Macquarie University

Making the Middle Ages: Faith, War and Romance - MHIS120

This course provides an introduction to the history of the European Middle Ages. Covering the period between 750 and 1350 C.E., this course aims to introduce students to the culture, politics and society of western Europe during this period. Students will study the crusades, the papacy, emerging kingdoms, chivalric romance, and, the feudal order. They will consider how the civilisation of medieval Europe, that called itself 'Latin Christendom', emerged in the period after the fragmentation of the Roman Empire in the west.



Students will study medieval Europe from the inside, thinking about the ways in which the society understood its place in the world, and its own history. We will also consider how medieval Europe was understood by its Muslim and Byzantine neighbours at that time. We will think about the encounters that took place between medieval Europe and the rest of the world, be they through trade, cultural exchange, or, warfare.

Students will evaluate the winners and losers of medieval society, to understand how power was produced, and maintained, by elite populations. Through reading a rich array of medieval sources, they will think about the status of women, peasants, heretics, and, Jews throughout the period. This course aims to introduce students to the large narratives of medieval history, alongside an examination of social and cultural worlds in medieval time.