Guide in PDF format

Medieval History

Code: 100014
Credits: 6

2026/2027

Degree programme	Type	Course
Musicology	OP	3
Musicology	OP	4

Contact lecturer

Name :: Jesus Brufal Sucarrat
Email :: jesus.brufal@uab.cat

Teaching staff

: Nil Rider Enrique
: Jesus Brufal Sucarrat
: Raúl Muñoz Céspedes

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

None

Objectives

The course covers the different periods, as well as the main processes and events that took place during the Middle Ages (5^th-15^th centuries). The content is discussed from the Historical Science (social, political, economic, ideological and cultural point of view) and from a theoretical and practical activity.

The subject’s main objective is to provide the resources needed to acquire an elemental knowledge about the historical framework of the Middle Ages. This information will be useful to understand properly other courses of the Degree.

Learning outcomes

Identifying the specific methods of history and their relationship with the analysis of particular facts.
Identifying the context of the historical processes.
Organising and planning the search of historical information.
Using the characteristic computing resources of the field of History.
Interpret the plurality and heterogeneity of the cultural development of humanity.
Contextualise historical processes and analyse them.

Theme 1. What is the Middle Ages and how do we perceive them today?
Theme 2. The Germanic migrations and the end of the Western Roman Empire.
Theme 3. The Eastern Roman Empire and Sassanid Persia.
Theme 4. The spread of Christianity and the first heresies.
Theme 5. The birth, expansion and consolidation of Islam.
Theme 6. The birth of Hellenised Byzantium.
Theme 7. The rise and fall of the Carolingian Empire.
Theme 8. The Europe of the year 1000.
Theme 9. Society and Production in Western Europe (7th-12th centuries).
Theme 10. The Church in the 8th-12th centuries.
Theme 11. Europe in the 13th century.
Theme 12. The European economy in the Late Middle Ages.
Theme 13. Society in the Late Middle Ages.
Theme 14. The Church, spirituality and culture in the West (13th-14th centuries).
Theme 15. European kingdoms in the 15th century.
Theme 16. Thought and culture at the end of the Middle Ages.

Learning activities and methodology

Title	Hours	ECTS
Comprehension and interpretation of different materials (i.e. mapping, graphics, tables or archaeological evidences).	20	0.8
Individual study	25	1
Master classes	15	0.6
Seminars and other activities guided by the lecturer	35	1.4
Elaboration of reviews, essays and comments.	30	1.2

- Master classes

- Seminars and other activities guided by the professor

- Comprehension and interpretation of different materials, such cartography, graphics, tables and archaeological evidences

- Elaboration of reviews, essays and comments

- Individual study

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title	Weight	Hours	ECTS	Learning outcomes
Exam	30%	3	0.12	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Reading controls	40%	19	0.76	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Exam	30 %	3	0.12	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The continuous assessment is made up of the following tests and percentages:

- Two written exams (30% of the grade each).

- Four reading controls (10% of the grade each).

Relevant information:

- Assessment activities submitted within the deadlines set by the course teacher will be re-evaluated; under no circumstances may an exercise be submitted for the first time during the re-evaluation period. The re-evaluation will consist of a written test that will examine the student's knowledge of the entire theoretical programme of the course.

- A student will be considered \"not assessed\" if he/she has not presented 30% of the evaluable evidences of the course.

- In the event that a student commits any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluation exercise, this will be graded with a 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be initiated. In the case of several irregularities in other exercises, the final grade will be 0.

- The student will have the right to review the results of the tests taken. The teacher will establish the mechanisms for this in due course.

- In the event that the tests cannot be taken in person, their format will be adapted (maintaining the weighting) to the possibilities offered by the virtual tools of the UAB. Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through wiki forums and/or exercise discussions through Moodle, Teams, etc. The teaching staff will ensure that students have access to these tools or will be offered alternative means.

Single assessment:

This subject does not allow a single assessment.

Erasmus students:

Erasmus and exchange students who requests to advance an exam must present a document from their home university justifying their request.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

This module permits the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies exclusively for bibliographic or information retrieval tasks. The student must (i) identify the parts that have been generated with AI; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final outcome of the activity. Failure to be transparent about the use of AI in this assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty and will result in the activity being marked as zero and being irrecoverable, or in more severe sanctions in more serious cases.

Bibliography

Reference Manuals

García de Cortázar, José Ángel, Sesma, José Ángel, Historia de la Edad Media, una síntesis interpretativa. Alianza Universidad, 1997.

Salrach, Josep Maria, Entre Roma i el Renaixement. Història i textos de l’Occident Medieval, Eumo, Vic, 2002.

Contamine, Philippe, Bompaire, Mark, i altres. La economía medieval. Akal. Madrid, 2000.

Baschet, Jérôme, La civilisation féodale. De l’an mil à la colonisation de l’Amérique. Aubier, Ed. Flammarion, París 2004. Traducció: La civilización feudal: Europa del año mil a la colonización de América. Fondo de Cultura Econòmica, USA 2010.

Wickham, Chris. Europa en la Edad Media. Una nueva interpretación. Ed. Crítica, Barcelona, 2017.

Donado Vara, Julián, Echevarría Arsuaga, Ana, Historia Medieval I (siglos V-XII), UNED, Madrid, 2014.

Donado Vara, Julián, Echevarría Arsuaga, Ana, Baquero Goñi, Carlos, Historia Medieval II (siglos XIII-XV), UNED, Madrid, 2014.

General Works (by periods and themes)

Devroey, Jean Pierre, Économie rurale et société dans l’europe franque (VIe-Ixe siècles). Ed. Belin, Paris, 2003.

Faci, Javier, Introducción al mundo Bizantino. Ed. Síntesis, 1996.

Bresh, Henry, Guichard, Pierre, Mantran Robert, Europa y el Islam en la Edad Media. Ed. Crítica, Barcelona, 2001.

Wickham, Chris, Una historia nueva de la alta Edad Media. Crítica, Barcelona, 2009.

Toubert, Pierre, Europa en su primer crecimiento. De Carlomagano al año mil. Publicacions dela Universitat de València, 2006.

Bartlett, Robert, La formación de Europa. Conquista, civilización y cambio cultural, 950-1350. Publicacions Universitat de València, 2003.

Bisson, Thomas, La crisis del siglo XII. Ed. Crítica, 2010.

Bois, Guy, La gran depresión medieval: siglos XIV-XV: el precedente de una crisis sistémica. Publicacions de la Universitat de València, 2001.

Contamine, Pierre, La guerra en la Edad Media. Ed. Labor, 1984

Instrumental bibliography

Kinder, Hermann, Hilgemann, Werner, Atlas Histórico Mundial, ed. Istmo, 2 vols.

Bonnassie, Pierre, Vocabulario básico de la historia medieval, ed. Crítica.

Loyn, Henry Roiston, Diccionario Akal de Historia Medieval. Akal, Madrid, 1998.

MacKay, Angus, Ditchburn, David, (eds). Atlas de Europa Medieval, ed. Cátedra.

Maíllo, Felipe, Vocabulario básico de la historia del Islam. Ed. Akal, 1987.