| Unit name | Medieval Geographies |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HISTM0039 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Donkin |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The world view of the medieval West encompassed both the known world and its imagined margins, including Hell and the terrestrial Paradise. This unit explores medieval geographical and ethnographical thought as expressed in a wide range of texts and images. Starting with ideas of the world as a whole, we will move on to consider attitudes to centre and periphery, and to particular regions and peoples. The course will explore different genres of representation and the contexts in which these were shaped, from the court to the cloister; ask how the geographical imagination was informed by changing geo-political circumstances, such as the crusades and colonization; and assess the interplay of the classical tradition, religious beliefs, and knowledge gained through travel and trade. While there will be an emphasis on engaging with primary source material, sustained interest within medieval studies in perceptions of space and processes of mapping provides opportunities to examine how scholars from different disciplines have approached this material and applied particular theoretical approaches.
To allow students to investigate and assess different ways in which medieval thinkers envisaged and represented space and geography
To place students in direct contact with the current research interests of the academic tutor and to enable them to explore the issues surrounding the state of research in the field.
To develop students’ ability to work with a diverse range of primary sources relating to this field.
To develop students’ abilities to integrate primary source material into a wider historical analysis.
To develop students’ ability to learn independently within a small-group context.
10 x 1.5 hour seminars.
One essay of 5,000 words.
E. Edson, Mapping Time and Space: How Medieval Mapmakers Viewed their World (1997)
K. Lavezzo, Angels on the Edge of the World: Geography, Literature and English Community, 1000-1534 (2006)
N. Lozovsky, ‘The Earth is Our Book’: Geographical Knowledge in the Latin West ca. 400-1000 (2000)
J.-P. Rubiés, ed., Medieval Ethnographies: European Perspectives of the World Beyond (2009)
K. M. Rudy, Virtual Pilgrimages in the Convent: Imagining Jerusalem in the Late Middle Ages (2011)
S. Tomasch & S. Gilles, eds, Text & Territory: Geographical Imagination in the European Middle Ages (1998)
