ATS3475 · Secrets and lies: Espionage and diplomacy in the medieval world

Overview

In the period c. 1200–c. 1400, the arts of identifying and sharing reliable information, and conducting negotiations to secure personal, political or commercial interests, relied on a complex ecosystem of formal and informal participants. This unit explores the ways that medieval societies cultivated strategic relationships, discussed and disputed trade conditions, formed and broke alliances, gathered intelligence and negotiated peace and war. In this unit, you will consider the interests and strategies of state and non-state actors, such as the role of extended families and women as spies and spokespeople. You will also examine what kinds of primary sources preserve evidence of secret and sensitive information, and how historians should interpret them. Your investigation will centre in Christian Europe, but take in the diplomatic engagement of European institutions, kingdoms, cities and aristocratic families with Islamic and other powers, such as the Emperors of Byzantium, Princes of Kievan Rus, and the Mongol Khans of Central Asia and the Steppe. In this unit you will acquire a critical grasp of the ways in which histories of medieval espionage and diplomacy have changed, and develop skills in posing research questions that advance a field of study in a new direction. You will use this knowledge to design and conduct an original research project.

Areas of study: History

Offerings

The Handbook publishes no offerings for this unit.

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. apply a detailed knowledge of the historical context, goals, participants and strategies of medieval espionage and diplomacy;
2. interpret historical documents, assess their nature and relative value, and place them in their historical and historiographical context;
3. understand and critically assess scholarly trends in medieval espionage and diplomacy;
4. compose original questions for historical research that engage with relevant scholarly literature;
5. design and conduct an independent historical research project, identifying and using relevant primary and secondary sources;
6. communicate complex information effectively in a range of formats, including research planning and output documents.

Workload

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.