The Great Course Plus – The Medieval Legacy 2022-9

Updated August 10, 2026 15.5 GB

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Description

The Medieval Legacy. This course examines the broad and lasting impact of this era on the contemporary world. The course includes thirty-six lectures by Professor Carol Symes, a distinguished scholar from the University of Illinois, who analyzes the overt and covert connections between the medieval world and the world today. Participants learn how to recognize these influences in modern life and understand their meaning. The course topics cover both the positive and valuable aspects of this legacy that we wish to preserve, as well as its dark and challenging aspects. For example, the historical roots of anti-Semitism as a phenomenon that emerged specifically in the Middle Ages and its destructive stereotypes are examined. It also explores the ideas, claims, and perceptions about the medieval past that have had a profound impact on modern culture and society. The course shows how the past has been used to justify extreme nationalism, wars, territorial expansionism and racial supremacist movements over the past two centuries. Professor Symes argues that many of our deep and often unconscious understandings of concepts such as identity, tradition, order and what we consider normal and unchangeable are part of this medieval legacy. This rigorous and challenging examination reveals the relevance and meaning of the history of this period for a modern audience.

What you will learn

Electoral Government and Organized Labor: Trace the origins of the forms of elected government we now take for granted to the public assemblies and councils that emerged in many medieval societies. See how medieval trade guilds evolved and served as precursors to today’s labor unions, both in the support they provided and the social dialogue they promoted.
Love and Chivalry: Delve into the powerful and enduring culture of chivalry, whose moral ideals and codes of bravery still resonate strongly in literature and popular culture. See how these ideals were embodied in medieval epics, chivalric romances, song, and storytelling, often with the support and authorship of women. And see how and why these codes were embraced by warlike knights and perpetuated by nobility into the 20th century.
The Scientific Method: Learn why, contrary to popular belief, the scientific method originated in the Middle Ages, not the early modern period. Study the work of great medieval scientists, including Ibn al-Haytham, Avicenna, Ockham, and Copernicus. Consider their integral contributions to the inductive-deductive method and empirical science that gave us the modern world.
Roles of Medieval Women: Explore the significant and often forgotten contributions of women to the fabric of medieval society. Learn about pioneering medieval writers Christiane de Pisan, Margery Kempe, and Hildegard von Bingen. Discover the lost legacy of medieval female artists and learn about Joan of Arc, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and other women who played prominent roles in politics and warfare.
And…

This course is suitable for people who:

They want to learn about the various factors that led to the medieval concept of “holy war.”
They intend to trace the origins of elected government back to the Middle Ages, to the phenomenon of councils, general assemblies, and the Nordic tradition of the “Thing” (general assembly).
Interested in examining the social, political, and economic factors that led to the emergence of hospitals and prisons as prominent civic institutions in the Middle Ages.
They want to learn about the symbolism of colors and other class markers in medieval clothing and the increasing use of silk, velvet, and cotton.
They tend to overestimate the contributions of medievalist writers such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.