Medieval Britain and the wider world c.400-1500: exploring the global Middle Ages

A medieval-style brick wall covered in greenery, with ivy and bushes surrounding an open blue barn door

Course Dates

No upcoming courses. We are hoping to run the course again but the dates are TBC.

Key Features

Aims of the course

To introduce participants to the increasing archaeological and historical evidence for long-distance trade, contacts and migration between Britain and the wider world from Late Antiquity through to the later Middle Ages.
To enable participants to think critically about the sources from various disciplines that relate to these connections and how they can be interpreted and used.
To challenge old assumptions about the degree of inter-connectivity and cross-cultural links that existed prior to the age of European colonisation and imperialism.

Course content overview

This online course explores the archaeological and textual evidence for connections and interactions between medieval Britain and the wider world, c. AD 400–1500. The five units in this course will challenge common assumptions about the insularity of medieval Britain and its relative isolation, exploring the increasing evidence for changing and evolving connections and interactions between Britain and the wider world from c. AD 400 to 1500. This course offers you an interdisciplinary introduction and approach to this material, bringing together a wide range of evidence, including archaeological finds, recent scientific analyses of burial sites and artefacts, textual references, and medieval artworks, in order to allow such connections and interactions to be thoroughly explored and analysed.

Topics covered include medieval Byzantine, Islamic and Viking trade and connections; evidence for long-distance travel in this era, including a 9th-century embassy to India sent by King Alfred and the English emigrants who fled to the Byzantine Empire and the Black Sea in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest; archaeological and textual material indicating that people of African, Muslim and Asian heritage visited, lived and were even buried in medieval Britain; and the evidence for camels, elephants and other imported exotic fauna in medieval Britain.

Target audience

Adult learners interested in archaeology, history, trade, and migration.

Welcome week (Week 0)

Purpose:

personal introductions
introducing the course
useful reading
personal objectives

Learning outcomes:

By studying this week, the students should have:

become familiar with navigating around the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and from VLE to links and back
test your ability to access files and the web conferencing software and sort out any problems with the help of the Technology Enhanced Learning team
learn how to look for, assess and reference internet resources
contribute to a discussion forum to introduce yourself to other students and discuss why you are interested in the course and what you hope to get out of your studies

Teaching Week 1: Britain and the Byzantine Empire in the early medieval period

Purpose:

This week will introduce the traditional narrative of the isolation and poverty of post-Roman Britain, before looking at the archaeological and textual evidence that testifies to the continued connection of Britain to long-distance trading networks in the early medieval period – these include the large quantities of imported goods and artefacts now known from early medieval Britain, such as the garnets decorating the Sutton Hoo ship burial finds, and Early Byzantine pottery and coins found across Britain and Wales

Learning outcomes:

to have developed an awareness of how new evidence and perspectives have modified previous views about the ending of Roman Britain and its impact on the nature and degree of long-distance trade, contacts and migration between Britain and the wider world in the early medieval period, with a particular focus on continued Eastern Roman contacts and their cultural impacts
to have started to analyse and discuss how Britain was viewed by those outside these islands and how people in Britain viewed these places too

Teaching Week 2: Trade and influences from the Vikings to the Late Middle Ages

Purpose:

This week will extend our awareness of interconnectivity and cultural influences within Britain into the second part of the period, from the Vikings through to the late medieval era. We will consider the transformative Scandinavian impact on Britain’s culture, as well as connections with the Islamic world, as evidenced by, for example, the significant number of medieval Islamic coins discovered by metal-detectorists in Britain, and Arabic and Persian accounts of Britain. We will also look at the medieval importation of exotic fauna and continued influence from the Byzantine Empire, as well as the nature of Britain’s exports in this era.

Learning outcomes:

to have analysed and discussed how people from Britain interacted with other cultures and communities, with a focus on the Viking impact on both the internal culture of Britain and its long-distance connections, Britain’s long-distance export trade, and continued cultural influence from Byzantium
to have informed views about some of the evidence and new sources for interconnectivity between Britain and the wider world, in particular metal-detected finds, identifying how this material can be used and some potential issues with it

Teaching Week 3: The archaeological and textual evidence for cultural diversity in medieval Britain

Purpose:

This week will introduce the archaeological and textual material for diversity within the population of medieval Britain, in contrast to earlier models and popular conceptions of this. We will look at a variety of types of cultural diversity, including material indicating that people of Byzantine, African, Muslim and Asian heritage visited, lived and were even buried in medieval Britain. We will also consider new sources of evidence, such as DNA and isotope data retrieved from archaeological human dental enamel, and start to think critically about how it can be used and the limits of what it might show.

Learning outcomes:

to gain a more detailed understanding of how inherited concepts regarding the culture and population of medieval Britain may need to be modified in light of new interpretations and evidence
to have discussed and analysed how new approaches and materials bring both benefits and potential pitfalls in terms of the topic of cultural and ethnic diversity, and how this material can be controversial and in need of careful handling

Teaching Week 4: The Anglo-Saxons abroad: evidence for Anglo-Saxon travel and activity beyond Britain

Purpose:

This week will consider the evidence for people from Britain directly and personally interacting with the rest of the world, travelling well beyond Britain, further challenging common assumptions about the insularity of Britain in the medieval period. Students will consider a variety of archaeological and textual evidence for people from Britain being present in western Europe, the wider Mediterranean world, and even in parts of Africa, West Asia and India in the early medieval period prior to the Norman Conquest. They will start to think critically about this material and how even the most ‘Anglo-Saxon’ of graves, such as those from Sutton Hoo and Prittlewell, may show that their occupants had personally travelled widely, as well as considering the credibility of early medieval claims of long-distance travel.

Learning outcomes:

to gain an understanding that people in early medieval Britain were not simply passive recipients of cultural influences and visitors from the wider ‘medieval globe’, but were also active participants in the global middle ages, trading and travelling over long distances

Teaching Week 5: Emigrants, travellers and conquerors after the Norman Conquest

Purpose:

This week will extend our knowledge of the direct interaction of people from medieval Britain with the wider world into the period after the Norman Conquest, with a particular focus on the evidence for a significant number of people from England travelling to the Byzantine Empire in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest, taking positions of high status with the imperial court, and establishing a Nova Anglia (New England) on the Black Sea coast. We will also consider other, often rarely discussed evidence, for people from Britain travelling into East Asia.

Learning outcomes:

to expand our knowledge of people from Britain as active participants in the global middle ages, whose presence had long-lasting impacts beyond Britain
to further their awareness of how inherited concepts of Britain’s insularity need modification and the different ways in which people from Britain interacted with other cultures and communities in the medieval period