Course Catalogue

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This course examines the immediate and long-term impact of the Mongolian invasions into the Middle East and Eastern Europe on late Medieval Europe by looking in close detail at their geo-political, economic and demographic consequences, and their resonances in late medieval literary and artistic imagination. The course requires students to engage with difficult demographic and moral challenges facing medieval societies, while at the same time offering them insights into the medieval Europe's engagement with the wider world, real and imagined.

15 one-hour lectures and 5 one-hour seminars as scheduled on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into History, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University 's 25% regulation.

None

None

Examination (2-hour duration) - 60%

Oral presentation of 10 minutes - 10%

Two contributions to electronic course resource (c. 1,600 words each) - 30%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course will provide the opportunity for students to:

■ Explore the history of medieval Europe's relationship with the Far and Middle East during a period shaped by fundamental demographic, economic and geo-political shifts and changes.

■ Engage with the history of a non-western culture, and its reflection in western sources, using different methodological and theoretical approaches from history and related disciplines.

■ Familiarise students, through source-criticism and discussion of scholarly literature, with the problems of interpreting evidence (written and visual) derived from a variety of cultural contexts and produced, at different times, for a variety of different purposes and audiences.

■ Identify an area for further research through student-led discussion and independent research and present it orally.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Assess medieval Europe's relationship with the Far and Middle East as shaped by its engagement with the Mongols.

■ Explain and contrast the utility of different methodologies from history and related disciplines for interpreting literary sources.

■ Assess critically peer contributions to collaborative assignments.

■ Formulate and present own research findings and ideas convincingly and lucidly both orally and in written form.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.