Course Course Code Credit points FHEQ level Prerequisites Faculty Course leader 1a MEDIEVAL EUROPE, 1000-­‐1300 NCH411 30 Level 4 None HISTORY Dr Lars Kjaer DESCRIPTION The middle ages were one of the most dynamic periods in European history. In the year 1000 much of Western Europe had been divided into numerous petty fiefdoms, united only by vague notions of loyalty to weak kings and the shared culture of the Christian Church. Over the next three hundred years it saw the establishment of strong and intensive monarchical government, laying the foundation for modern nation states. Externally it was a period of expansion, in which Western European knights established new kingdoms in England and Ireland, Jerusalem and Spain. Internally it saw the growth of urban life, the establishment of the first European universities and a flowering of religious devotion, as people sought new ways to accommodate their faith to the changing times. In this course we explore the roots of the dynamic growth of European culture in this period and the way in which it shaped the future of Europe. This course investigates the way in which Europe changed in this period and seeks to answer why. It looks in particular at the transformation of politics and government and the dynamic developments in religious life. The course finishes with a more in-­‐depth look at the changing world of aristocratic men and women, and at the growth of lay spirituality and the way it found expression in both crusades and private devotion, confession and asceticism. We will also investigate the development of courtesy, courtly love and the cult of chivalry against the background of a more commercial economy. AIMS The course aims to: • Give students a firm grounding in Europe’s medieval history and an understanding of the processes that created the cultural unity of the continent. • Allow students to develop an understanding of the dynamics of political and religious life in medieval Europe and the way this provided the background for later developments. 1 •
Provide students with the opportunity to engage with primary sources from medieval Europe and develop an understanding of the methodological challenges they present. LEARNING OUTCOMES On successful completion of the course, students should be able to: Knowledge and understanding K1a Demonstrate knowledge of medieval European society and its dynamics. (PPH: K1a) K3a Understand the ways in which medieval history impacts on later European and global history. (PPH: K1a & K2a) Subject-­‐specific skills S1a Develop an overview of, and write essays about, an unfamiliar historical period. (PPH: S2a) S2a & S3a Be familiar with using and analyzing sources from a remote historical period. (PPH: S1a) Transferable skills T1a Construct essays and critical arguments. (PPH: T2a) T2a Understand the basics of source criticism. (PPH: T1a) LEARNING AND TEACHING This Level 4 course will be taught in Michaelmas or Hilary term with two one-­‐hour, seminar-­‐
style lectures each week. These provide the background for the one-­‐hour weekly one-­‐to-­‐one tutorial. This makes a total over the term of 16 lectures and seven one-­‐to-­‐one tutorials. In preparation for these the students will write essays that will require a direct engagement with both the scholarly literature on, and the primary sources from, medieval Europe. At the end of the term, students will attend a formal meeting (a ‘Collection’) in which they receive comprehensive and collated feedback about their performance over the term. There will be revision sessions in Trinity term. Course information, links to journal articles and primary sources will be available through the Moodle VLE. Students are required to attend and participate in all the formal and timetabled sessions for this course. Students are also expected to manage their directed learning and independent study in support of the course. 2 ASSESSMENT Formative Seven essays of 2,000 words written weekly over the course of the term, for which the students will receive oral and written feedback. Each of these essays will form the basis for the hour-­‐long weekly one-­‐to-­‐one tutorial discussion of the topic. Summative A three-­‐hour unseen written examination at the end of the year for which the students will have to answer four questions. An unseen exam is suited to assessing students’ knowledge of medieval European society and its dynamics, and their understanding of its impact on later events. It also provides an opportunity for the students to demonstrate the skills they will have acquired in basic source criticism through their ability to use and analyze sources from a remote historical period. In their exam, they will be assessed on their ability to construct essays and critical arguments. These are all skills that they will have developed in the run-­‐up to the exams through the practice of writing weekly formative essays. INDICATIVE READING Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists for units are produced annually in Subject Handbooks or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is used as part of the approval/modification process only. Bartlett, R. (2000), England under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-­‐1225, The New Oxford History of England, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hallam, E.M. and Everard, J. (2001), Capetian France, 937–1328, Harlow: Longman. Morris, C. (1989), The Papal Monarchy: the Western Church from 1050 to 1250, Oxford: Clarendon Press. Lawrence, C.H. (2001), Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages (3rd edn), Harlow: Longman. Bartlett, R. (1993), The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization, and Cultural Change, 950-­‐
1350, London: Allen Lane. Riley-­‐Smith, J. (1980), ‘Crusading as an Act of Love’, History, 65, 177-­‐192. Moore, R.I. (2012), The War on Heresy: The Battle for Faith and Power in Medieval Europe, London: Profile Books. INDICATIVE TOPICS Introduction: The Inheritance of Rome This lecture offers background to the unit, offering a swift survey of late roman and early medieval history. It focuses on the encounter between the old urban Mediterranean culture and the agrarian, aristocratic successor kingdoms. Key concepts: Religion, monarchy, government, education. 3 Castles, Knights and Conflict This lecture looks at the sources of order and conflict in eleventh-­‐century France. Key concepts: Conflict studies, feudalism, aristocracy. The Expansion of Europe This lecture looks at the way in which the aristocratic and religious culture of Northern France spread, through conquest, conversion and cultural exchange, to the European periphery, Britain, Scandinavia and Central Europe. Key concepts: War, cultural change, expansion of Europe. France and the Rise of the House of Capet This lecture investigates the growth of royal power in twelfth-­‐ and thirteenth-­‐century France, and the economic, legal and religious resources of the Capetian kings of France. Key concepts: Power, government, feudalism, monarchy, religion, economy. England from Conquest to Magna Carta This lecture investigates political life in England after the Norman Conquest, the growth of centralised power and the conflicts that lead to the Magna Carta. Key concepts: Government, feudalism, monarchy. Monastic Reform: Cluny and Clairvaux This lecture looks at the growth of new monastic orders in the twelfth century and places it in the context of contemporary religious and intellectual life. Key concepts: Religion, intellectual life, reform. Heresy This lecture investigates the growth of popular heresy, the Cathars and Waldensians, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The lecture investigates the causes of heresy, while accompanying tutorials will engage with the debate over what the heresies really were. Key concepts: Religion, power, source criticism. The Friars and Lateran IV This lecture investigates the religious developments of the thirteenth century, the developments of lay religious life and the mendicant orders, the Franciscan and Dominican friars. Key concepts: Religion, laity, reform. Crusades This lecture investigates the crusading movement, its appeal and impact on Europe and medieval culture. Key concepts: Religion, laity, expansion of Europe, war. Chivalry This lecture looks at the lay and religious well-­‐springs of the ideal of chivalry and the way it transformed aristocratic life. Key Concepts: Religion, laity, cultural and economic change, status. INDICATIVE ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS How predictable was the rise of the Capetian kings of France? 4 Why did medieval knights go on crusade? Did the Cathars pose a threat to the Catholic Church? SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT STRUCTURE Assessment type: Examination Weighting: 100% Online submission: No Duration: 3 hours Length: N/A Date of validation Finally approved by the Southampton Solent University Academic Standards and Development Committee 19 November 2014. Date last modified 5