Contemplation, Knowledge and Power: Medieval Maps - HOA00074I
Module summary
This module uses maps as paradigmatic examples to investigate medieval concepts of time and space, practices of contemplation and knowledge compilation, and ideas of territory and power.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2025-26 |
Module aims
Globalisation goes hand in hand with experiences of spatial and temporal simultaneities and disjunctures. These have been met within arts and humanities research by an increasing focus on concepts of space and time, and an interrogation of the role of media technologies in their construction. Maps are a particularly rich area for such investigations. This module will focus on maps produced in medieval Europe, ranging from maps of cities, regions and continents to seascapes and unknown parts of the earth. Through the analysis of key examples we will explore the ways in which knowledge about the world was generated. We will critically examine the relationship between centre and periphery, marginalisation and othering; the role of physical and virtual travel; and how textual and visual features work together as distinct and conjoined modes of expression. We will explore what roles maps had in medieval practices of devotion, education, and politics, and ask what place research on such objects has today within the growing field of the Global Middle Ages. The module will enable students to develop the skills to work independently with complex primary sources, and to engage in topical debates in arts and humanities research.
Module learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should have acquired:
-
a good knowledge of key examples of medieval maps
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acquaintance with their intellectual and cultural contexts
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an understanding of the debates about and approaches to the subject
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
You will receive feedback on assessed work within the timeframes set out by the University - please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information.
The purpose of feedback is to help you to improve your future work. If you do not understand your feedback or want to talk about your ideas further, you are warmly encouraged to meet your Supervisor during their Office Hours.
Indicative reading
- Baumgärtner, Ingrid, Nirit Ben-Aryeh Debby and Katrin Kogman-Appel. Maps and Travel in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period: Knowledge, Imagination, and Visual Culture. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019.
- Baumgärtner, Ingrid, et al., eds. Mapping Narrations - Narrating Maps: Concepts of the World in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2022.
- Connolly, Daniel. The Maps of Matthew Paris: Medieval Journeys through Space, Time and Liturgy. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2009.
- Hiatt, Alfred. Terra Incognita. Mapping the Antipodes before 1600. London: British Library, 2008.
- Hiatt, Alfred. Dislocations: Maps, Classical Tradition, and Spatial Play in the European Middle Ages. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020.
- Higgins, Hannah B. The Grid Book. Cambridge Mass: MIT Press, 2009.
- Kiening, Christian, and Martina Stercken, eds. Temporality and Mediality in Late Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Turnhout: Brepols, 2018.
- Kupfer, Marcia. Art and Optics in the Hereford Map. An English Mappa Mundi, c.1300. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
- Normore, Christina. "A World within Worlds?"’ In Re-Assessing the Global Turn in Medieval Art History. Edited by Christina Normore. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018.
- Terkla, Dan, and Nick Millea, eds. A Critical Companion to English Mappae Mundi of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2019.