What you must do in this unit
- Read chapters 10 and 11 in the textbook.
- Read my notes on the Late Middle Ages and watch my short video on the Black Death.
- Check out Professor Campbell's video Was The Black Death B.S.?
- Study the Questions to Consider and the Key Terms for the unit.
- Post (or respond) with your thoughts/ideas/comments about this unit's reading in the discussion forum (5 points).
What you can do in this unit
- Listen to some further information about this unit as a mp3 file. You can also read the information as a txt file.
- Carrie Griffith (fall 2017) created this story map on The Crusades.
Some videos that you can watch for this unit
- Crusades (sometimes you can find this online; try the Khan Academy lectures)
- The Crusades - Pilgrimage or Holy War?: Crash Course World
- History Channel - The Plague (sometimes you can find this online, maybe here)
- History's Turning Points - AD 1347 The Black Death (sometimes you can find this online)
- Chartres Cathedral
- Cathedral is a great documentary done by David Macauley. It explains all the different aspects of the building of a medieval cathedral. Watch it, if you can find it somewhere.
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a relevant video for this unit of the course. Send the title of the video, the URL and a brief explanation of why you find the video interesting and applicable to the material that is being studied in this unit.
Extra Credit Options
- For up to 50 points of extra credit, read Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (only those tales in the Dover Thrift paperback edition: the General Prologue, Knight's Tale, Miller's Prologue, Miller's Tale, Wife of Bath's Prologue and the Tale of the Wife of Bath) and submit the Chaucer paper.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Cantar 1 of the Cid poem and write a one-page paper in which you comment on Christian-Muslim relations in the Cid poem. The Robert Southey translation from 1637 is also available.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Dante's Inferno and comment upon his use of allegory and the medieval conception of the universe. Please be sure to cite any sources that you use.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, watch the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Considering that the movie is a satirical comedy, write a one-, or two-page paper concerning the aspects of life in the Middle Ages that were well portrayed in the film. There is no better movie that examines some of the bizarre features of life in the Middle Ages.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, in a one-page paper, summarize the causes and outcomes of the Hundred Years' War. Please be sure to cite any sources that you use.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, if you are really daring, read the full text of the Transcript of the Trial of Joan of Arc, and write a short paper in which you assess what was really going on at the trial.
- For up to 5 points of extra credit, answer the Chaucer study sheet questions.
- For extra credit, please suggest a relevant website for this unit of the course. Send your instructor the title of the site, the URL and a brief explanation why you find the information interesting and applicable to the material being studied this unit.
Unit Learning Objectives
- Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to (1) identify some of the achievements of medieval culture, (2) assess the impact of the Black Plague on medieval society and (3) note some of the lasting institutions of the Middle Ages, such as the university.