University of Galway

Course Module Information

Course Modules

Semester 1 | Credits: 5

This survey introduces students to key actors, events and ideas that shaped culture, politics and religious affairs in the central middle ages—a period that saw great experimentation and expansion followed by the development of legal and administrative structures to centralise monarchs’ powers in both ‘church’ and ‘states’. Topics treated in lectures include how lordship shaped knightly, clerical, peasant and burgess communities; papal reform and Christian kingship; the Norman impact in England and south Italy; ‘reconquista’ and the first crusade; new religious movements, both orthodox and heterodox; the rise of universities. Lectures are complemented by the discussion in tutorials of primary sources devoted to such themes as medieval warfare; the relations of kings and prelates; the charismatic religious figures Peter Waldo and Francis of Assisi; the purpose and reach of inquisitors; and legal compilations like the canons of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), Magna Carta (1215) and the Constitutions of Melfi (1231).
(Language of instruction: English)

Learning Outcomes
  1. Locate required & recommended reading material in the library.
  2. Describe the key actors, events and ideas that shaped culture, politics and religious affairs in the central middle ages.
  3. Analyse the development of Lordship and Papal power and their effect on knightly, clerical, peasant and burgess communities.
  4. Demonstrate proficiency in written work covering a variety of topics covered in the module.
Assessments
  • Continuous Assessment (100%)
Teachers
Reading List
  1. "The Two Cities: Medieval Europe, 1050-1320" by Malcolm Barber
    ISBN: 978041517415.
    Publisher: Routledge
  2. "Europe in the Central Middle Ages, 962-1154" by Christopher Nugent Lawrence Brooke
    ISBN: 0582369045.
    Publisher: Pearson Education
  3. "The papal monarchy: The Western Church from 1050-1250" by Colin Morris
    ISBN: 0198269250.
    Publisher: Clarendon Press ; 1989.
  4. "The Crusades" by Jonathan Riley-Smith
    ISBN: 0300101287.
    Publisher: Yale University Press
  5. "Medieval monasticism" by C. H. Lawrence
    ISBN: 0582404274.
    Publisher: Longman
  6. "The Scholastic Culture of the Middle Ages, 1000-1300" by John W. Baldwin
    ISBN: 0881339423.
    Publisher: Waveland Press
The above information outlines module HI2136: "Medieval Europe C1050-1250 (S1) (Remote Learning)" and is valid from 2020 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.