HIS4100 ¨C Viking and Medieval Europe: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Course content

This course is designed to introduce master students to interdisciplinary perspectives on the medieval history of Northern Europe with a particular focus on Scandinavia and the North Sea world in the period between c.750 and c.1350. Historians, archeologists, and philologists jointly teaching this course will bring insights from their respective fields into major themes and sources of this historical period. The course will survey such subjects as urbanization and exchange, rituals and memory, Christianization, law and political organization, civil wars and state formation, literary and manuscript culture, vernacularization, and gender and identity. In this course, students will study these themes based on both secondary literature and primary sources. In doing so, they will also learn how to approach the main types of written and material evidence relevant for the history of Northern Europe in the Viking Age and the High Middle Ages, for example, chronicles and annals, saints¡¯ lives and legal codes, sagas and skaldic poetry, runic and Latin inscriptions, and material data from medieval settlements and graves.

Learning outcome

Upon completion of this course, students are expected to

• have learned how research questions are formulated and studied in the fields of Viking Age history and the history of the Scandinavian Middle Ages
• be familiar with major themes and recent trends in the historiography of the Viking Age and the Scandinavian Middle Ages
• be familiar with the major types of source material for the study of the Viking Age and the Scandinavian Middle Ages
• have knowledge and experience on how to critically engage with historiographical research.

Competencies:

After taking this course, a student will be able to:

• know how to design and implement an independent paper project on a topic in the history of medieval political and legal culture
• initiate and participate in discussions of academic texts and primary sources in the history of the Viking Age and Scandinavian Middle Ages
• read different types of academic texts and primary sources in a critical and independent manner
• work with others in small groups and give feedback on others¡¯ work.
• present his/her work in class and respond to the follow-up class discussion in a written form

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

Students enrolled in other Master`s Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Recommended previous knowledge

A good ability to read and understand English is required for this course.?

Teaching

The course is taught in seminars, where students are expected be active participants. Students are expected to prepare the seminar readings before class?for discussion and to contribute orally to the course. Students will also be divided into small working groups to fulfil a set of assignments before and during class meetings.

Obligatory activities

To qualify for the exam, students are required to hand in three response papers during the semester, one for each of the disciplines archeology, history, and philology.

Examination

The course is assessed by a portfolio. The portfolio must consist of the following:?

• two of the three response papers, each approximately 1200 words, that were submitted during the semester (the two, whose discipline is not the subject of the term paper)

• one individual essay of approximately 4000 words on a relevant topic, developed by the student and approved by any one?of?the teachers of the course.?

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.