Joel T. Rosenthall, Stonybrook U at Kalamazoo 48th Medieval Congress
year long survey is a hard course to teach
history department offering
no real rival—all other surveys are either more focused or shorter time periods
3 aspects:
1. hard to teach: big stretch for students
2. introduces concept of historical periodization
3. living creature, changing over the years
hard to teach:
problem is to divide the survey with long winter break
1099—short Crusades
before 11th C, top heavy second semester
first semester moves along fairly smoothly
Rome falls
Christianity arrives
outsiders show up “one barbarian looks and smells like another”—student
prone to intermarry, wealth of exaggerated tales, blood feuds and geneaologies
Christianity spreads
second semester
secular culture involves
feudalism must be taught
peasants are overworked and unhappy
popes are poping
heretics are involved
not much time for monastic reform, universities, …
do cover the Black Plague
some touches silver lining—
get to get rid of folks you don’t like
students are forgiving if we leave a week out
1000 years of Christian Europe…
few other surveys study such a wide
short term coverage and limited to specific days
less defined
Have added:
social history (family and life cycle)
women
New to be added now:
Jewish history
World of Islam