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Medieval Studies (MA)

MA (Medieval Studies)

College of Arts, Social Sciences, & Celtic Studies

Course overview

The MA in Medieval Studies is a multi-disciplinary programme distinguished by the range of subjects included: Archaeology, European & Irish History, Latin & Late Antiquity as well as Celtic, Germanic and Romance Languages & Literatures. It provides students with a thorough grounding in the study of language, culture, and society from Late Antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. The cross-disciplinary approach encourages students to view the past in a multidimensional way, while the emphasis on languages and source study provides students with the tools they need to make original contributions to scholarship.

Key facts

Entry requirements

Either a Second Class Honours, Grade 1 BA, or a GPA of 3.3 or equivalent international undergraduate degree (at NFQ level 8), in a relevant subject. Selection is based on an applicant's academic record, academic references stating her or his potential for completing a research project, as well as on samples of the applicant's written work.

Duration: 1 year full-time

Next start date: September 2015

ECTS weighting: 90

Average intake: 15

Closing date: You are advised to apply early, which may result in an early offer; see the offer round dates

Mode of study: Taught

Course outline

All students take a year-long seminar (Sources and Resources) focusing on palaeography and manuscript studies, but also taking in auxiliary sciences such as diplomatic, heraldry and art history, and including a teamwork, internet-based project on a medieval scriptorium.
Students also take Latin and one other medieval language (no prior knowledge of these languages is required), as well as modules in Archaeology, History, and Literature.

By Semester 2, students will have identified a Supervisor with whom they develop a dissertation topic through intensive bibliographical investigation, before completing their research and writing over the summer.

Applications and selections

Applications are made online via The Postgraduate Applications Centre (PAC). Relevant PAC application code(s) above.

Who teaches this course?

Archaeology

 

Dr Elizabeth FitzPatrick 
Gaelic and Colonial Ireland 1300–1650, royal assembly culture in medieval Europe, urban settlement in traditional societies, and churches and their landscapes.

Mr Conor Newman 
Ireland and the Roman world, Irish 'royal' landscapes from prehistory to the early middle ages, Irish art and iconography c. AD 300–700 and the Life and Legacy of Columbanus.

Dr Kieran O'Conor 
Gaelic and Anglo-Norman Ireland 1100–1350, castles in their landscape and rural settlement across medieval Europe.  

 

Classics

 

Dr Jacopo Bisagni
Indo-European, Celtic and Latin linguistics; early medieval Irish monastic literature.

Prof. Michael Clarke 
Historical linguistics; epic poetry; medieval Irish heroic literature.

Dr Pádraic Moran
Didactic literature (in Latin and Irish), classroom texts and scholia; the study of Greek and Hebrew in the early medieval West; historical linguistics, manuscript studies.

Dr Mark Stansbury 
Manuscript studies; Medieval Latin; Insular Christian culture; transmission of Classical texts.

 

English

 

Dr Dermot Burns

Middle English, Arthurian Literature, Medieval Epic and Romance Literature, Religious Writing, Robert Henryson, Medieval Aesthetics, Chivalric Literature. 

Dr Clíodhna Carney
Old and Middle English; Chaucer; medieval poetics; medieval literary theory; Spenser; rhetoric, poetics.

Dr Frances McCormack 
Old and Middle English Literature; in particular the works of Chaucer, religious and devotinal literature, and heresy.

 

French

 

Dr Catherine Emerson
Teaching: French language and literature, medieval literature (Romance, historiography), Historiographical literature, Islam in medieval French literature, Enlightment thought. Research: Fifteenth-century Burgundian literature, particularly historical literature; Memoires; Olivier de La March; Manneken Pis as regional symbol.

 

German


Michael Shields 
Comparative medieval studies (Germanic and Romanic literatures); medieval German language and literature (Middle High German, Old High German); literature/music and performance of identity; late medieval musical performance (song, tuning of stringed instruments).

 

History

 

Dr Kimberly LoPrete 
Continental Medieval Europe, most notably, society and culture in the 11th - 13th centuries, with special interests in lordship and society; aristocratic women, gender and power; the first crusade; the writing of historical narratives; cross-cultural exchanges with the mid-east & Asia; the transmission of texts; diplomatic, palaeography & manuscript studies.

Prof. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín 
Ireland, Britain and Europe during the Early Middle Ages; computistics; medieval latin palaeography; Irish traditional music and song.

 

Irish/Old and Middle Irish and Celtic Studies 

 

Dr Clodagh Downey
Celtic Studies, Old and Middle Irish language and literature, culture and society of early medieval Ireland.

Dr Graham Isaac 
The contemporary linguistics of the Celtic and Indo-European languages, the ancient Celtic languages of Europe, literature of the Old- and Middle-Welsh.

An tOllamh Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha 
Medieval and Early Modern Irish language and literature early Irish law; aspects of early Irish history.    

 

Requirements and assessment

Assessment varies according to module and includes essays, projects, oral presentations, and exams held in December or April/May. A dissertation must be submitted by mid-August.

Find out more

Dr Kimberly LoPrete
T: +353 91 493 547
E: kim.loprete@nuigalway.ie
Medieval Studies Website

PAC code

GYA32

Fees for this course

EU (Total): €6,015 p.a. 2015/16 (inclusive of Levy)
 - Tuition: €5,791 p.a. 2015/16
 - Student levy: €224 p.a. 2015/16
Non-EU (Total): €13,250 p.a. 2015/16

Postgraduate students in receipt of a SUSI grant – please note an F4 grant is where SUSI will pay €2,000 towards your full-time tuition.  You will be liable for the remainder of the total fee.  An F5 grant is where SUSI will pay full-time TUITION up to a maximum of €6,270.  SUSI will not cover the student levy of €224.

Current Student

Julia Warnes

MA in Medieval Studies

"Medieval Studies is ideal because of its interdisciplinary nature...One of it's most encouraging aspects is that the faculty have been so supportive and they really take an interest in the students. Galway is a great city to meet new people and make lifelong friends. Probably the number one word I would use to describe the place is "welcoming". NUI Galway is a great place to study, with it's high academic standards and supportive student environment".

 

Download taught and research

Postgrad prospectus cover 

NUI Galway Postgraduate Taught Prospectus

Research prospectus cover

NUI Galway Postgraduate Research Prospectus 

 

Past students

Kenneth Coyne

Hardiman PhD Fellow in History, NUIG 

‘It is a wonderful course because one can study a wide range of disciplines on an introductory level and proceed quickly onto a higher level. . . . [Although] my main focus was History and Latin . . .  I learned so much from the modules I took in Palaeography, Old French and Archaeology [that] is a constant benefit to me in the course of my current research’.