Welcome to the Centre for Medieval Studies

World views: Liber Floridus (Ghent University Library, MS 92, fols 226'v-226"r)

We're based in the historic Heslington Hall

York: a great medieval city

Viking ships by the River Ouse

The Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS) at the University of York was founded in 1968 and is one of the world’s leading centres for postgraduate study and research into the Middle Ages.

Our vision of medieval studies situates world-leading expertise on the European Middle Ages, 400-1550, within a wider Afro-Eurasian framework, with current concentrations of excellence in medieval England and its neighbours, the built environment, religion and dissent, gender and sexuality, Viking studies and Islamic cultures.

We draw upon expertise from the departments of Archaeology, English and Related Literature, History and History of Art, as well as from Computer Science, Language and Linguistic Sciences, Music and Physics. Our teaching and research is shaped by long experience of innovative interdisciplinary collaboration, extending across the Humanities to the Natural Sciences.

We are a welcoming and supportive community, fully committed to diversity and inclusivity in our study of the Middle Ages.