The Late Middle Ages

By: Philip Daileader, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Philip Daileader

Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

The Late Middle Ages - the two centuries from c. 1300 to c. 1500 - might seem like a distant era, but students of history are still trying to reach a consensus about how it should be interpreted. Was it an era of calamity or rebirth? Was it still clearly medieval or the period in which humanity took its first decisive steps into modernity?

These 24 provocative lectures introduce you to the age's major events, personalities, and developments, and arms you with the essentials you need to form your own ideas about this age of extremes - an age that, according to Professor Daileader, "experiences disasters and tragedies of such magnitude that those who survive them cannot remember the like, and doubt that subsequent generations will be capable of believing their descriptions.

"You'll look at the Black Death, the carnage of frequent wars, and the religious turmoil we associate with the Middle Ages." But you'll also look at the beginning of the intellectual and cultural movement known as Humanism, which planted the seeds of modernity. Humanism's precepts, which hearkened back to the moral inspiration inherent in classical artistic values, humans have an enormous capacity for goodness, for creativity, even for the achievement of happiness.

But these were hardly the only forces that tug modern-day historians in multiple directions. The Middle Ages was also a period when the persisting legacy of knights, serfs, and castles coexisted with the cannons and muskets newly made possible by gunpowder. With so many contradictions, it's no wonder that historians have differed widely on how to judge this era-debating even when it ended and modernity began.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2007 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2007 The Great Courses

Enlightening and Entertaining

Professor Daileader’s Middle Ages trilogy is a tour de force that enlightens and entertains. I now know that the “Dark Ages” were not so dark, did not end so long ago, and have shaped our modern world in undeniable ways. Perhaps best is his devilish sense of humor. More than a few times, I had to stop and try to curtail spasms of laughter. Thank you Dr. Daileader!

Terrific

I have read all of Professor Daileader courses and all are outstanding. Highly recommended.Don’t miss any of them ,

Bite sized history

Daileader does a good job of splitting the history of the late middle ages into bit sized chunks, moving through his lectures both topically and chronologically.

I listened to all three of his lecture series on the middle ages, and all were of high quality.

Good Survey!

An informative presentation of the subject. A good starting point for further study and research.

Neither nasty, brutsh, nor short

Daileader' course is enjoyable, elegant, and an appropriate length.
Daileader is enthusiastic about the subject and is a pleasure to listen to.
I appreciated the thematic layout of the content, but with regular refrences to the events happening around it.
I feel like I learnt a lot, and his contriversial opinion of the end date of the Middle Ages is very thought provoking.

Enjoyable and informative.

This lecturer brings the characters with their strengths and struggles to life. He helps the listener experiance what life was like for people as they struggled to survive the times.

Fantastic lecture

I bought this during the second half of my world of the middle ages class and it was a great supplement to the information I received in class

Good way to learn more about subject

covers subject thoroughly without being boring. easy to listen to. would recommend the entire series

THE BEST !

Prof. Daileader is THE-BEST lecturer ever. I listened to all of his lectures multiple times and I never tire of them. I wish he would publish more courses. He’s engaging, funny and very knowledgeable. Thank you

Interesting and occasionally funny

I love this professor’s lectures. They have taught me so much about the Middle Ages, and they are occasionally funny in a very dry way. More from Daileader please!