Europe in the High Middle Ages

Undergraduate / Graduate

In the centuries following the turn of the first millennium, Europe went from a backwater of the fallen Roman Empire to an urbanized center of intellectual, cultural, political, and economic development. Drawing on primary sources, digital mapping, visual images, and architecture, this course traces this development across multiple domains, including law, religion, government, and commerce. Highlights include the origins of the kingdoms of France, Germany, and England; the monastic revival and the formation of the friars; the twelfth-century Renaissance and its scholastic fruits; and the rise and fall of the Crusades. Course requirements will include developing innovative formats of information display, as well as a short research paper on a topic of your choice.