Exploring the fall of the Roman Empire to the Black Death and the birth of the Renaissance, this course examines the world of the European Middle Ages c. 500 to c. 1500 CE. This was an age of knights, castles, powerful popes, and crusades – but also of rebellious peasants, religious dissenters, and independent women who had no need of a knight in shining armor. The course will also place Europe in its global context by looking at influences from the medieval civilizations of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.