HIS 240 - Medieval History

1. Explain the decline of the Roman Empire and the rise of barbarian states in the West.
2. Describe the rise of Charlemagne and Carolingian civilization.
3. Describe the Viking, Hungarian, and Saracen invasions of the Middle Ages.
4. Describe the historical development of medieval villages, towns and cities.
5. Explain the role and characteristics of the Church in the Middle Ages.
6. Describe the Crusades and the impact of the Crusades on world history.
7. Discuss intellectual and artistic life during the Middle Ages.
8. Describe the Hundred Years’ War, and the advent of the Black Death.
9. Describe the end of the Middle Ages, and the rise of the Renaissance.

1. The decline of the Roman Empire
   1. Barbarian attack
   2. Fall of Rome in A.D. 410
   3. Survival of the Byzantine Empire in the east
   4. Rise of barbarian states in the West
   5. Spread of Christianity and the conversion of barbarian kings
2. Charlemagne and Carolingian civilization
   1. Frankish origins
   2. Clovis and the Merovingians
   3. The Carolingian Dynasty
3. Viking, Hungarian and Saracen invasions of the Middle Ages
4. Medieval villages, towns and cities
   1. Feudalism
   2. The manor system
   3. Serfdom
   4. The legal system and feudalism
5. The Church in the Middle Ages
   1. Church structure
   2. The papacy
   3. Religious orders
   4. The medieval religious experience
   5. Reform movements
6. The Crusades
   1. William the Conqueror’s Crusade in England 1066
   2. Crusades in the Middle East
   3. The Albigensian Crusade
   4. Crusades in Eastern Europe
   5. Crusader Orders
7. Intellectual and artistic life during the Middle Ages
   1. Intellectual life
      1. Medieval philosophy
      2. The rise of medieval universities
      3. Medieval literature
   2. Artistic life in the Middle Ages
      1. Art
      2. Architecture
      3. Music
8. The Hundred Years’ War and the Black Death
   1. Crecy
   2. Caffa and the origins of the Black Death
   3. Poitiers
   4. Agincourt
   5. Joan of Arc
9. The end of the Middle Ages, and the rise of the Renaissance in Europe
   1. Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks
   2. Italian origins of the Renaissance
      1. Florence
      2. Rome
      3. Venice