Course Overview

This program is unique in its emphasis on writing histories of the middle ages that cross disciplinary boundaries - including archaeology, history, literature, art history, and musicology - and in equipping its students with skills to analyze a vast range of sources, including castles, cathedrals and caravan inns, coins, pottery, clocks, bells, and burial sites, alongside chronicles, parish records, illuminated manuscripts, maps, altarpieces, and inscriptions. As a Medieval History MA student, you will also have the option to take modules organized by colleagues in the History of Art, English, and other institutions within the University of London, to create a course tailored to your interests. In the Department of History, Classics, and Archaeology at Birkbeck, you will encounter dynamic researchers who are transforming their fields. Dr Rebecca Darleys work on coin circulation in the regions surrounding the western Indian Ocean and Byzantine Empire is driving new understandings of early medieval economies, political, social, and cultural change and exchange. Dr. Kate Franklins path-breaking fieldwork in the Caucasus is rewriting the history of the Silk Road through charting the local experiences of this global trade route. Dr. Matthew Champions research has profoundly shifted understandings of how time was perceived and experienced in the late middle ages. Professor Vanessa Hardings work on death and burial in medieval cities, including London and Paris, and Professor John Hendersons studies of Renaissance health and medicine, have had a lasting impact on the field, making our Department one of the worlds premier destinations for MA students seeking to understand the complex, challenging and confronting a history of the medieval world.

General Eligibility

We offer a one-year Graduate Certificate in History, which can be used as a conversion course if you want to study history at the postgraduate level but have a degree in a significantly different discipline.

Part Time Work Details

Language Requirement

• If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, the requirement for this course is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 7.0, with not less than 6.5 in each of the sub-tests and at least 7.0 in writing.