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The Medieval World II: Society, Economy, and Culture
An award-winning, widely recognized expert on pre-modern history, Professor Thomas F. Madden concludes this two-part series on the medieval world. In this course, we will see the error of the commonly held assumption that the "Dark Ages" was a time of superstition, ignorance, and violence.
Rather than a time of darkness, the Middle Ages saw extraordinary innovation, invention, and cultural vitality. It was the Middle Ages that gave us universities, vernacular literature, and the extraordinary beauty of Gothic architecture.
To study the medieval world, then, is not only to study a time that has passed away. It is to study the birth of a new culture that would mature into the modern West. Whether we know it or not, the world we live in today is itself the product of the Middle Ages - not "Dark," but remarkably bright.
Rather than a time of darkness, the Middle Ages saw extraordinary innovation, invention, and cultural vitality. It was the Middle Ages that gave us universities, vernacular literature, and the extraordinary beauty of Gothic architecture.
To study the medieval world, then, is not only to study a time that has passed away. It is to study the birth of a new culture that would mature into the modern West. Whether we know it or not, the world we live in today is itself the product of the Middle Ages - not "Dark," but remarkably bright.
Audio CD
First published January 1, 2009
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About the author
Thomas F. Madden
42 books155 followersThomas F. Madden (born 1960) is an American historian, the Chair of the History Department at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, and Director of Saint Louis University's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
He is considered one of the foremost historians of the Crusades in the United States. He has frequently appeared in the media, as a consultant for various programs on the History Channel and National Public Radio.
In 2007, he was awarded the Haskins Medal from the Medieval Academy of America, for his book Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice, which was also a "Book of the Month" selection by the BBC History magazine.
He is considered one of the foremost historians of the Crusades in the United States. He has frequently appeared in the media, as a consultant for various programs on the History Channel and National Public Radio.
In 2007, he was awarded the Haskins Medal from the Medieval Academy of America, for his book Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice, which was also a "Book of the Month" selection by the BBC History magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 10, 2023
Clearly written, with the focus on a reader who would like to get the basics of the Middle Ages.
December 1, 2020
A great followup to Part I that covered some of the later Middle Ages and key topics such as everyday life/work, economics, and marriage. Prof. Madden is an engaging lecturer and it was easy to pick this up and put it down again over several months (my habit with things like this, which I tend to treat like podcasts). My husband also enjoyed episodes/sections of this course and would request it, pretty unusual since we tend to have very different taste in books which I think was a reflection on both the topics and the teaching style.
November 26, 2023
Quite enjoy this. Doesn't appear to be a Modern Scholar: The Medieval War III, that I can find; that's a pity as I like how the professor breaks everything down.
December 5, 2012
I enjoyed learning about western history. Thomas Madden knows his history and makes it interesting!
March 11, 2017
In this lecture series, Professor Madden is attempting to set the record straight on the “Dark Ages.” Our view of the medieval period as a time of superstition, ignorance and violence is a product of enlightenment era scholarship that saw the classical period and the modern period as times of cultural greatness and advancement and the medieval period of cultural decline and backwardness. An example of such cultural bigotry is the classification of cathedrals as Gothic architecture. Enlightenment scholars saw these masterpieces of architecture as monuments to barbarism and called them Gothic in reference to the barbaric Gothic conquerors of Rome from whom the builders descended.
Regardless of our popular perception, the medieval period was a time of dynamic cultural change that laid the foundation for the modern world.
• Many classical age writings were on papyrus and had a finite lifespan. Without the efforts of monks to preserve them by copying them onto parchment, much of the cultural legacy of the ancient world would have been lost forever. One monarch who made a special contribution to this effort was Charlemagne. Monks didn’t have to be told to preserve Christian writings, but they were often hesitant to preserve secular writings that included histories and plays, especially the bawdy and irreverent ones. As the first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne felt it his responsibility to preserve Roman culture and directed the monks in his kingdom to make a concerted preservation effort that became known as the Carolingian Renaissance. To improve readability of texts, the monks developed the miniscule script on which our current script is based.
• During the early middle ages, education was the domain of the church. Later, as bureaucracies in the church and government became more complex, there was a growing need for educated men to perform these bureaucratic functions. This need was filled by independent schools under church oversight. Over time, the masters of these schools organized their own self-governing guilds that set standards for services, prices and qualifications for advancement. Thus, the modern university got its start.
• The fall of the Roman Empire in the west also ended its system of commerce, and many people abandoned cities and moved to the countryside for better access to food. Although this would have produced a large number of small farms, socio-political dynamics in the interest of common security caused a consolidation of land into the hands of the larger land owners, producing various forms of what we know as the feudal system, with a small upper class and a large lower class. As population grew, markets sprang up where merchants could purchase excess goods from peasants for resale in larger markets elsewhere. The towns that grew around these markets were encouraged by the feudal lords because of the tax revenue they could get from them. The merchants and craftsmen who populated these towns became the foundation for the modern middle class.
• German tribal culture’s approach to leadership featured chieftains who were expected to rule with the advice of their peers, to be a first among equals. This value system was maintained throughout the middle ages. The late middle ages featured the rise of powerful kings and great wars that were very expensive. As a result of extraordinary levies by King John of England to pay for his wars, the barons reasserted those old values by rebelling and forcing him to sign the Magna Carta, limiting the power of the king to waive away their rights by his own authority. From there a parliamentary system slowly developed such that nobles represented their own interests and lesser knights and townsfolk chose representatives, the foundations of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. This early form of Parliament would arrange for funding for the king’s priorities, in exchange for the king addressing their concerns. Over time, Parliament asserted itself as the true government of England and became the model of our own constitutional government.
• In the mid-fourteenth century, the population of Europe was decimated by the black death. The bumper crops of the medieval warm period had supported a boom in population, but the onset of the little ice age cut crop yields and produced famines. The black death actually solved the problem of insufficient food by reducing Europe’s population by half. This dramatic loss of population also drastically cut the available work force and drove up labor costs, prompting the development of labor-saving devices and setting the stage for technological advancement. Once such advancement was the development of commercial vessels that could be operated by smaller crews. These vessels would ultimately be used in the age of exploration that featured the discovery of new trade routes to the Indies and the discovery of the Americas.
In my opinion, Professor Madden did an excellent job of challenging popular perceptions. In particular, I appreciated Professor Madden’s assessment that medieval culture represented a pragmatic response to the unique problems of its day.
Regardless of our popular perception, the medieval period was a time of dynamic cultural change that laid the foundation for the modern world.
• Many classical age writings were on papyrus and had a finite lifespan. Without the efforts of monks to preserve them by copying them onto parchment, much of the cultural legacy of the ancient world would have been lost forever. One monarch who made a special contribution to this effort was Charlemagne. Monks didn’t have to be told to preserve Christian writings, but they were often hesitant to preserve secular writings that included histories and plays, especially the bawdy and irreverent ones. As the first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne felt it his responsibility to preserve Roman culture and directed the monks in his kingdom to make a concerted preservation effort that became known as the Carolingian Renaissance. To improve readability of texts, the monks developed the miniscule script on which our current script is based.
• During the early middle ages, education was the domain of the church. Later, as bureaucracies in the church and government became more complex, there was a growing need for educated men to perform these bureaucratic functions. This need was filled by independent schools under church oversight. Over time, the masters of these schools organized their own self-governing guilds that set standards for services, prices and qualifications for advancement. Thus, the modern university got its start.
• The fall of the Roman Empire in the west also ended its system of commerce, and many people abandoned cities and moved to the countryside for better access to food. Although this would have produced a large number of small farms, socio-political dynamics in the interest of common security caused a consolidation of land into the hands of the larger land owners, producing various forms of what we know as the feudal system, with a small upper class and a large lower class. As population grew, markets sprang up where merchants could purchase excess goods from peasants for resale in larger markets elsewhere. The towns that grew around these markets were encouraged by the feudal lords because of the tax revenue they could get from them. The merchants and craftsmen who populated these towns became the foundation for the modern middle class.
• German tribal culture’s approach to leadership featured chieftains who were expected to rule with the advice of their peers, to be a first among equals. This value system was maintained throughout the middle ages. The late middle ages featured the rise of powerful kings and great wars that were very expensive. As a result of extraordinary levies by King John of England to pay for his wars, the barons reasserted those old values by rebelling and forcing him to sign the Magna Carta, limiting the power of the king to waive away their rights by his own authority. From there a parliamentary system slowly developed such that nobles represented their own interests and lesser knights and townsfolk chose representatives, the foundations of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. This early form of Parliament would arrange for funding for the king’s priorities, in exchange for the king addressing their concerns. Over time, Parliament asserted itself as the true government of England and became the model of our own constitutional government.
• In the mid-fourteenth century, the population of Europe was decimated by the black death. The bumper crops of the medieval warm period had supported a boom in population, but the onset of the little ice age cut crop yields and produced famines. The black death actually solved the problem of insufficient food by reducing Europe’s population by half. This dramatic loss of population also drastically cut the available work force and drove up labor costs, prompting the development of labor-saving devices and setting the stage for technological advancement. Once such advancement was the development of commercial vessels that could be operated by smaller crews. These vessels would ultimately be used in the age of exploration that featured the discovery of new trade routes to the Indies and the discovery of the Americas.
In my opinion, Professor Madden did an excellent job of challenging popular perceptions. In particular, I appreciated Professor Madden’s assessment that medieval culture represented a pragmatic response to the unique problems of its day.
August 16, 2024
A very good and engaging set of lectures about the medieval world that debunks a lot of common misconceptions about the era, about christianity, the inquisition. Madden goes over the religious issues that will continue to fracture the church down the ages (uneducated priests, heretical views), as well as the many monastic orders that it will draw from. You also get insights into the legal and economic changes toward a more distributed power system, a lot of it an unintended consequence from kingly abuses (the nobles open a door to regulating power that will continue to be built upon later), or the power vacuum of the plague opening the door for mobile peasants in a world screaming for workforce to renegotiate their position. I liked the discussion of the nebulous concept of feudalism as well. Lots to like here.
February 3, 2019
Enjoyed this second part as well.
NOTE: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book or a B. 3 stars means a very good book or a B+. 4 stars means an outstanding book or an A {only about 5% of the books I read merit 4 stars}. 5 stars means an all time favorite or an A+ {Only one of 400 or 500 books rates this!).
NOTE: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book or a B. 3 stars means a very good book or a B+. 4 stars means an outstanding book or an A {only about 5% of the books I read merit 4 stars}. 5 stars means an all time favorite or an A+ {Only one of 400 or 500 books rates this!).
January 15, 2024
I found the second installment of Madden's medieval world lectures much more fun. He still touched on politics but focused even more on trends and societal issues.
Highly recommend for anyone wanting to start a foundation in medieval history.
Highly recommend for anyone wanting to start a foundation in medieval history.
May 3, 2024
Wow new favorite! I love how this really dove into the cultural aspect of the Middle Ages.
July 3, 2015
This lecture was the second in the series and covered the economic and social history of the Middle Ages, filling in and explaining the gaps in Part 1. I found it to be just as interesting as the first series of lectures and again found the roots of a number of present customs as well as cultural conflicts between nations that are still influencing events today.
This series traces the development of the Christian/Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages as there were very few aspects of history which were not intertwined with religion. For some reason, most of the histories I studied in high school and college seem to imply that after the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity the church was essentially the same as we know today, with the exception of the Protestant Reformation which came near the end of the Middle Ages. It was very interesting to learn how the cannon evolved and how the church and state developed over the approximately 1,000 years called the Middle Ages. I found this series to be as fascinating as the first.
This series traces the development of the Christian/Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages as there were very few aspects of history which were not intertwined with religion. For some reason, most of the histories I studied in high school and college seem to imply that after the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity the church was essentially the same as we know today, with the exception of the Protestant Reformation which came near the end of the Middle Ages. It was very interesting to learn how the cannon evolved and how the church and state developed over the approximately 1,000 years called the Middle Ages. I found this series to be as fascinating as the first.
April 10, 2016
Another great lecture series by Professor Madden. I love this period of history, and this series really goes in depth about he economic/political/social changes that occurred within the Middle Ages. The previous series was more of an overview - a big timeline of history showing how things progressed from Roman times till the Renaissance, so this series really gave the details. Great series.
March 29, 2010
We really enjoyed listening to this audiobook about life in Europe from about 500 to 1500. The professor has a style that is easy to listen to and understand. He even makes you chuckle occassionally.
October 8, 2017
This was an audio book of multiple scholarly lectures on various parts of the Medieval European world. I learned a few things from it and kept it around to use as material for papers if I need it for classes.
August 24, 2010
good, definitely better than part one
May 18, 2011
Fascinating course. I especially liked the lectures on daily lifestyle and government.
March 9, 2012
This is a quite good introduction to the medieval world. Madden provides an updated, brief overview of the subjects.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews