The Early Middle Ages

Overview

Shed light on the Dark Ages with this absorbing course that relates the often surprising true story of how Rome ended and Western civilization began. The Early Middle Ages – the years from A.D. 650 to 1000 – were crucial to Europe’s future social and political development. These 24 lectures trace a journey from Scandinavia across northern and central Europe to the farthest reaches of the Byzantine and Islamic empires, providing an exciting new look at an era often simply called the “Dark Ages.”

Given the period’s dismal reputation and its temporal remoteness from the 21st century, you’ll be surprised to learn about some of the most challenging questions historians have ever had to tackle: Why did the Roman Empire fall? Why did the ancient world give way to the medieval world? Why did Christian monotheism become the dominant religion in Europe? You’ll meet some of the era’s exciting figures, such as St. Augustine and Justinian, and you’ll consider the extent to which the historical realities of King Arthur and Charlemagne match up to the legends that have become attached to their names. You’ll also look at the era’s effect on the Vikings, the rise of the Carolingians, and the golden age of Islamic rule in Spain. Professor Daileader also explores the contrasting historical theories offered by two extremely influential historians: Edward Gibbon, the English author of the monumental The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, whose explanations closely followed those of the Roman moralists of the 4th and 5th centuries; and Henri Pirenne, the Belgian thinker who injected a newfound emphasis on social and especially economic factors into the analysis of history. You’ll see why the era belies its reputation as dark and dismal, but you’ll come away with a new appreciation for this once-lost era.

Video Lectures

• Long Shadows and the Dark Ages

Duration: 32 min

Though the Early Middle Ages and the world of Late Antiquity that preceded them are often little studied, the questions they raise about why Rome fell and why Christianity replaced paganism as Europe’s dominant religion remain important and controversial.

• Diocletian and the Crises of the Third Century

Duration: 31 min

During the 3rd century, the collapse of a reeling Roman Empire is staved off for a few centuries by the transformative changes introduced by an otherwise conservative emperor named Diocletian.

3. Constantine the Great-Christian Emperor

Duration: 31 min

Constantine’s military victories gain him control of the entire Roman Empire and begin the process of transforming Christianity from a minority, illegal religion to the majority, official religion of the Empire.

• Pagans and Christians in the Fourth Century

Duration: 30 min

The accession of Julian the Apostate causes brief hopes—or fears—of a pagan restoration. But his reign is short-lived, and by 400 A.D. it is clear that the tide has permanently turned toward Christianity within the Roman Empire.

• Athletes of God

Duration: 31 min

With the conversion of Constantine and the end of imperial persecutions, and with martyrdom no longer readily available, those seeking new ways to excel in their faith turn to new ways of achieving Christian heroism.

• Augustine, Part One

Duration: 31 min

This is the first of two lectures about perhaps the most influential thinker of the later Roman Empire, whose life and career encapsulate some of the broad changes that were taking place.

• Augustine, Part Two

Duration: 31 min

In reaction to a theology that argued for the ability of humans to obey God’s commands without the assistance of divine grace, Augustine develops a theology that emphasizes human helplessness and the inability to achieve happiness in this world.

8. Barbarians at the Gate

Duration: 31 min

A chain of events set into motion by the Gothic migration of 376 A.D. ultimately leads to the formal end of the western half of the Roman Empire a century later.

• Franks and Goths

Duration: 31 min

An examination of the Gothic kingdoms and the kingdom of the Franks shows that while the deposing of the last Roman emperor in the west might have been significant from a political standpoint, the administrative, cultural, social, and economic impacts were minimal.

• Arthur’s England

Duration: 31 min  

The Anglo-Saxon settlement of England substantially transforms England's language and the god or gods worshipped there. By the 7th and 8th centuries, Irish and Anglo-Saxon monks have become the leading educators and intellectuals of the day.

• Justinian and the Byzantine Empire

Duration: 31 min  

The eastern half of the Roman Empire—known to historians as the Byzantine Empire—survives the Western Empire by roughly a millennium, managing to preserve classical culture and urban life even as its official language passes from Latin to Greek.

• The House of Islam

Duration: 31 min  

An emerging Arab Empire conquers the Persian Empire, large sections of the Byzantine empire, and even parts of continental Europe, including most of the Iberian peninsula. But an Arab raiding party's insignificant defeat provides the key moment in the ascent of Europe's next great dynasty.

• Rise of the Carolingians

Duration: 31 min  

The Carolingians finally depose the last Merovingian king in 751 A.D., bring all of Francia under their control, and even begin to intervene in Italy, reversing the power balance established during the Roman Empire.

• Charlemagne

Duration: 31 min  

The Carolingian Empire reaches its territorial and military high watermark during the very long reign of Charlemagne, who makes the Empire the most powerful Christian state on the European continent and gains for himself the revived title of emperor.

• Carolingian Christianity

Duration: 31 min  

Carolingian rulers are deeply involved in the affairs of the Christian Church, dictating policy, sponsoring missionaries, and supporting ecclesiastical reform in a number of ways.

• The Carolingian Renaissance

Duration: 31 min  

The fear that educational deficiencies were jeopardizing the salvation of souls and interfering with the ability of people to call on God for help drives a century-long period of educational reform known as the Carolingian Renaissance, the impact of which is felt to this day.

• Fury of the Northmen

Duration: 31 min  

Beginning in the 8th century, Scandinavians fan out from their homeland in a diaspora that stretches from Newfoundland to Russia, involving settlement, the forging of new trading networks, and relentless violence.

18. Collapse of the Carolingian Empire

Duration: 31 min  

Discredited by its inability to deal with Viking attacks, the Carolingian dynasty falls prey to battles over succession and its consequent civil wars and ultimately crumbles.

19. The Birth of France and Germany

Duration: 31 min  

The collapse of the Carolingian Empire results in the emergence of the Capetians and Ottonians as the new ruling dynasties in West and East Francia, whose differing paths ultimately reshape them as the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Germany.

• England in the Age of Alfred

Duration: 30 min  

Viking attacks on Britain produce very different results from those on the continent, with large sections of England settled. The ultimate result, after the Norman Conquest of 1066, is that a group of Christianized, French-speaking Viking descendants becomes the ruling class in England.

• Al-Andalus-Islamic Spain

Duration: 31 min  

Islamic Spain becomes one of the most dynamic and developed areas of the continent. Despite the brutality of its high politics and religious restrictions on Jews and Christians, its flourishing economy, trade, and intellectual ferment make it an important center of cultural exchange.

• Carolingian Europe-Gateway to the Middle Ages

Duration: 31 min  

This lecture makes the case that, during the Carolingian period, Europe stepped decisively out of its classical past and into its medieval present.

• Family Life-How Then Became Now

Duration: 31 min  

The family underwent a number of structural changes during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, and these changes illustrate how Roman and Germanic culture fused to become the medieval world.

• Long Shadows and the Dark Ages Revisited

Duration: 32 min  

This final lecture examines how historical research has modified the ideas of Gibbon and Pirenne about the transition from the ancient to the medieval world, particularly as they explain the Roman Empire's demise.