Our MA Medieval Studies course provides you with the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of medieval culture and society through interdisciplinary approaches to the period. The course also offers the chance to work with leading scholars in the field of Medieval Studies across the university. You will have the chance to develop critical interpretation and reading skills in Latin and other medieval languages such as Old Norse, Arabic, Persian, medieval English and Turkish. Thus a Leeds Medieval Studies degree can be the starting point for cutting-edge research focusing on Europe, the Mediterranean world, or Asia.
Whether you're a complete beginner or have some experience of learning Latin, our intensive language course will develop your skills to an advanced level, enabling you to study a wide range of medieval source texts, both in printed and in manuscript form. You'll also develop skills in palaeography (the study of historical handwriting), primary text analysis and translation.
You'll benefit from teaching by academic staff who are leading researchers in a range of subject areas, from languages and cultures to literature and religion. The Institute for Medieval Studies (IMS) brings together staff from across the University of Leeds who are medieval specialists within a broad range of disciplines. As such, we're able to offer a huge range of expertise in subject areas such as history, religion, literature and history of art. This gives you the opportunity to tailor your course to your specific interests within the field of Medieval Studies and to your future career ambitions. Your degree will be completed by a dissertation which will give you the opportunity to put these skills into practice. This will be completed under the supervision of one of our expert medievalists and based on your own research.
As a student in the Institute for Medieval Studies, you'll have the opportunity to attend the International Medieval Congress. We are proud that the University of Leeds hosts the Congress each year, which welcomes over 2,700 medievalists from all over the world onto campus with a programme of 700 sessions, allowing interdisciplinary insight and discussion of the medieval period, from art and architecture to theology, literature and medicine. This is a fantastic opportunity to expand your knowledge of the subject area, to network with people from all over the world who have a passion for Medieval Studies, and to learn from active researchers. There is also the possibility of paid employment at the IMC, helping to run one of the biggest conferences in the humanities.
Specialist Facilities
As a student in the IMS, you'll have access to excellent resources, both in the University and beyond. The University of Leeds's large group of world-leading medievalists have built up an impressive set of study resources in this field, including books, journals and databases. The Brotherton Library also contains extensive facsimiles and access to digitised primary material as well as a wide range of online resources. Its Special Collections Research Centre also contains a wide range of manuscript, archive and early printed material, including the Melsteth Icelandic Collection, the archives of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society, the library of Ripon Cathedral, and the manuscripts and incunabula of the Brotherton Collection.
There are additional excellent resources for medievalists in the Leeds region: Leeds is home to the Royal Armouries and its extensive medieval collections, while the West Yorkshire Archive Service has offices and holdings dotted around the region, and the British Library has a Document Supply Centre in nearby Boston Spa.
