Welcome to the Centre for Medieval Studies
World views: Liber Floridus (Ghent University Library, MS 92, fols 226'v-226"r)
We're based in the historic Heslington Hall
York: a great medieval city
Viking ships by the River Ouse
The Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS) at the University of York was founded in 1968 and is one of the world’s leading centres for postgraduate study and research into the Middle Ages.
Our vision of medieval studies situates world-leading expertise on the European Middle Ages, 400-1550, within a wider Afro-Eurasian framework, with current concentrations of excellence in medieval England and its neighbours, the built environment, religion and dissent, gender and sexuality, Viking studies and Islamic cultures.
We draw upon expertise from the departments of Archaeology, English and Related Literature, History and History of Art, as well as from Computer Science, Language and Linguistic Sciences, Music and Physics. Our teaching and research is shaped by long experience of innovative interdisciplinary collaboration, extending across the Humanities to the Natural Sciences.
We are a welcoming and supportive community, fully committed to diversity and inclusivity in our study of the Middle Ages.
Events
The Darker Side of the Middle Ages
6.30PM, SLB/118 Lecture Theatre, Spring Lane Building
Professor Kathy Lavezzo (The University of Iowa)
Mahomet in the Aula Gotica: Secularizing Islam in the Middle Ages
6.30PM, Online via Zoom
Hussein Fancy (Yale)
Towards a Literary History of Old English Prose
5.00PM, H/G17, Heslington Hall
Prof Francis Leneghan (University of Oxford)
News
Wednesday 28 January 2026
A message from CMS Director, Professor Kenneth Clarke, celebrating the Centre for Medieval Studies
Tuesday 20 January 2026
On 8 January we celebrated the achievements of our 2024/5 cohort at their graduation and announced our prize winners.
Monday 12 January 2026
Continuing to highlight the Interdisciplinary Collaborative Events funded last summer. We were delighted to support 'Norse in the North', an annual event demonstrating the strength and originality of Old Norse research in the North of England, in the form of an interdisciplinary conference.
View our news archive.
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