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Semester 1

Universal Khans: Life & Society in the Mongol World Empire, 1200-1400 (HIST10494)

Subject

History

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 3 History courses at grade B or above, and please note that we will only consider courses with a specific focus on History (not including History of Art) towards these pre-requisites. We will only consider University/College level courses. **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

Explore the most transformative events of the Middle Ages: the world empire built by Chinggis Khan and his successors. Find out what life and society were really like beyond the stereotypes, in an empire that brought together continents, and engendered movement and interconnection at greater scales than ever before. From rising trade to the prominence of women, groundbreaking scholarship on the deadliest pandemic in recorded history, and more besides, we'll explore the empire of the universal khans both on its own terms, and for its place in the making of the modern world.

Course Description

The Mongol conquests and creation of the largest land empire in history are the most famous and transformative events of the Middle Ages, and simultaneously the least contextualised. Popularly evoking "barbarian" nomadic hordes emerging from nowhere to inflict brutal violence on settled populations, Chinggis Khan and the Mongols are often seen in extremely negative terms - especially in lands once subject to their rule, from Russia across the Islamicate to China. At the same time, popular histories as well as scholars from a range of disciplines have seen the roots of globalised modernity in the unprecedented intercontinental connections the Mongol world empire enabled. So how can we make sense of this contradictory image, and understand what life and society were really like under the rule of the universal khans? This course asks exactly this question, using the dynamic field of Mongol studies to do so. We begin by placing Chinggis Khan and the Mongols firmly in their context, premodern Inner Asia and nomadic statecraft, and engage with cutting-edge historical, archaeological and anthropological scholarship. Following seminars look at the world empire itself, both as a whole and in each region, drawing on a range of sources in translation from Armenian, Chinese, Mongolian and Persian. With this understanding we can engage with some key historical debates, including the movement of goods and global connections brought about by the "Mongol Peace", the transfer of culture and pandemic-inducing pathogens in the "Mongol Exchange", and the prominent place of women in Mongol society. In our final sessions, then, we'll first look at the conquests of Timur, "Tamerlane", and the Timurid Renaissance in Samarqand, to explore the seeming end of nomadic state-builders as major agents of global history. Finally we'll zoom back out to ask what all this tells us about the place of the Mongol world empire in the making of the modern world.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 80%, Practical Exam 20%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on a History or HCA exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in two 3rd year History courses each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. This includes courses in Economic History and Scottish History. Enrolment in a third course from this group will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the September Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

view the timetable and further details for this course