MA in Medieval & Renaissance Studies

Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Durham

Durham University is proud to offer its interdisciplinary taught MA in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Durham has one of the most dynamic and successful concentrations of medievalists and Renaissance scholars in the whole of the United Kingdom, and in the world; it has superb collections of manuscripts and incunabula, and a wonderful Cathedral archive; its magnificent Cathedral and its Castle make it a World Heritage Site. And the University's Colleges create a particularly welcoming environment for cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural exchanges.

Medieval and Renaissance Studies is a very wide-ranging programme, covering topics and material from late Antiquity until the end of the Renaissance - that is, until c.1620 - and taking advantage of an almost unrivalled cluster of subject-specialists in Durham University across a wide range of departments and disciplines. This period is defined by a turbulent and complex history, and by huge developments in society, culture and art. Durham's long-standing and vigorous Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and its unusually large staff of medievalists and Renaissance specialists, provides the opportunity for students at postgraduate level to approach these complexities from a distinctively interdisciplinary perspective. Students will develop an advanced level of understanding of the concepts and methods appropriate to their field of study within Medieval and Renaissance studies, and will acquire a knowledge of research methods and sources sufficient to equip them to undertake extended independent research at PhD level.

The programme consists of two core modules covering essential research skills and key historical and critical issues of the Medieval and Renaissance period, a choice of optional modules offering more detailed, close study of texts and periods of interest to individual students, and a 15,000 word dissertation involving detailed study of a particular aspect of Medieval or Renaissance history, literature, society or culture.