pt. I. Slow transition from classical to medieval world -- 1. The transformation of classical civilization : the political and economic story through the fifth century CE -- Economic story through the 5th Century CE -- Rome -- The first two centuries of the Empire (31 BCE-200 CE) -- Era of the five great emperors (96-180) -- Transformation of the Roman Empire (286-395) -- the Middle Ages begin -- Last Western emperors -- 2. The transformation of classical civilization: religion and culture through the fifth century CE -- Quest for meaning in the pagan world -- Rise of Christianity -- Latin Church fathers -- Women's role in the Late Empire -- Learning and the Arts -- 3. Warriors, farmers, and saints in the barbarian kingdoms (200-600) -- Barbarian background -- The German kingdoms -- Franks and the Merovingian Kingdom -- Conversions, saints, and Irish Christianity -- Rome and the Roman Church -- 4. Byzantine empire: a struggle for unity and regaining past glory (451-630) -- Internal conflicts in Byzantium (451-527) -- Age of Justinian and Theodora (527-565) -- Asiatic tribes, overextension, and division in the post-Justinian era -- Divided Byzantium (451-630) -- 5. Islam: the religion, politics, and culture (570-1000) -- Rise of Islam -- Islam in contact with Christianity -- Islamic society -- Pax Islamica -- pt. II. Central Middle Ages -- 6. Technology, society, and politics in early medieval west (600-750) -- Britain's Anglo-Saxon Renaissance while the Iberian Peninsula struggles -- Late Merovingian Gaul -- 7. The age of Charlemagne (750-814) -- Manorial life : peasants, nobility, and clergy -- Charlemagne as King of the Franks -- Women in the Carolingian Era -- Charlemagne as Church leader -- 8. Europe: disunited, assaulted, and saved (814-1024) -- Disintegration of Charlemagne's Empire -- Vikings -- Vikings and Muslims in the Frankish kingdoms and Iberia -- Northmen in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Byzantium -- The Norsemen in the Atlantic : Iceland, Greenland, and North America -- Germany (East Francia), Italy, and the Holy Roman Empire -- 9. New devotion, growth of towns, and commerce (950-1100) -- Beginnings of monastic reforms : Cluny and the Benedictine centuries -- Investiture struggle -- Urbanization in the Great Turnaround (1000-1200) -- Expansion of long- and short-distance commerce -- Technology and towns alter cultural roles -- Feudal states -- pt. III. High Middle Ages -- 10. The era of the first crusade (1071-1097) -- Technology innovations and transfers -- Peasants, monks, lords, and land -- Intellectual revival -- 11. The renaissance of the twelfth century -- The Western kingdoms -- Rise of universities -- Wine, women, song, and counterculture -- Islamic learning and its assimilation in the West -- Second Crusade -- The Greek and Slavic East -- Western Europe at the end of the century -- 12. The flowering of the Middle Ages (ca. 1150-1300) -- Just law, just war, and monarchy -- Fair price and medieval economic theory -- Monastic reforms, poverty, and property -- The conflict over reason -- Medicine as science -- History and historians : breaking with classical tradition -- Gothic art and architecture -- The Romances -- Women and gender relations -- pt. IV. The transition from the medieval to modern periods -- 13. Falcons, swords, Occam's razor, and germs: from bouvines to the black death (1214-1347) -- Empire from Frederick II to the Hapsburgs -- The Papacy and crusade gone awry -- France -- England, Scotland, and Ireland -- Iberia and Northern Italy -- Nobles, peasants, and burghers in transition -- Metaphysical foundations of modern science -- Economic downturn and Black Death -- 14. Conformity, creativity, and authority (1350-1500) -- Nonconformists and non-Christians -- Art and architecture in Italy : a renovatio -- Italian literature and letters -- Art and letters in Northern Europe and Arabia -- 15. The medieval twilight in Europe and western Asia: decay and discovery -- Science and technology -- Spain unites, Portugal excepted -- British Isles and civil strife -- France : apanages, taxes, and wars -- Holy Roman Empire and Eastern Europe -- Byzantium, Turks, Tamerlane, and the Muslim East -- "Pessimism and the ideal of the sublime life" -- Demographic trends and witchcraft -- Epilogue -- Chronology 1 : Roman Empire to 500 -- Chronology 2 : 500 to 1500.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.