Basic Program 2022-2023
The basic program comprises a total of thirteen courses organized by the Research School, that have been purpose-developed for training and support of PhD students and Research MA students who specialize in Medieval Studies (history, art history, and literary history, in particular). The courses have a study load of 3-5 ECTS points. The Research School reserves itself the right to cancel a course in case of insufficient interest (i.e. less than 4 registrations for a course). At the same time, the Research School aims to allow as many people as possible to participate in these courses. However, if there is great interest in a particular course, a maximum number of participants may be set. The maximum number of participants will be communicated via the website and/or newsletter. In addition, there will be several (inter)national symposia, (co-)organized by the Research School, and the yearly Medieval Studies’ Day, whose active attendance can generate 1-2 ECTS points.
- Introduction to Dutch Medieval Studies
- Foundations of Research – 1
- Foundations of Research – 2
- Basic Course in Palaeography
- How to research medieval books?
- Literary Culture
- Material Culture
- Visual Culture
- Archival Sources
- Medieval Latin
- Presenting Medieval Research
- International Symposium
- Medieval Studies' Day
The course wants to offer an introductory survey of what is going on in the field of Dutch medieval studies. It tries to answer such general questions as: what disciplines contribute to medieval studies; how can we get informed on the field; which are the leading Dutch centers of education and research; what are fashionable themes and topics in medieval studies; what’s new in theory and methods of research; and what have Dutch universities to offer in all these respects?
- Aimed at: Research MA-students and PhD students at the start of their programs resp. research projects.
- Period & location: February-March 2023; six course days in total: starting with 1 session (of 3 hours) in Leiden, followed by 5 sessions in several medieval studies departments of other Dutch universities as well as the Huygens/ING.
- Course Coordinator: Dr C. Weeda (Leiden)
- Course load: 5 ECTS
- Maximum number of participants: 25
The course offers researchers who are in the initial stage of their project the opportunity to reflect thoroughly on the primary sources they are going to use – in terms of typology, heuristics (theoretical) approaches, and methods of analysis – before specialists who first give short presentations on their own use of the same or similar source types.
- Aimed at: Research MA-students and PhD-students in the initial stages of their research.
- Period: 2 March 2023.
- Location: Course center: Dominican convent (Huissen)
- Course Coordinator: Dr C. Weeda (Leiden)
- Course load: 3 ECTS
- Maximum number of participants: 12
The course offers PhD-students who are about halfway with their project the opportunity to have the complete lay-out of their project scrutinized by invited specialists in their field who are not their supervisors. A close and critical look will be taken at research questions, the (first, provisional) analysis of research results, and the design of the dissertation in the making. In preparation the participants turn in a complete draft of the Introduction of their dissertation.
- Aimed at: advanced PhD-students.
- Period: 2 June 2023.
- Location: Leiden University.
- Course Coordinator: Dr C. Weeda (Leiden)
- Course load: 3 ECTS
- Maximum number of participants: 5
In this course, the principles of reading late medieval writing are taught on the basis of administrative sources, like charters and accounts. It will mainly deal with administrative texts, dating from the late Middle Ages and written in Middle Dutch and Middle French.
- Aimed at: Research MA-students and PhD students.
- Period: April-May 2023
- Location: Leiden University and/or The Hague
- Course Coordinator: Dr R. Stein (Leiden)
- Course load: 5 ECTS
- Minimum number of participants: 4
- Maximum number of participants: 10
- Passive knowledge of (Middle) Dutch and (Middle) French is required
Medieval books are objects which can be studied for all kinds of angles into the Middle Ages. Of course, they can be explored for their content, but their materiality offers so many more footholds to interpret medieval cultures of reading, writing, learning, practicing religion, law or medicine, etcetera. In this course, 4 teachers will take you to different periods and different collections of medieval manuscripts and take you on an exploration of their research potential. In each session you will learn about new research that is taking place, and there will be a hands-on element: see material with your own eyes and discuss it. You will also be given an assignment to work with one manuscript that fits into your own research topic. In the last session, the students are asked to present their work in a symposium.
- Aimed at: PhD students (if there are places available, RMa-students can also enroll)
- Period: April-May 2023
- Location: Leiden, Amsterdam / The Hague, Groningen
- Course Coordinator: Prof. dr M. Teeuwen (Leiden)
- Course load: 5 ECTS
- Maximum number of participants: 15
Medieval literature can be seen as historical object, but also as literature in its full right – and this tension between its Alterity and its Modernity will be illustrated from several perspectives. The course features an eye on Latin literature, on less known traditions, but also an oversight of main developments in vernacular literature. It will be dealing with performance as a key to understanding the literary fact, music and poetry, formalizations of medieval imagination, and the history of criticism on medieval literature. Next to that, it will address the forms and modalities of its conservation in connection to ‘modern reading’ culture.
- Aimed at: Research MA-students and PhD students
- Period: April-May 2023
- Location: Unversity of Amsterdam
- Course Coordinator: Dr J. Koopmans (UvA), Prof. dr A. Seyed-Gohrab (Utrecht) and Dr P. Gerbrandy (UvA)
- Course load: 2/5 ECTS
- Maximum number of participants: 12
The course will be dealing with various kinds of material culture as sources for knowledge and research in Medieval Studies. A basic premise is that material sources are of the same level of relevance as other source types, such as written sources. With respect to relics of material culture, the questions of reliability and meaning are particularly fascinating. In addition, various types of material sources will be discussed and analyzed, varying from pictorial to archaeological remains, and from liturgical objects to buildings. Part of the course will be on-site and museum visits.
- Period: March-April 2023
- Location: Utrecht University
- Course Coordinators: Dr A.J.M. Irving (Groningen) and Dr W. Welie- van Vink (Amsterdam)
- Course load: 5 ECTS
- Maximum number of participants: 15
This course deals with a variety of aspects of medieval visual culture: the ‘grammar’ of visual representation; how to ‘read’ medieval images in their written, oral or cultural context; how to search for representations of a specific topic; its historiography (including the ‘minor arts’) and the importance of ‘auxiliary sciences’ such as costume history and heraldry. This course not only aims at participants with an art historical background, but also encourages participation from other fields of study where the study of visual aspects, as an extra carefully studied source, can add new perspectives.
- Aimed at: Research MA-students and PhD students
- Period: March-April 2023
- Course Coordinator: Dr M. Meuwese (Utrecht)
- Location: Utrecht University
- Course load: 5 ECTS
- Maximum number of participants: 12
This course deals with several kinds of archival sources as basis for research on finances and on material and administrative culture in the Late Middle Ages. At one point or another, most of us will have to deal with accounts, charters or other archival material as a source of our research. These sources have many advantages: they can be dated; they can be located; they usually fit within a clear organizational structure, and they have been handed down in relatively large quantities. Nevertheless, the heuristics, the positioning of the sources and their interpretation requires specific expertise. That is what this course is about.
- Aimed at: Research MA-students and PhD students.
- Period: April-May 2023
- Location: National Archive, The Hague and/or Leiden University
- Course Coordinator: Dr R. Stein (Leiden)
- Course load: 5 ECTS
- Minimum number of participants: 4
- Maximum number of participants: 12
- (Basic) knowledge of (Middle) Dutch is required
The course trains medieval historians, art historians and literary historians in the practical reading of all sorts of source texts/source text types written in medieval Latin. The participants bring in texts from, or related to, their own research projects. Aim of the course is to considerably widen the use of primary sources in the practicing of medieval history, and through that to enlarge its effectiveness. A requirement for participation is a basic knowledge of classical Latin (secondary school-level).
- Aimed at: Research MA-students (and PhD-students).
- Period: May-June 2023
- Location: Utrecht University
- Course Coordinator: Dr R. Flierman (Utrecht)
- Course load: 5 ECTS
- Maximum number of participants: 12
The course coaches the participants in preparing a paper for an international congress on Medieval Studies (e.g. the yearly International Medieval Congress at Leeds).
- Aimed at: PhD students and Research MA students.
- Period: June-July 2023 (with introductory session in September 2022).
- Location: Utrecht University / International Medieval Conference Leeds.
- Course coordinator: Dr S. Meeder (Nijmegen).
- Course load: 5 ECTS.
- Maximum number of participants: 12
In this study component, you get involved in the organisation of a symposium or a workshop, and in some cases, you can also contribute to it. The topic and content of these symposiums change annually, and usually there are multiple options.
- Aimed at: Research MA-students and PhD students.
- Period: Varying
- Location: Varying
- Course Coordinator: Varying
- Course load: 2/5 ECTS
- Maximum number of participants: 10
Yearly open day for all members of the Research School, including Flemish colleagues. By turns organized by one of the participant universities; sometimes by an associated Flemish university. Usually, the program comprises two keynote lectures around a chosen theme, followed (or preceded) by 10-20 short papers on a variety of subjects, presented in a number of parallel sessions by PhD students and/or tenured staff.
- Aimed at: Research MA-students, PhD-students; other members of the Research School and Flemish associates.
- Date: end of October / beginning of November 2022
- Place: Amsterdam
- Coordinator: Prof. Dr H.T. van der Velden (UvA)
- Course load (for Research MA-students only): 1 ECTS