Medieval

Faculty

Emeritus Faculty

Introduction

The Medieval History field at UCLA provides scholarly training in the discipline with strong emphasis on research and its ancillary skills, teaching and interdisciplinary work. Students of medieval history at UCLA benefit from the existence of strong programs in medieval Latin and vernacular languages and literature (Celtic, English, French, German, Italian, Old Norse, Portuguese, Spanish and Slavic languages), as well as related disciplines such as art history, anthropology, archeology and others. One of the requirements for the Ph.D. qualifying examination is, in fact, a field outside history, underlining our commitment to an interdisciplinary approach to the history of the European Middle Ages.

The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CMRS) at UCLA serves as the locus for the cooperation and scholarly exchanges across disciplines. The CMRS sponsors renowned visiting scholars (for periods of two weeks or longer), lectures, workshops, conferences, and research projects in all areas of medieval history and culture. The CMRS also provides graduate students with fellowships and research assistantships on a competitive basis. Additionally, the History Medieval program participates in the LAMAR (late Antiquity, medieval and Renaissance) initiative. The LAMAR program offers an interdisciplinary graduate seminar every year and summer funding and fellowships to medieval graduate students.

In addition, the CMRS and the medieval field at UCLA have strong links to the Huntington Library and the Getty Center, providing access for our graduate students to their important scholarly resources. One of the copies of the Princeton Index of Christian Art is housed at UCLA and available to UCLA students. Moreover, three times a year medieval historians (graduate students and faculty alike) from the campuses of the University of California and Stanford University gather at the Huntington Library to discuss their research. These gatherings, initiated by the CMRS several years ago, provide opportunities for graduate students to present their work and to establish links with other scholars throughout the state of California.

Applications

The UCLA Department of History welcomes applications from qualified students to its graduate program in Medieval History. The field considers qualified applicants to the Graduate Program in Medieval History with either a B.A. or an M.A. degree. It is expected that applicants with a B.A. degree will have given serious consideration to what questions they wish to pursue and hence with whom they wish to study, and that this will be reflected in their language preparation and their curriculum. The strongest applicants should have had at least two years of university level Latin and a firm foundation in at least one modern language. Following departmental practice, the Medieval Field does not accept students who wish to pursue a terminal M.A. Students entering the program without an M.A. in history must complete the requirements for the M.A. described below. Students who enter the program with an M.A. in history are not required to take the M.A. examination.

Applications to enter the program from those interested in the professional study of medieval history are always welcome. Early expressions of interest are particularly encouraged and should be addressed to the faculty member whose interests seem to match yours most closely. In addition to the material requested of all students applying to UCLA graduate program in history (GRE scores, three letters of recommendation, completed Applicant Profile Sheet, Statement of Purpose and official transcripts), those applying to the medieval field must also provide a sample of written work (undergraduate or graduate papers, honor thesis, etc.).

All applicants to the graduate program in history are considered for merit-based financial aid by faculty members in each field, with all final decisions made by the department’s Graduate Awards and Admissions Committee. Funds are allocated in the form of stipends, tuition awards, teaching assistantships, summer research grants, year-long research grants, and dissertation-writing grants. The exact nature of the grants and the amounts allocated are subject to change annually. The committee also forwards the names of the most promising applications to the Graduate Division for consideration for awards given out in university-wide competitions. There are additional sources of support through research assistantships, readerships and teaching. The Graduate Division has a summer program which provides partial support for reading, research and travel abroad on a competitive basis. The Department takes very seriously the issue of financial aid and tries hard to ensure that students’ needs are met. In addition, graduate students in medieval history are eligible to compete for Research Assistantships, grants for interdisciplinary research, and the Lynn and Maude White Fellowship all offered by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

Faculty

Medieval Field

  • Jessica Goldberg: medieval economic, legal, and social history, eastern and western Mediterranean, merchant networks and economic geography especially in Italy and Egypt; Cairo Geniza

Emeriti

  • Patrick J. Geary: Social and cultural history of early medieval Europe.
  • Barisa Krekic: medieval southeastern Europe; medieval Russia; Byzantium, Dalmatian and Italian urban history in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
  • Teofilo F. Ruiz: late medieval social and cultural (popular) history; the kingdom of Castile; late medieval and early modern Iberia, western Mediterranean.
  • Scott L. Waugh: social and political history of post-conquest Britain.

Related Fields

  • Peter Stacey (European field): late medieval and early modern intellectual history, especially political thought; Italian Renaissance.
  • Carlo Ginzburg, emeritus (European, early modern field): popular culture; intellectual history; iconography.
  • Michael G. Morony (Middle Eastern field): early Islamic history; history of the western Mediterranean; Islamic Spain (History of al-Andalus). (Professor Morony offers courses in the medieval field to those students interested in the economic and social history of the Maghrib, which includes Islamic Iberia, Sicily and North Africa, from late Antiquity to the early Islamic period.)
  • Kevin Terraciano (Latin American field): history of Spanish America, 1492-1800; social history; ethnohistory.
  • Ronald Mellor (Ancient History), emeritus: Greek and Roman History; Ancient Religion; Classical Tradition.
  • Geoffrey Symcox, emeritus (European, early modern field): urban history, architecture and planning (Renaissance and Baroque); states and institutions in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries.

Program Requirements

For information regarding the degree requirements for the History Department, please click here.

For more information regarding the program requirements, please visit: https://grad.ucla.edu/programs/social-sciences/history/