Medieval History
V190In 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.
Course overview
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 Reading History and Practicing History, and optional modules focused primarily on the Medieval World. You either concentrate on how to use original sources (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 how History Matters. 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 Ruling England in the Second Viking Age, The Wars of the Roses 1450-1499. Comparative Studies options include The Black Death and Popular Protest in Late Medieval Europe.
Our degrees, combined with inspiring extracurricular activities, such as field trips both in the UK and abroad, offer a wide and deep experience that opens up numerous career paths. Many Winchester graduates carry on to teaching and heritage roles but our alumni can also be found in political think-tanks, the Civil Service, the BBC, automobile and insurance companies and publishing houses, to mention just a few destinations.
History is part of the School of Humanities.
What you need to know
Course start date
September
Location
Winchester campus
Course length
- 3 years full-time
- 6 years part-time
Apply
V190
Typical offer
104-120 points
Fees
From £9,535 pa
Course features
- History achieved 100% for academic support as rated by final-year undergraduate students in the 2023 National Student Survey
- Winchester students have secured work placements at leading historic, cultural and entrepreneurial venues such as the Mary Rose and 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
Course details
Our aim is to shape 'confident learners' by enabling you to develop the skills needed to excel in your studies here and as well as onto further studies or the employment market.
You are taught primarily through a combination of lectures and seminars, allowing opportunities to discuss and develop your understanding of topics covered in lectures in smaller groups.
In addition to the formally scheduled contact time such as lectures and seminars etc.), you are encouraged to access academic support from staff within the course team and the wide range of services available to you within the University.
Independent learning
Over the duration of your course, you will be expected to develop independent and critical learning, progressively building confidence and expertise through independent and collaborative research, problem-solving and analysis with the support of staff. You take responsibility for your own learning and are encouraged to make use of the wide range of available learning resources available.
Overall workload
Your overall workload consists of class contact hours, independent learning and assessment activity.
While your actual contact hours may depend on the optional modules you select, the following information gives an indication of how much time you will need to allocate to different activities at each level of the course.
Year 1 (Level 4): Timetabled teaching and learning activity*
- Teaching, learning and assessment: 300 hours
- Independent learning: 900 hours
Year 2 (Level 5): Timetabled teaching and learning activity*
- Teaching, learning and assessment: 288 hours
- Independent learning: 828 hours
- Placement: 84 hours
Year 3 (Level 6): Timetabled teaching and learning activity*
- Teaching, learning and assessment: 276 hours
- Independent learning: 924 hours
*Please note these are indicative hours for the course.
Location
Taught elements of the course take place on campus, in Winchester.
Teaching hours
All class based teaching takes places between 9am – 6pm, Monday to Friday during term time. Wednesday afternoons are kept free from timetabled teaching for personal study time and for sports clubs and societies to train, meet and play matches. There may be some occasional learning opportunities (for example, an evening guest lecturer or performance) that take places outside of these hours for which you will be given forewarning.
Assessment
Our validated courses may adopt a range of means of assessing your learning. An indicative, and not necessarily comprehensive, list of assessment types you might encounter includes essays, portfolios, supervised independent work, presentations, written exams, or practical performances.
We ensure all students have an equal opportunity to achieve module learning outcomes. As such, where appropriate and necessary, students with recognised disabilities may have alternative assignments set that continue to test how successfully they have met the module's learning outcomes. Further details on assessment types used on the course you are interested in can be found on the course page, by attending an Open Day or Open Evening, or contacting our teaching staff.
Percentage of the course assessed by coursework
The assessment balance between examination and coursework depends to some extent on the optional modules you choose. The approximate percentage of the course assessed by different assessment modes is as follows:
Year 1 (Level 4)*
- 62% coursework
- 25% written exams
- 13% practical assessment
Year 2 (Level 5)*
- 90% coursework
- 10% written exams
- 0% practical assessment
Year 3 (Level 6)*
- 88% coursework
- 7% written exams
- 5% practical assessment
*Please note these are indicative percentages and modes for the programme.
Feedback
We are committed to providing timely and appropriate feedback to you on your academic progress and achievement in order to enable you to reflect on your progress and plan your academic and skills development effectively. You are also encouraged to seek additional feedback from your course tutors.
Further information
For more information about our regulations for this course, please see our Academic Regulations, Policies and Procedures.
Modules
Please note the modules listed are correct at the time of publishing. The University cannot guarantee the availability of all modules listed and modules may be subject to change. The University will notify applicants of any changes made to the core modules listed. For further information please refer to winchester.ac.uk/termsandconditions
Modules
This module introduces students to the core skills required to study history successfully at degree level, developing their skills in small groups with one staff member by focusing on a single topic (ex. Anglo-Saxon and Norman Winchester; Crisis, Cooperation in England, 1381-1414; the French Revolution in Global Perspective; The British Home Front in the Second World War, etc). There is a balance between developing awareness of overarching core skills (such as conducting research and mastering referencing conventions) and the case study in which students work on academic readings connected to a particular topic. This intensive small group environment helps students to adjust to the university environment and provides a venue for delivering other transitional and transferable skills.
We live in an interconnected world, which can be traced across time and place. From ancient times to the present day, this module explores history that cuts across national and local boundaries. Global history considers historical events as they unfold in the context of large-scale cultural, political, social, economic, and environmental contexts. Accordingly, you will explore the changing relationships between human beings and the wider world. Students are introduced to a wide range of themes, such as different types of governance and rulership; empires, imperialism and decolonization; nation-making and the forging of national identities; war and warfare; science, religion and political ideologies; trade and labour; diseases and famine; migration and diasporas. Through lectures and seminars, you are encouraged to explore these themes broadly, recognizing historical change and continuity through the entanglement of local, transnational and international factors.
From the echoes of Rome to an era of kings and queens, the Middle Ages spanned a thousand years between the ancient and early modern worlds. This was a period of momentous change across Britain and Ireland, Europe and the wider world featuring the rise and fracture of multiple empires including Rome, Sassanid Persia, the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, the Carolingians, the Angevins, the Seljuks and the Byzantines. It was often a period of warfare, but also one of closer diplomatic and economic links. Old imperial legacies and ideologies were repurposed and adapted to the circumstances of the era creating new systems of kingship and queenship. Shifting religions in this period could often lead to conflict, but also created new political entities and often supported cultural and intellectual expression. The period saw ecological disasters and pandemics, alongside experiments with popular power and representative institutions.
Beginning with the massive demographic, social and political shocks triggered by the Black Death, this module will cover the transformation of Europe from the late Middle Ages to the era of the Enlightenment. Another focus will be the nearly incessant wars of the period from the Hundred Years War and Wars of the Roses through to the Thirty Years War and the English Civil Wars. We will examine the emergence of global empires, the religious shock of the Reformation and pervasive influence of print culture. The module will explore cultural and intellectual shifts including Renaissance Humanism, the Scientific Revolution and the Baroque. We will also investigate the impact on the everyday lives of those living in this period, as cities grew, agricultural practices changed and new goods from every corner of the globe filled the marketplace. Fundamentally the module will demonstrate how the political, cultural and social transformations of this period underpin the modern world.
Modules
History in Practice invites students to explore the diverse ways historians think, research, and write about the past. In the first semester, through lectures and seminars, students are introduced to various approaches, ideas, and worldviews that have shaped the production, writing, and interpretation of history. Students examine how different methodologies — such as post-modernity, gender history, postcolonial history, and environmental history — have challenged our understanding of the medieval, early modern, and modern periods. In the second semester, through lectures and workshops, students delve into the methods and skills historians use to study the past. This may include utilizing local and national archives, databases, online sources, media, visual images, material culture, public history, and oral sources. By exploring these approaches and sources, the module encourages students to reflect on their identity as a historian and determine which methods best align with their interests, ultimately leading to the writing of a dissertation proposal.
This module provides the opportunity to explore and analyse the evolution of a series of historical themes across a long period of time, a diverse set of cultures or a substantial region. It takes advantage of the expertise of individual tutors to allow the consideration of a wide-range selection of periods, regions and themes and it permits students to select and investigate themes of personal interest. This may include medieval themes such as the Viking Age, Anglo-French warfare, the crusades, post-Carolingian rulership, feuds and justice, or food and drink. Early modern themes may incorporate the Renaissance court, English culture and society, or food and drink. Modern themes could include American slavery, the High-Speed society, feminism in Britain, political violence in Europe, post-War Japan and America, British relations with Europe, the Soviet Union, and Photography and society.
This module introduces students to a range of source material, from traditional textual sources to visual and material culture. Students work with a lecturer within their area of expertise to develop skills of source analysis and evaluation, examining the authorship and meaning of historical texts. It covers topics such as al-Andalus, Norman Sicily, English monasticism, the reign of King John, female historical writing, late medieval England, Papal-Imperial relations, the Global Middle Ages, the Early Modern period and the Golden Age of Spain, Early Tudor England, Early Modern London, Victorian and Edwardian societies, Imperial Japan, the British Raj, the Soviet Union, Nazism and the Holocaust, the American South, the Global Hispanic World from 1763 to the present, the social experience of war since the 18th century, Immigration Histories of Britain, and Post-War culture and society.
Semester 1 Option A: Exploring Past Localities
Working in small groups, students uncover the history of particular places, spaces and communities to then consider how the landscape, built environment and written material can be used to explore how these were affected by, or influenced, national, regional, and global histories. Working as a team and under supervision students will produce an artefact (blog, tourist guide, virtual tour, or online exhibition) to showcase the history of a specific place. Whilst it may utilize the historic city of Winchester as one such place, it considers ‘localities’ in a broader sense – other examples may include cities such as Buenos Aires, Tokyo, or Berlin; landscapes such as the South Downs or the New Forest; could stretch to regions like Normandy, Louisiana, or the Maghreb; or shrink to the level of individual villages, streets, or buildings.
Semester 1 Option B: Group Project
This module gives student-led opportunities to design and run group projects in small groups. Options for projects may include to organise and run a student conference or run an exhibition (online or physical); work on an existing staff project; design and deliver a history-related social media campaign, to give just a few examples. Projects are planned in co-ordination with a member of staff, and the results are assessed by means of a journal and an essay.
Semester 2 Option C: Field Trip
The field trip utilises a visit to an external setting (e.g. Paris, Madrid, Krakow, Edinburgh, Bruges) which has relevance to other components of the student’s programme of study as a means of examining the interplay between history, heritage and the contemporary world. This may include visits to museums that provide historical contexts for the contemporary issues studied, and to historical buildings of significance, war memorials, cemeteries and other commemorative sites. All study is supported by preparatory sessions, detailing advance reading and course assessment.
Semester 2 Option D: Work Placement
This module allows students to take up a placement equivalent in length to three working weeks (15 working days) in a carefully chosen, well-monitored private or voluntary organization either in the UK or overseas. The aim is that students will make a positive and personally rewarding contribution to the community whilst also reflecting critically upon their experience and developing skills which will enhance employability and personal development.
Modules
The Dissertation (Extended Independent Study) is an 8,000-10,000 thesis on a subject of a student’s own devising with advice and supervision from an appropriate history tutor. Through their dissertations, the students make an original contribution to historical knowledge and understanding, drawing from their own engagement with primary sources and interpretation and analysis of existing secondary literature. Building on all previous undergraduate study, students employ the conventions of a historian whilst developing a range of transferable skills in project planning, management, and delivery, creativity, problem-solving and critical analysis.
Depth Study is the most detailed and exacting part of the taught programme where students are given the opportunity to work in depth with one tutor on a single specialist topic. Exploring the rich primary and secondary source material of a specialist area consolidates the skills and competencies of a historian developed throughout the duration of the degree. A variety of topic areas are offered for study each year, examples of which include: Pax Romana; modern reception of the classical world; the Wars of the Roses; civil war, revolution and republic in the British Isles; the United States and the Cold War; Japan at war and under occupation; the Italian Wars 1494-1516 and 1521-1559; genocide in history and memory; ruling England in the second Viking Age; the Global Age of Napoleon; the post-war teenager in Britain; colonialism and its aftermath in north Africa and France; and the Anglo-Norman Civil War 1135-1154.
Option A: Comparative Study in History
Comparisons highlight the various ways in which people have experienced historical change. In this module, students explore historical issues across various countries, communities or cultures showing the numerous ways societies react to a broad range of issues. Comparative topics covered may include: popular protest throughout medieval Europe; the Middle Ages in computer games; chivalry and knighthood across medieval Europe; early modern witchcraft and supernatural beliefs in the British Isles, continental Europe and America; war crimes in Germany and Japan; memory of the Holocaust; ideologies in British and French colonial empires; and fascism in Italy and Spain.
Option B: Contested History
Contested History explores the ways that people in different times and places understood the world they lived in, by addressing challenging and difficult pasts. In this module, we explore – and confront – difficult histories to understand historical debates and interpretations. Students may study topics such as Borderlands and Commodities in modern history; Refugees and forced migration in the 20th century; the Black Death and pestilence in medieval Europe; Hostages, prisoners and slaves in the Middle Ages; Feud, rebellion and war in the early Middle Ages; Gender, authority and female rule in Renaissance Europe; and the rapidly-changing society of Britain in the 1960s.
Semester 1 Option A: History and Heritage
This module allows students to explore the complex and controversial representation of the past on screen, including cinema and television. Working with different members of the History team, students are introduced to the emergence of film as a medium as well as the theory behind the representation of the past on screen. Students then critically assess a variety of different historical themes as these have been represented on screen. Finally, students curate their own historical film festival, either focused on a particular theme (for example, queens on screen; imperialism and colonialism; the Holocaust; Japanese cinema), or investigating the past through a broader lens.
Semester 1 Option B: Histories on Screen
This module gives you the opportunity to explore how and why the past features in our everyday lives, and why the past matters now. The material discussed throughout this module raises questions over the importance of historical narratives in popular media, politics, and education. You will be encouraged to reflect on your own academic study of History and/or Classical Studies and how this can be mobilised for the wider benefit of society. Through an assessment of both academic and practical applications of public history, this module will introduce you to the uses (and abuses) of the past for public consumption.
Semester 2 Option C: The Past Matters
Societies and communities inherit ideas, beliefs, material, traditions, (their culture) from the past to preserve and put to work in the present. This is our heritage. Some of it is tangible, such as historic monuments and houses, the Colosseum in Rome, or former sites of conflict, death or disaster (sometimes referred to as ‘dark heritage’. Some is intangible, such as customs, crafts, and folklore. We also have natural phenomena, such as the Great Barrier Reef, that are recognised by international organisations as ‘world heritage’. This module introduces students to key aspects and issues of heritage and encourages critical engagement with the forces and processes that shape our physical and cultural heritage. Ultimately, this module confronts questions around what determines ‘our heritage’ and if there really is such a thing as ‘heritage’ at all.
Semester 2 Option D: Death and Ritual in the Ancient Greek World
This module explores death and death-related rituals in the ancient Greek world. It explores funerary rites and commemorative practices through a wide range of material and written sources. The module engages with current and past trends in death studies and with a range of methodologies for studying funerary practices and commemorative rituals.
Entry requirements
Our offers are typically made using UCAS tariff points to allow you to include a range of level 3 qualifications and as a guide, the requirements for this course are equivalent to:
- A-Levels: BCC-BBB from 3 A Levels or equivalent grade combinations (e.g. BBB is comparable to ABC in terms of tariff points)
- BTEC/CTEC: DMM from BTEC or Cambridge Technical (CTEC) qualifications
- International Baccalaureate: To include a minimum of 2 Higher Level certificates at grade H4
- T Level: Merit in a T Level
Additionally, we accept tariff points achieved for many other qualifications, such as the Access to Higher Education Diploma, Scottish Highers, UAL Diploma/Extended Diploma and WJEC Applied Certificate/Diploma, to name a few. We also accept tariff points from smaller level 3 qualifications, up to a maximum of 32, from qualifications like the Extended Project (EP/EPQ), music or dance qualifications. To find out more about UCAS tariff points, including what your qualifications are worth, please visit UCAS.
In addition to level 3 study, the following GCSE’s are required:
GCSEs English Language at grade 4 or C, or higher. Functional Skills at level 2 is accepted as an alternative, however Key Skills qualifications are not. If you hold another qualification, please get in touch and we will advise further
If you will be over the age of 21 years of age at the beginning of your undergraduate study, you will be considered as a mature student. This means our offer may be different and any work or life experiences you have will be considered together with any qualifications you hold. UCAS have further information about studying as a mature student on their website which may be of interest.
If English is not your first language, a formal English language test will most likely be required and you will need to achieve the following:
- IELTS Academic at 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all four components (for year 1 entry)
- We also accept other English language qualifications, such as IELTS Indicator, Pearson PTE Academic, Cambridge C1 Advanced and TOEFL iBT
If you are living outside of the UK or Europe, you can find out more about how to join this course by contacting our International Recruitment Team via our International Apply Pages.
2025/6 Course Tuition Fees
| UK / Channel Islands / Isle of Man / Republic of Ireland |
International |
|
|---|---|---|
| Year 1* | £9,535 | £16,700 |
Additional tuition fee information
*(UK / Channel Islands / Isle of Man / Republic of Ireland) £9,535 for the 25/26 academic year. Fees for future academic years will be determined in line with our Terms and Conditions. The fee is currently subject to a governmental fee cap for each academic year. It is our policy to charge tuition fees at the level of the cap set by the Government. If the cap set by the Government changes, then we may increase our Fees in line with governmental policy.
*(International) £16,700 for the 25/26 academic year. Fees for future academic years will be determined in line with our Terms and Conditions. We decide the annual level of increase of our Tuition Fees by taking into account a range of factors including the cost of delivering the course and change in governmental funding.
Remember, you don’t have to pay any of this upfront if you are able to get a tuition fee loan from the UK Government to cover the full cost of your fees each year.
UK Part-Time fees are calculated on a pro rata basis of the full-time fee for a 120 credit course. The fee for a single credit is £79.45 and a 15 credit module is £1,191. Part-time students can take up to a maximum 90 credits per year, so the maximum fee in a given year will be the government permitted maximum fee of £7,145
International part-time fees are calculated on a pro rata basis of the full-time fee for a 120 credit course. The fee for a single credit is £139.14 and a 15 credit module is £2,087.
Additional costs
As one of our students all of your teaching and assessments are included in your tuition fees, including, lectures/guest lectures and tutorials, seminars, laboratory sessions and specialist teaching facilities. You will also have access to a wide range of student support and IT services.
There might be additional costs you may encounter whilst studying. The following highlights the mandatory and optional costs for this course:
Optional
Dissertation work
Students working on dissertations in Year 3 may incur costs (mainly travel) of visiting archives, dependent upon the specific nature of the dissertation and availability of online resources for a specific subject. This would typically involve either travel to a local archive (e.g. Southampton, Portsmouth or further afield if the student chooses to study a locality away from Winchester) or a national archive, usually in London (TNA, British Library, Women's Library, etc.). If the dissertation work is based in Winchester, then costs will be far less.
Field Trip
Optional week long History fieldtrip in Year 2 - costs vary depending on location and number of students going on the trip. Indicative costs vary between £300-£700.
Placement
If students decide to complete an optional History work/volunteering placement it may incur travel costs, which are dependent upon where the student undertakes the placement (if local it may be zero, but costs go up when public transport is used to travel). Students will have a say in where their placement is located. Indictative costs vary from £0 - £300, dependent on location of placement and number of visits required.
Mandatory
Core texts: Any core reading is made available through the library or on module pages. Students may sometimes be given recommendations for further reading, which they may obtain freely through the library or by paying a very small fee through an inter-library loan, or they can choose to purchase (this can often be done at considerably reduced rates second hand).
SCHOLARSHIPS, BURSARIES AND AWARDS
We have a variety of scholarship and bursaries available to support you financially with the cost of your course. To see if you’re eligible, please see our Scholarships and Awards page.
CAREER PROSPECTS
Graduates have become historians working in museums, heritage sites, teaching and in many other sectors including in retailing, the arts, press, publishing, marketing and in governmental and non-for-profit organizations at local, regional, national and international level.
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.
OUR CAREERS SERVICE
Read about how Early Medieval History Professor, Ryan Lavelle, has consulted on a new French docudrama series on the Vikings and their 'Empire of the North Sea.'
