Dr Simon John

• Expanding Christendom: A Comparison of the Representations of Conquest and Colonisation in Wales and Ireland, the Baltic East, and Southern Italy and Sicily (current)

  PhD

  Other supervisor: Prof Daniel Power

• Middle English Romance: A re-evaluation of the literary and historical values of the genre (current)

  PhD

  Other supervisor: Dr Alison Williams

• CLH372 Monarchy: Ancient and Medieval

  This thematic module explores the institution of monarchy in the ancient and medieval periods. It will address a number of overlapping questions, and take a concerted comparative approach toward comparing the nature of kingship in both eras. What made a king a king? How did a monarch interact with his (or her) subjects? How was royal power reflected in the palaces and buildings constructed by monarchs? Could queens exercise power in the same way as kings? The module draws on modern theoretical observations about monarchy and explores specific examples from across the ancient and medieval world from the Achaemenid kings of Persia and Alexander the Great, to the Carolingians and the monarchs of the new Latin kingdoms founded during the expansion of Europe after 1000, with examples along the way from Egypt and Rome. Students will develop the skills required to work with a range of primary evidence including royal inscriptions, monuments and art, coins, archaeological remains, political treatises, administrative and legal texts, and manuscript illuminations. Students will also gain expertise in modern scholarship on the subject, engaging with key modern debates on the nature of kingship in the ancient and medieval epochs. Ultimately, the module will give students a framework for assessing monarchy which can be applied productively to monarchy in any period of history.

• FY-018 History, Memory and the Creation of Identity

  In most human societies, history and memory are important in the creation of identity. For example, consider how recent political debates often involve debates about the relevance of particular strands of history (such as `empire¿) to modern society. This module explores these relationships from the ancient societies of Egypt, Greece, and Rome to the modern world. It is designed to provide Foundation Year students intending to pursue degrees in Classical Studies, Ancient History, Ancient History & Egyptology, American Studies, Medieval Studies, or History with an opportunity to reflect critically on what the past means and how we go about studying it.

• HI-M79 The Normans in Western Europe and the Mediterranean: Memory, Identity and Diaspora, c.900-1150

  This module will explore various dimensions of Norman activity, from the original Scandinavian settlement of Normandy in the tenth century through to the Norman conquests and foundations of new Latin states in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The Normans occupy a central role in the history of the Middle Ages. In both medieval and modern perspectives, they have been regarded as fearless warriors, hardy colonisers, and as devoted Christians. In the English-speaking world the Normans are perhaps best known for their exploits in England in 1066 and the years that followed. Yet, their activities stretched across a wider chronological range and encompassed theatres elsewhere in Europe and beyond. The module explores the cultural consequences of the spread of the Norman diaspora, investigating their influence on art and the built environment in the different regions that they settled. Other sessions are devoted to investigating how Norman identity was shaped, and the role of the chroniclers and authors who helped to shape it.

• HIH117 Medieval Europe: An Introduction

  The module is a basic introduction to the history of Europe c600-c1450, a period usually described as 'Medieval'. It outlines the political and economic structures of the period, and examines the medieval 'world view' by discussing attitudes to life, death and the afterlife. Its first theme, expansion, charts the growth of Europe as a major world power and includes topics such as the crusades against the Muslims and pagans, political and economic growth, and intellectual development in the foundation of the universities. Its second theme, crisis, focuses on the devastating impact of plague, famine and warfare, and the increasing persecution of heretics, lepers, homosexuals, and Jews.

• HIH122 Making History

  How do historians study the past? Why do their accounts of the past differ, and why do they change over time? This module will help you to understand the various concepts, methods, and approaches that academic historians use when writing history and generating historical explanations. By the end of it, you will understand how and why professional historians disagree on many topics, and you will be equipped to evaluate competing interpretations of the same past events and processes. The module also trains you in the fundamental skills required to study history as an undergraduate, and gives you an opportunity to learn more about the interests and expertise of the history staff you¿ll be working with at Swansea. It will help you make the transition from being taught history at school or college to studying history at university, and it will introduce you to the many different kinds of history you can explore in the course of your degree.

• HIH237 The Practice of History

  The purpose of the module is to encourage you to think more deeply about how historians work and, in particular, about how we as historians can locate and use primary historical sources effectively as a means of interpreting and understanding the past. During the module we will learn about the survival of historical evidence, how it is organised and made accessible to historians to undertake their research, and how to effectively locate and interpret it in your studies. We will consider how the process of doing historical research changes over time, in particular with the impact of recent developments like digitization. At the core of the module will be the work you undertake with others in your seminar group using a range of primary sources which your seminar tutor will introduce to you. As part of the module assessment you will also undertake your own primary source based research project using items from these collections. The module is designed strengthen your analytical skills and to help prepare you for the more extensive uses of primary evidence which you will encounter in final year special subjects and dissertation.

• HIH3300 History Dissertation

  The History dissertation is a free-standing, 40-credit module that runs across both semesters of Level Three. Candidates conduct research upon a subject of their choice, devised in consultation with a member of staff teaching for the degrees in History, and concerning a topic that falls within staff research and teaching interests.

• HIH3353 The First Crusade: Devotion, Piety and Power in the Latin Christian World

  This Special Subject focuses on the rich corpus of primary source material available for studying the First Crusade (1095-99). By any reckoning, the First Crusade was a seminal event in world history. It inaugurated the brand of Christian Holy War known as the crusades, and resulted in the establishment of a Latin presence in the Holy Land that lasted for two centuries. The success of the First Crusade astounded medieval observers, and a wealth of sources relating to the expedition were produced by contemporaries and near-contemporaries. Students who take this Special Subject will carry out a close reading of a range of primary sources; these will include letters sent by popes and participants in the crusade, charters drawn up by crusaders as they prepared to depart, and narrative histories of the expedition, including several written by participants. Particular focus will be paid to the anonymous Gesta Francorum (`The Deeds of the Franks¿), the earliest and most influential chronicle account of the First Crusade.

• HIMD00 Medieval Studies Dissertation

  A dissertation of 15,000 - 20,000 words written on a topic decided by the student in consultation with the dissertation supervisor. This represents Part Two of the MA programme in Medieval Studies.

• HIMM00 Reading Medieval Manuscripts

  Medieval manuscript sources are crucial to our understanding of the Middle Ages. Research across the disciplines of medieval studies is grounded in the study and use of medieval books and documentary sources. This module aims to give students the skills, knowledge and confidence to engage with original manuscript sources of various types, from early Anglo-Saxon Gospel books to medieval chronicles, from illustrated books of hours to critical legal documents. Students will engage with these sources via digital and printed images and full-scale printed facsimiles, learning to recognise and transcribe medieval hands from all periods. Students will be given the chance to read original manuscripts during visits to the West Glamorgan Archive Service (Swansea) and the National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth). This module assumes no prior knowledge of medieval manuscripts, nor any prior knowledge of the medieval languages featured in the manuscript samples, including Latin, Old English and Middle English.

• HIMM02 Research Folder

  A course designed to help students to identify their dissertation subject, to prepare for it bibliographically, and to plan its research and writing.

• HIMM04 Introduction to Advanced Medieval Studies 2: Themes and Sources

  This module aims to apply the skills and approaches learned in the module HIMM01: Introduction to Advanced Medieval Studies 1: Skills and Approaches to a range of important themes in Medieval Studies, including gender, identity, laws and customs, spirituality, heritage. The module is interdisciplinary and draws on historical, literary and visual sources. The content of the module will be arranged in 2-weekly blocks, with the first week in each block dedicated to introducing students to the specific theme and the second week being used as a practical application of this knowledge to a source or text.

I am Associate Professor in Medieval History in the Department of History, Heritage and Classics at Swansea, having originally joined the department in 2016. I previously held lectureships at the University of Oxford (2013-16) and a Junior Research Fellowship at the Institute of Historical Research, London, sponsored by the Scouloudi Foundation (2011-12). In 2020 I was a Gastwissenschaftler (Visiting Fellow) at the Historisches Seminar of the Universität Heidelberg in Germany, and returned to Heidelberg in 2022/3 to take up a visiting fellowship at the university’s Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (CAPAS). I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a member of the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.