The Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS) was established as a joint workplace of the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences and Charles University by an agreement dated August 26th 1998.

The overriding objective of the CMS as laid down by its statute is to provide highly-qualified support to doctoral and post-graduate studies in all disciplines of the Medieval Studies, from general history to medieval archaeology, the auxiliary historical sciences, legal history, the history of philosophy, theology, literary history, and the art history, as well as in specialist philological and other disciplines.

A no less serious resposibility of the CMS is represented by research and publication projects of an interdisciplinary nature, necessitating the pulling together of top professionals, specialised equipment and financial resources. The CMS organises internal meetings and workshops with guests from home and abroad, and meetings for young scholars with an interdisciplinary orientation towards unconventional projects and approaches to research.

Technically, the CMS is part of the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and its staff are the Institute's members.