Medieval History

This eleven-month programme is the standard entry route for all students who want to study medieval history at Oxford. You will follow core and optional courses, but will spend at least a third of your time doing independent research.

Graduate destinations

About a quarter of master’s students proceed to doctoral work at Oxford; others continue academic study at other institutions. Other career destinations are as diverse as, but broadly in line with, undergraduate history career destinations: law, finance, management consultancy, civil service etc.

This course can be taken as a free-standing degree course or as the first step to a DPhil.

The course balances taught courses and independent research. The aim of the course is to enable you to understand the way your work fits in to the wider developments of the subject in the last fifty years; to be critical of those developments; to understand in depth one major research field; to learn or improve a non-English language (usually Latin); and to write a developed piece of original work. You will construct the contents and work pattern of the research element of the degree in close and regular discussion with their supervisor. 

All medievalists will be offered Latin language training and are invited to attend a faculty-sponsored pre-sessional Latin class, which will then be supplemented by term-time teaching. If you are not registering for the pre-sessional classes you will be assessed for your basic competence in reading Latin texts at the start of Michaelmas term, and in appropriate cases again in early March. These tests are not part of the assessment for the degree; they serve to indicate how far you need to make further progress in the study of the language in order to undertake competent research in the field of medieval history. Weekly classes for those who need to improve their Latin will be available throughout the three academic terms of the year. Teaching is also available for a wide variety of medieval and modern languages, including medieval Celtic and Germanic languages.

Teaching and examination comprise:

• a core seminar, meeting weekly in Michaelmas term, which will concentrate on the various approaches to medieval history of historians in the last fifty years
• a daily class for the first four weeks of Michaelmas term on the history of script in the middle ages and reading medieval documents
• an optional paper, meeting weekly during Hilary term, which will allow the exploration of a specific period and/or theme of medieval history of the student's choice - you will be expected to submit one essay of between 8,000 and 10,000 words based on this course
• a weekly seminar in Trinity term to which you will be expected to make a presentation.
• submission of a dissertation of up to 15,000 words on your own research topic

Please note that not every optional subject listed may be on offer every year, depending in part on levels of student demand. Full details of core and optional papers available are available on the course webpage.

If you wish to apply for the DPhil you will be encouraged to develop your master's and doctoral research proposals in tandem during the first few months, so that you will be well placed to make a doctoral application.

Applicants are normally expected to be predicted or have achieved a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours (or equivalent international qualifications), as a minimum, in a relevant discipline in the humanities or social sciences.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.75 out of 4.0.

Applicants are normally expected to have a previous degree in history, but for master's applications a number of candidates will be accepted without. You will need to ensure that you link your proposed dissertation topic with your previous expertise when you present it in your research proposal, or that you explain why you want to switch to study history, and to show that you have already done some background research into it. Your submitted written work should show your writing and research skills in their best light, as it will be important to show that you have the necessary skills required for historical research.

If you hold non-UK qualifications and wish to check how your qualifications match these requirements, you can contact the National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom (UK NARIC).

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

• Official transcript(s)
• CV/résumé
• Statement of purpose/personal statement: 500 to 1,000 words, typically two to four pages double-spaced
• Written work:Two essays of 2,000 words each or one essay of 4,000 to 5,000 words
• References/letters of recommendation:Three overall, generally academic

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

Higher level

• Global Education
• Hill Foundation Scholarships
• Ertegun Scholarship Programme