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The Medieval World

Season 1
Discover a different perspective on the Middle Ages: one that goes beyond a simple survey and entrenches you in the daily human experience of living during this underappreciated era. Drawing on history, literature, the arts, technology, and science, these 36 lectures are a highly nuanced tour that will deepen the way you understand not only the Middle Ages but everything that came afterward.
202436 episodes13+
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Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - The Medieval World
    March 20, 2024
    31min
    ALL
    Enjoy a preview of the developments and innovations that made the medieval period far more exciting than was once thought, including the rise of the university system, manuscript production, and the construction of majestic cathedrals, as well as evidence suggesting that medieval and modern people are more alike than different.
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  2. S1 E2 - The Legacy of the Roman World
    March 20, 2024
    32min
    TV-PG
    Learn how the heritage and ideals of the Roman Empire shaped the early Middle Ages, how Christianity evolved to its position of power within the Roman Empire, and how Germanic peoples from outside the empire "Germanized" both Rome and religion.
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  3. S1 E3 - The Christianization of Europe
    March 20, 2024
    31min
    TV-PG
    Travel back to the 4th-century moment when Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire to explore how the religion changed after Roman rule ended, focusing in particular on the conversion of various communities beyond the borders of the empire, in the region the Romans called "Germania."
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  4. S1 E4 - After the Roman Empire—Hybrid Cultures
    March 20, 2024
    31min
    TV-PG
    The societies that developed out of the Roman Empire were really "hybrids" of Roman, Christian, and Germanic elements. See how examples from the literature, art, and architecture of Anglo-Saxon England reveal this blending and how the values and ideals of these cultures were combined.
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  5. S1 E5 - Early Monasticism
    March 20, 2024
    29min
    TV-PG
    In examining this popular expression of medieval piety, you journey inside the walls of a monastery to observe the daily life of a monk following the "Rule of St. Benedict" and compare this Roman or Benedictine form of monasticism to the very different Celtic model practiced in Ireland.
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  6. S1 E6 - From Merovingian Gaul to Carolingian France
    March 20, 2024
    30min
    13+
    This lecture introduces what was arguably the most important society of the early medieval world of western Europe. The empire of the Franks was ruled first by the Merovingians and then by the Carolingian dynasty, whose most famous ruler, Charlemagne, changed the face of medieval Europe.
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  7. S1 E7 - Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance
    March 20, 2024
    29min
    TV-PG
    Although it is Italy that has long laid popular claim to the word "Renaissance," it's hard not to marvel at the changes introduced by Charlemagne. Learn how he successfully brought about an unprecedented flowering of art, architecture, literature, music, and education.
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  8. S1 E8 - Byzantium, Islam, and the West
    March 20, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Widen your earlier focus to situate the Western medieval world in context with the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world, learning how Byzantium differed from the western Roman Empire and how the new religion of Islam placed pressure on both the Byzantine and western European medieval worlds.
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  9. S1 E9 - The Viking Invasions
    March 20, 2024
    29min
    TV-PG
    The expansion of the people known as the Vikings—beginning in the late 8th century—was swift, violent, and far-reaching. Grasp the impact of their raids on various European societies, particularly that of the Franks, as well as the unique aspects of their culture.
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  10. S1 E10 - Alfred the Great
    March 20, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Only one English monarch has ever been termed "the Great." Learn why, in considering the man whose rule in many respects mirrored that of Charlemagne as he resolved the Viking threat, consolidated the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and implemented a program under which learning, education, and the arts flourished.
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  11. S1 E11 - The Rearrangement of the Medieval World
    March 20, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Experience the tumultuous reshaping of western Europe in a lecture that features the emergence of powerful new leaders, invasions, a population explosion, changes in Europe's economy, technological advances, the development of devout Christian piety, the Crusading impulse, and the final break between the Byzantine and Roman churches.
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  12. S1 E12 - The Norman Conquest and the Bayeux Tapestry
    March 20, 2024
    29min
    TV-PG
    Claim a ringside seat at the long struggle for control of the English throne that culminated in the victory of William the Conqueror—a conflict captured for all time in the stunning threads of a 230-foot length of embroidery.
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  13. S1 E13 - King Arthur—The Power of the Legend
    March 20, 2024
    33min
    TV-PG
    Perhaps no other legend has been as enduringly popular as the story of King Arthur. Explore how and why his legend evolved and learn how the reality was markedly different from that depicted in medieval romances.
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  14. S1 E14 - The Three Orders of Medieval Society
    March 20, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Medieval society soon formed into the hierarchy now known as the Three Estates: those who prayed, those who fought, and those who worked. Discover why few routes to understanding this structure are as pleasurable as that offered by the literary genre of Estates Satire, exemplified here in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
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  15. S1 E15 - Pilgrimage and Sainthood
    March 20, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    In this fascinating glimpse of popular religious expression in the Middle Ages, you explore typical pilgrim motivations, the journeys they took, and the different processes by which the saints so often at the emotional heart of those journeys were enshrined.
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  16. S1 E16 - Knighthood and Heraldry
    March 20, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Follow the development of knighthood, from its beginnings as the lowest rank of nobility to its evolution as a hereditary title replete with a complex system of rituals, identity practices, public displays, and idealized imagery.
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  17. S1 E17 - The Gothic Cathedral
    March 20, 2024
    31min
    TV-PG
    Grasp what it took to build a Gothic cathedral, a massive undertaking requiring not only several decades, hundreds of laborers, teams of master craftsmen, and the best architectural minds, but also an acceptance by those who began a project that they would never live to see it completed.
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  18. S1 E18 - Piety, Politics, and Persecution
    March 20, 2024
    31min
    TV-PG
    In this first of two lectures on the Crusades, learn what brought so many to a venture that was part holy war and part pilgrimage. Gain, through eyewitness accounts, a fascinating and occasionally horrifying glimpse into the realities of life on crusade.
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  19. S1 E19 - The Persistence of an Ideal
    March 20, 2024
    29min
    TV-PG
    Participants in the successful First Crusade set up four "Crusader states" in the Middle East, where they soon learned that accommodation was more effective than dominance. Although the Crusading presence in the Holy Land lasted less than two centuries, its impact on the European world still endures.
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  20. S1 E20 - Late Medieval Religious Institutions
    March 20, 2024
    31min
    ALL
    Watch as the church and its official representatives experienced dramatic and sometimes unexpected change throughout the High and Late Middle Ages, including monastic reforms, the establishment of new orders, a great schism in the papacy itself, and the growing problem of heresy.
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  21. S1 E21 - The Magna Carta
    March 20, 2024
    33min
    TV-PG
    In this revealing lecture, discover that the Magna Carta, revered today as perhaps the cornerstone of human rights, was considered anything but that at its creation, with its most historic provisions of little concern to the rebellious barons who forced King John to accept it.
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  22. S1 E22 - Daily Life in a Noble Household
    March 20, 2024
    31min
    TV-PG
    Observe the finely tuned orchestration of servants working together to cater to the needs of the noble family, who, in turn, sheltered and protected them. And learn that the medieval castle was built for protection, providing little of the privacy or luxury you might expect.
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  23. S1 E23 - Daily Life in a Medieval Village
    March 20, 2024
    31min
    TV-PG
    Although little textual evidence describing medieval village life survives, archaeological excavations at villages such as Wharram Percy, along with pictorial evidence from manuscripts such as the Luttrell Psalter, offer you a vivid picture of the medieval village as a place brimming with life and characters.
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  24. S1 E24 - Medieval City Life
    March 20, 2024
    31min
    TV-PG
    During the High Middle Ages, technological advancements and a population explosion made cities a vital element of the medieval world. More important, they nourished the creation of a new class of individual who did not fit into the traditional confines of the Three Estates.
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  25. S1 E25 - Food and Drink
    March 20, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Here's your chance to set aside the long-held belief that medieval cuisine was bland at best and, at worst, likely to make you ill. Learn how medieval cooks displayed a resourcefulness and skill that allowed them to produce dishes that were both innovative and delicious.
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Details

More info

Content advisory
Violence
Audio languages
English
Subtitles
English [CC]
Producers
The Great Courses
Cast
Dorsey Armstrong
Studio
The Great Courses
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