HIST145 - Discover the Middle Ages

This course offers a broad introduction to the history of medieval Europe roughly from the fourth century CE, when Roman civilization faced a series of crises that led to its eventual fall in the West and ushered in the Middle Ages, to the sixteenth century, when European society entered a new early-modern phase. As this is a long period, we will focus on themes that will help us explore some of the most important historical problems related to the period: why was it that a sophisticated and militarily superior Roman empire could fall to "barbarians"? How did political power transform into a feudal model? What did it mean to be a medeival knight? The Middle Ages are known as "an age of faith" but, at the same time, it was an age of questioning that invented the modern university--what roles did faith and knowledge play in the medieval world? It was also a time where many cultures, races and religions came into contact, both at home and in efforts at exploration and conquest. How did medieval culture handle difference, and how did that influence early-modern and even modern approaches? The class will involve a mixture of lecture and discussion, and will include visits to local museum and manuscript collections to provide students first-hand contact with the visual and material culture of medieval Europe.