Medieval Studies

Awards available	MPhil MLitt PhD
Duration of programme	MPhil: one year full-time; two years part-time MLitt: two years full-time; four years part-time PhD: three years full-time; six years part-time
Number of places	Not fixed

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Programme overview

Bristol's importance as medieval England's second city and major maritime port for trade and exploration makes it an excellent setting for interdisciplinary intellectual exchange. The Centre for Medieval Studies in the Faculty of Arts has internationally recognised expertise in an unrivalled range of subject areas. Research towards Mphil, Mlitt and PhD is supported in the following subject areas: Archaeology, Drama, English, French, History, History of Art, Italian, Medieval Latin, Music, and Theology. Applications from prospective graduate students wishing to undertake interdisciplinary research are particularly welcome.

Research themes

The University's designated research theme Medieval Cultures concerns all aspects of the literature, art, history, and thought of western European civilisation between c.500 and c.1500.'Culture' denotes not only higher-end artistic productions - the theatre, opera, art exhibitions and so on - but the whole complex of ways in which a society functions, thinks about itself, and expresses its identity.

Cultures, the theme's signature term, is an elastic and open-ended word which invites discussion and collaboration among experts in different academic domains - literature, history, art, architecture, social history, folklore, religion and many others.

The medievalist community at Bristol is widely recognised as having effected truly interdisciplinary methods of working in integrated ways, engaging in vigorous crossdisciplinary dialogues which permeate many aspects of research and postgraduate teaching.

The activities of the Centre are varied and build on this track record of interdisciplinary academic exchange and networking. They include interdisciplinary research and collaborative projects. Members of the Centre are active in major international networks, such as CARMEN (Co-operative for the Advancement of Research through a Medieval European Network).

Through the postgraduate conference (one of the most successful in the world) and student-led activities, such as reading groups, you are also encouraged to participate in developing your own networks.

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Entry requirements

MPhil: An upper second-class degree (or international equivalent). MLitt/PhD: A pass at MA level (or international equivalent). For information on international equivalent qualifications, please see www.bristol.ac.uk/ international/countries. Further information is available at Financial Aid and Student Funding

Admissions statement

Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.

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Key research interests

Dr Marianne Ailes, Medieval French literature; chansons de geste and early vernacular chronicles; editing and translating; literature of the crusades; the perception and depiction of the Other (Saracen or female); intertextuality; the French of England.

Professor (Emeritus) John Burrow, Middle English, especially the Gawain poet, Chaucer, Ricardian poetry, Langland, Hoccleve.

Professor Shane Butler, Classics; neo-Latin literature.

Dr Fernando Cervantes, Cultural, religious and intellectual history of early modern Spain and Spanish America.

Dr James Clark, Late medieval English ecclesiastical and intellectual history; history of the book.

Dr Stephen D'Evelyn, Latin poetry, particularly lyric; Hildegard of Bingen; Latin poetry of gift-giving.

Dr Rhiannon Daniels, Medieval and early Modern Italian; the reception of Boccaccio, primarily across the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.

Dr Peter Dent, History of art; sculpture of late medieval and early Renaissance Italy; the history of sculptural aesthetics.

Dr Emma Hornby, Music; medieval western liturgical chant; the transmission of western liturgical chant (including aspects of orality); the relationship between Old Roman and Gregorian chant; analysis of formulaic chant; the relationship between words and music.

Dr Mark Horton, African pre- and proto-history; Egyptology; Medieval European and Islamic cultures; landscape archaeology; historical archaeology; archaeology and the media.

Dr Evan Jones, 15th- to 17th-century British economic and social history; smuggling; late medieval/early modern maritime history, particularly in relation to Bristol.

Dr Tristan Kay, Medieval Italian; Dante and early lyric poetry.

Professor Pamela King, Late medieval English culture, particularly theatre and drama; European civic and confraternal festivals; Medieval tomb sculpture, manuscripts and poetry.

Dr Carolyn Muessig, Medieval religious history; heresy; holy women in Medieval France; medieval Latin sermons and popular preaching.

Professor Ad Putter, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Arthurian romance; comparative medieval literature (French, Dutch, Latin, English), the popular romance and the popular ballad, alliterative tradition.

Dr Brendan Smith, Medieval Britain and Ireland; medieval frontier societies.

Dr Ian Wei, Role of intellectuals in medieval Europe; social history of ideas in Western Europe.

Dr Beth Williamson, Medieval art and architecture (English and European, especially 13th- and 14th-century Italian); iconography of the Virgin Mary; Marian liturgy and devotion; saints and sanctity; devotional imagery and literature.

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Apply online

Application deadline: Not fixed