{"id":35735,"date":"2026-07-15T14:43:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/?p=35735"},"modified":"2026-07-16T13:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:36:27","slug":"my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Myself in the Medieval City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m Amanda, and I&#8217;m going to tell you about my experience of studying medieval studies at York, and what I learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Entering the Medieval City<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After a nine-hour flight and subsequent three-hour train journey, I sat in the back passenger seat of my cab heading to Wentworth from the station. Upon seeing the city walls for the first time, I could feel the tears welling up. I was finally here in a medieval city<\/span>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">York\u2019s Centre for Medieval Studies has been on my radar since undergrad as an excellent place for interdisciplinary medieval research. <\/span>In particular, I liked their <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">attention to medieval languages\/paleography and modules centering the local region were a huge draw.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I had written quite a lot of medieval course work before coming to York. I covered everything from Italian frescos to Flemish Beguines. It gave me a breadth of knowledge about the general medieval period in Western Europe. But I didn&#8217;t know the granular detail regarding any particular region. So I devoted my time at York to immersing myself into its local medieval history!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/amanda-styles-blog-post_image-1.jpg\" alt=\"Amanda Styles Blog Post_Image 1.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-35727\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo by author: Fishergate Bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Medieval Studies modules centring on locality<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When selecting my modules for the academic year, my decisions were governed by the following question: \u201cCould I take a course like this in North America?\u201d My intention was to prioritise coursework unique to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">this<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> course. It was incredibly challenging to narrow myself down to only three choices. I picked:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.york.ac.uk\/students\/studying\/manage\/programmes\/module-catalogue\/module\/MST00069M\/2025-26\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Vikings in Northumbria<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.york.ac.uk\/students\/studying\/manage\/programmes\/module-catalogue\/module\/MST00028M\/2025-26\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Painting on Light: Stained Glass in the Medieval Tradition<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.york.ac.uk\/students\/studying\/manage\/programmes\/module-catalogue\/module\/MST00099M\/2025-26?query=extreme+states&amp;department=&amp;creditLevel=&amp;teachingPeriod=&amp;isAvailableAsElective=false&amp;isAvailableToVisitingStudents=false&amp;electiveTheme=&amp;offset=0&amp;max=15\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Extreme States: Religion and The Self in the High Middle Ages<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The modules<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.york.ac.uk\/students\/studying\/manage\/programmes\/module-catalogue\/module\/MST00069M\/latest\">The Vikings in Northumbria<\/a> gave me the context for York\u2019s prominence throughout the later medieval period. It also expanded my understanding of the Dark Ages. My favourite component of the course was its exploration into local material culture. One of our lectures was hosted by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk\/exhibition\/viking-north\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Viking North<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> curator and numismatist, Andrew Woods. He even brought in Viking coins for us to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">carefully<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> handle!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.york.ac.uk\/students\/studying\/manage\/programmes\/module-catalogue\/module\/MST00028M\/latest\">Painting on Light<\/a> felt like an obvious module choice to the point that I wrote about<\/span> it <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">in several scholarship applications. I work on medieval manuscript culture, so I wanted to learn a different medium that overlapped with the illuminations I frequently encounter. The module included several visits to local stained glass sites. We visited York Minster\u2019s Chapter House, All Saints Church North Street (York), St John&#8217;s Church (Howsham) and St Martin on the Hill (Scarborough). These visits were certainly the highlight of the class, as there is no better way to study art than looking at the work in-person.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.york.ac.uk\/students\/studying\/manage\/programmes\/module-catalogue\/module\/MST00099M\/latest\">Extreme States<\/a> explored the broader, medieval conception of \u201cthe self.\u201d It overlapped with my bachelor\u2019s thesis on Julian of Norwich. Many of the Saints included in the module were local to Yorkshire, including Aelred of Rievaulx and Robert of Knaresborough. I eventually visited the namesakes of their regional epithets; there, I situated myself into the daily landscape of these Saints, deepening my understanding of their hagiographies.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The staff<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Outside of specialised modules, I was also impressed with how <\/span>staff<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, like Christine Williamson and Holly James-Maddocks, incorporated several local documents into their language and paleography courses. In beginners \u201cLatin\u201d and \u201cOld English,\u201d Christine assigned translations of Alcuin\u2019s poetry, wills from the Borthwick, and accounts from chronicles. James-Maddocks worked with the York Minster Library to run a transcription bootcamp where we handled several medieval manuscripts written in Middle English.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/amanda-styles-blog-post_image-243.jpg\" alt=\"Amanda Styles Blog Post_Image 2.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-35733\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">St Martin on the Hill, Scarborough <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/amanda-styles-blog-post_image-376.jpg\" alt=\"Amanda Styles Blog Post_Image 3.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-35734\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rievaulx Abbey<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Finding Myself as a Researcher<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After centering so much of my masters on medieval York, it\u2019s no wonder that my dissertation focuses on a local topic as well. With my background in rare book libraries\/archives, I knew I wanted my project to focus on under-researched materials housed by the York Minster Library. Eventually, I settled on the sixteen medieval manuscripts of Marmaduke Fothergill (d.1731). He was a liturgical scholar whose full library of 1,700 volumes was donated to the Minster in 1737 by his widow. My work examines Fothergill&#8217;s annotations, considering how this early modern man mediated his medieval collection. The project has been incredibly rewarding, using many of the technical and analytical skills fostered by the Centre for Medieval Studies.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My time in York has shown me that I&#8217;m completely fascinated by <\/span>researching <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">medieval manuscripts. It&#8217;s so interesting to explore written text, artistic design, object materiality, provenance, and institutional organisation. I am proud to say that I will be starting my PhD in English at the University of Toronto in September. Though my background is in literature, I&#8217;m always drawn to how interdisciplinary context informs our engagement and interpretation of medieval materials. I am so thankful to the Centre of Medieval Studies for empowering me to pursue and advocate for this type of research.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope you&#8217;ve enjoyed hearing about my experience of studying medieval studies at York, and what I learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/amanda-styles-blog-post_image-4.jpg\" alt=\"Amanda Styles Blog Post_Image 4.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-35730\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rainbow from Lendal Bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/subjects\/\">Read more student blogs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ap-custom-wrapper\"><\/div><!--ap-custom-wrapper-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hiya! My name is Amanda, and I\u2019m currently earning my MA in Medieval Studies. My academic interests are very interdisciplinary; I sit at the intersection of literary, manuscript, medieval, and library studies! University of York\u2019s interdisciplinary masters, infamous among medievalists, felt like the perfect fit. My time at York allowed me to explore the Middle Ages in their local context and \u201cfind myself\u201d academically! Living in England also allowed me to connect with my English identity. I grew up in Southern California, but my dad is originally from Thetford in East Anglia. I\u2019ve officially been a UK citizen since 2018, but all connections here were familial. Throughout this program, I have made many lifelong friendships with a tight-knit group of fellow medievalists from the UK and beyond! And I am so grateful that my future research on medieval manuscripts from England will allow me to visit these friends regularly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":35727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1507,1051,665,8],"tags":[1508,143,82,118],"class_list":["post-35735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-centre-for-medieval-studies","category-pg","category-pgt","category-study","tag-medieval-studies","tag-modules","tag-study","tag-why-i-chose-york"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Finding Myself in the Medieval City - Student Voices<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finding Myself in the Medieval City - Student Voices\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hiya! My name is Amanda, and I\u2019m currently earning my MA in Medieval Studies. My academic interests are very interdisciplinary; I sit at the intersection of literary, manuscript, medieval, and library studies! University of York\u2019s interdisciplinary masters, infamous among medievalists, felt like the perfect fit. My time at York allowed me to explore the Middle Ages in their local context and \u201cfind myself\u201d academically! Living in England also allowed me to connect with my English identity. I grew up in Southern California, but my dad is originally from Thetford in East Anglia. I\u2019ve officially been a UK citizen since 2018, but all connections here were familial. Throughout this program, I have made many lifelong friendships with a tight-knit group of fellow medievalists from the UK and beyond! And I am so grateful that my future research on medieval manuscripts from England will allow me to visit these friends regularly.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Student Voices\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/universityofyork\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T13:43:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-16T12:36:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/amanda-styles-blog-post_image-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"guestblogger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Uniofyork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Uniofyork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"guestblogger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.york.ac.uk\\\/student-voices\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.york.ac.uk\\\/student-voices\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"guestblogger\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.york.ac.uk\\\/student-voices\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45f0e1ce91b6f49fda7c2dc09ec1cc0d\"},\"headline\":\"Finding Myself in the Medieval City\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T13:43:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-16T12:36:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.york.ac.uk\\\/student-voices\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":841,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.york.ac.uk\\\/student-voices\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.york.ac.uk\\\/student-voices\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/blogs.york.ac.uk\\\/student-voices\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/amanda-styles-blog-post_image-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"medieval studies\",\"modules\",\"study\",\"why I chose York\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Centre for Medieval Studies\",\"Postgraduate\",\"Postgraduate taught\",\"Study\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.york.ac.uk\\\/student-voices\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.york.ac.uk\\\/student-voices\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.york.ac.uk\\\/student-voices\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\\\/\",\"name\":\"Finding Myself in the Medieval City - 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My name is Amanda, and I\u2019m currently earning my MA in Medieval Studies. My academic interests are very interdisciplinary; I sit at the intersection of literary, manuscript, medieval, and library studies! University of York\u2019s interdisciplinary masters, infamous among medievalists, felt like the perfect fit. My time at York allowed me to explore the Middle Ages in their local context and \u201cfind myself\u201d academically! Living in England also allowed me to connect with my English identity. I grew up in Southern California, but my dad is originally from Thetford in East Anglia. I\u2019ve officially been a UK citizen since 2018, but all connections here were familial. Throughout this program, I have made many lifelong friendships with a tight-knit group of fellow medievalists from the UK and beyond! And I am so grateful that my future research on medieval manuscripts from England will allow me to visit these friends regularly.","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/","og_site_name":"Student Voices","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/universityofyork\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-15T13:43:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-16T12:36:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"http:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/amanda-styles-blog-post_image-1-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"guestblogger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Uniofyork","twitter_site":"@Uniofyork","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"guestblogger","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/"},"author":{"name":"guestblogger","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/#\/schema\/person\/45f0e1ce91b6f49fda7c2dc09ec1cc0d"},"headline":"Finding Myself in the Medieval City","datePublished":"2026-07-15T13:43:20+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-16T12:36:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/"},"wordCount":841,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/amanda-styles-blog-post_image-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1","keywords":["medieval studies","modules","study","why I chose York"],"articleSection":["Centre for Medieval Studies","Postgraduate","Postgraduate taught","Study"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/07\/15\/my-experience-of-studying-medieval-studies-at-york\/","name":"Finding Myself in the Medieval City - 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