Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2024). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas. The MSt in History (Medieval History) offers a unique balance of breadth and depth in the study of the medieval history of Britain and Europe. The MSt is designed to improve your practical and intellectual grasp of research processes, ability to conceptualise and engage with historical problems, and enlarge your understanding of the historical and historiographical context in which your own research is set. The course can serve as either a free-standing graduate qualification, or as a springboard to doctoral study. Students wishing to proceed to doctoral study will be encouraged to develop their doctoral proposals during the first few months of the MSt. Skills training and option-choice are flexible and open-ended, to allow you to gain the knowledge and training needed to complete your research project. You will have the opportunity to study a vast range of medieval history from the fourth to the sixteenth centuries, and from Ireland and Iran. The course is not prescriptive about what topics you choose to study, but instead insists on intellectual rigour and excitement, whatever your choices. Oxford is home to a large community of medieval historians, with exceptional resources for study, including the largest university library collection of medieval manuscripts, as well as college collections of manuscripts and archives, and the fine holdings of the Ashmolean Museum. There are weekly Medieval History seminars, as well as inter-disciplinary seminars, workshops, and research projects. Further information about Medieval History research and activities can be found through the Faculty website. You are encouraged to engage with the faculty’s lively research culture of seminars, workshops, and discussions groups, which are programmed throughout each week, and sessions often involve leading international scholars. The faculty also runs the Oxford History Graduate Network, which fosters conversations and collaborations between graduate students. Interdisciplinary activities are available through The Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities (TORCH). For the full descriptions, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas