York's Centre for Medieval Studies is the oldest interdisciplinary centre for postgraduate study of the middle Ages in Great Britain, and it is also one of the most respected centres in the world. It is one of the few institutions in the world where postgraduate students undertake interdisciplinary research in Medieval Studies. Students studying toward the PhD in Medieval Studies work on research projects that span or blur traditional disciplinary boundaries, and are supervised jointly by staff specializing in two different subject areas. Subject areas include Archaeology, Art and Architectural History, History (social, economic, political, cultural, ecclesiastical, intellectual and gender) and Literature (including Old and Middle English, Old Norse, Latin, Italian, French), Viking studies, codicology and palaeography.