HIS4100 – Viking and Medieval Europe: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

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.

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

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.

The course is available to students admitted to European History (master), Historie (master), Viking and Medieval Studies (master) and Viking and Medieval Norse Studies (master).

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.

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

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, on three different seminar topics.

The course is assessed by a portfolio and an oral exam.

• the portfolio must consist of three response papers, each approximately 1200 words, that were submitted during the semester
• An oral exam of approximately 20 minutes

Both exam components have to be completed and passed in the same semester in order for the overall grade to be considered a pass. You will receive one final overall grade, as well as a separate grade for each component. The portfolio counts for 2/3 and the oral exam for 1/3 of the final grade. If you receive an F on any of the exam components, the overall result will be F.

Resources and information on the exam components and requirements will be provided in class and in Canvas.

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

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.