BA (Hons) in Medieval History
University of Winchester
Key Information
Campus location
Winchester, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
3 - 6 years
Pace
Full time, Part time
Tuition fees
GBP 14,700 / per year *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
Request info
* international students
Scholarships
Explore scholarship opportunities to help fund your studies
Introduction
*Subject to revalidation
- Survey a wide range of periods while zooming in on landmark medieval events such as the Norman Conquest, the Black Death and the Wars of the Roses
- Secure work placements at leading historic and cultural venues such as the Mary Rose and the British Museum
- Learn from expert tutors and their cutting-edge research
- Join a student-led history society on trips to sites of historical interest and talks by major historians
- Study in a beautiful city steeped in medieval history
In Britain, we love our crumbling castles, noble cathedrals and bloody representations of the medieval age in popular culture. If you have a passion for history with a special interest in the Middle Ages, then this course is perfect for you.
On our Medieval History programme, you study the great sweep of history in Britain and around the world, from the transformation of the Roman Empire to Renaissance court politics.
Studying how people lived in the medieval world is highly instructive. The word medieval has become synonymous with lawlessness and brutality, but this was not always the case. Some populations had the vote, trade happened over long distances, and witch hunts were restricted to certain periods. Learning more about the medieval world and why it exerts such a strong hold over our imaginations can help you to better understand the contemporary world.
In Year 1, you take core modules that explore the nature of history as a discipline. You look at the changing assumptions, methods and definitions of history and explore the current concerns of historians. You also select from a range of possible optional modules, including Early Medieval Britain 400-1066 and Europe 1300-1500.
Having acquired research skills and knowledge in Year 1, your studies in Years 2 and 3 are more specialised. You take core modules that deepen your understanding of the study of history, including Past Historians and Current Practice, and optional modules focused primarily on the Medieval World. You either concentrate on how to use original documents (in translated ad printed form where appropriate) or explore, through thematic approaches, social continuity and change over long periods.
In Year 3, you produce your dissertation and take core modules in Writing History, and History the Public Sphere. Optional modules take the form of Depth Studies, using primary and secondary sources as evidence, and Comparative Studies, where more than one country and culture is examined. Depth Studies options may include The Hundred Years' War 1337-1453, Alfred the Great, and The Pax Romana. The Possible Comparative Studies options include Gender and Authority in Early Medieval Europe, Greek and Roman Comedy Theatre, and The Black Death in Europe.
By studying Medieval History you develop transferable skills in written and oral communication, both as part of a group and individually, and critical analysis of evidence and large bodies of material.
Our graduates enter a wide spectrum of careers. Many work in museums and heritage sites. Others work within teaching, retail, the arts, marketing and local, regional and national Government.
*This course is subject to revalidation. 'Revalidation' is the process by which the University refreshes its existing provision. Revalidation assesses the quality and standards of the programme to ensure it continues to provide a distinct, high-quality academic experience for students, enabling them to acquire the necessary academic knowledge, understanding, and general and subject-specific skills required to pursue a graduate-level career.
Admissions
Curriculum
Year 1 (Level 4)
- Case Studies 1: Sources and Approaches in History 15
- Perspectives on the Past, Part 1 15
- Case Studies 2: Independent Study project 15
- Perspectives on the Past, Part II 15
Optional modules
- British Introductory Module: Early Medieval Britain 400-1066
- International Introductory Module: The United States
- International Introductory Module: Early Modern Europe
- International Introductory Module: Europe 1300-1500
- British Introductory Module: English History 1272-1500
- British Introductory Module: Victorian Britain 1815-1914
- International Introductory Module: East Asia 1900-present
- British Introductory Module: Tudor and Early Stuart England 1500-1660
- International Introductory Module: Rise and Fall of Modern Empires, 1783 - 1997
- British Introductory Module: Uniting The Kingdom? Britain, 1660-1837
- International Introductory Module: Modern Europe, 1789-2001
- British Introductory Module: Seventeenth-century England
- British Introductory Module: Britain in the Twentieth Century
- International Introductory Module: Europe and The Americas (1763-1914) - change and interchange
- International Introductory Module: Europe in the Early Middle Ages (c.400-c.888)
- International Introductory Module: Europe in the Central Middles Ages (c.888-1200)
Classics modules:
- Introduction to the Classical Greek World
- Introduction to Classical Greek Literature
- Introduction to Classical Archaeology
- Introduction to the Classical Roman World
- Introduction to Classical Roman Literature
- Introduction to Classical Theatre
Year 2 (Level 5)
- Reading History 15
- Practising History 15
Optional modules
- Work Placement
- Group Project
- Field Trip
- Volunteering Placement
- Value Studies
- Option A: The Carolingian Renaissance
- Option A: The Vikings and the Frankish World
- Option A: The Investiture Contest
- Option A: Norman Sicily, ca 1000-1197
- Option A: English Monasticism
- Option A: The First English Empire: c. 1100 to c. 1350
- Option A: The Reign of King John
- Option A: Culture and Society in Late Medieval England
- Option A: The Crusades
- Option A: The Golden Age of Spain
- Option A: Religion, Politics & Society in Early Tudor England, 1485-1558
- Option A: The Global Hispanic World (the 1760s-1960s)
- Option A: Victorian Culture and Society
- Option A: Imperial Japan
- Option A: The British Raj, from the 'Indian Mutiny' to Gandhi - 1857-1947
- Option A: The American South 1865-1970
- Option A: Edwardian Britain
- Option A: Revolutionary Russia, 1900-1924
- Option A: Nazism and the Holocaust
- Option A: From Austerity to Affluence: Everyday Life in Post-war Britain
- Option A: The Human Explosion: Energy, Industrialization and Environment, 1750 to the Present
- Option B: The Age of the Vikings
- Option B: Post-Carolingian Rulership
- Option B: Societies at War – England and France, 1189-1529
- Option B: Textiles in the Medieval World
- Option B: Food and Drink in Medieval and Early Modern England
- Option B: The Urban History of Europe from the Black Death to the Industrial Revolution c.1350-1700
- Option B: The Renaissance Court: Power. Politics and Patronage
- Option B: Gender in Europe and North America, c. 1500-1914
- Option B: Culture, Society and Economy in Early Modern England
- Option B: Exploring Past Localities
- Option B: The Rise of the High-Speed Society (18th-20th centuries)
- Option B: American Slavery
- Option B: History’s Eye – Photography and Society
- Option B: Sisterhood – Before and After Feminism in Twentieth-Century Britain
- Option B: Political Violence in Twentieth-Century Europe
- Option B: ‘Subordinate Independence’: Japan’s Relationship with the US 1945-present
- Option B: Stalinism
- Option B: Dreams and Nightmares: Britain in 20th-Century Europe
- Option B: Climate, Culture and Catastrophe in the Modern World: The Making of the Anthropocene
- The Glory of Athens & the Shadow of Sparta
- Rome: The Rise of the Eternal City
- The Symposium: Ancient Greek Drinking Culture
- Alexander the Great
- Imperial Rome
- The Culture of Neoclassicism
- Middle English: Texts in Context
- Old English I
- Exploring Teaching as a Career
Year 3 (Level 6)
- Dissertation in History 30
- Writing History 15
- History and the Public Sphere 15
Optional modules
- Field Trip
- Work Placement
- Depth Study: The Hundred Years’ War 1337-1453
- Depth Study: Alfred the Great
- Depth Study: The Wars of the Roses 1450-1499
- Depth Study: Civil War and Revolution in the British Isles
- Depth Study: The United States and the Cold War 1945-63
- Depth Study: Japan at War and Under Occupation 1937-52
- Depth Study: The Home Front: the United Kingdom 1939-1945
- Depth Study: The French Wars of Religion 1562-1598
- Depth Study: Society, Culture and Everyday Life in Russia: 1928-1985
- Depth Study: The Norman Conquest
- Depth Study: Interwar Britain
- Depth Study: The Italian Wars 1494-1516 and 1521-1559
- Depth Study: The Henrician & Edwardian Reformation and the Marian Counter-Reformation
- Depth Study: Genocide in History and Memory I and II
- Depth Study: Ruling England in the Second Viking Age, Part I: Kingdoms Lost and Won and Part II: Political Cultures
- Depth Study: Norman Worlds I (Normandy and the British Isles) and II (Southern Italy and Crusader Kingdoms)
- Depth Study: The Anglo-Norman Civil War, 1120-1148 and 1148-1162
- Depth Study: The Emergence of the Italian City Communes (c.1050-c.1150) and The Dominance of the Italian City
- Communes (c.1150-c.1250).
- The Age of Napoleon in global perspective - I and II
- Depth Study: The Emergence of Modern Environmentalism I & II: The Discovery of Nature and The Crisis of Nature
- The Post-war Teenager, 1945-1979 Part 1 and Part 2
- Depth Study: The USSR after Stalin, 1953-1964 and 1964-1985
- Depth Study: Greek Rhetoric: The Sophists and Lysias & Demosthenes
- Depth Study: The Black Death Part 1 and Part 2
- Depth Study: The Maghreb, Colonialism and Its Aftermath in North Africa and France 1827-1914 and 1914-Present
- Comparative Study: Supernatural and Witchcraft Beliefs in the British Isles, Continental Europe and America c.1450-1800
- Comparative Study: Chivalry
- Comparative Study: Minorities in the Past
- Comparative Study: Mediterranean Fascism: Conflict and Dictatorship in Spain and Italy 1914-1947
- Comparative Study: War Crimes Trials and Memories of War: Japan and Germany
- Comparative Study: Religious Reform in Sixteenth-Century Europe
- Comparative Study: Communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe
- Comparative Study: The Monstrous Regiment: Gender and Authority in Early Modern Europe
- Comparative Study: Nation-Making in Early Modern Europe
- Comparative Study: Holocaust Memory and Representation in Europe, the United States & Israel
- Comparative Study: Ideas, Ideologies and Colonial Organisation in the British and French Empires
- Comparative Study: Borderlands and Commodities In History
- Comparative Study: Medieval Hostageships
- Comparative Study: Gender and Authority in Early Medieval Europe
- Comparative Study: Warfare in the Medieval West from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century
- Comparative Study: The Middle Ages in Computer Games
- Comparative Study: Apocalypse Then and Now! Disasters in World History
- Comparative Study: The ‘Swinging’ Sixties
- Depth Study: The Pax Romana – Dynastic Stories
- Depth Study: Herodotus. Tall Tales & Epic Histories
- Depth Study: Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Literature
- Comparative: Games & Gladiators: Sport and Leisure in the Ancient World
- Comparative Study: Murder in the Ancient City
- Comparative: Classical World in Film
- Comparative: Plutarch and his Great Lives
- Comparative: The Fall of the Ancient City
- Comparative: Greco-Roman Egypt 331-31 BC
Career Opportunities
Graduates work in museums and heritage sites. Others work within teaching, retailing, the arts, marketing and local, regional and national Government.
The University of Winchester ranks in the top 10 in the UK for graduates in employment or further study according to the Graduate Outcomes Survey 2021, HESA.