Medieval Europe

Catalog description

A lecture and discussion course examining the unique characteristics of the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages, with a special focus on social history and the lives of medieval people, from 300 to 1500. We will concentrate on the history of women. Women of course made up half of the population of medieval Europe though, as is the case in most pre-modern societies, their presence in the historical record is not nearly in that proportion. Nevertheless, they played a vital role at all levels of society, and scholars have been able to reconstruct a great deal of their experience from the sources available. Aside from the inherent importance of the subject, studying medieval women?s history provides an overview of what is probably the most active and innovative subfield in medieval history, and offers examples of many of the most important and up-to-date methodologies in the field. Over the first half of the course, we will generally alternate between general surveys of the course of medieval history and examination of specialized monographs on issues in women?s history. The second half of the course will be devoted to case studies and the analysis of primary sources in women?s history.