The Early Middle Ages
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The Early Middle Ages
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Narrated by:
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Philip Daileader
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Written by:
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Philip Daileader
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The Great Courses
About this listen
The Early Middle Ages - the years from A.D. 650 to 1000 - were crucial to Europe's future social and political development. These 24 lectures trace a journey from Scandinavia across northern and central Europe to the farthest reaches of the Byzantine and Islamic empires, providing an exciting new look an era often simply called the "Dark Ages."
Given the period's dismal reputation and its temporal remoteness from the 21st century, you'll be surprised to learn about some of the most challenging questions historians have ever had to tackle: Why did the Roman Empire fall? Why did the ancient world give way to the medieval world? Why did Christian monotheism become the dominant religion in Europe? You'll meet some of the era's exciting figures, such as St. Augustine and Justinian, and you'll consider the extent to which the historical realities of King Arthur and Charlemagne match up to the legends that have become attached to their names. You'll also look at the era's effect on the Vikings, the rise of the Carolingians, and the golden age of Islamic rule in Spain.
Professor Daileader also explores the contrasting historical theories offered by two extremely influential historians: Edward Gibbon, the English author of the monumental The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, whose explanations closely followed those of the Roman moralists of the 4th and 5th centuries; and Henri Pirenne, the Belgian thinker who injected a newfound emphasis on social and especially economic factors into the analysis of history.
You'll see why the era belies its reputation as dark and dismal, but you'll come away with a new appreciation for this once-lost era.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2004 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2004 The Great CoursesWhat listeners say about The Early Middle Ages
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- amelie
- 2021-02-24
Great listen
I found this topic very interesting and realized i didn't know much about this time period apart from the Viking part which I had learned from another audiobook. It was interesting to see the French and English side of the events and understand how all of those groups/cultures interacted with each others.
The narrator does have some weird habits when speaking but you get use to it after a while.
He goes further than explaining what happened, but digs into the why it happened and what were the consequences to said events,
He is very knowledgable of his subject and clearly passionate about it, which makes it interesting for us!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2019-12-19
Excellent!
I wish my history teacher had been this great at story telling. Excellent content, excellent narration and great sense of humor.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- David Michael Sidhu
- 2021-02-20
Great!
This is everything I wanted in this course. It was an engaging overview of the period that felt detailed but also broad. Great voice as well.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- PaladinPhil
- 2019-02-02
Great Background
learning the history of the early medieval era and the end of the Roman Empire is really important I think. A good lecture on the facts and good discussion of theories about the fall of the Roman Empire and rise of Europe.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2019-11-11
Great course, great prof!
The content is very good and exactly what you'd expect for this kind of thing.
The only reason I gave 4 stars for performance is because the narrator is infrequently is a little distracting. Otherwise he is passionate and engaging throughout.
Well worth it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anthony Fairclough
- 2019-06-15
Excellent overview of Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages
Very informative, well read, and a great introduction to the period in question. I very much appreciated both the overall structure of the material, as well as the structure given in each lecture, especially the recap conclusions. I look forward to Prof. Daileader's other lectures.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anne Forget
- 2019-04-05
A fascinating lecture
The professor managed to weave an interesting history together about disparate parts of the Roman Empire, and how this civilization evolved and changed from the late antiquity to the early middle ages. Turns out that 476 AD was kind of a meaningless year, overall.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Megan
- 2024-03-12
Riveting!
Prof Daileader is a delight. I very much enjoyed this comprehensive and fascinating overview of a misunderstood period.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Daphne D
- 2020-01-04
Helpful overview
This set of lectures is easy to listen to and follow. Provides a helpful overview of this period of western history.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- amydoodledawn
- 2019-11-29
I found this very accessible and interesting
The great course covered a broad range of topics within the time of the early middle ages. I found it very informative, the only criticism I have is that the narrator/professor sounded like he had indigestion all the time- perhaps he could benefit from an antacid.
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