ME4855 Crusaders, Mongols and Mamluks: West and East in the Mid-Thirteenth Century

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Full Year

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

60

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Available only to students in the Second Year of the Honours Programme.

Planned timetable

TBC

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr A D Stewart

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr A D Stewart

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module will consider the range of interactions between the Latin West and the powers and cultures of the Near East and beyond, in the period will roughly between the first two Councils of Lyons, 1245-74, both of which dealt with crusading to the Levant and with matters relating to the Mongols: initially their threat and latterly the opportunities for alliance. The module will examine the crusades of the Louis IX, in their wider context; the arrival of the Mongols in the West and the creation of Mongol states there; and the beginnings of the Mongol-Mamluk conflict and of attempts to create an Ilkhanid-Latin alliance. We will look in some depth at a variety of sources, especially focusing on the account of Louis IX's crusade by John of Joinville, and the accounts of two Franciscan travelers in the Mongol Empire, John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck.

Assessment pattern

1 x 3-hour Written Examination = 30%, Coursework = 70%

Re-assessment

New Coursework: 1 x source exercise (2,500 words) and 1 x 5,000-word essay = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 x 3-hour seminar, plus 1 office hour.

Scheduled learning hours

66

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

534

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • By the end of the module, students will have developed skills of sustained close reading of a thematically and chronologically focused collection of texts
  • By the end of the module, students will have developed skills of critical analysis both of ‘primary sources’ and of modern scholarship
  • By the end of the module, students will have developed an awareness of themes relating to social, military, cultural, and ethnographic history
  • By the end of the module, students will have developed considerations of cultural interaction and exchange
  • By the end of the module, students will have developed an understanding of the relations of Western Europeans with the wider world in the Middle East and beyond, and of how Western Europeans have sought to portray these regions and people over time
  • By the end of the module, students will be able to refine and broaden writing and communication skills