About the Centre for Medieval Studies
Founded in 1968, the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York is the oldest and largest centre for the interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages in the UK.
Its thirty members of active academic staff, besides emeritus and associate members, include many world-renowned scholars. Their research crosses boundaries of the disciplines of our four parent departments: medieval literature, medieval history, medieval art history and medieval archaeology.
Ongoing research here spans early medieval, high medieval, and late medieval periods, encompassing the medieval western world from Scandinavia to Italy. Staff in the four parent departments are pursuing research across the whole chronological span of the middle ages: late antiquity and the post-Roman transition, the Carolingian world, Anglo-Saxon England, Medieval Science, medicine, religion, politics and chivalry; Yorkshire and Northumbria, Old English, Middle English, the French of England, Medieval Welsh and Medieval Latin are all researched and taught. There is also strong cross-departmental interest in the literature, material culture, and history of medieval York, Yorkshire and Northumbria.
The Centre is situated in the historic King's Manor in the heart of the medieval city of York. It hosts international and national conferences, seminars, and workshops, bringing together scholars from around the world to consider specific subjects related to the Middle Ages.
We invite scholars to visit the Centre for a month, a term, or a year as visiting fellows of the CMS, or to attend conferences or seminars held at the CMS, to offer a paper to share research in progress with an attentive audience.
Our parent departments
