Module Information

Module Identifier
PGM3600
Module Title
Texts that made the Middle Ages: Latin for postgraduates
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1 (Taught over 2 semesters)
Other Staff

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Exam  1 take away exam  100%
Supplementary Assessment Exam  1 take away exam  100%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Demonstrate a critical understanding of relevant themes and approaches in the history and historiography of the intellectual legacy of high medieval Europe.

Evaluate differing ways of understanding the relationship between the past and its cultural representation.

Marshal and understand key principles of Latin composition and language as used in early and high medieval Europe.

Demonstrate and apply an advanced understanding of Latin syntax, grammar and vocabulary.

Demonstrate their ability to engage with, understand and analyse select materials in Latin

Brief description

This module is an advanced Latin reading class. It will allow students to develop further their Latin reading skills, and to deal with the particular requirements of their research. It will bring them to a level where they can master texts of intermediate difficulty, and where, with the help of a dictionary, they will be able to engage successfully with some of the more advanced materials.

Content

The module will introduce key texts that most reasonably educated readers would have known, and that fundamentally influenced their way of writing and thinking. Texts and writers normally include, but are not limited to, Augustine’s Confessions, Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Job, Boethius, Isidore of Seville’s Liber, the Rule of St Benedict, the Sententiae of Peter the Lombard, as well as important texts like Einhard’s Vita, the chronicles of Matthew Paris and William of Malmesbury, or the letters of Gerbert of Aurillac. That is, the module will cover the whole range of Latin texts, but with sufficient flexibility to vary readings so as to reflect students’ research needs.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number N/A
Communication Written communication skills will be developed through the coursework and written examination; skills in oral presentation will be developed in seminars but are not formally assessed.
Improving own Learning and Performance Students will be advised on how to improve research and communication skills through translation exercises in seminars.
Information Technology Students will be encouraged to locate suitable material on the web and to apply it appropriately to their own work. These skills will not be formally assessed.
Personal Development and Career planning Students will develop a range of transferable skills, including time management and communication skills, which may help them identify their personal strengths as they consider potential career paths.
Problem solving Students are expected to note and respond to grammatical and idiomatic problems which arise as part of the study of this subject area and to undertake suitable research for seminars.
Research skills Students will develop their research skills by reading a range of texts.
Subject Specific Skills This is a general PGM RT module
Team work Students will be expected to play an active part in group activities (e.g. short group presentations in seminars) and to learn to evaluate their own contribution to such activities.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7