The global Middle Ages: Britain and the world, c.400–1500

This course explores key aspects of the relationship between medieval Britain and the wider world, 400–1500. Topics covered include the links between Britain and the Byzantine Empire; the impact of the Vikings and their long-distance trade networks into Central Asia; cultural diversity in the Middle Ages, including evidence for people of Byzantine, African, Muslim and Asian heritage being present and even buried here then; and people from medieval Britain who travelled into the Mediterranean region and beyond, including a 9th-century embassy to India and the colony of ‘New England’ established on the Black Sea coast after the Norman Conquest.