HIST2006 Introduction to World History: Middle Ages

Introduction

The Middle Ages (c. 500–1500) refers to the period between the fall of the ancient Roman Empire in the 5^th century AD and the onset of the modern era in the 16^th century. People often (unfairly) think of it as a period of decline and isolation, the so-called ‘Dark Ages’. The reality was quite different. Medieval Europeans inherited and built on the achievements of the ancient Greeks and Romans, becoming part of a wide, cosmopolitan world that reached as far as India and China. Our modern world would not be possible without the Middle Ages.

This course will offer a broad introduction to medieval World History, with a focus on Europe and its connections to Asia and Africa. Each week, we will explore a particular period and theme through a lecture and class discussion of a primary source. You will then have the chance to read academic literature by experts on each topic and explore related issues in conversation with other students in tutorial sessions. We will cover a wide range of topics from religion and culture to politics, economics, and social relations. By the end of the course, you will have a firm understanding of the basics of the medieval era and understand how it fits into the wider scope of World History.

Learning Goals

This course has three main goals:

1. To teach you the fundamentals of medieval world history: key dates, events, places, states, beliefs, innovations, etc.
2. To familiarise you with the most important debates and methodological approaches in the history of medieval Europe and its relationship with the rest of the world.
3. To help you develop the fundamental skill set and sensibility of a historian: how to understand primary sources, how to think critically about historical narratives, and how to effectively communicate your analysis to others.

Course Schedule

Assessment Overview

Your performance in the course will be assessed on the cumulative basis of different types of assignment (described in more detail below) and your attendance. The weighting of the assignments is as follows:

Map and Timeline Quiz              10%
Reading Quizzes (x2)                 20%
Class Participation                      20%
Final Exam                                   50%

Your final letter grade will be determined by your overall course percentage. You will not be graded on a curve. Grades will be assigned according to the following set thresholds:

A     95%                 C+   70%                 F      <50%
A-    90%                 C     65%
B+   85%                 C-    60%
B     80%                 D+   55%
B-    75%                 D     50%

Grade Descriptions

Course Readings

Each week you will be assigned approximately 30–40 pages of reading in English, which you should complete after the relevant lecture. We shall use Chris Wickham’s Medieval Europe (New Haven, 2016) as our main textbook, with various other journal articles and book chapters to supplement it. For most weeks, you will start with a chapter from Medieval Europe to explain the background and then read another text by a different historian that examines a related historiographical topic.

Most of the readings are available online. You should try to find them for yourself using the CUHK Library website (https://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/). For readings that are not available online, I will upload PDF copies to the course Blackboard site.

For a general introduction to the subject, I can recommend the following (non-compulsory) books, all of which are available in the CUHK library or online:

Abulafia, David. et al., edd. The New Cambridge Medieval History, 8 vols. Cambridge, 1995–2005.

Crone, Patricia. Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World. London, 2015.

Rosenwein, Barbara H. A Short History of the Middle Ages. 6^th ed. North York, ON, 2023.

Winks, Robin W. and Teofilo F. Ruiz. Medieval Europe and the World: From Late Antiquity to Modernity, 400–1500.Oxford, 2005.

Quizzes

There will be a total of three short quizzes during term time: one map and timeline quiz and two reading comprehension quizzes. These will last about 20 minutes each. At the start of term, you will receive a sheet with a list of 20 historical terms and 20 geographical terms; you will need to research and learn each of these terms for the map and timeline quiz, which will be held in the last lecture on Monday 13^th April. The reading quizzes will be held in the second and fourth tutorials of term and will require you to answer multiple-choice questions to test your general understanding of the ideas, arguments, and concepts in the readings; you do not have to memorise specific details.

Final Exam

The course will end with a final 3-hour exam held during the exam period at the close of term. This will consist of a primary source analysis question and an essay question (you will be able to choose from a selection of six topics). These will test your understanding of the main themes and concepts that we have studied in lectures and readings.

The primary source question will present you with short excerpts of primary source texts that we have read in class. You will choose three of the excerpts and explain historical details about the sources, their content, and why they are significant. The essay question will require you to draw on your overall knowledge and understanding of the course themes to produce a persuasive argument supported by relevant historical evidence. I will give you more details about the exam (and advice on how to answer the questions) later in the term.

World History Seminar

This term, the History department will be holding the tenth series of its World History Seminar. This will take place online on Zoom every two weeks for a lecture by a leading world historian. At the end of the lecture, members of the audience will have the chance to engage in a Q&A with the speaker. A complete schedule of events, with topics, dates, and times, will be released soon.

Since this seminar has a clear relevance to our course, I would like you to attend at least two meetings of the World History Seminar. You should also ask at least one question during one of the Q&A sessions. Your attendance and participation in this seminar will form part of your overall participation grade for this course. If you are unable to attend three meetings of the World History Seminar, you may supplement it with attendance at the RIH Digital Humanities Talk Series.

Attendance and Absences

You are expected to attend all lectures and tutorial sessions. You will lose 1% of your final course grade for every class that you miss without my permission and 0.5% for every time you arrive late. If you have a valid reason for being absent from a lecture or tutorial (such as a doctor’s appointment), please contact me as soon as possible to ask for permission.

Plagiarism and Academic Ethics

Studying at university requires a high standard of professionalism and honesty in your academic work and personal conduct. This falls under the broad category of academic ethics, which I take very seriously (and so should you). I expect you all to behave in an honest and respectful manner in class and in your assignments. Unethical behaviour, including plagiarism, will not be tolerated. You can find more information on university policy at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.

If you are unsure about the definition of plagiarism or academic ethics, feel free to ask me and I will be happy to discuss it with you in more detail.

Policy on A.I. Use

This course is designed to introduce you to medieval World History and to develop your intellectual skills as a history student. A.I. tools such as ChatGPT or DeepSeek are not helpful for either of these purposes; in fact, they are actively harmful to your learning. Your brain is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it becomes. On the other hand, if you don’t use your brain (by using A.I. to do your homework, for example), it will become weaker and you will actually become less intelligent. This phenomenon is known as cognitive debt.[1]

With this in mind, the assignments for this course are designed so that you cannot use A.I. to complete them. This is to encourage you to use your own human brain, which will make you a smarter, better student in the future.

Also, please do not use A.I. to write emails to me. If you do, I will not reply.

[1]See Nataliya Kosmyna et al., ‘Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt When Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task’, arXiv:2506.08872, 10^th June 2025, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.08872.

Tutorials and Class Participation

In addition to weekly lectures, there will be four tutorials during the term. These will focus on discussing the content and ideas of the assigned homework readings. Active participation in class discussions is an important part of the course and your learning experience. The tutorials will be your main opportunity to build your Class Participation score, which will comprise 20% of your course grade. You can also gain credit for asking questions, making comments, or reading primary source texts during lectures.

To be clear, Class Participation means that you actually have to speak. Sitting in silence is not participation and will not count towards your score. But don’t worry! You don’t have to be an expert (or even knowledgeable) about a topic to join in the discussion. Any kind of contribution, even if it is just a simple comment or a question, will count as participation and will thus add to your course grade. So, don’t be shy!

Add/Drop Period

During the second week of term (12^th–18^th January), students are allowed to change their course enrolments using E-add/drop on CUSIS. You are welcome to either add or drop this course during that period for any reason. This is followed by the special add/drop at department in the third week of term (19^th–23^rd January).  Please note that it is not possible to late-drop the course after the add/drop period unless there are exceptional circumstances (e.g. if a medical emergency or similar makes it impossible for you to continue the class).

Grade Appeals

You can find information on the grade appeals process here: http://www.res.cuhk.edu.hk/en-gb/general-information/procedures-for-dealing-with-student-complaints.

I deal with grade appeals on a case-by-case basis. I am happy to correct your grade if there has been a technical error or oversight. Otherwise, you should be aware that grading is entirely at my discretion. I do not accept appeals just because a student disagrees with their grade.

Need Help?

It’s ok to ask for it! I know that you have probably not studied this subject before. If you have any difficulties with the readings, assignments, discussions, or any other aspects of the course, let me know and I will be happy to help you – that is what I am here for. You can always email me, speak to me in my office, or just ask a question in class.

Individual Meetings

I am always happy to speak with students on a one-to-one basis. You should feel free to talk to me about anything you want, even if it is not related to the course. Just send me an email and we can arrange a time to meet in my office (Fung King Hey Building, Room 123).

Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.

With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures.

• In the case of group projects, all members of the group should be asked to sign the declaration, each of whom is responsible and liable to disciplinary actions, irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has contributed, directly or indirectly, to the problematic contents.
• For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students’ uploading of the soft copy of the assignment.

Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded by teachers.

Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide.

The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be regarded as having committed undeclared multiple submissions. It is common and acceptable to reuse a turn of phrase or a sentence or two from one’s own work; but wholesale reuse is problematic. In any case, agreement from the course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained prior to the submission of the piece of work.