Medieval Europe - Crisis and Renewal

Professor Ruiz sets the geographical, linguistic, and historiographical contexts for the course. Understanding how medieval men and women imagined their society and saw themselves provides insight on how they responded to the imminent crises.

Peasants were the group most dramatically affected by late medieval crises. We look at their difficult daily lives and crucial, but lowly, roles in society.

Focusing on the rise of towns and cities, we examine the sources of so much inspiring art and great learning that shaped society in the Middle Ages and years to come. The character of the bourgeoisie and state of popular culture are reflected in fundamental changes in value systems and religious beliefs.

As the power of the papacy is envied and emulated throughout Europe, changes occur in the relationship between church and state. Professor Ruiz describes those changes while tracing the origin of political organizations and a political point of view that emphasized the state over the church.

We study the great famines of 1315–1317 and their impact on European society in succeeding decades. Medieval governments are unable to deal with the consequences of widespread hunger—rising violence, crimes against property, high mortality rates, and a reduced population.

We discuss the Hundred Years War and its affect on social, economic, political, and cultural structures. We deal with the impact of military technology on society, the role of war, the rise of knightly orders, and the contradictions of war's savagery and chivalry's ideals.

The Black Plague had an enormous impact on Europeans in the mid-14th century. We consider the development of the church after the plague, violence against Jews and lepers following the spread of the plague, and the reaction of authorities to its onslaught.

Many peasant and urban uprisings occurred as individuals at the top of society sought to maintain their positions in a time of vast economic and social dislocation. Those below, and those caught in the middle, often reacted with violence.

Professor Ruiz introduces new political concepts formed in the late Middle Ages, including first steps toward the genesis of the nation state. Centralized monarchies emerged at the end of the 15th century in France and England as a result of crises that pushed thinkers and rulers to develop concepts of sovereignty.

We see how the ideas and practices of government were put into service in the kingdom of Castile in Spain, and how age-old medieval institutions were utilized by the Castilian monarchy to organize the nation state.

We examine the birth of Renaissance culture in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries and its spread to other parts of western Europe. Beginning with Dante, we consider the transforming factors of Renaissance humanism and art.

Continuing the examination of the birth of Renaissance culture in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries, we consider new artistic models, aesthetic sensibilities, and a new spirit.

Professor Ruiz discusses how concepts of love, sexuality, the body, and marriage were transformed by the crises of the late Middle Ages. Boccaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are studied for statements on love and sexuality.

against specific groups in its midst.

We see how festivals, royal entries, and carnivals were used to expand the power and influence of nation states. The mix of certain elements of high and popular cultures in jousts, pas d'armes (passage of arms), and other public festivals were of great benefit to rulers of the day.

Professor Ruiz gives a rousing summation and provides a peek into the next era. The fall of Constantinople and subsequent reception of Greek Classical knowledge in the West, the disruption of trade routes in the East, and the voyages of discovery are all treated as dramatic transforming factors in European lives.