Why would almost one thousand years of European History -- from the beginning of the Fifth Century CE to the end of the Fourteenth -- matter to us? Why would a period of history ravaged by invaders, lacking in institutions to provide law and order, influenced profoundly by Christianity and its dogmas; an age of superstition, lonely monasteries, pilgrimages and Crusades; an age of knights errant who made war their profession and chivalry their escape from brutality; an age of feudalism fed on servitude and economic disaster, which finally ended with the incipient rebirth of towns, commerce and universities, be of interest to us? Should we look into this darkness out of simple curiosity? Or should we at least ponder and question, how is it possible that the creativity, splendor, brilliance of the human mind which exploded during the Greek and Roman times disappeared during the Middle Ages. Can we, sophisticated inhabitants of Planet Earth in the Age of Technology and AI, learn something from this period of forgotten history? Or should we just read about it for entertainment, wondering occasionally how time after time empires and civilizations have disappeared under a cloud of darkness. 

Note: This course will not meet on Monday, October 13 and will resume the following the Monday.