HONR 1230 - Medieval Worlds

4 credit hours
From the fifth century to the fifteenth, the world was interconnected by the movement of people, ideas, and goods. But globalization at this time was different than today. This course looks at how the medieval world contained both local identities and global connections, from the legacy of ancient empires to the development of new religions. It considers the role of political boundaries, religious practices, intellectual communities, trade networks, craft traditions, and disease in shaping lives across a number of places, such as parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. By the end of the period the Americas had been drawn into networks of trade and exploitation developed in the Mediterranean, and the course addresses these early interactions across the Atlantic ocean. Throughout, we will keep an eye on how the modern configurations of these problems and issues relate to the medieval context. Using a historical framework, we look at both primary sources in translation and recent scholarship to probe the complexities of connection in the medieval period. We learn to tell stories about the past with a variety of texts and objects. Topics may include religious dialogue, military conflict, medicine and disease, women and gender, notions of science, and material culture.