European Society in the Middle Ages

Catalog description

This course examines the social history of Europe from the barbarian migrations of the fifth century until the end of the Hundred Years War. From feudalism and the concept of courtly love, to the bitter power struggles of popes and monarchs, the course emphasizes emerging institutions, secular and religious, that came to define Western Europe in this and subsequent ages and to provide its most enduring rifts and hatreds. The course offers in-depth consideration of the role of women in medieval society, the persecution of Jews and other minorities, the Crusades, and the Black Death, with particular focus on their impact on the lives of average Europeans. Students read from primary and secondary sources.