CMS was established at the University of Bergen in 2003 and was awarded the status of a Norwegian centre of Excellence, the only such centre within the historical diciplines.

Its aim is to shed new light on the historical and cultural legacy of medieval Europe, especially by looking at the ways the Nordic and eastern regions were integrated into western Europe in the periode ca 800-1500 and how they, in turn, put their own stamp on the development of Europe.

The Centre thus represents a high-quality, international effort to balance new perspectives on Europe's common past with previous scholarly inquiry framed within a more national perspective.

The studies of exchanges between periphery and centre are studied in a comparative framework and are organised around four main themes:

Literacy - what was the impact of the introduction of writing and books?

Religion - how was Christianity received and transformed?

State - which internal an external developments guided the growth of the state?

Literature - how did medieval writers understand their local and their European past and present?