The Medieval Mediterranean

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived side by side for centuries in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean throughout the Middle Ages - the occupied the same towns, shopped in the same markets, dwelt in the same neighborhoods, read each other's books, and borrowed each other's stories. While covering the broad sweep of Latin-Christian, Islamic, and Byzantine civilizations that grew up in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea after the fall of Rome, we will focus especially the on-going interactions between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in this area. While doing so we will constantly ask how can we know - and what kinds of things we can know - about the Middle Ages, as we examine many types of medieval sources, including literary works, historical texts, religious and philosophical writings, and works of art. The course lectures will provide the student with sufficient understanding of the medieval Mediterranean that they will be able to read with profit the assigned texts which are all primary sources, written in a variety of Mediterranean languages, in English translation. The course will proceed partly chronologically - especially when it comes to the politics and geo-politics of the region - and partly thematically.