- The course will cover the history of Western Europe from the end of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance.
- It will focus on political, religious, and social changes in Western Europe during this period.
- The course will mainly focus on the Western side of Europe and not Eastern Europe.
- The topics covered will include the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the Germanic invasions, the barbarian kingdoms, Anglo-Saxon England, the history of Christianity, monasticism, the Carolingians, the Moors, the Vikings, feudal kingdoms, papacy reform and empire, the Crusades, society and economy in the high Middle Ages, and the 14th century.

- The video discusses various troubled times in European society, including the Hundred Years' War, the Great Schism, and the Black Death.
- The Renaissance is explored as a period that may have been different from the Middle Ages and may have pointed towards the modern period.
- The video will cover politics, religion, social history, intellectual history, and possibly other topics.

Course Description: This course traces the history of western Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance, and deals with the main political, social and religious changes during that period. This is the introduction that will let you know what the following lectures will be about.

Lecturer is Asst. Prof. David E. Thornton

The purpose of this course is to introduce the main developments in the history of Western Europe from the end of the Roman Empire, so that's kind of fourth century, until the Renaissance.

Within a broadly chronological context, so roughly we'll be moving through time starting next week until the end of the course.

Within a broadly chronological context, we will examine the various political, religious, and social changes in the West which occurred during that period.

So although it says medieval Europe, I won't be looking a lot at Eastern Europe.

It's pretty much the Western side of Europe, which is the traditional area.

If you want to work on other parts of what I agree is Europe for your essays and things, then you can discuss that with me.

This is what we're going to be doing in the next 14 or so weeks.

Starting next week, we should look at the late Roman Empire and the, what I'm calling the Germanic invasions.

The end of the Roman Empire and the arrival of people speaking various kinds of Germanic languages, my Anglo-Saxon ancestors for example, arriving in what is now Western Europe, and eventually kind of taking over and setting up something which becomes very different.

So the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, which, of course, is a phrase from Gibbon, and the Germanic barbarians and what they were, we'll look at.

Secondly, 2 weeks from now, Rome's heirs, which in fact I've stolen that phrase from a book by Professor Rosmarin Bechiterich in Cambridge, the barbarian kingdoms.

What did the barbarian, the Germanic people, set up?

And we'll look particularly at the Merovingians in what's now France, the Visigoths in Spain, and the Ostrogoths and Lombards in Italy.

Groups of Germanic people who set up their own little kingdoms and so on.

The following week we shall look at Anglo-Saxon England.

We'll find out what was going on in Britain, the end of Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxon invasions, and the early kingdoms, and a bit about the Celts as well.

Then we'll look at the, we'll have already mentioned a bit about Christianity, but then we'll look at the history of Christianity in detail there.

Early Christianity, origins of the papacy, and then a little bit about the origins of monasticism.

If you've called someone or described something as monastic, what does that mean?

It's a very important individual in medieval Europe.

A monastery is a kind of a church and why is it different from another kind of church?

What makes it different from other kinds of churches?

Why do we call this 1 a monastery and this 1 we don't call it a monastery?

They might do but that's not the main reason.

Many monasteries were not very intellectual or whatever.

People who decided to worship, this is not just in Christianity, many people decide when they feel very religious to kind of escape from the real world or from the secular world and spend most of their time just contemplating, thinking about God or gods if they're polytheistic.

And in Christianity, many people eventually set up what we call monastic communities centered around a church where they would live and in theory spend all their lives there, copying manuscripts, praying, obviously, doing other things, but not mixing very much with the rest of the society.

In the Middle Ages, before the Reformation, and in some parts of Europe still after the Reformation, monastic tradition was very important.

This is Charlemagne, Charles the Great and his successors.

They made a big impact recreating some kind of empire in Europe.

And we'll look at not only the politics, but also the cultural change and their contribution to Western culture, very important.

Then we'll look at 2 groups who, in various ways, affected European history.

Well, you could say positively or negatively, depending on your viewpoint.

In history, we don't usually make comments like that.

We just say this is what happened and try and understand it.

The Moors, which is the kind of European medieval-ish word for Islam, for Muslims, for the Arabs and so on.

The effect of the expansion of Islam in Near Eastern Africa, what happened in Europe, obviously very important.

What those guys with the beards and the little pointy hats, which of course they didn't have, got up to, and what they did and didn't do, and so on there.

Then, kind of after that period, we're moving now into the 11th and 12th centuries, what we call here the feudal kingdoms.

I should move this down a bit for the benefit of the people watching online.

So this is the period after the decline of the Carolingians.

We see new kingdoms, primarily what becomes France and what kind of becomes Germany, emerging in Europe.

And we'll look a little bit at what goes on in England as well, because the Normans have a very big impact.

Does anyone know who the Normans were, what they did, why they're important for British history?

And Alp's not allowed to answer that question because he's done a whole course on medieval Britain with me.

They're not men called Norman or anything.

And then they invaded and they stayed and they became the new kings and so on.

So the Anglo-Saxons, the Germanic guys, kind of lose the power and we get a bunch of Normans from France, who were themselves originally Vikings, but had kind of forgotten about that by this time, take over.

And their king becomes ruler, becomes King of England.

And then a little bit later, his successors also take over large parts of France.

So we have this empire ruled by the King of England, stretching from southern France all the way up to what is now England, called the Angevins and so on.

During the same kind of period, so we're talking 11th, 12th, into the 13th centuries, we get people discussing, for example, who has most power, and who is the closest to God, and therefore who has power over whom.

In Islamic tradition, the successors of the prophet Muhammad, okay, were both religious leaders and also were kind of military, political leaders, okay.

In Western Europe, in Christian tradition, you have a division.

So you have political leaders who claim to be directly or politically at least descended from, coming from the Roman emperors and so on.

And on the other hand, you have religious leaders, the church.

And in the West, of course, it's the pope in Rome at the top.

And at certain points, the church and The kings or the emperors say, I'm more important.

And then sometimes the pope says, you can't be king anymore, or you can't go to church anymore.

If you die, you'll go to hell, and things like that.

So during that period, there were lots of debates, both, in fact, by political writers, the theologians, and so on about this issue.

But we'll look more at the practical side of those things.

Of course, something else very important, the Crusades.

A couple years ago when I was teaching this course, 1 of my students said, David, you know, in our country, in our tradition or whatever, we see the Crusades as a very bad thing and as having a very, very bad effect on the Middle East.

From the European perspective, the Crusades was a little thing.

These guys went across to the Middle East, tried to get some land, succeeded for a while, then it all failed, and then we all forgot about it.

And we learned various things or whatever.

But it doesn't directly, in a big way, I would suggest, impact upon Western European history.

We can consider that question as we go along.

But obviously, a different perspective on what's going on if we look at it from this part of the world.

So we can do a bit of that together as well.

Then we'll look at, for 2 weeks, society and economy in the high Middle Ages.

We'll look at social structures, and we'll focus then on rural society, the society in the countryside, where, of course, most people live.

And then we'll spend some time looking at urban society.

Urban means, urbanism means, that's urbane, I suppose.

If you add an E at the end it would be civilized.

Urban, if I refer to something as urban, what am I referring to?

So countryside, and then the cities, trade, manufacturing, and a little bit about the universities, and so on.

Then we'll look at something which is the 14th century.

Kind of we'll begin before and stretch a bit after the 14th century.

But various things I've called times of trouble here.

Things that had, in 1 way or another, negative effects upon European society.

The Hundred Years' War, when the King of England decided he was the King of France, and the King of France said, no, you're not.

The Great Schism, where 1 man said, I'm Pope, and another man said, I'm Pope, and another man said, I'm Pope.

So you had all sorts of people being Pope.

Black Death, of course, when lots of people end up dying as well.

So look at all of those things or some more and more details.

And we'll finish off looking at the Renaissance and what that means.

A big question for us to think about with that, I think, is was the Renaissance something new and different?

Did it have a different characteristic from the previous period, from the Middle Ages, or was it something which just continued various medieval traditions and pointed forward to the modern period as well?

We can look at the nature of what we think the Renaissance is.

So we'll do some politics, we'll do some religion, we'll do some social history, we'll do some intellectual history, and we might do a bit of other things as well.


Speaker 0: OK, so what have we got here? The purpose of this course is to introduce the main developments in the history of Western Europe from the end of the Roman Empire, so that's kind of fourth century, until the Renaissance. So that's round about 1500. Within a broadly chronological context, so roughly we'll be moving through time starting next week until the end of the course. Within a broadly chronological context, we will examine the various political, religious, and social changes in the West which occurred during that period.

So although it says medieval Europe, I won't be looking a lot at Eastern Europe. It's pretty much the Western side of Europe, which is the traditional area. And it's the area I know more about. If you want to work on other parts of what I agree is Europe for your essays and things, then you can discuss that with me. OK?

We'll talk about that later. OK, here are the 13 topics. This is what we're going to be doing in the next 14 or so weeks. Starting next week, we should look at the late Roman Empire and the, what I'm calling the Germanic invasions. The end of the Roman Empire and the arrival of people speaking various kinds of Germanic languages, my Anglo-Saxon ancestors for example, arriving in what is now Western Europe, and eventually kind of taking over and setting up something which becomes very different.

So the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, which, of course, is a phrase from Gibbon, and the Germanic barbarians and what they were, we'll look at. Secondly, 2 weeks from now, Rome's heirs, which in fact I've stolen that phrase from a book by Professor Rosmarin Bechiterich in Cambridge, the barbarian kingdoms. What did the barbarian, the Germanic people, set up? And we'll look particularly at the Merovingians in what's now France, the Visigoths in Spain, and the Ostrogoths and Lombards in Italy. Groups of Germanic people who set up their own little kingdoms and so on.

The following week we shall look at Anglo-Saxon England. We'll find out what was going on in Britain, the end of Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxon invasions, and the early kingdoms, and a bit about the Celts as well. Then we'll look at the, we'll have already mentioned a bit about Christianity, but then we'll look at the history of Christianity in detail there. Early Christianity, origins of the papacy, and then a little bit about the origins of monasticism. What is monasticism?

That's a question there. We know what the word monasticism are. If you've called someone or described something as monastic, what does that mean? It's a very important individual in medieval Europe. A monastery is a kind of a church and why is it different from another kind of church?

What makes it a monastery? What makes it different from other kinds of churches? What gives it its character? Why do we call this 1 a monastery and this 1 we don't call it a monastery? They might do but that's not the main reason.

Many monasteries were not very intellectual or whatever. Monks, M-O-N-K, monks. People who decided to worship, this is not just in Christianity, many people decide when they feel very religious to kind of escape from the real world or from the secular world and spend most of their time just contemplating, thinking about God or gods if they're polytheistic. And in Christianity, many people eventually set up what we call monastic communities centered around a church where they would live and in theory spend all their lives there, copying manuscripts, praying, obviously, doing other things, but not mixing very much with the rest of the society. In the Middle Ages, before the Reformation, and in some parts of Europe still after the Reformation, monastic tradition was very important.

Carolingians. This is Charlemagne, Charles the Great and his successors. They made a big impact recreating some kind of empire in Europe. And we'll look at not only the politics, but also the cultural change and their contribution to Western culture, very important. Then we'll look at 2 groups who, in various ways, affected European history.

Well, you could say positively or negatively, depending on your viewpoint. In history, we don't usually make comments like that. Say this was negative. We just say this is what happened and try and understand it. The Moors, which is the kind of European medieval-ish word for Islam, for Muslims, for the Arabs and so on.

The effect of the expansion of Islam in Near Eastern Africa, what happened in Europe, obviously very important. And then also my favorites, the Vikings. What those guys with the beards and the little pointy hats, which of course they didn't have, got up to, and what they did and didn't do, and so on there. So 2 groups there we'll look at. Then, kind of after that period, we're moving now into the 11th and 12th centuries, what we call here the feudal kingdoms.

I should move this down a bit for the benefit of the people watching online. So this is the period after the decline of the Carolingians. We see new kingdoms, primarily what becomes France and what kind of becomes Germany, emerging in Europe. And we'll look a little bit at what goes on in England as well, because the Normans have a very big impact. Does anyone know who the Normans were, what they did, why they're important for British history?

And Alp's not allowed to answer that question because he's done a whole course on medieval Britain with me. Anyone else? Who are the Normans? They're not men called Norman or anything. They have another reason.

OK.

Speaker 1: They invaded Britain.

Speaker 0: Right.

Speaker 1: They came from France.

Speaker 0: They came from France. Ha ha, ze French, oui oui. And what else? And then they invaded and they stayed and they became the new kings and so on. So the Anglo-Saxons, the Germanic guys, kind of lose the power and we get a bunch of Normans from France, who were themselves originally Vikings, but had kind of forgotten about that by this time, take over.

And their king becomes ruler, becomes King of England. And then a little bit later, his successors also take over large parts of France. So we have this empire ruled by the King of England, stretching from southern France all the way up to what is now England, called the Angevins and so on. So we'll look a little bit about that. Papacy reform and empire.

During the same kind of period, so we're talking 11th, 12th, into the 13th centuries, we get people discussing, for example, who has most power, and who is the closest to God, and therefore who has power over whom. In Islamic tradition, the successors of the prophet Muhammad, okay, were both religious leaders and also were kind of military, political leaders, okay. Caliphs or sultans and so on. In Western Europe, in Christian tradition, you have a division. So you have political leaders who claim to be directly or politically at least descended from, coming from the Roman emperors and so on.

And on the other hand, you have religious leaders, the church. And in the West, of course, it's the pope in Rome at the top. And at certain points, the church and The kings or the emperors say, I'm more important. No, I'm more important. Then we get arguments going on.

And then sometimes the pope says, you can't be king anymore, or you can't go to church anymore. If you die, you'll go to hell, and things like that. So during that period, there were lots of debates, both, in fact, by political writers, the theologians, and so on about this issue. But we'll look more at the practical side of those things. Of course, something else very important, the Crusades.

A couple years ago when I was teaching this course, 1 of my students said, David, you know, in our country, in our tradition or whatever, we see the Crusades as a very bad thing and as having a very, very bad effect on the Middle East. From the European perspective, the Crusades was a little thing. These guys went across to the Middle East, tried to get some land, succeeded for a while, then it all failed, and then we all forgot about it. That's kind of it. And we learned various things or whatever.

But it doesn't directly, in a big way, I would suggest, impact upon Western European history. We can consider that question as we go along. But obviously, a different perspective on what's going on if we look at it from this part of the world. So we can do a bit of that together as well. Then we'll look at, for 2 weeks, society and economy in the high Middle Ages.

We'll look at social structures, and we'll focus then on rural society, the society in the countryside, where, of course, most people live. And then we'll spend some time looking at urban society. Urban means, urbanism means, that's urbane, I suppose. If you add an E at the end it would be civilized. Urban, if I refer to something as urban, what am I referring to?

Cities, OK, urbs in Latin, and so on. So countryside, and then the cities, trade, manufacturing, and a little bit about the universities, and so on. We'll see how we get on with those. Then we'll look at something which is the 14th century. Kind of we'll begin before and stretch a bit after the 14th century.

But various things I've called times of trouble here. Things that had, in 1 way or another, negative effects upon European society. The Hundred Years' War, when the King of England decided he was the King of France, and the King of France said, no, you're not. The Great Schism, where 1 man said, I'm Pope, and another man said, I'm Pope, and another man said, I'm Pope. So you had all sorts of people being Pope.

Black Death, of course, when lots of people end up dying as well. So look at all of those things or some more and more details. Then some HTML mistake here. I can see the 13 should be down. Oh, I've got it twice.

The Renaissance, the Renaissance. So good they named it twice. And we'll finish off looking at the Renaissance and what that means. A big question for us to think about with that, I think, is was the Renaissance something new and different? Did it have a different characteristic from the previous period, from the Middle Ages, or was it something which just continued various medieval traditions and pointed forward to the modern period as well?

We can look at the nature of what we think the Renaissance is. So that broadly is our scope. So we'll do some politics, we'll do some religion, we'll do some social history, we'll do some intellectual history, and we might do a bit of other things as well.

See all Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages transcripts on Youtube

Medieval Europe: an Introduction