HIST21P1: Records, Archives and Power in the Middle Ages

• A pass mark in at least ONE level one module in History

• None

• None

• To contribute towards meeting the aims of Level II study in History;
• To provide students with in-depth experience finding, interpreting, contextualising, and building arguments with primary historical sources;
• To confer subject-specific knowledge of medieval documents and archives in their contemporary settings
• To develop students writing and research skills

• Historians extract information from archives, but archives have their own histories. This module explores the making, purpose, agency and afterlife of documents in the medieval and early modern periods in Britain, Europe and the wider world. It considers the emergence of archival practices and spaces, and the relationship between records, society and power - whether personal, familial or institutional. A series of three workshops will look at the history of the making, use and study of records over the period, with practical hands-on sessions and external visits. Seminars will be case studies of records in the round, focussing on key archives (e.g. the Cairo Geniza, Durham priory records, the Paston Letters), documentary practices (e.g. writing and reading, signing and sealing, archiving) and social groups (e.g. writing professionals, elite and subaltern groups). In the process, this module will help prepare students for advanced undergraduate study of the world of records.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Familiarity with common schemes for categorising sources
• Understanding of medieval records and archives
• Understanding of manuscript documents as an historical source

Subject-specific Skills:

• Ability to critically interpret primary historical sources
• Facility with theories, themes, and methods relevant to the study of medieval archives and records
• Ability to use primary sources to make a targeted intervention in a scholarly discourse

Key Skills:

• Independent research skills, using a wide range of search tools and historical sources
• Advanced ability to synthesise complex material from a wide range of sources
• Ability to formulate complex arguments in articulate and well-structured English, observing the conventions of academic writing, conforming to high academic standards
• Effective oral and written communication
• Facility drawing together disparate forms of historical evidence
• Ability to demonstrate professional conduct through observation of professional and academic standards, including correct editorial referencing of sources
• Personal organisational skills, including time management

• Seminars to allow students to present and critically reflect upon the acquired subject-specific knowledge, methodologies and theories, and to identify and debate a range of issues and differing opinions. The seminar is the forum in which students are given the opportunity to communicate ideas, jointly exploring themes and arguments. Seminars are structured to develop understanding and designed to maximise student participation related to prior independent preparation. Seminars give students the opportunity to develop oral communication skills, encourage critical and tolerant approaches to reasoned argument and historical discussion, build the students' ability to marshal historical evidence, and facilitate the development of the ability to summarise historical arguments, think in a rapidly changing environment and communicate in a persuasive and articulate manner, whilst recognising the value of working with others and, occasionally, towards shared goals
• Workshops are a forum for practising subject-specific key skills. They function as interactive lectures, organised around the assessments designed to advance and evaluate those skills, and are structured to improve the core competencies we expect second-year history students to develop. Workshops involve tutor-led activities in which students work together to discuss the mechanics of finding and evaluating primary sources, contextualuising primary evidence, building arguments, organising historical genres of writing, and evaluating the quality of historical argumentation.
• Assessment: Summative coursework will test students ability to communicate ideas in writing, present clear and cogent arguments succinctly and show appropriate critical skills as relevant to the particular module

Workshops will include exercises that contribute to summative assessments, as well as guidance on implementing tutor feedback. The summative source commentary will have a formative element for the final assessment.

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