Workers’ Educational Association

The UK’s largest voluntary sector provider of adult learning

Course Outline

This course outline describes what will be covered in your course.

It also sets out what you should expect to learn. There will be an opportunity for course members to discuss the course content with the tutor.

Course Title / Medieval History: Travellers and Armchair Tourists in the Middle Ages
Course ID / C2416277 / Tutor / Vanessa King
Start date / 7th January 2013 / Day(s)/time(s) / Mondays 2:15pm – 4:15pm
No. of sessions / 10 / Hours per session / 2 / Fee / £75 or free on proof of income related benefit
Venue / The Drive Methodist Church, Redbridge
Branch/Partner / Ilford at Gant’s Hill and Redbridge
Branch/Partner contact details / Christine Pountney, 0208 590 3406

Publicity Description
We will read accounts of those who ventured far and wide including Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus. In contrast, others, such as John Mandeville, never went further than their local library but wrote fantastical tales about visiting the East.
Course Aims
What is the course for? What is its main purpose? E.g. to provide a brief introduction to the principles of garden design, with a view to applying them in your own garden.
·  To introduce students to the genre of travel writing between c.400 – c.1500 CE
·  To develop an understanding of the uses and limitations of several contemporary eye-witness accounts of travels throughout the known medieval world.
Main Topics Covered
We will start by evaluating the range of sources available to the historian of medieval travel. We will look at a number of travel accounts written by foreign visitors to the British Isles, including a Bohemian nobleman Leo of Rozmital, and the Italian Enea Silvio de Piccolomini who later became Pope Pius II. We will then look at travellers abroad, both English and foreign. We will see that gaining a picture of other cultures through medieval travel accounts is not easy. Fabulous tales of monstrous races far outnumber truthful ones in manuscripts. The term ‘tourist’ is anachronistic for the period and yet people clearly combined sightseeing with pilgrimage or diplomatic missions and were fascinated by the cultural differences they encountered.
Pre-course preparation, reading, internet research etc.
No pre-reading is necessary but you might like to listen to the episode on Marco Polo available on the In Our Time website hosted by Melvyn Bragg: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01hxpxh
TITLE / AUTHOR / PUBLISHER
The Medieval Traveller
OR
Medieval Travellers: The Rich and the Restless
The Travels of Marco Polo
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
The Witness and the Other World: Exotic European travel Writing, 400-1600 / Norbert Ohler
Margaret Wade Labarge
R. Latham (trans and intro)
C.W.R.D. Moseley (trans & intro)
M..B. Campbell / Boydell, 2010
Phoenix, 2005
Penguin, 1982
Penguin, 1983
Cornwell University Press, 1988
Essential costs/materials
Materials: note-taking materials
Entry Requirements/Level
No previous knowledge is required but a good understanding of English is essential.
This course is placed a history level 3 (roughly equivalent to A’level)
Title of qualification to be gained (if any) / This is a non-accredited course. On 80% attendance learners can request a WEA Certificate of Achievement.
Awarding Body (if any) / N/A
Teaching and learning methods used
Each week there will be an informative talk using PowerPoint slides, during which class discussion will be encouraged. We shall use small group work to analyse original sources (in translation) and there will be a range of handouts. There will be a number of quizzes and class debates on various topics. You are encouraged to bring along/describe items you have read in newspapers/heard on radio/ seen on TV that you think may be of interest to the group.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course learners will be able to:
1. Identify motives and the logistics of travel for men and women prior to 1500 CE.
2. Compare and contrast the writings of Christian and non-Christian medieval travellers
3. Evaluate the veracity of a range of medieval travel accounts including Marco Polo and John
Mandeville.
4. Debate on what medieval travel writing reveals about attitudes towards race and ‘the other’.
How will you know you are learning?
This is a non-accredited course and so there are no formal tests to complete. There will, however, be a range of informal quizzes and crosswords offered which are intended to reinforce your learning in a fun way. Individual research on topics within the period covered will be actively encouraged. At the end of the course your Learning Record will ask you to comment on how far you feel you have progressed.
Suggested Further Study and Progression Routes
You should feel more confident to undertake further study, either with the WEA or with another provider. You might consider enrolling on other medieval courses offered by Vanessa. Details of further opportunities will be discussed in class.
Brief tutor profile
Vanessa has taught on all aspects of medieval history for the University of London since 1999. She has taught history and PTLLS training courses for the WEA since 2005 and published several articles relating to the church in the tenth and eleventh centuries - Vanessa is committed to teaching history with humour and vivacity.

If you would like more information about other WEA activities and courses please contact WEA London and Southern Regions’ Support Centre.

The WEA is committed to equality of opportunity and inclusive learning.

Services for Learners contains information about support and progression opportunities for learners and will be made available to you when you start your course. However, if you would like to receive a copy before the start of your course, please telephone the learner enquiry, freephone line on 0800 328 1060.

You can now enrol and pay online. Go to: www.wea.org.uk

WEA London and Southern Regions' Support Centre

57 Riverside 2, Sir Thomas Longley Road, Rochester, Kent ME2 4DP

Tel: 01634 298600 Fax: 01634 298601 email: london&

The Workers' Educational Association (WEA) is a charity registered in England and Wales (number 1112775) and in

Scotland (number SC039239) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (number 2806910).

Registered address: 4 Luke Street, London, EC2A 4XW. www.wea.org.uk