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The Middle Ages Around the World
12 hours and 15 minutes
The Middle Ages was a time of major historical shifts and transformations. This amazing era reverberates with discoveries, innovations, events, and historical processes that are integral to the world we know now.
In these 24 enthralling lectures, Professor Salisbury leads you on a sumptuous tour of this incredible historical epoch, making clear that the remarkable historical currents and advances of the Middle Ages unfolded not only in the West, but across the globe, from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East to Asia, the Americas, and beyond:
Expansion, Prosperity, and Networks of Trade. Grasp the advances in technology and agriculture that drove civilizations from Europe to China and map the great trading networks that connected medieval civilizations.
The Age of Faith. The Middle Ages was an era of vast religious expansion and controversy; witness this in events such as the rise of Islam; the drama and disaster of the Crusades; Buddhism’s spread across Asia; and the internal schisms within Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity.
Medieval Treasures of Art and Architecture. Explore the triumphs of medieval architecture, from European castles and cathedrals to the sublime religious monuments of Indonesia and Cambodia; delve into the medieval literary epics of heroes and lovers that still move us.
The Phenomenon of Travel. Visualize the amazing sea voyages of the Vikings and the Polynesians, and travel Asia and the Far East in the company of legendary travelers Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and Lady Nijo.
The Medieval Americas. Study the economies, religions, and monumental architecture of the Maya in Mexico, the Chaco Canyon peoples in North America, the Chimu civilization in Peru, and the forest peoples of the Amazon.
Crossing many cultures, continents, and 1,000 years of history, The Middle Ages Around the World offers you a dazzling journey through an epoch that continues to speak meaningfully to the modern world.
The Middle Ages was a time of major historical shifts and transformations. This amazing era reverberates with discoveries, innovations, events, and historical processes that are integral to the world we know now.
In these 24 enthralling lectures, Professor Salisbury leads you on a sumptuous tour of this incredible historical epoch, making clear that the remarkable historical currents and advances of the Middle Ages unfolded not only in the West, but across the globe, from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East to Asia, the Americas, and beyond:
Expansion, Prosperity, and Networks of Trade. Grasp the advances in technology and agriculture that drove civilizations from Europe to China and map the great trading networks that connected medieval civilizations.
The Age of Faith. The Middle Ages was an era of vast religious expansion and controversy; witness this in events such as the rise of Islam; the drama and disaster of the Crusades; Buddhism’s spread across Asia; and the internal schisms within Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity.
Medieval Treasures of Art and Architecture. Explore the triumphs of medieval architecture, from European castles and cathedrals to the sublime religious monuments of Indonesia and Cambodia; delve into the medieval literary epics of heroes and lovers that still move us.
The Phenomenon of Travel. Visualize the amazing sea voyages of the Vikings and the Polynesians, and travel Asia and the Far East in the company of legendary travelers Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and Lady Nijo.
The Medieval Americas. Study the economies, religions, and monumental architecture of the Maya in Mexico, the Chaco Canyon peoples in North America, the Chimu civilization in Peru, and the forest peoples of the Amazon.
Crossing many cultures, continents, and 1,000 years of history, The Middle Ages Around the World offers you a dazzling journey through an epoch that continues to speak meaningfully to the modern world.
13 pages, Audible Audio
Published April 22, 2022
6 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Joyce E. Salisbury
41 books14 followersProfessor Emerita of Humanistic Studies (History)University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 13, 2022
This is history for those who don't like dates or too many names of people you won't remember after the lecture that includes my wife who watched them with me. We both enjoyed these.
The Polynesian island during the middle ages stood out. Yes, without a doubt the Polynesians had contact with South America before 1300. Also, I didn't know that the Inuit came to Greenland after the Europeans left in 1350 or so.
Of all the curses, 'may you be alive in the 14th century' would rank as one of the most scary and Joyce Salisbury will tell you why the 14th century stands out for being bad.
Good history for anyone.
The presenter is entertaining and I think her sitting down rather than standing up added to the presentation.
Hard not to like this lecture series.
The Polynesian island during the middle ages stood out. Yes, without a doubt the Polynesians had contact with South America before 1300. Also, I didn't know that the Inuit came to Greenland after the Europeans left in 1350 or so.
Of all the curses, 'may you be alive in the 14th century' would rank as one of the most scary and Joyce Salisbury will tell you why the 14th century stands out for being bad.
Good history for anyone.
The presenter is entertaining and I think her sitting down rather than standing up added to the presentation.
Hard not to like this lecture series.
September 11, 2024
Salisbury notes some transnational links, mainly based on trade, but her lectures are often just rudimentary histories of different cultures placed alongside one another.
August 16, 2022
I found this GC at just the right time. I had this wild idea of working through the courses chronologically, and I'd hit the Great European Wall of Boredom. Honestly, I was beginning to not want to hear another word about the Romans and Greeks EVER, and western Europe's homogeneity (at least as presented by American and British professors) was wearing thin, too.
Enter Joyce Salisbury, storyteller extraordinaire, to inform, entertain, and mesmerize with stories about the REST of the planet concurrent to Europe's Middle Ages: Istambul, Persia, China, India, North and South America, Greenland, Polynesia. Lots of fascinating things were going on in all those places, and Salisbury weaves the stories together in a way that balances out all that "white pious man as center of universe" nonsense we got force-fed in school.
There are 24 sections to this GC, and I suggest NOT binging on them. It's easy to get full quickly. She covers a LOT of ground with each section. Some of my favorite parts were the sections on Polynesia, Fictional travels and literature, and the invention of gunpowder. That last one was surprisingly fascinating, and Salisbury spins the yarn so well that we literally stopped in the middle to make popcorn as if on a camping trip and hearing campfire stories. She's a born storyteller.
Enter Joyce Salisbury, storyteller extraordinaire, to inform, entertain, and mesmerize with stories about the REST of the planet concurrent to Europe's Middle Ages: Istambul, Persia, China, India, North and South America, Greenland, Polynesia. Lots of fascinating things were going on in all those places, and Salisbury weaves the stories together in a way that balances out all that "white pious man as center of universe" nonsense we got force-fed in school.
There are 24 sections to this GC, and I suggest NOT binging on them. It's easy to get full quickly. She covers a LOT of ground with each section. Some of my favorite parts were the sections on Polynesia, Fictional travels and literature, and the invention of gunpowder. That last one was surprisingly fascinating, and Salisbury spins the yarn so well that we literally stopped in the middle to make popcorn as if on a camping trip and hearing campfire stories. She's a born storyteller.
January 6, 2024
I loved this series. This year I am focusing my reading on the medieval period. I wanted to find something to help give me a broad overview of the era that didn't just focus on Europe. This checked all of those boxes and more!
For me personally, I feel like many history classes I have had separate Europe from the rest of the world in the Middle Ages, and when studying Asia or Africa, I never really thought of different empires as occupying the same time/space as medieval kingdoms in Europe. This course really helped me course correct. Knowing how the Tang, Song, Yuan and other Chinese dynasties along with different Muslim Empires (Abassid, Seljuk, early Ottomans) correspond to the European experience in the Middle Ages makes a big difference. I feel like a giant gap in my understanding has been filled.
I appreciated Professor Salisbury's coverage of a wide variety of topics and her enthusiasm for the subject. The course was a good mix of political history, warfare, economics, arts, literature, and scientific developments. I also enjoyed comparing and contrasting life in the different empires, kingdoms, and cities throughout the period. The course also excels at helping students understand the mindset, perspectives, and motivations of medieval peoples. I also really appreciated how she highlighted different people and ideas whose impact would reverberate throughout later eras like the Renaissance, age of Exploration, and into the modern world.
This series has gotten me pumped up in the most geeky way possible to enjoy a year of courtly love, feudal society, pilgrimage tales, Silk Road travelers, and so much more.
For me personally, I feel like many history classes I have had separate Europe from the rest of the world in the Middle Ages, and when studying Asia or Africa, I never really thought of different empires as occupying the same time/space as medieval kingdoms in Europe. This course really helped me course correct. Knowing how the Tang, Song, Yuan and other Chinese dynasties along with different Muslim Empires (Abassid, Seljuk, early Ottomans) correspond to the European experience in the Middle Ages makes a big difference. I feel like a giant gap in my understanding has been filled.
I appreciated Professor Salisbury's coverage of a wide variety of topics and her enthusiasm for the subject. The course was a good mix of political history, warfare, economics, arts, literature, and scientific developments. I also enjoyed comparing and contrasting life in the different empires, kingdoms, and cities throughout the period. The course also excels at helping students understand the mindset, perspectives, and motivations of medieval peoples. I also really appreciated how she highlighted different people and ideas whose impact would reverberate throughout later eras like the Renaissance, age of Exploration, and into the modern world.
This series has gotten me pumped up in the most geeky way possible to enjoy a year of courtly love, feudal society, pilgrimage tales, Silk Road travelers, and so much more.
October 25, 2023
This course has been an awesome experience. I highly recommend it to everyone. History has always been one of my very limited areas, and the middle ages similarly just meant a few literary tropes in my experience Although the video presentation provides animated maps (much appreciated given my similar relative ignorance in geography), I listened to most of the lectures audibly while walking. I occasionally reviewed the course outline booklet (which i surely need to review again) for reinforcing information and its useful bibliography. One of the things I really loved about this course was its global span. Either within a lecture, or in consecutive lectures, events in various parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the New World were explained in revelatory synchrony, enabling better appreciation of transcultural interactions. I have to admit I had been especially ignorant of events during this time period outside of Europe, and this provided many revelations for me. It also provided (at least proposed) explanations (often from transnational events & conflicts, or technological advances) of WHY certain things occurred (for example feudalism).
I cant recommend this course highly enough.
Even for just a casual listen through all the lectures once, you could probably learn a great deal.
I cant recommend this course highly enough.
Even for just a casual listen through all the lectures once, you could probably learn a great deal.
April 16, 2024
The Middle Ages Around the World by Joyce Salisbury is a very capable survey, one where the listener can learn quite a bit about things going on around the world. Unlike what might be expected, Salisbury doesn't usually have a lecture for a specific region, but instead opts for a cross-cutting appraisal of other regions. Sometimes this works remarkably well, as there were a great deal of similarities and common themes around the world across the middle ages, but every now and then it felt a hint forced. Some of the lecture selection was also perhaps not entirely clear either, like with the travelogues. But overall, it was quite good. Well worth a gander for those looking to see this time period through more than Eurocentric narratives.
December 30, 2024
Woah. I couldn't even finish the first lecture. So many errors! I understand that historians have to summarize or truncate the details when they lecture, I really do, but what you say still has to be functionally correct. Plus, I really didn't care for her voice/presentation style. This series might work for someone who knows almost nothing about the Middle Ages, but not for me--the straw that broke the camel's back was when she pronounced the Tang dynasty as "tang" (rhymes with bang). Life is short, so I'm going to find a better lecture series to listen to.
October 19, 2022
I do indeed get a much better hold of history when world history is taught instead of just Europe or Africa, etc. this was well done
June 6, 2023
Enjoyed this a lot. Well constructed and narrated.
June 14, 2024
Middle Ages around the world by Joyce e Salisbury. Love the depth the author went to keep it close to how history has presented it within this book. Love good history
July 10, 2024
Lots of information that was presented in an interesting and orderly sequence.
September 2, 2024
I really enjoyed this account of life and the evolution of everything during those 100 years stretching from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance.
December 28, 2024
Listened Nov-Dec 2024
Another absolutely invaluable set of lectures from the Great Courses team.
Another absolutely invaluable set of lectures from the Great Courses team.
June 1, 2025
decent surface level survey. full of interesting rabbit holes to explore
December 25, 2025
Pretty good course about the Middle Ages in different parts of the world. Presentation style was sometimes a bit lackluster, but overall it was pretty interesting.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews