Studying at York
The Medieval Imagination, 600-1500 - MST00083M
- Department: Centre for Medieval Studies
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: M
- Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Autumn Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
The module aims to:
- Develop skills of source analysis and interpretation
- Assess a range of source material and relevant secondary works; and
- Develop students’ powers of evidence-based historical argument, both orally and in writing.
Module learning outcomes
After completing this module students should have:
- Understand how the medieval imagination encompassed the supernatural - including interactions with the miraculous and the magical
- Have formed ideas about the complexities of medieval culture
- Be aware of the variety of ways that supernatural encounters could manifest and whether they formed part of a licit discourse with Church doctrine or manifested in illicit communications with the magical or demonic
- Be familiar with the wide range of sources available for the study of the medieval imagination in this period, how modern historians can use them, and what their pitfalls are
Module content
The medieval imagination encompasses the religious and the spiritual which was not only expressed through Church discourse, but through encounters with pilgrimage, crusade, and the miraculous. We will examine understanding of these encounters and how medieval audiences interpreted and interacted with these ideas. Encounters with the supernatural were not confined to the miraculous. Medieval romances describe encounters with other worlds where the very frontiers between the real and the other could be crossed. On the other side was the realm of the fantastical populated by fairies, ghosts, and werewolves. Such creatures could also populate the real world. Missionaries to the Mongols expected to see ‘monstrous races’ - including dog-headed men and men with faces in the middle of their chests. These ideas translated into map-making; real and imagined places sat alongside each other on medieval world maps (mappae mundi).
This module explores how medieval Europeans constructed the world around them taking a thematic approach that encompasses both spiritual and secular spheres. We will begin by examining broad concepts of medieval wonder before moving onto consider how medieval men and women imagined the worlds around them encompassing religious experiences, and fantastic encounters with ghouls and demons. Our sources include not only written accounts of miracles and visions but also material culture including tapestries depicting the apocalypse and maps depicting heaven looking down on a world populated by man and myth. We will use these materials to consider the medieval world view, and what these sources can tell us about medieval mentalities.
Students will attend eight weekly two-hour seminars in weeks 2-9. The provisional outline for the module is as follows:
1. Introduction: Medieval Wonder
2. Miracle Stories: Visions of God and Intercessions of the Saints
3. Merlin and Magic: Curses, Chivalry, and Creatures of Imagination
4. Medieval Fantasy Romance: Crossing Borders into ‘New Worlds’
5. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Mappae Mundi and the ‘Unseen’ Geography of the Middle Ages
6. Dealing with the Demonic: Medieval Ghost Stories
7. Heaven and Hell: Communicating with the Dead
8. Revealing Revelations: Medieval Depictions of the Apocalypse
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
CMS Students are expected to develop their essay topic in consultation with staff teaching on the module, and they are also strongly encouraged to submit a draft of their essay for feedback before the end of term. The draft essay replaces any formative assessment assignments and is a unique opportunity given to CMS students in recognition of the challenges they face in writing in an unfamiliar discipline.
Draft essays are normally submitted to the relevant staff member by the beginning of week 9 at the latest, in order to receive feedback by the end of term. The word limit for the draft essay is 2,500 words.
Students will then submit a 3,500 - 4,000-word assessed essay for the summative assessment in week 1 of the spring term.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required.
Indicative reading
For term 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:
- Arnold, J.H., Belief and Unbelief in Medieval Europe (London: Hodder Arnold, 2005), ch. 1
- D’Avray, D., Medieval Religious Rationalities: A Weberian Analysis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010),
Preliminaries - Le Goff, J., The Medieval Imagination (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), Introduction
- Watkins, C., History and the Supernatural in Medieval England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), Chapter 1