Studying at York
Reading and Writing in Medieval England - Semester 2 - HIS00196H
- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
- See module specification for other years: 2024-25
Module summary
Late-medieval England was awash with writing – from posters and pamphlets put up in the streets, to letters and books that people wrote at home. More and more people could read and write, and more and more of that writing was in English, which came to be used as a language of literature, government, and more controversially, religious debate. Even though the majority of the population were still unable to read, this was a world increasingly dominated by the power of writing. What did this technological transformation mean for social relations, for faith and belief, for politics?
This module explores this major development in cultural history through an exciting range of primary sources, provided in translation, from the cryptic manifestos of political rebels, to the treatises of lollard heretics, to the lavishly illustrated romances of the gentry (and plenty more in between). It asks students to think about the world of writing as it existed before the advent of printing, as a way of understanding our own age of proliferating media change.
Related modules
Students taking this module must also take the first part in Semester 1.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2023-24 |
Module aims
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce students to in depth study of a specific historical topic using primary and secondary material;
- To enable students to explore the topic through discussion and writing; and
- To enable students to evaluate and analyse primary sources.
Module learning outcomes
Students who complete this module successfully will:
- Grasp key themes, issues and debates relevant to the topic being studied;
- Have acquired knowledge and understanding about that topic;
- Be able to comment on and analyse original sources;
- Be able to relate the primary and secondary material to one another; and
- Have acquired skills and confidence in close reading and discussion of texts and debates.
Module content
Students will attend a 3-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 2. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight three-hour seminars in all. A one-to-one meeting between tutor and students will also be held to discuss assessments.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
- Writing the law
- Chronicling revolt
- Rebel letters
- Bills, Petitions, and Plaint
- Reading for devotion
- Lollards and their Texts
- Books and miscellanies
- The beginnings of print
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
For formative assessment, students submit an essay draft of 2000-words.
For summative assessment, students complete a 4000-word essay relating to the themes and issues of the module. This comprises 100% of the overall module mark. Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Following their formative assessment task, students will receive a one-to-one meeting with the tutor to discuss the essay and their plans for the assessed essay.
Work will be returned to students with written comments in their tutorial and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to make use of their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For summative assessment tasks, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
Indicative reading
For semester time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:
- M.T. Clanchy, From Memory to Written Record: England 1066-1307 (2nd ed., Oxford: Blackwell, 1993).
- Wendy Scase, Literature and Complaint in England, 1272-1553 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
- Orietta Da Rold, Paper in Medieval England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).