The Late Middle Ages

by Philip Daileader

Course Lecture Titles
1. Late Middle Ages-Rebirth, Waning, Calamity?
2. Philip the Fair versus Boniface VIII
3. Fall of the Templars and the Avignon Papacy
4. The Great Papal Schism
5. The Hundred Years War, Part 1
6. The Hundred Years War, Part 2
7. The Black Death, Part 1
8. The Black Death, Part 2
9. Revolt in Town and Country
10. William Ockham
11. John Wycliffe and the Lollards
12. Jan Hus and the Hussite Rebellion
13. Witchcraft
14. Christine de Pizan and Catherine of Siena
15. Gunpowder
16. The Printing Press
17. Renaissance Humanism, Part 1
18. Renaissance Humanism, Part 2
19. The Fall of the Byzantine Empire
20. Ferdinand and Isabella
21. The Spanish Inquisition
22. The Age of Exploration
23. Columbus and the Columbian Exchange
24. When Did the Middle Ages End?



Late Middle Ages
(24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)
Course No. 8296
Taught by Philip Daileader
The College of William and Mary
Ph.D., Harvard University

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Medieval, Historical, European History, Medieval History

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Ph.D., Harvard University,
The College of William and Mary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_D...

Reviews

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I’ve fully completed Philip Daileader Middle Ages lecture series, from Early, High to now Late Middle Ages. Overall, these three-lecture series are highly enjoyable and is worth experiencing. Here, Philip Daileader attempts to balance the approach from his two prior lecture series being a blend of narrative history and thematic history. The most fascinating element would be the political landscape of that era, it’s just so fascinating how certain technologies fundamentally changed the Middle Ages. Most of the information tackled was completely new to me, so all of it was informative and entertaining. I would say the narrative history like Hundred Year War was probably him at his weakest, simply due to the format limitation. That said a lot of interesting information was relayed. An Example 100-Year War not really being a 100-Year War. Learning Joan of Arc and some other nuggets. There are so many lectures that stood out to me, but here Spanish Inquisition left me in disbelief. It was just a crazy period, and the "trials" makes me question how this movement was even approved.

In Conclusion, I had a lot of fun with this Great Course lecture series. It's a shame only Europe was included, however, it's understandable. I do wish each set was longer as the subject is so vast and complex, but it does make me want to dig further into it. Lastly, I wished Philip knew he would be filming a trilogy worth of lectures for the Middle Ages, so he structures all of them more smoothly. Anyways I would recommend it.

[Robert Wiblin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prof Daileader is entertaining, stays focused on important issues, makes the key take-away lessons quite memorable, and has a great sense of humour about his subject. His three-part series on the early, high and late middle ages are all worth listening to.

[Ray LaManna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This finishes my study of the Middle Ages...1000-1500. There is a lot to learn here.

[Eero Ringmäe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lecture series completed the full Philip Daileader Middle Ages experience for me - I had previously listened to The Early Middle Ages and The High Middle Ages.

Honestly - I postponed listening for the last lecture by one day not to finish the audiobook so soon and looked for more lectures by prof Daileader in Audible after finishing

I love listening to The Great Courses lectures during my daily commutes.

Philip Daileader is a very good presenter - balances between serious facts and humour, explains the background and context. The summaries at the end of lectures are very useful to re-cap.

The content is well balanced as well - it's about kings and popes, but also about the peasants and merchants, women and everyday life.

I enjoyed "The Early Middle Ages" the most, since I knew very little about the era and the lectures shone light on why "the dark ages" were not so dark after all.

If anything, there was a loot of content about popes and papacy and would have loved to listen a little about the fringes of Europe - Scandinavia, Baltics, etc as well.

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final part of professor Daileader's lectures about Western Europe during Middle Ages is as enjoyable and accessible as the two sets that I've listened to previously. All three sets are nicely structured, quite informative and made very accessible by lecturer's light tone and occasional charming jokes that will make you grunt because of their "nerdiness".

What I especially liked about the lectures is that professor Daileader did a very good job when selecting the topics that he chooses to present to his audience. It is obvious that he made a conscious effort to cover wide and varied area, thus ensuring that also listeners familiar with the period did learn something new from him. In my particular case, Daileader's recount of political events, while certainly entertaining and fun to listen to, didn't actually contribute all that much to my previous knowledge of the period. But on the other hand, his lectures about religion and social aspects of Middle Ages were absolutely fascinating for me.

Overall, all three sets deserve highest praise for their content, presentation and perhaps somewhat surprisingly, also their entertainment value. The only serious criticism I have (and yes, I am aware that I repeat myself) is directed at lecturer's almost exclusive focus on Western Europe. This, in my opinion, grave and rather inexcusable omission makes Daileader's otherwise so vivid picture of Middle Ages sadly incomplete. I can't help but feel that it's such a shame, since those lectures are such an excellent effort in all other respects.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Daileader's insights on the Late Middle Ages - particularly when he discussed the social and cultural implications of historical events. I am completely sold on The Great Courses Lecture Series!

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like medieval history, you couldn't have a better lecturer. I enjoyed the entire 3-volume series.

[Brett Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this final of three lecture series, things start to get wild in Europe in an age of contradictions. The 1347-48 Black Death killed perhaps one-half of the European population in the space of four years, the Hundred Years War happened, three popes existed at once, the Peasants Revolt in 1381 finally happened, and Humanism was born with its emphasis on a human capacity for goodness, creativity, and happiness achieved not just in the next world through salvation but in this world through right human action as the Renaissance has a fullblast love fest with ancient Greece. There’s still a hangover of religious bickering about “what God thinks,” and Scholastic theologians such as William Ockham, John Wycliffe, and Jan Hus ponder the nature of God and God’s methods for saving humanity, while Humanist artists and authors proclaim humanity itself to be the proper object of study. Humanists of the Italian Renaissance went stratospheric on art as Rome’s continuation in the Byzantine Empire collapsed to the Ottomans and Columbus discovered the New World. The same period that gave rise to the printing press in the first information revolution also gave us the Spanish Inquisition. It’s a transition from superstition and church corruption to reason and permission in attitude about humans and nature that sets the stage for the Scientific Revolution just around the corner. Just as pathogens from Europe are poised to wipe out New World inhabitants, decimating millions, a positive era unfolds in Europe with elements of superstition clinging to the mind but ready to be rid of them.

[Abdulla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally a pretty good overview of a very broad period. A good balance between narrative of political/military events, but also broad descriptions of the era, as well as important figures.

Certainly very Eurocentric, though this would be expected considering the identification of the era known as the "Middle Ages" is itself a European invention, as the professor discusses.

I have to say, I found the last lecture frustrating and I vehemently disagree with the professor's argument that the Middle Ages didn't really end until the 18th and 19th centuries. Sure, there were elements of the Middle Ages that continued long after that period, but that's true of any historical era. Just because there's another major period of change in the 18th and 19th centuries, doesn't mean we have to stretch the Middle Ages until that point. Usually the interim is taken to constitute a distinct transitional period, often called the Early-Modern period. It just seems silly to redefine what are ultimately somewhat arbitrary historical designations, whose main purpose is social convention. If I mention the Middle Ages, nobody thinks of the American Revolution.

Other than that the course is a solid overview.

[Luka · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review of this will be pretty much the same as the review of "High middle ages" - they are produced by the same author ( i havent yet listened to his early middle ages or read other books) . This audiobook was less appealing since it was more focused on nobles and beacuse of that even more focused on western europe. It should have been called The Late Middle Ages of Western europe or Mainstream Late Middle Ages or something like that.

That said his lectures are great, very well organized with some great nerdy jokes. His comparisons are amazing and he brings up facts that are very interesting and seem to me not well known. Interesting how he doesnt think middle ages end with Columbus(or with whatever) but that they last well into 19th century. I must say i leaned a lot but if I was familiar with some mainstream middle age knowledge i would probably have skipped quite a few lectures.

[Xiaoluobo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, pretty in-depth look at the whole of the Middle Ages. I also like how he would let the listener know when he was going into something controversial, and why it was controversial, then let's you decide on what's "correct".

Only complaint would be the way he uses the word "and" as filler. Ex: "The king, at this point, had some troubles, ...aaaaaaand it was going to be difficult to get out of it." It's annoying and nearly constant. Impossible to unhear it once you notice it. However, on a scale of 1 to 10 for annoyance, IMO it's around a 5, so not enough to ruin the experience in any way.

If you want an overview of the Middle Ages that has enough meat to be worth your while, but never gets slow or tedious, that's also incredibly well-researched and unbiased, this is for you.

[Bill Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have listened to this entire series on the Early, High and Late Middle Ages by Philip Daileader, so I must have liked it. It was very infomative. I am not an expert on the Middle Ages, but certainly know much about them. This part of the series, The Late Middle Ages, starts with problems faced by the papacy and includes the Hundred Years War, the Black Death, a lot on religious leaders, the Spanish Inquisition and some on technological changes. Much of it is depressing and I am glad I live in the 21st century. The last events covered include the Spanish and Portugese world exploration and Daileader's argument for when he thinks the Middle Ages really ended.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Daileader is a solid choice as a teacher. He knows his subject, communicates it well and has a sense of humor. Jumping to the Bucholz Western Civ 2 great course immediately afterwards to learn about modern times reminds me that there is another and rare level of instructors who are truly brilliant and boy howdy are modern times more interesting than the middle ages.

If you want to learn about the middle ages, the three Daileader courses are quite good. I prefer them to the later great courses on the same period.

[Samantha wickedshizuku Tolleson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't so crazy about the professor for this topic. He just sounded so exhausted, but he was knowledgeable. Especially the Spanish Inquisition.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Great courses series is compelling!

I learned a lot... 100 years wars... NOT 100 Years long!

"Dunce", the term, originates from Humanists snark regarding the followers of Scholastic scholar, John Duns Scotus!

This author also has a interesting take on when the Middle Ages REALLY ended. :)

[Gregg Lines · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another great series of lectures. I liked how this particular series connected the previous periods and the early Renaissance and put everything in context. A lot of variety, and I enjoyed looking at different elements of society. I also appreciated the analysis of how we approach the material and changing thought about the middle ages overtime.

[Linda_G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ve really enjoyed this 3 volume series on the Middle Ages. It contained a mix of familiar history and not so familiar history. The professor organizes the material that had new elements new insights for me. Time well spent.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting. I listened to the audiobook and his voice was easy to listen to. Unfortunately, it didn't quite meet my expectations but that's probably my fault. I wanted to get a sense of what average daily life was like. Hearing about the history of the papacy was not quite my cup of tea.

[Balazs · Rating 4 out of 5]

The historiographic overview (lect. 1.) and the argument for the Middle Ages lasting to the great industrial, political and economic paradigm shift between 1750 to 1850 was interesting. Otherwise it mostly consisted of self-contained tid-bits. Still, worth the time spent on it.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good continuation of Daileader's lecture series on the High Middle Ages, and I have much the same to say about this course as about the previous one: Solid stuff, but the lecturer's "full names/titles every time a person is mentioned" habit continued to get on my nerves.

[Jeff Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting and educational. The professor has a wonderful lecture style. I gained great insight into the time period and how we got to today. I’m looking forward to his other two early and high Middle Ages courses.

[Nefertari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. A fairly bland overview of some of the big events of the age. Only memorable part was his claim that the Middle Ages didn’t end until 1850 or so in some places.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable listen, all lectures engaging.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great conclusion to this three part series. Highly recommend all three, very entertaining.

[Nora MacLean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Philip Daileader is an engaging narrator. I loved this series of lectures. It is well structured and very informative.

[Enrico · Rating 5 out of 5]

This 3-part series about the Middle Ages teached me a lot and before listening to these I wasn't really that interested in the Middle Ages, but this course made it pretty interesting.

[Howard Altschuler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good course on the topic and good lecturer.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid continuation of Philip Daileader's Great Courses series on the middle ages. Many lectures are worth revisiting. Would recommend.

[Nick Heim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best Great courses series I've ever listened to.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love these bite-size lectures. Yep, I said that. Brings my historical fiction reads to life in new ways