Program & Course Structure

Courses are assigned credits to aid in calculating the associated workload. “Credit” means the number of “points” earned for completing a course; this figure serves mainly to calculate the amount of coursework a student completes. One CEU credit is equivalent to one hour (50 minutes) per week through a twelve-week semester. Most courses are worth two credits, which means that the class meets weekly for 100 minutes and the course lasts the whole semester (twelve weeks). (1 credit calculated according to the US accreditation equals 2 ECTS credits, both in case of MA and PhD-level courses.) It is also possible to audit a class; students may attend a course out of interest without doing the out-of-class assignments. This appears on the transcript but earns no credits. Please note that language courses and advanced text seminars cannot be taken for audit. There is a short drop-add period at the beginning of each semester when you can change your enrollment in a class (drop it or add another one) or change the grading option (between a grade and audit). The syllabus of each course specifies if the given course is evaluated with Pass/Fail or a Grade. Changing one’s registration from audit to grade and from grade to audit is only allowed until mid-term (Week 6 of each term), with the written consent of the course instructor, communicated to the student’s supervisor and the program coordinator.

Students have significant latitude in selecting courses. In the planning sessions at the beginning of the academic year, supervisors and other faculty assist them in making a selection that is best suited to both their specific field of research and the program’s aim of multidisciplinary training. A tentative program for the entire year is discussed and designed individually with each student. Naturally, minor changes are possible, due to, for example, new interests on the part of a student.

In order to graduate, two-year MA students must earn 66 credits, out of which 8 are earned for a successfully defended thesis (which represents supervised individual research). The remaining 58 are course credits.  Students are allowed to take a limited number of cross-listed courses from other CEU departments.

Schematic chart showing the outline of the two-year MA program.

In the second year two-year MA students are streamed into the one-year MA program:

Description of MA classes

First Year – Pre-session 

Academic Latin: An Introduction to Research Methodology
This course is meant to equip all students enrolled at the Medieval Studies Department with a basic knowledge of Latin as a “technical language” still used in academic environments. To this purpose, the course will provide an overview of several types of source publications and secondary literature from various fields and of the Latin terminology attached to these, starting from common phraseology and abbreviations still present in academic parlance, going through practical issues such as identifying and handling relevant bibliographic data of publications issued in Latin (dates, places, names, titles), managing descriptions in Latin of research relevant materials as still used in various research instruments such as source inventories (BHG, BHL, BHO, CPG, CPL etc.) or in manuscript catalogues, and ending with an in-depth discussion of various types of critical apparatus to be found in source editions and the specific language they employ. This course is mandatory for the one-year MA and 1st year Interdisciplinary Historical Studies students enrolled in the Medieval Studies Department, but it is also open to 1st year PhDs of the Medieval Studies Department and the 1st year Interdisciplinary Historical Studies students on the Modern History track.

Introduction to Research Resources for Medievalists
The course introduces new medievalist students to the research resources offered by CEU in general and the Department of Medieval Studies in particular. It incorporates presentations offered by faculty members and visits to the main scholarly libraries in Budapest. Besides this, it gives an overview of the research facilities and main academic journals available for the students in our department.

First year - Fall semester 

Academic Writing
This course provides a review of the standards, and expectations of the History and Medieval Studies Departments as regards the skills of academic writing, the documentation of sources, and oral presentations.

Historiography - Themes in Its History and Approaches to Its Theory
This course is an overview of several major themes and approaches in historiography over two and a half millennia. It intends to contribute to your training in various, but related ways. Representing history as a branch of cognition that has been found directly relevant to the human condition since classical antiquity, it highlights a number of influential and controversial ways of engaging with it. At the same time it will challenge you to engage both with these approaches, and in some cases with the ways in which they are presented in the assigned literature. Shortly, it will invite you to think historically in dialogue with some of the most outstanding practitioners of the profession, past and present.

Topical Survey Courses
These courses are team-taught by two professors, usually one from each department. They are broadly thematic and cover interrelated historical processes in medieval, early modern, and modern times. The specific content and readings in the courses vary from year to year depending on the teaching team. Two-year MA first-year students must choose two out of these three courses.

(a) People, Places and Production (Topics in Comparative Economic and Social History) in 2012: Social distinction

(b) Power, Subordination and Negotiation (Topics in the Comparative History of Institutions and Politics) in 2012: Empires

(c) Beliefs, Practices, Images and Representations (Topics in Comparative Religious and Cultural History) in 2012: Religion and Science

Source Language Training (http://sourcelanguages.ceu.hu/)
A thorough knowledge of medieval source languages is the conditio sine qua non of high-achieving research on historical topics. Future scholars must be able to read source documents in the original, critically and independently. Source language training is therefore a crucial element of our MA program. Up to eight credits in the first academic year and four credits in the second are reserved for source language acquisition.
Each student’s degree of proficiency in the source language most relevant for his or her thesis work will be assessed by the relevant language instructor during the Pre-session, who will assign students to the beginner, intermediate or advanced groups. During the 2012/13 academic year we provide education in Latin, Ancient Greek, Arabic, Turkish (modern and Ottoman), Persian (on demand), Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian, and Hebrew (advanced level only).
Source language classes in the source language most relevant for their thesis work and/or an additional language chosen in agreement with the supervisor are mandatory during both semesters of both academic years for all students. For those MA students whose previous knowledge of a given source language allows them to read texts at a higher level than intermediate, Advanced Source Language Practice Classes are offered (see below).
In addition, the department offers the opportunity (and pays the fee) for students with a very good knowledge of Latin to take the Toronto Latin Exam (Medieval Latin) [http://medieval.utoronto.ca/latin/examinations/]. This exam is organized once a year, in April, and those who pass it successfully earn a certificate accepted worldwide. From October until April a special intensive Medieval Latin reading seminar may be offered to those interested in taking this exam, depending on the number of students and their skill levels.

Advanced Source Language Practice (Text Seminars) and Textual Skills
Every term the department offers Text Seminars, i.e., advanced source reading groups, in the source languages of medieval studies at CEU. See the current offerings in the course lists. The emphasis of these Text Seminars is not on grammar teaching – those students who are eligible to attend will have sufficient knowledge of grammar and vocabulary – but on content and context. Usually a small group of dedicated students and faculty, members of the seminar, will thoroughly investigate and discuss problems of the original text, line by line, with special emphasis on establishing a common vocabulary in English connected to technical and theoretical terms and concepts.
Additionally, classes teaching source-language-related practical methodological skills, such as codicology, palaeography, and diplomatics are included in this group of advanced source language practice courses and may be chosen to meet the credit requirements in lieu of any source language training class or elective class. Students who can demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the source language most relevant for their thesis work and do not wish to acquire another source language or participate in advanced source reading may meet their credit requirements by enrolling in any other elective or core class (without tutorial) or SHS class, with the agreement of their supervisors.

First year – Winter semester

MA Thesis Planning Seminar
This course is team-taught by one instructor from the Medieval Studies and one from the History Department.  It is designed to help students work towards their prospectuses and ultimately with their theses. The course deals with the development of research questions including issues of methodology and data collection. It continues in the prospectus-writing workshops in the spring.

Introduction to Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Studies in History
This seminar explores historical methods by considering the wide array of levels of analysis and approaches. We will address the relation of facts, sources, and methods, the changing scales from local and national to transnational, comparative and global. Considering the relationship between research problem and its analytical parameters, the course emphasizes the challenges of multi-disciplinary historical research, cutting across disciplinary, chronological and spatial boundaries. Apart from using and introducing classical and more contemporary methods, debates and theories, the course will also induce students to explore and test methodologies and their heuristic consequences in a practical manner. To this end the seminar combines a mixture of introductory lectures and case studies.

Historiography II: Grand debates
The continuation of the Historiography course provides a detailed discussion of the historical debates relating the general paradigms of European and world history to the specific problems of four historical regions: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, South-Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. The course also discusses cases when the specific interpretations of the history of the regions in question have given rise to the formulation of a more general historical or theoretical problem. Students join the regional group that is the closest to their research interest. The groups mainly meet separately, but have commons sessions as well at nodal points of the course.

Core Areas
In order to enable you to focus better on the period, region or materials you wish to study while at CEU, we have grouped our courses into four Core Areas, organized along topical, thematic, and geographical lines. You will note on the list below that the interests of each faculty member cross-cut single areas. Students may enroll freely in core courses (without the tutorial element) among other elective classes.

  I.  Western, Central and Eastern European History of the Middle Ages

 II. The Eastern Mediterranean from Constantine the Great to Suleiman the Magnificent

III.  History of Religion, Philosophy, and Science

IV. Material Culture, Art History, Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology, and Manuscript Studies

Core Area I combines courses on the political, economic, social, and cultural history of the so-called “Latin” Middle Ages from late antiquity through the Middle Ages. At present, the following faculty members are teaching and researching in Core Area I: Gerhard Jaritz, Gábor Klaniczay, József Laszlovszky, Balázs Nagy, Marianne Sághy, Katalin Szende, and Daniel Ziemann [on research leave Fall and Spring semesters 2012/13].

Core Area II brings together expertise from Late Antique, Byzantine, Islamic, and Ottoman Studies; it complements Core Area I by focusing on the “non-Latin”, i.e., Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, and other traditions. In short, it covers the so-called Byzantine Commonwealth and its fringes from late antiquity into the early Ottoman period. This Core Area works closely with the Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, which is a joint faculty enterprise among the Departments of Medieval Studies, Philosophy, History, and Sociology and Social Anthropology. At present, the following faculty members are teaching and researching in Key Area II: Aziz Al-Azmeh, György Geréby, Cristian Gaşpar, Niels Gaul, Tijana Krstić  [on leave, Winter semester 2013], Volker Menze, István Perczel [on research leave in AY 2012/13], and Daniel Ziemann [on research leave Fall and Spring semesters 2012].

Core Area III is organized along thematic rather than geographical lines; it combines expertise in medieval theology and philosophy with classes on medieval science and scholarship. At present, the following faculty members are teaching and researching in Core Area III:  Aziz Al-Azmeh, Niels Gaul, György Geréby Gábor Klaniczay, István Perczel [on research leave in AY 2012/13], Marianne Sághy, Marcell Sebők, Anna Somfai, and György E. Szőnyi.

Core Area IV offers thematically organized classes oriented towards non-written sources, such as archaeological remains and art historical objects, environmental, and cultural anthropological data, as well as the material history of books (codicology) and writing (palaeography – in contrast to the analysis of the contents of these books and documents conducted in Core Areas I to III). At present, the following faculty members are teaching and researching in Core Area IV:  Alice Choyke, Gerhard Jaritz, József Laszlovszky, Niels Gaul, Judith Rasson, Anna Somfai, Béla Zsolt Szakács, and Katalin Szende.

Core Classes (Fall and Winter Terms)
Core classes offer a broad but in-depth coverage within an area, introducing background knowledge and recent developments in research trends.  The goal of these courses is for students to develop an intimate familiarity with the subject, mastering research problems and skills. They have an increased reading load and should be the primary class a student focuses on during any given term. They may be team-taught. In this component of the core class, the teacher will be the more active party (by providing the lecture, answering questions, guiding the discussion).

Tutorial Element of the Core Classes (Fall and Winter Terms)
Tutorials are discussions informed by the weekly reading assignments. While core classes cover substantial thematic ground in considerable depth, tutorials allow for discussions of historiographic traditions, methodologies, and hands-on approaches (for instance, learning to read a seal or a coin or to analyze primary documentary source materials). Tutorials are a chance for students to discuss and question the contents of the assigned readings. A tutorial may be taught by the same faculty member who runs the core class, by another faculty member, or by a PhD student. Tutorials may consist of a second meeting per week of the whole group, or participants in the core class may meet in smaller interest groups. In the tutorial component of the core class the students will be the more active party (by reporting on their reading and raising difficulties in interpretation for discussion). The goal of the tutorials is to develop close familiarity with the secondary literature, methods of historiography, current approaches and research methodologies, etc.

Elective Courses
These courses, unlike core classes, focus on more restricted topics with increased attention to advanced methodology applied to sensible case studies. Any core class (without tutorials) can be chosen as an elective class by MA students, and also by PhD students with their supervisor’s approval. Tutorial elements of the core classes cannot be taken separately as electives. In the Fall and Winter terms, one-credit courses may be offered occasionally in special disciplines in order to familiarize students with methodology, vocabulary and literature on the topic (SHS – Sources of Historical Studies). Two SHS courses substitute for a two-credit elective course.

Independent Study
Those students whose special interests fall outside the scope of the regular course offerings can register for Independent Study instead of one elective course per term and read important works in their area of interest in consultation with their advisors. PhD students with expertise close to the MA student’s thesis topic can be involved in selecting and discussing the readings. Students may earn a maximum of 6 credits in Independent Study registrations in the terms before the submission of their theses. Students must fill in the relevant forms during the registration period of each term and get those signed by their supervisors. This is the precondition of being registered for these activities by the program coordinator.

Source Language classes
See description above

Academic Field Trip
The Spring Field Trip visits historical, archaeological, and cultural monuments of the region (usually for 5-6 days). The Field Trip Seminar, which meets occasionally during the Winter Term, is a preparatory for the field trip. Students select topics pertinent to the field trip itinerary from a list prepared by faculty members.  By the end of the Winter Term students will have researched their topics, prepared a supporting bibliography, written a 2-page paper, and identified one image for illustration (map, drawing, ground plan, chart, etc.). During the field trip each student presents a 10- to-15-minute oral report on his/her topic. Instructions for preparing the field trip paper will be available on the CEU e-learning site.

First year – Spring Session

MA Thesis Prospectus Seminar
As a natural continuation of the Winter term thesis planning seminars, the Spring thesis workshops will focus on the presentation of the sources that students will have collected, pursuing their own outlines, during the research break. It will lead to the finalization of the thesis prospectus in the light of this preliminary research activity.

Elective courses
During the spring sessions MA students must register for two one-credit elective classes of their choice.

Second Year – Fall Semester

 MA Thesis Seminar (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA–second-year)
This class prepares students for writing a thesis and covers discussions of thesis structure. A segment of the class will be devoted to oral presentation skills.  Each student presents a critique of a previous thesis and presents an outline of his/her proposed thesis. Each 2YMA student gives a detailed report on his/her research activities over the summer and presents an early draft of a thesis chapter.

Core Class with Tutorial
See description above

Elective Courses
See description above

Source Language classes
See description above

Independent Study
See description above

Second Year – Winter Semester

MA Thesis Seminar (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA–second year)
Each student is required to present a draft chapter of the thesis in progress and respond to a critique by other members of the seminar and faculty and to serve as a critic of another student’s draft chapter.  Each student also prepares a poster displaying his/her thesis topic. Discussions of academic writing skills oriented toward thesis preparation are a component of this class.

Core Class with Tutorial
See description above

Elective Courses
See description above

Source Language classes
See description above

Independent Study
See description above

Second Year – Spring Session

 MA Thesis Writing Workshops (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA–second-year)

Students and faculty members meet in small groups to discuss fine-tuning the final versions of the theses. Besides presenting their own work, students are required to become familiar with, and comment on, each other’s work. Thesis-Writing Workshops are held during the thesis-writing period before the thesis submission deadline. This is intended to move students smoothly toward timely thesis submission.

Elective Courses
See description above.