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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 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

Tue
9
Dec

Samshvilde Through the Middle Ages: Geography, History, and Archaeology in the South Caucasus

5.30PM, H/G17, Heslington Hall

Professor David Berikashvili (University of Georgia, Tbilisi)

Wed
10
Dec

Saint-Making in the Later Middle Ages: Sanctity, Value, and Social Creativity

6.00PM, Hybrid, zoom and H/G17 Heslington Hall

Ed van der Molen (University of Nottingham)

Mon
26
Jan

Anician Saints and their Domestic Spaces in Medieval and Early Modern Rome

6.00PM, Online via Zoom

Maya Maskarinec (USC Dornsife)

More events.

News

2026/7 MA in Medieval Studies Scholarships

Monday 1 December 2025

We are delighted to announce that we will be awarding two MA scholarships for the 2026/7 MA in Medieval Studies cohort.


Viva Success

Monday 24 November 2025

Warm congratulations to three of our PhD students who recently passed their viva examinations!


Richard McClary's new book: Stucco in the Islamic World

Thursday 17 April 2025

A wide-ranging, illustrated exploration of the uses of stucco in Islamic architecture in the pre-modern period.


View our news archive.

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