The Modern Scholar: The Medieval World, Part II: Society, Economy, and Culture
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The Modern Scholar: The Medieval World, Part II: Society, Economy, and Culture
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Narrated by:
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Thomas Madden
About this listen
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.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2009 Thomas Madden (P)2009 Recorded BooksWhat listeners say about The Modern Scholar: The Medieval World, Part II: Society, Economy, and Culture
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Clare
- 22-02-16
Full of insight & interest
There is a vast amount of information here. It's always interesting & well presented. Definitely worth listening to
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Tone
- 09-06-23
Some Good stuff but too focused on France
There's a lot of interesting material in this course but it's far from comprehensive because the professor seems to have a peculiar bias to restricting everything to Germany and France.
Spain & Italy and England are just as central to medieval Europe as France and Germany but he completely ignores Spain & Italy (post the Roman Empire) and has a derogatory view of England for some reason.
The Moorish invasion of Spain is slso a rich and fascinating part of medieval Europe and one of its most iconic features but he barely mentions it, presumably because he has little in depth interest in the region.
likewise Florence the city where Accounting, credit, money lending and early banking began in Europe.
This is completely glossed over.
As is the Silk Road trade coming into Venice and Marco Polo. Again not even mentioned.
He's obviously spent time in Germany and France and unfortunately he seems to think they are the only country where the Middle Ages had anything of interest
This thinking leads to Many incorrect statements.
He says Paris is the most important university and the oldest in the world.
He doesn't even mention which university but hes wrong anyway. Oxford university is the oldest university in the world followed by Coimbra in Portugal and Bologna in Italy.
He also mentions Germans in the fall of Rome.
There were Germanic speaking peoples but that's a modern description. The proper term is Teutonic peoples, Germany wasn't formed as a state until the modern ages. The Teutonic peoples came from a much wider region than today's Germany. He just refers to the Goths & Visigoths as Germans. Again this is not accurate.
He also conflates the Holy Roman Empire with Germany again. This is also incorrect. The Empire was fluid but included Northern Italy, Today's Austria, Bohemia, Prussia etc.
This obsession with Germany and France becomes highly irritating and dilutes the confidence in the professor's knowledge.
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