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The Middle Ages 101: Medieval History and Life
Heralded is one the world’s most compelling Church historians, Chris Bellitto transports you into the heart of a strange and wonderful world - the world of medieval Europe.
Explore some of the most powerful theological ideas, economic tensions, and political struggles that shaped Western civilization.
This series traces western European civilization - with detours to the East - from the transformation of the Roman Empire to a thousand-year medieval period that started slowly before 1000, flowered for 300 years, and then declined sharply with the Black Death and social revolts until Constantinople fell in 1453 and Columbus sailed in 1492. Explore Charlemagne's renaissance, agricultural and commercial revolutions, new types of religious life introduced by spiritual masters from Benedict to Francis, dynastic wars, and courtly literature.
You will treasure this course as a timeless resource for understanding the people and events that have shaped faith, art, medicine, literature, and government. Encounter famous historical and literary figures such as Mohammed, Augustine, Richard the Lionhearted, and King Arthur, in their own historical context. You'll understand how the Middle Ages fit within the broader historical timeline of Europe and the rest of the world.
This course promises to delight and amaze you.
Explore some of the most powerful theological ideas, economic tensions, and political struggles that shaped Western civilization.
This series traces western European civilization - with detours to the East - from the transformation of the Roman Empire to a thousand-year medieval period that started slowly before 1000, flowered for 300 years, and then declined sharply with the Black Death and social revolts until Constantinople fell in 1453 and Columbus sailed in 1492. Explore Charlemagne's renaissance, agricultural and commercial revolutions, new types of religious life introduced by spiritual masters from Benedict to Francis, dynastic wars, and courtly literature.
You will treasure this course as a timeless resource for understanding the people and events that have shaped faith, art, medicine, literature, and government. Encounter famous historical and literary figures such as Mohammed, Augustine, Richard the Lionhearted, and King Arthur, in their own historical context. You'll understand how the Middle Ages fit within the broader historical timeline of Europe and the rest of the world.
This course promises to delight and amaze you.
Audiobook
Published September 1, 2011
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37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 7, 2022
An excellent free audio course available through my local library (and apple podcasts!). Bellitto argues against a "fall" of the Roman Empire, he repeatedly includes the Islamic world in a narrative it has often been excluded from, and he resists the label of the Dark Ages. The lectures are 25 minutes a piece, and Bellitto's engaging style of speaking is rather like a radio host. If you want to learn a little more about the Middle Ages, you should start here.
February 10, 2023
Fun course, really fun to listen, certainly going to keep his lessons in mind!
March 30, 2026
As one who has taught Church History before, I am interested in learning more about the Middle Ages, since they play a prominent role in the ongoing development of Christianity. I found these lectures very informative, and learned many interesting facts, as well as connections I hadn't previously known about or made, such as the connection between the Spanish Christians' recovery of Toledo in 1085 and Pope Urban II's call for the first Crusade ten years later. Bellitto also did a great job of contextualizing the events of the Middle Ages into terms easily understandable for the college students who sat through the lectures that make up this audiobook.
Yet, as informative as the lectures were, I felt that Bellitto got some things wrong, especially with regard to the Crusades. Yes, every statement Bellitto made concerning the Crusades was factually true, but he also left out a great deal of other information that puts a completely different cast on the events of the Crusades. For example, he fails to mention that the Byzantine Emperor wrote a letter to Pope Urban II asking for military assistance from his fellow Christians in the Latin West. Then there's the sacking of Constantinople in 1204. While this sacking was a horrific stain on the entire Crusading enterprise and was condemned by the Pope himself, Bellitto fails to mention that prior to the launching of the Fourth Crusade, the entire city of Venice was involved in building the ships that carried the Crusaders from Venice to Constantinople, sinking practically the city's entire treasury into the venture. This means the Venetians wished to see a return on their investment. While this in no way excuses the sacking of Constantinople, it does demonstrate that there was a context behind this sacking, the absence of which makes for a distorted understanding of why the Crusaders sacked Constantinople. Finally, when describing the end stages of the Middle Ages, Bellitto seems to descend into a class warfare narrative, which again, provides too easy an explanation for many of the events that happened in the 1400s and 1500s.
Yet, as informative as the lectures were, I felt that Bellitto got some things wrong, especially with regard to the Crusades. Yes, every statement Bellitto made concerning the Crusades was factually true, but he also left out a great deal of other information that puts a completely different cast on the events of the Crusades. For example, he fails to mention that the Byzantine Emperor wrote a letter to Pope Urban II asking for military assistance from his fellow Christians in the Latin West. Then there's the sacking of Constantinople in 1204. While this sacking was a horrific stain on the entire Crusading enterprise and was condemned by the Pope himself, Bellitto fails to mention that prior to the launching of the Fourth Crusade, the entire city of Venice was involved in building the ships that carried the Crusaders from Venice to Constantinople, sinking practically the city's entire treasury into the venture. This means the Venetians wished to see a return on their investment. While this in no way excuses the sacking of Constantinople, it does demonstrate that there was a context behind this sacking, the absence of which makes for a distorted understanding of why the Crusaders sacked Constantinople. Finally, when describing the end stages of the Middle Ages, Bellitto seems to descend into a class warfare narrative, which again, provides too easy an explanation for many of the events that happened in the 1400s and 1500s.
February 2, 2023
This audiobook consists of lectures that are easy to follow, thanks to the author's compelling delivery style.
That said, the author makes a few inaccuracies and unjustified claims. I will only list a few:
• The author passively claims that life as a Christian under Muslim rule was much better than a Jew or Muslim under Christian rule. He offers no justification for this claim, and it's apparent that his information on Christian and Muslim history in the Middle East is lacking compared to his knowledge about European history.
• He completely ignores the role that Syriac Christians and Jewish translators in the Middle East played in the translation movement. I recommend reading "How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs" to get a much more accurate picture of how Greek knowledge was transmitted to the Latin West.
• His description of how early Islam spread and Islamic doctrines such as Jihad contradicts the historical records and Islam's best scholars living and dead. I recommend reading from someone who specializes in Jihad history and Islamic doctrine to get an objective view unlike the whitewashed image of Islam portrayed in this book.
Overall, this is a good place to start if you're interested in learning about life in the Middle Ages. Yet, it fails to present an objective history of the Middle East and Islam.
That said, the author makes a few inaccuracies and unjustified claims. I will only list a few:
• The author passively claims that life as a Christian under Muslim rule was much better than a Jew or Muslim under Christian rule. He offers no justification for this claim, and it's apparent that his information on Christian and Muslim history in the Middle East is lacking compared to his knowledge about European history.
• He completely ignores the role that Syriac Christians and Jewish translators in the Middle East played in the translation movement. I recommend reading "How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs" to get a much more accurate picture of how Greek knowledge was transmitted to the Latin West.
• His description of how early Islam spread and Islamic doctrines such as Jihad contradicts the historical records and Islam's best scholars living and dead. I recommend reading from someone who specializes in Jihad history and Islamic doctrine to get an objective view unlike the whitewashed image of Islam portrayed in this book.
Overall, this is a good place to start if you're interested in learning about life in the Middle Ages. Yet, it fails to present an objective history of the Middle East and Islam.
September 1, 2023
The Middle Ages 101: Medieval History and Life
By Christopher M. Bellitto
I love history, always have, but reading some books can really put a person to sleep regardless of how strong the interest. This author really made it very interesting and I was eager to hear more! The Middle Ages and Egyptian history is my favorite periods and this covered the basics of Middle Ages. I will have to find more by this author!
By Christopher M. Bellitto
I love history, always have, but reading some books can really put a person to sleep regardless of how strong the interest. This author really made it very interesting and I was eager to hear more! The Middle Ages and Egyptian history is my favorite periods and this covered the basics of Middle Ages. I will have to find more by this author!
September 30, 2023
This is fascinating discourse on the middle ages from the so-called fall of Rome to the Italian Renaissance. The speaker is knowledgeable and unbiased and covers various topics, including the life of the common people, the influence of the Catholic Church, the conflict between Christians, Jews, Muslims and heretics, the Crusades, and the disastrous Black Death. I found this book to be very interesting and informative. It's quite possible that I will be looking for other books by this author.
August 24, 2024
This short audiobook breaking down the key periods of the middle ages and their major differences was incredibly helpful in understanding the time period in Europe. It helped provide a structure of historical context around which other information will fit and color in the corners. For a desirer of this middle age context, not knowing how to separate the differences of the nearly 1000 period, I highly recommend.
February 26, 2023
The author described the Middle Ages in a simplified way that is easy to digest, highly recommended
August 13, 2023
This is an audio book of fairly pedestrian lectures covering the period from 1000 to 1300. I expected more.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews