High and Late Middle Ages

The class will begin by examining medieval civilization at its height: the development of limited monarchies and representative institutions in England, France and the Holy Roman Empire; the growth of papal monarchy; the 12th-century renaissance; the rise of universities; scholasticism; Gothic architecture; and the chivalric ideal. Students will then explore the disintegration of the medieval order as a result of factors including religious disillusionment brought on by disorder within the Church and social and economic pressures resulting from the Black Death and the Hundred Years’ War.