctions between manuscript and print culture, as well as the virtual culture of the 21st century.
MEDV3610: The Age of Chivalry: The Idea of Knighthood in Medieval Europe, 1050-1350
Outline syllabus:
In the course of the mid-11th to 14th centuries knighthood developed from being a purely military institution into a social ethos with its own lifestyle, ideology and culture which can conveniently be described as chivalry, and which found expression in a vast range of literary and artistic works. This is a thematic module, drawing on material from France, Germany, the Low Countries and the British Isles, which will explore a broad range of themes associated with knighthood and its values:
Knighthood as a military institution, including study of warfare, arms and armour, and including study of social status, terminology, customs, food and clothing, relations between the sexes, and heraldry.
Chivalry as a code of behaviour, including study of ideologies and criticism of chivalry.
Students will be introduced to a range of primary evidence comprising military artefacts, medieval historical and literary texts dealing with chivalry, and artistic evidence such as heraldry. Texts will be read in English translation for this module, but students who can read occasional articles in French and/or German will have a greater choice of secondary background literature.

Semester 2

MEDV3310: Magic & the Supernatural in the Middle Ages
Outline syllabus:
It is often thought that the Middle Ages was a time when the Church persecuted witches and suppressed magical beliefs, but in fact this was something that happened primarily during the 16th and 17th centuries. This module focuses on belief in magic and the supernatural in the period between the 11th and the 15th centuries when there was a very close relationship between accepted (licit) practices which were permitted by the Church, and illicit ones which were not. The boundary between licit and illicit changed throughout the period as theologians debated key concepts such as what was 'natural', 'demonic', 'divine', 'miraculous' or 'marvellous', and as political and ideological boundaries shifted. This module will explore these concepts and shifts at all levels of society, using a wide range of evidence to show how belief in the supernatural was integral to medieval daily life, closely related to the passage of the seasons and the surrounding landscape, and profoundly affecting rituals of birth and death, healthcare practices, attitudes towards non-Christians, intellectual and technical endeavour, and personal and communal identity during one's lifetime and beyond.

This page is owned by Institute for Medieval Studies and was last updated on 21 March, 2011