This course is designed to introduce you to the history of the different societies and cultures that faced each other across the Mediterranean Sea during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a period of political fragmentation and religious confrontation. Starting with the fall of the Roman Empire, the course will examine intellectual and religious currents, economic ties, social change, collective mentalities, processes of Empire-building and state-formation, migratory movements and
´ecohistory´ in Byzantine civilization, the world of Islam, the medieval societies of Italy, Spain and
France, the Ottoman Empire and the Mediterranean world during the Renaissance. Aiming to demonstrate that the history of the Mediterranean is more than the sum of its parts, the course reveals a
picture of interconnectedness and interdependence, of multiculturalism and syncretism. Includes field
visits (in Barcelona and Tarragona) and film and documentary screenings.
Attendance policy:
Attendance is mandatory for all IES classes, including field studies. Any exams, tests, presentations, or other work missed due to student absences can only be rescheduled in cases of documented medical or family emergencies. If a student misses more than three classes in any course half a letter grade will be deducted from the final grade for every additional absence. Seven absences in any course will result in a failing grade.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course the students are able to:
• describe the main European, Islamic, Mediterranean and global phenomena which have impacted local cultures in the region from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance;
• discuss major historical questions in medieval and Renaissance history in terms of the interaction of local and transnational forces;
• examine the adequacy of conventional regional or national spatial frames of reference (e.g. ´Spain´,
´Europe´) and of conventional periodization (´Middle Ages´; ´Renaissance´);
• give examples of the relationship between medieval ´public history´ (i.e. the presence of the Middle
Ages in local reality and popular culture), collective memory and processes of identity formation;
• enhance your ability to speak, read and write about history by introducing wider questions concerning the status of historical knowledge, historical sources and periodization.
Method of presentation:
• Lectures and in-class activities: students learn to distill the major historical questions in the field and link the assigned reading to the overall framework of the course. They can clarify any outstanding questions and build up their confidence. Lectures are divided into lecture sections separated by learning activities: e.g. a review of the reading assignments; work with printed and visual sources, maps and other historical data; work with documentary screenings; group discussions; class debates; Q&A.
• Reading: a selection of readings designed to familiarize students with the basic chronology, facts, concepts and interpretations in the field. Study questions will help guide you through each reading.
• Field studies: students will be able to have direct contact with historical sources (architecture, art,
maps, etc). There are two classes on site which vary each term (e.g. MNAC, Barcelona Maritime
Museum, Caixaforum). In addition, there will be a mandatory one-day field trip to the city of
Tarragona which will include visits to the museums and archaeological ruins of Roman Tarraco.
• Film viewing and analysis: in addition to screenings of various documentaries in class, there is also one film screening planned: ´Saladin´(Youssef Chahine, 1963). Students will learn to ´read´
historical films.
• Personal study and reflection: students are not only meant to spend time outside of class reading, preparing course work and revising class notes but they are also expected to immerse themselves in local culture.
LANGUAGE OF PRESENTATION: English
Required work and form of assessment:
The final grade will be determined as follows:
• Field study assignment (15%): studying historical sources and reflecting on your contact with local reality in field trips and during your own travels.
• Essay (20%): reporting on a topic in your own words, relating it to major historical questions in
Mediterranean history (2,000-2,500 words).
• Midterm exam (15%): a multiple-choice test designed to test your acquisition of basic knowledge.
• Final exam (30%): answering a choice of essay questions in which you will be asked to summarize the major historical questions in the field and to analyze the scheduled film.
• Class participation (20%): participating in class activities and class discussion and contributing to
Moodle-based activities.
content:
Session 1: Organising session & course introduction Perceptions and misperceptions in history; Mediterranean perspectives; global history; dividing up the past.
Session 2: The Mediterranean in Antiquity and Beyond
The Roman Mediterranean; Mediterranean geopolitics; the rise of Christianity.
Session 3: The Fall of Rome
Myths and realities of the fall of Rome; Roman legacies; the idea of Late Antiquity; the
Christian Church.
Required Reading:
Bennett, Judith M. & Hollister, C. Warren (2002).
Medieval Europe. A Short History. 10th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill. Pp.30-49 (ch.2: “Barbarian
settlement in the West, c.400-500”)
Session 4: The Byzantine Empire: a Bird´s Eye View
The survival of the East Roman Empire; Church and State in Byzantium.
Required Reading:
Lerner, Robert E.; Meacham, Standish and McNall Burns, Edward (1988). Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture. Vol.1. 11th ed. New York: WW Norton & Co. Pp.250-261 (“The Byzantine empire and its culture”).
Session 5: Byzantine Civilization
The classical legacies of Byzantium – from classical literature to philosophy; Eastern Orthodoxy. Audiovisual material & quiz on Moodle.
Required Reading:
Jenkins, Romilly (1966). Byzantium. The Imperial Centuries (AD 610-1071). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Pp.1-2, 4-7, 383-384.
Session 6: The Decline of the Byzantine Empire
Myth and reality; from “Golden Age” to Italian colonization; shifts in the medieval ´world economy´.
Required Reading:
Thomson, J.K.J. (1998). Byzantium: declines in the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. In: id., Decline in History. The European Experience:
63-69, 88-90. Oxford: Polity Press.
Session 7: The Islamic World: A New Power in an Old World
The Greco-Roman world and the Arabian peninsula; Mohammed and Islam; Abrahamic religions; Islam´s political program.
Required Reading:
Hourani, Albert (1992). A History of the Arab
Peoples. New York: Warner Books. Pp.5-12, 14-21 (ch.1: “A New Power in an Old World”)
Session 8: Rise and Fall of the Muslim Empire Arab conquests; Pact of Umar; internal divisions; from the Umayyad dynasty to the Abassid dynasty.
Required Reading:
Hourani, Albert (1992). A History of the Arab Peoples. New York: Warner Books. Pp.22-30 (ch.2: “The Formation of an Empire”)
Session 9: Islamic Civilization (1) Islamic Common Market.
Required Reading:
Lerner, Robert E.; Meacham, Standish and McNall Burns, Edward (1988). Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture. Vol.1. 11th ed. New York: WW Norton & Co. Pp. 269-278.
Session 10: Islamic Civilization (2) Islamic Golden Age – the Greek heritage; Muslim Spain – Cordoba, Toledo & Granada. Audiovisual material & quiz on Moodle.
Required Reading:
Lerner, Robert E.; Meacham, Standish and McNall Burns, Edward (1988). Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture. Vol.1. 11th ed. New York: WW Norton & Co. Pp. 269-278.
Session 11: Field study trip to local museum or exhibition
Session 12: Western Europe in the Carolingian Era
Charlemagne – myth and reality; Henri Pirenne´s ideas of Mediterranean history; economic stagnation - the manorial system; feudalism.
Required Reading:
Nicholas, David (1992). The Evolution of the
Medieval World. Society, Government & Thought in Europe, 312-1500. London/New York: Longman. Pp.64, 120-128, 136;
Brown, Peter (2003). The Rise of Western
Christendom. Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-
1000. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell. Pp.9-11.
Session 13: The Birth of Monarchy in Western Europe in the High Middle Ages (1000-1300) The failure of empire in the Christian West; Kings, popes and cities; the peculiarity of the Christian West.
Required Reading:
Jordan, William Chester (2001). Europe in the High Middle Ages. London: Penguin. Pp.23-24, 27-30, 34-35, 53-54, 56, 61-63, 66-71.
Session 14: Western Conquest and Colonization in the High Middle Ages (1000-1300)
The High Middle Ages; economic take-off; colonisation; Mediterranean commerce – the rise of Venice; Mediterranean conquests; the making of Europe.
Required Reading:
Cameron, Rondo (1989). A Concise Economic History of the World from Paleolithic Times to the Present. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp.55-63.
Session 15: The Making of the Roman Church(1000-1300)
Gregorian reform – the birth of a ´papal monarchy´; the first Crusade – the crusading ideology.
Required Reading:
Morris, Colin (1993). Christian civilisation (1050-1400). In: John McManners (ed.), The Oxford
History of Christianity: 205-222. Oxford: OUP.
Session 16: Midterm exam
Multiple choice test; Mediterranean counter- currents – Christian-Muslim contact in Sicily;
preparation for film viewing and for class debate on the Crusades (session 17)
Session 17: The Crusades
Class debate on myth and reality of the Crusades; crusading against Christians – the Fourth Crusade; contact Westerners- Byzantines in the age of the Fourth Crusade.
Required Reading:
Armstrong, Karen (1992). Holy War. The Crusades and Their Impact on Today´s World. New York:
Anchor Books. Pp. 374-389, 412-413. (ch.9: “1199-1221: Crusades against Christians and a
New Christian Peace”)
Session 18: Westerners and Muslims in the Age of Saladin and Richard the Lionheart. Film viewing of Saladin (Youssef Chahine, 1963).
Class discussion about film; jihad & crusading; film and literary depictions of Crusaders and Muslims; political mythologies concerning the Crusades; orientalism. Online film reviews.
Required Reading:
Armstrong, Karen (1992). Holy War. The Crusades and Their Impact on Today´s World. New York: Anchor Books. Pp. xi-xiv. (Introduction)
Session 19: The “Calamitous” Fourteenth Century
“Black Death”; economic collapse & renewed economic growth; the Hundred Years´ War: the modernization of warfare; the formation of modern states; Sephardic Jews & diaspora communities.
Required Reading:
Smith, Alan K. (1991). Creating a World Economy.
Merchant Capitalism, Colonialism, and World
Trade, 1400-1825. Boulder: Westview Press. Pp.50-63, 67-68.
Session 20: Field study trip to local museum or exhibition; alternatively, primary sources
workshop. Online primary sources.
Session 21: The Renaissance: Humanism, Religion and Politics (15th-16thC)
Traditional and new approaches to theRenaissance; humanism; the Reformation.
Required Reading:
Brotton, G. (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar: from the Silk Road to Michelangelo. Oxford: OUP. Pp.1-32 (introduction).
Session 22: The Renaissance: Exploration, Contact and Exchange – the Mediterranean and Beyond (15th-16thC)
Traditional and new approaches to the Renaissance; the communication revolution - nautical and commercial innovations; birth of the idea of “Europe”.
Required Reading:
Brotton, G. (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar: from the Silk Road to Michelangelo. Oxford: OUP. Pp.1-32 (introduction).
Session 23: The Rise of a ´World Economy´ in the 16th Century
Conflict and encounter between the West & the Ottoman Empire; shifting balance of economic and political power; Northwestern Europe and the Mediterranean; Immanuel Wallerstein and the rise of a ´world economy´.
Required Reading:
Wallerstein, Immanuel (1979). The Capitalist World Economy. Cambridge: CUP. Pp.37-48 (“Three paths of national development in sixteenth- century Europe”).
Session 24: Concluding session.
Summing up of course; continuities and discontinuities in history; conventional and
unconventional spatial frames of reference – what is “European history” and what is
“Mediterranean history”?
Final Exam
Required readings:
Armstrong, Karen (1992). Holy War. The Crusades and Their Impact on Today´s World. New York: Anchor Books. Pp. xi-xiv, 374-389, 412-413.
Bennett, Judith M. & Hollister, C. Warren (2002). Medieval Europe. A Short History. 10th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill. Pp.30-49.
Brotton, G. (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar: from the Silk Road to Michelangelo. Oxford: OUP. Pp.1-32.
Brown, Peter (2003). The Rise of Western Christendom. Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell. Pp. 9-11.
Cameron, Rondo (1989). A Concise Economic History of the World from Paleolithic Times to the Present. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp.55-63.
Hourani, Albert (1992). A History of the Arab Peoples. New York: Warner Books. Pp.5-12, 14-30.
Jenkins, Romilly (1966). Byzantium. The Imperial Centuries (AD 610-1071). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Pp.1-2, 4-7, 383-384.
Jordan, William Chester (2001). Europe in the High Middle Ages. London: Penguin. Pp.23-24, 27-30, 34-35, 53-54, 56, 61-63, 66-71.
Lerner, Robert E.; Meacham, Standish and McNall Burns, Edward (1988). Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture. Vol.1. 11th ed. New York: WW Norton & Co. Pp.250-261, 269-278.
Morris, Colin (1993). Christian civilisation (1050-1400). In: John McManners (ed.), The Oxford History of Christianity: 205-222. Oxford: OUP.
Nicholas, David (1992). The Evolution of the Medieval World. Society, Government & Thought in Europe, 312-1500. London/New York: Longman. Pp.64, 120-128, 136.
Smith, Alan K. (1991). Creating a World Economy. Merchant Capitalism, Colonialism, and World Trade, 1400-1825. Boulder: Westview Press. Pp.50-63, 67-68.
Thomson, J.K.J. (1998). Byzantium: declines in the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. In: id., Decline in History. The European Experience: 63-69, 88-90. Oxford: Polity Press.
Wallerstein, Immanuel (1979). The Capitalist World Economy. Cambridge: CUP. Pp.37-48.
Recommended readings:
For essay and presentation purposes. This list suggests some more specialist works relating to the topics covered by the course, which you will find particularly useful when preparing essays and oral presentations.
Abulafia, D. (1997). The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms, 1200-1500: the Struggle for Dominion. London.
Armstrong, Karen (1992). Holy War: the Crusades and their Impact on Today´s World. New York: Anchor Books. IES
Ashtor, E. (1983). Levant Trade in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ.
Bartlett, R. (1993). The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350. London. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Bensch, S. (1995). Barcelona and Its Rulers, 1096-1291. Cambridge. IES Bisson, T.N. (2000). The Medieval Crown of Aragon. Oxford. IES
Brotton, G. (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar: from the Silk Road to Michelangelo. Oxford.
Brown, P. (2003). The Rise of Western Christendom. Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000. 2nd ed. Oxford. IES
Cameron, A. (1993). The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity AD395-600. London. Collins, Roger (1999). Early Medieval Europe 300-1000. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Palgrave. IES Constable, G. (1988). Monks, Hermits and Crusaders in Medieval Europe. London: Variorum. IES
Constable, O.R. (1994). Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain: the Commercial Realignment of the Iberian Peninsula. Cambridge.
Dahmus, J. (1984). Dictionary of Medieval Civilisation. London. UPF: BCA IUHJVV (reference only) Epstein, S. (1996). Genoa and the Genoese, 958-1528. Chapel Hill. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Erdmann, Carl (1977). The Origin of the Idea of Crusade. Princeton: Princeton Univ Press. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Fernández-Armesto, F. (1991). Barcelona: 1000 Years of a City´s Past. Oxford. Fletcher, Richard (1993). Moorish Spain. California: Univ of California. IES
Greene, M. (2000). A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean. Princeton, NJ.
Herlihy, David (2001). The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Cambridge: Harvard Univ Press. IES
Herrin, J. (1987). The Formation of Christendom. Princeton. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Holt, P.M.; A.K.S. Lambton & B. Lewis (eds.) (1992-1996). The Cambridge History of Islam. Cambridge. UPF: BCA GRAL & BCA IUHJVV
Horden, P. & N. Purcell (2000). The Corrupting Sea. A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford.
Hourani, Albert (1992). A History of the Arab Peoples. New York: Warner Books. IES
Housley, Norman (1992). The Later Crusades, 1274-1580: From Lyons to Alcázar. Oxford: Oxford Univ Press. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Jenkins, Romilly (1966). Byzantium. The Imperial Centuries (AD 610-1071). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. IES
Jordan, William Ch. (2002). Europe in the High Middle Ages. London: Penguin. IES
Kaegi, W. (1995). Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquest. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ Press. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Kennedy, H. (1986). The Prophet and the Age of Caliphates: the Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Centuries. London. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Lapidus, I.M. (2002). A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge. IES
Lynch, J.H. (1992). The Medieval Church: a Brief History. London. UPF: BCA GRAL & BCA IUHJVV McKitterick, Rosamond (1983). The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751-987. London: Longman. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Morris, C. (1989). The Papal Monarchy: the Western Church from 1050 to 1250. Oxford. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
New Cambridge Medieval History (1995-). Cambridge: CUP. UPF: BCA IUHJVV (reference only)
New Encyclopaedia Britannica (1995). 15th ed. Chicago. 32 vols. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Nicholas, David (1992). The Evolution of the Medieval World, 312-1500. London: Pearson Education. IES
Nicolle, David (1999). Essential Histories: The Crusades. London: Osprey. IES
Riley-Smith, Jonathan (ed.) (1999). The Oxford History of the Crusades. Oxford. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1992). What were the Crusades? Basingstoke: Macmillan. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Spuler, B. (1999). The Age of Caliphs. History of the Muslim World. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers. IES
Tellenbach, Gerd (1993). The Church in Western Europe from the 10th to the early 12th century. Cambridge. UPF: BCA GRAL & BCA IUHJVV
Verhulst, A. (1999). The Rise of Cities in North-West Europe. New York/Cambridge. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Waley, D.P. (1988). The Italian City-Republics. London. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Waley, D. (2001). Later Medieval Europe, 1250-1520. 3rd rev. ed. London: Longman. IES
Watson, A.M. (1983). Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World. The Diffussion of Crops and Farming Techniques, 700-1100. New York. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
History Of The Mediterranean In The Middle Ages And The Renaissance
This course is designed to introduce you to the history of the different societies and cultures that faced each other across the Mediterranean Sea during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a period of political fragmentation and religious confrontation. Starting with the fall of the Roman Empire, the course will examine intellectual and religious currents, economic ties, social change, collective mentalities, processes of Empire-building and state-formation, migratory movements and
´ecohistory´ in Byzantine civilization, the world of Islam, the medieval societies of Italy, Spain and
France, the Ottoman Empire and the Mediterranean world during the Renaissance. Aiming to demonstrate that the history of the Mediterranean is more than the sum of its parts, the course reveals a
picture of interconnectedness and interdependence, of multiculturalism and syncretism. Includes field
visits (in Barcelona and Tarragona) and film and documentary screenings.
Attendance is mandatory for all IES classes, including field studies. Any exams, tests, presentations, or other work missed due to student absences can only be rescheduled in cases of documented medical or family emergencies. If a student misses more than three classes in any course half a letter grade will be deducted from the final grade for every additional absence. Seven absences in any course will result in a failing grade.
By the end of the course the students are able to:
• describe the main European, Islamic, Mediterranean and global phenomena which have impacted local cultures in the region from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance;
• discuss major historical questions in medieval and Renaissance history in terms of the interaction of local and transnational forces;
• examine the adequacy of conventional regional or national spatial frames of reference (e.g. ´Spain´,
´Europe´) and of conventional periodization (´Middle Ages´; ´Renaissance´);
• give examples of the relationship between medieval ´public history´ (i.e. the presence of the Middle
Ages in local reality and popular culture), collective memory and processes of identity formation;
• enhance your ability to speak, read and write about history by introducing wider questions concerning the status of historical knowledge, historical sources and periodization.
• Lectures and in-class activities: students learn to distill the major historical questions in the field and link the assigned reading to the overall framework of the course. They can clarify any outstanding questions and build up their confidence. Lectures are divided into lecture sections separated by learning activities: e.g. a review of the reading assignments; work with printed and visual sources, maps and other historical data; work with documentary screenings; group discussions; class debates; Q&A.
• Reading: a selection of readings designed to familiarize students with the basic chronology, facts, concepts and interpretations in the field. Study questions will help guide you through each reading.
• Field studies: students will be able to have direct contact with historical sources (architecture, art,
maps, etc). There are two classes on site which vary each term (e.g. MNAC, Barcelona Maritime
Museum, Caixaforum). In addition, there will be a mandatory one-day field trip to the city of
Tarragona which will include visits to the museums and archaeological ruins of Roman Tarraco.
• Film viewing and analysis: in addition to screenings of various documentaries in class, there is also one film screening planned: ´Saladin´(Youssef Chahine, 1963). Students will learn to ´read´
historical films.
• Personal study and reflection: students are not only meant to spend time outside of class reading, preparing course work and revising class notes but they are also expected to immerse themselves in local culture.
LANGUAGE OF PRESENTATION: English
The final grade will be determined as follows:
• Field study assignment (15%): studying historical sources and reflecting on your contact with local reality in field trips and during your own travels.
• Essay (20%): reporting on a topic in your own words, relating it to major historical questions in
Mediterranean history (2,000-2,500 words).
• Midterm exam (15%): a multiple-choice test designed to test your acquisition of basic knowledge.
• Final exam (30%): answering a choice of essay questions in which you will be asked to summarize the major historical questions in the field and to analyze the scheduled film.
• Class participation (20%): participating in class activities and class discussion and contributing to
Moodle-based activities.
Session 1: Organising session & course introduction Perceptions and misperceptions in history; Mediterranean perspectives; global history; dividing up the past.
Session 2: The Mediterranean in Antiquity and Beyond
The Roman Mediterranean; Mediterranean geopolitics; the rise of Christianity.
Session 3: The Fall of Rome
Myths and realities of the fall of Rome; Roman legacies; the idea of Late Antiquity; the
Christian Church.
Required Reading:
Bennett, Judith M. & Hollister, C. Warren (2002).
Medieval Europe. A Short History. 10th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill. Pp.30-49 (ch.2: “Barbarian
settlement in the West, c.400-500”)
Session 4: The Byzantine Empire: a Bird´s Eye View
The survival of the East Roman Empire; Church and State in Byzantium.
Required Reading:
Lerner, Robert E.; Meacham, Standish and McNall Burns, Edward (1988). Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture. Vol.1. 11th ed. New York: WW Norton & Co. Pp.250-261 (“The Byzantine empire and its culture”).
Session 5: Byzantine Civilization
The classical legacies of Byzantium – from classical literature to philosophy; Eastern Orthodoxy. Audiovisual material & quiz on Moodle.
Required Reading:
Jenkins, Romilly (1966). Byzantium. The Imperial Centuries (AD 610-1071). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Pp.1-2, 4-7, 383-384.
Session 6: The Decline of the Byzantine Empire
Myth and reality; from “Golden Age” to Italian colonization; shifts in the medieval ´world economy´.
Required Reading:
Thomson, J.K.J. (1998). Byzantium: declines in the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. In: id., Decline in History. The European Experience:
63-69, 88-90. Oxford: Polity Press.
Session 7: The Islamic World: A New Power in an Old World
The Greco-Roman world and the Arabian peninsula; Mohammed and Islam; Abrahamic religions; Islam´s political program.
Required Reading:
Hourani, Albert (1992). A History of the Arab
Peoples. New York: Warner Books. Pp.5-12, 14-21 (ch.1: “A New Power in an Old World”)
Session 8: Rise and Fall of the Muslim Empire Arab conquests; Pact of Umar; internal divisions; from the Umayyad dynasty to the Abassid dynasty.
Required Reading:
Hourani, Albert (1992). A History of the Arab Peoples. New York: Warner Books. Pp.22-30 (ch.2: “The Formation of an Empire”)
Session 9: Islamic Civilization (1) Islamic Common Market.
Required Reading:
Lerner, Robert E.; Meacham, Standish and McNall Burns, Edward (1988). Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture. Vol.1. 11th ed. New York: WW Norton & Co. Pp. 269-278.
Session 10: Islamic Civilization (2) Islamic Golden Age – the Greek heritage; Muslim Spain – Cordoba, Toledo & Granada. Audiovisual material & quiz on Moodle.
Required Reading:
Lerner, Robert E.; Meacham, Standish and McNall Burns, Edward (1988). Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture. Vol.1. 11th ed. New York: WW Norton & Co. Pp. 269-278.
Session 11: Field study trip to local museum or exhibition
Session 12: Western Europe in the Carolingian Era
Charlemagne – myth and reality; Henri Pirenne´s ideas of Mediterranean history; economic stagnation - the manorial system; feudalism.
Required Reading:
Nicholas, David (1992). The Evolution of the
Medieval World. Society, Government & Thought in Europe, 312-1500. London/New York: Longman. Pp.64, 120-128, 136;
Brown, Peter (2003). The Rise of Western
Christendom. Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-
1000. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell. Pp.9-11.
Session 13: The Birth of Monarchy in Western Europe in the High Middle Ages (1000-1300) The failure of empire in the Christian West; Kings, popes and cities; the peculiarity of the Christian West.
Required Reading:
Jordan, William Chester (2001). Europe in the High Middle Ages. London: Penguin. Pp.23-24, 27-30, 34-35, 53-54, 56, 61-63, 66-71.
Session 14: Western Conquest and Colonization in the High Middle Ages (1000-1300)
The High Middle Ages; economic take-off; colonisation; Mediterranean commerce – the rise of Venice; Mediterranean conquests; the making of Europe.
Required Reading:
Cameron, Rondo (1989). A Concise Economic History of the World from Paleolithic Times to the Present. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp.55-63.
Session 15: The Making of the Roman Church(1000-1300)
Gregorian reform – the birth of a ´papal monarchy´; the first Crusade – the crusading ideology.
Required Reading:
Morris, Colin (1993). Christian civilisation (1050-1400). In: John McManners (ed.), The Oxford
History of Christianity: 205-222. Oxford: OUP.
Session 16: Midterm exam
Multiple choice test; Mediterranean counter- currents – Christian-Muslim contact in Sicily;
preparation for film viewing and for class debate on the Crusades (session 17)
Session 17: The Crusades
Class debate on myth and reality of the Crusades; crusading against Christians – the Fourth Crusade; contact Westerners- Byzantines in the age of the Fourth Crusade.
Required Reading:
Armstrong, Karen (1992). Holy War. The Crusades and Their Impact on Today´s World. New York:
Anchor Books. Pp. 374-389, 412-413. (ch.9: “1199-1221: Crusades against Christians and a
New Christian Peace”)
Session 18: Westerners and Muslims in the Age of Saladin and Richard the Lionheart. Film viewing of Saladin (Youssef Chahine, 1963).
Class discussion about film; jihad & crusading; film and literary depictions of Crusaders and Muslims; political mythologies concerning the Crusades; orientalism. Online film reviews.
Required Reading:
Armstrong, Karen (1992). Holy War. The Crusades and Their Impact on Today´s World. New York: Anchor Books. Pp. xi-xiv. (Introduction)
Session 19: The “Calamitous” Fourteenth Century
“Black Death”; economic collapse & renewed economic growth; the Hundred Years´ War: the modernization of warfare; the formation of modern states; Sephardic Jews & diaspora communities.
Required Reading:
Smith, Alan K. (1991). Creating a World Economy.
Merchant Capitalism, Colonialism, and World
Trade, 1400-1825. Boulder: Westview Press. Pp.50-63, 67-68.
Session 20: Field study trip to local museum or exhibition; alternatively, primary sources
workshop. Online primary sources.
Session 21: The Renaissance: Humanism, Religion and Politics (15th-16thC)
Traditional and new approaches to theRenaissance; humanism; the Reformation.
Required Reading:
Brotton, G. (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar: from the Silk Road to Michelangelo. Oxford: OUP. Pp.1-32 (introduction).
Session 22: The Renaissance: Exploration, Contact and Exchange – the Mediterranean and Beyond (15th-16thC)
Traditional and new approaches to the Renaissance; the communication revolution - nautical and commercial innovations; birth of the idea of “Europe”.
Required Reading:
Brotton, G. (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar: from the Silk Road to Michelangelo. Oxford: OUP. Pp.1-32 (introduction).
Session 23: The Rise of a ´World Economy´ in the 16th Century
Conflict and encounter between the West & the Ottoman Empire; shifting balance of economic and political power; Northwestern Europe and the Mediterranean; Immanuel Wallerstein and the rise of a ´world economy´.
Required Reading:
Wallerstein, Immanuel (1979). The Capitalist World Economy. Cambridge: CUP. Pp.37-48 (“Three paths of national development in sixteenth- century Europe”).
Session 24: Concluding session.
Summing up of course; continuities and discontinuities in history; conventional and
unconventional spatial frames of reference – what is “European history” and what is
“Mediterranean history”?
Final Exam
Armstrong, Karen (1992). Holy War. The Crusades and Their Impact on Today´s World. New York: Anchor Books. Pp. xi-xiv, 374-389, 412-413.
Bennett, Judith M. & Hollister, C. Warren (2002). Medieval Europe. A Short History. 10th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill. Pp.30-49.
Brotton, G. (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar: from the Silk Road to Michelangelo. Oxford: OUP. Pp.1-32.
Brown, Peter (2003). The Rise of Western Christendom. Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell. Pp. 9-11.
Cameron, Rondo (1989). A Concise Economic History of the World from Paleolithic Times to the Present. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp.55-63.
Hourani, Albert (1992). A History of the Arab Peoples. New York: Warner Books. Pp.5-12, 14-30.
Jenkins, Romilly (1966). Byzantium. The Imperial Centuries (AD 610-1071). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Pp.1-2, 4-7, 383-384.
Jordan, William Chester (2001). Europe in the High Middle Ages. London: Penguin. Pp.23-24, 27-30, 34-35, 53-54, 56, 61-63, 66-71.
Lerner, Robert E.; Meacham, Standish and McNall Burns, Edward (1988). Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture. Vol.1. 11th ed. New York: WW Norton & Co. Pp.250-261, 269-278.
Morris, Colin (1993). Christian civilisation (1050-1400). In: John McManners (ed.), The Oxford History of Christianity: 205-222. Oxford: OUP.
Nicholas, David (1992). The Evolution of the Medieval World. Society, Government & Thought in Europe, 312-1500. London/New York: Longman. Pp.64, 120-128, 136.
Smith, Alan K. (1991). Creating a World Economy. Merchant Capitalism, Colonialism, and World Trade, 1400-1825. Boulder: Westview Press. Pp.50-63, 67-68.
Thomson, J.K.J. (1998). Byzantium: declines in the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. In: id., Decline in History. The European Experience: 63-69, 88-90. Oxford: Polity Press.
Wallerstein, Immanuel (1979). The Capitalist World Economy. Cambridge: CUP. Pp.37-48.
For essay and presentation purposes. This list suggests some more specialist works relating to the topics covered by the course, which you will find particularly useful when preparing essays and oral presentations.
Abulafia, D. (1997). The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms, 1200-1500: the Struggle for Dominion. London.
Armstrong, Karen (1992). Holy War: the Crusades and their Impact on Today´s World. New York: Anchor Books. IES
Ashtor, E. (1983). Levant Trade in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ.
Bartlett, R. (1993). The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350. London. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Bensch, S. (1995). Barcelona and Its Rulers, 1096-1291. Cambridge. IES Bisson, T.N. (2000). The Medieval Crown of Aragon. Oxford. IES
Brotton, G. (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar: from the Silk Road to Michelangelo. Oxford.
Brown, P. (2003). The Rise of Western Christendom. Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000. 2nd ed. Oxford. IES
Cameron, A. (1993). The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity AD395-600. London. Collins, Roger (1999). Early Medieval Europe 300-1000. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Palgrave. IES Constable, G. (1988). Monks, Hermits and Crusaders in Medieval Europe. London: Variorum. IES
Constable, O.R. (1994). Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain: the Commercial Realignment of the Iberian Peninsula. Cambridge.
Dahmus, J. (1984). Dictionary of Medieval Civilisation. London. UPF: BCA IUHJVV (reference only) Epstein, S. (1996). Genoa and the Genoese, 958-1528. Chapel Hill. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Erdmann, Carl (1977). The Origin of the Idea of Crusade. Princeton: Princeton Univ Press. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Fernández-Armesto, F. (1991). Barcelona: 1000 Years of a City´s Past. Oxford. Fletcher, Richard (1993). Moorish Spain. California: Univ of California. IES
Greene, M. (2000). A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean. Princeton, NJ.
Herlihy, David (2001). The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Cambridge: Harvard Univ Press. IES
Herrin, J. (1987). The Formation of Christendom. Princeton. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Holt, P.M.; A.K.S. Lambton & B. Lewis (eds.) (1992-1996). The Cambridge History of Islam. Cambridge. UPF: BCA GRAL & BCA IUHJVV
Horden, P. & N. Purcell (2000). The Corrupting Sea. A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford.
Hourani, Albert (1992). A History of the Arab Peoples. New York: Warner Books. IES
Housley, Norman (1992). The Later Crusades, 1274-1580: From Lyons to Alcázar. Oxford: Oxford Univ Press. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Jenkins, Romilly (1966). Byzantium. The Imperial Centuries (AD 610-1071). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. IES
Jordan, William Ch. (2002). Europe in the High Middle Ages. London: Penguin. IES
Kaegi, W. (1995). Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquest. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ Press. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Kennedy, H. (1986). The Prophet and the Age of Caliphates: the Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Centuries. London. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Lane, Frederic Ch. (1973). Venice, a Maritime Republic. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ Press. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Lapidus, I.M. (2002). A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge. IES
Lynch, J.H. (1992). The Medieval Church: a Brief History. London. UPF: BCA GRAL & BCA IUHJVV McKitterick, Rosamond (1983). The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751-987. London: Longman. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Morris, C. (1989). The Papal Monarchy: the Western Church from 1050 to 1250. Oxford. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
New Cambridge Medieval History (1995-). Cambridge: CUP. UPF: BCA IUHJVV (reference only)
New Encyclopaedia Britannica (1995). 15th ed. Chicago. 32 vols. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Nicholas, David (1992). The Evolution of the Medieval World, 312-1500. London: Pearson Education. IES
Nicolle, David (1999). Essential Histories: The Crusades. London: Osprey. IES
Riley-Smith, Jonathan (ed.) (1999). The Oxford History of the Crusades. Oxford. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1992). What were the Crusades? Basingstoke: Macmillan. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Spuler, B. (1999). The Age of Caliphs. History of the Muslim World. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers. IES
Tellenbach, Gerd (1993). The Church in Western Europe from the 10th to the early 12th century. Cambridge. UPF: BCA GRAL & BCA IUHJVV
Verhulst, A. (1999). The Rise of Cities in North-West Europe. New York/Cambridge. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Waley, D.P. (1988). The Italian City-Republics. London. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Waley, D. (2001). Later Medieval Europe, 1250-1520. 3rd rev. ed. London: Longman. IES
Watson, A.M. (1983). Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World. The Diffussion of Crops and Farming Techniques, 700-1100. New York. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Watt, W.M. (1991). Muslim-Christian Encounters. Perceptions and Misperceptions. London. UPF: BCA IUHJVV
Whittow, Mark (1996). The Making of Orthodox Byzantium, 600-1025. Basingstoke: Macmillan. IES
Abbreviations: available in
IES = IES library
UPF – GRAL = Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Biblioteca General
UPF – IUHJVV = Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Biblioteca de l'Institut Universitari d'Història Jaume Vicens Vives