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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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38 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 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!
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 - 8 of 8 reviews