HIST 305: Later Middle Ages: Europe 1000-1450

The Later Middle Ages examines the story of a backward part of the world. By the year 1000, Europe was a collection of fractious and fragile governments, a scattered population, few towns (with mostly barter economies) and frequent wars. Poor cousins to the magnificent civilizations of Asia and Africa, nevertheless Europeans, in the space of a few hundred years, forged a civilization that more than any other has been able to impose its culture on the rest of the planet. History 305 seeks to explain this by close analysis of original document sand historiographical analysis.