In the year 1000, Europe was a rural backwater, barely able to feed its growing population, and riven with the violence of competing warlords. By 1500, Europeans were crossing the Atlantic Ocean, trading directly with China, and powerful king's ruled large territories unified by law. This course looks at how Europe emerged from the margins of the world's stage in this period by examining events like the Crusades, the Black Death, and the invention of the printing press, the rise of institutions like monarchies, the Church, and human bondage, and by looking at long term changes to the medieval climate. We will also ask, who belonged to this emerging world and who was steadily excluded? Where did the idea of nations come from? And we will ask, what is the relationship between the real Middle Ages and the fantasy one that fills video games, white-supremacist politics, and the news media?

Course Requirements:

 Exams, papers, discussion sections

Intended Audience:

Non-majors, beginning majors

Class Format:

Two lectures and one discussion section per week