Module description
Spanning 2500 miles, encompassing over 3000 islands, and connecting the worlds of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, in the Middle Ages the Mediterranean was a place of tremendous traffic in people, goods and ideas. It was the sea upon which Crusaders sailed, through which Ottomans expanded west, across which Jews were expelled, and within which were sources of great maritime wealth. The Mediterranean was home to Muslims, Jews, Christians and converts of many kinds, to diverse ethnicities, languages, and political entities spread across innumerable landscapes and seascapes. All of these were in constant motion, and instability of many kinds marked this region and period. This module examines the Mediterranean as a site of contact and exchange between peoples of different religions, ethnicities and cultures, and its place within the wider context of a global Middle Ages. Through consideration of themes including environmental change, cultural and economic exchange, acculturation and coexistence, slavery and redemption, and constantly changing cultural and political boundaries, the Mediterranean emerges perhaps not as the Middle Sea, but certainly as the Great Sea.
Assessment details
1 x 3,500 words essay (100%)
Teaching pattern
10 x 2 hour seminars (weekly)