Module manager: Dr Jonathan Jarrett
Email: j.jarrett@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
This module is approved as a discovery module
The Roman Empire was the immediate precursor of medieval society in the West (although it continued at its second capital, Constantinople, through the whole medieval period as what we call the Byzantine Empire). Roman rule established an accepted idea of political legitimacy which lived on and is still with us today, visible in monuments, money and language. It also oversaw the establishment of Christianity as a world religion. All these phenomena were, however, transformed by the process of imperial break-up, the empire’s replacement by the kingdoms of the early Middle Ages and, still more significant, the rise of Islam as a new political and religious formation. This module takes a roughly chronological path through these great changes, focusing on political and religious formations as well as material culture and visual representations of power, identity and ideology. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
This module studies the huge changes in the organisation and ideology of society in and around the Mediterranean basin over the period from the second to eighth centuries CE. Covering the spread of Christianity and then Islam as world religions, the high point and disintegration of Roman imperial authority and the establishment of the new, ‘barbarian’ political identities which would underpin the future configuration of the European space, the module uses textual and material evidence to allow you to understand the transformation of the Roman world both in the terms of the time and as the foundations of following periods of history, including up to our own times.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Evaluate historical arguments about the causes and consequences of the changes examined in this module.
2 Assess interactions of political and religious forces in pre-modern societies.
3. Critically explain the political and religious shifts of the Late Antique period in and around the Mediterranean world.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module you will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4. Critically analyse primary materials from pre-modern and non-industrial societies.
5. Apply fundamental standards and practices of historical study for research, discussion, and assessed work.
6. Use relevant evidence to articulate historical arguments.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervision | 2 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Lecture | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Private study hours | 179.6 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20.4 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
You will have to have your choice of source for the source commentary assessment approved by the module tutor; this will involve either in-class discussion or (the strongly encouraged alternative) one-to-one discussion with the module tutor of your presented reasons for choosing this source. The tutor will also be available for discussion of essay plans in the same way.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Extended source commentary | 40 |
| Coursework | Essay | 60 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
The source commentaries will be focused on sources chosen by the individual student from items in the reading list; a starter bibliography and guidance will be provided for each source chosen by the module tutor.
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 29/04/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team