Module and Programme Catalogue

Search site

Find information on

2016/17 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

HIST2006 Small Change and Big Changes: Money and Power in Europe, 284-1000

20 creditsClass Size: 28

Module manager: Dr Jonathan Jarrett
Email: TBC

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2016/17

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

One source for the Middle Ages that appears to need no translation is its money: do we not all know what a coin is and does, after all? Perhaps not. The Roman Empire was a highly monetised society that took its taxes in coin; most of the early medieval west did not and could not, while even the Byzantine Empire that continued Rome in the East did not keep money the same for long. What purposes did coinage in fact serve in these centuries? Were they even economic? This module takes economic, iconographic and art-historical approaches to the coinage of early medieval Europe to try to solve these questions, using the coinage itself and whatever other sources can be brought to bear. The module will include two classes at Leeds Museums and Galleries Discovery Centre in which actual early medieval coins will be handled and read.

Objectives

On completion of this module, students should be able to ...

Syllabus

The course will be taught in eleven lectures and nine tutorials, two of which will be handling sessions at Leeds Museums and Galleries Discovery Centre.
Lectures:
1) Coinage as object, image and source
2) The Roman monetary system and its rivals
3) Crisis and recovery in the third century
4) Fine gold of Constantinople: the age of the solidus
5) 'Barbarian' coinages
6) Small change: Byzantine bronze and its users
7) The new money of Islam
8) Silver pennies and the growth of the Northern economy
9) Offa and Charlemagne
10) 'Feudal' coinages, debasement and concavity
11) Money around the year 1000
Tutorials:
1) Reading and handling coins [at Leeds Discovery Centre]
2) Emperors, goddesses and buildings: the meanings of Roman money
3) Tetrarchy and standardisation: the family of Constantine
4) Group presentations
5) Treasure, merchants and hoarding: coin in the post-Roman West
6) Mint, date and countermark: coin circulation and constraints in Byzantium
7) Image and audience: understanding the sceatta
8) Meeting the money afresh [at Leeds Discovery Centre]
9) Falling standards? The money of the year 1000

Teaching methods

Delivery typeNumberLength hoursStudent hours
Workshop21.002.00
Lecture111.0011.00
Tutorial71.007.00
Private study hours180.00
Total Contact hours20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)200.00

Private study

Reading to prepare for seminars and for presentations; self-directed reading around the topic; researching, preparing and writing assessments; reading and revision to prepare for the examination.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Student progress can to some extent be monitored in seminars, especially in the group presentations but also general contributions to class; in addition, students will be encouraged to seek advice about reading for and planning their presentations and their essays.

Methods of assessment


Coursework
Assessment typeNotes% of formal assessment
Essay1 x 2,000-word essay, due by 12 noon on Monday of teaching week 830.00
Group Project.10.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)40.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated


Exams
Exam typeExam duration% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)2 hr 00 mins60.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)60.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 27/04/2016

Disclaimer

Browse Other Catalogues

Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team.PROD

© Copyright Leeds 2019