Welcome! These collections of short essays and images of medieval London objects, buildings, streets, and other sites were originally compiled by students at Fordham University's London Centre’s study abroad program in Spring 2015. These reports were part of their coursework for MVST 4654: Medieval London, an interdisciplinary capstone class focusing on the archaeology and history of medieval London. In Fall 2017, 2019, and 2020, students enrolled in the same course (this time offered by the History department as HIST 4654: Medieval London) added their reports on medieval objects.

For this interdisciplinary capstone course, each student researched and wrote on a medieval object at the Museum of London, describing the physical object (its dimensions, materials used, color and appearance, manufacturing process) and how medieval people used it (for what, when and where), particularly in terms of the object’s association with medieval London. In addition to posting a photograph of the object, students were also to locate and post additional images of this type of object to illustrate its medieval context. Students in the 2017, 2019, and 2020 versions of this course were required to add more images and consider the 'biography' of the object in terms of its social life, agency, and value. Instructions for the assignment are available at Fordham Research Commons. An article about the assignment and the benefits of digital humanities projects for undergraduates is at The Digital Medievalist (2018).

   

 

The second assignment (for the 2015 class only) was a report on a medieval site, such as churches, monasteries, cemeteries, civic buildings, streets, markets, and rivers in London. These reports describe relevant architectural features, functions, and appearance of the medieval site, as well as its significance to medieval people. This report is accompanied by a map locating the site, as well as a photograph of the site taken by the student as it appears today.

        

The site  was created and is supervised by Professor Maryanne Kowaleski. Dr Esther Liberman Cunca played an essential role in compiling the pages for Medieval Objects 1, Medieval Sites, and Field Trips in 2015. Katherina Fostano offered key help in compiling Medieval Objects 3 and 4. Special thanks goes to Katherina Fostano and Katherine Gomez for their problem-solving responses. 

 

The banner image of London is a detail of an itinerary from London to Jerusalem, attributed to Matthew Paris, c. 1250-59 in BL, Royal 14 C. VII, f. 2.