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HIS-3019: The Multi-Cultural Medieval North Norway Work Load
10 credits (ECTS) | Type of course
Theoretical subject. | Level of course/Year of study
First or second year at master''s level. | Language of instruction
Norwegian | Contents
This course looks at the urbanizing process and urban society in medieval western Europe. Western Europe saw a dramatic economic expansion in the centuries before 1300, at the same time as the population soared. The expansion was accompanied by a general commercialization which meant that peasants and particularly the higher ranks of society moved away froma way of life based on self-suficiency and adapted themselves to a market economy. Increased commodity production, a greater division of labour and an expanding townlife were constituent parts of this commercial revolution. Between the year 1000 and 1200 the urban sector grew to encompass 20 per cen tof the population in many parts of Europe. Urban growth can be attributed also to other factors, primarily political ones. New towns often had important administrative and strategic functions. Towns and their leading citizens were in many ways outside new political realities, at the same time as the complex social structure in towns generated new social relations and tensions. In both hope and desperation the rich and the poor flocked to the towns, and the result was a new type of society with its own distinctive culture. Norway was one of the least urbanized areas of medieval Europe, and its few towns remained relatively small. But at the same time, developments in Norway were part of the general urbanizing process.
| Form of teaching
The course has multiple teaching approaches. | Exam and assessment
The students will give short, oral seminar papers which are assessed as satisfactory /unsatisfactory, together with an essay of about 12 pages which is awarded a mark on the scale A-E (pass) and F (fail). The course is open for re-sit examination early in the following semester.
| Contact person/lecturer
Steinar Aas | Recommended reading/syllabus
See homepage. | Homepage
http://uit.no/historie/1982/38
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