No prerequisites.

Frontal lessons, use of power point, reading of sources (in English) related to the subject discussed. Students’ recitations. Writing of a short essay concerning a chosen primary source.

This course provides an introduction to the history of Europe during the Middle Ages (ca. 300-1500). The class will broadly explore events and developments over centuries of political, social, and economic history. Special attention will be devoted to the centrality of the Roman Church and Christian religious life, including the intersections of faith, authority, and power. With regard to social and religious history, some basic notion on the Jewish minority in Medieval world will be provided.

This course will also introduce students to the basic skills employed by historians (how to deal with primary sources, for example).

Lessons Program

1. Problems of periodization
2. Transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages
3. Judaism and Christianism(s); Patristic Thought. The Benedictine Rule.
4. Barbarians and the new European Order
5. The Byzantine until the 10th century
6. The raising of Islam
7. Economy and Society in the Western world
8. Regionalism: Its Advantages and Its Discontents:
9. The Expansion of Europe: Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire
10. The Crusades: Urban II, Crusade Sermon at Clermont.
11. The Norman Invasion of England
12. Medieval Europe’s “Economic Miracle”: t11th – 13th centuries
13. Church Reform; Henry IV, Gregory
14. Culture in the Early and High Middle Ages
15. The Urban Civilization and the Italian Commune
16. The Jews in the Middle Ages
17. Commerce and bank in the High Middle Ages
18. Famine, Plague and War
19. New Worlds: Modern Worlds, Medieval Worlds

Tours

A visit of the Archivio di Stato di Pisa is planned as well as a tour of Medieval Pisa and Piazza dei Miracoli.

Win Blockmans & Peter Hoppenbrouwers, Introduction to Medieval Europe (300-1500), Routledge 2018 (London & New York).

Barbara Rosenwein, Reading the Middle Ages: Sources from Europe, Byzantium and the Islamic World, 2nd ed. (Univ. of Toronto Press, 2014).

Please, contact the teacher at least one month before the written exam

Assignement and Grading

Attendance (5%): If you are going to miss attendance, please email your professor.

Participation & Course Commitment (10%): Active participation forms a part of your grade. This could mean speaking up during discussion.

Writing Assignments (10%): Students will individually write medium length (4-5 pp.) essay that analyze the assigned primary source from Reading the Middle Ages. These essays are due at the beginning of your recitation section during the week in question.

Quizzes (3 x 5% = 15%): On certain weeks, there will be a brief quiz on materials from previous lectures and readings.

Exams, Midterm (20%); Final (30%= 50%): There will be a mid-term and final exam. An exam review session will precede both exams.