The Early Middle Ages

By: Philip Daileader, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Philip Daileader

Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

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 Courses

Bright Light on the Dark Ages

Brilliant! Philip Daileader is a magnificent storyteller with a wry sense of humor and a splendid vocabulary. I planned to listen to one chapter per day, but became quickly addicted to the charming flow of his narration, and ended up listening to six chapters per day. The story moves smoothly while covering a huge scope, CE 650 until 1000. It starts from pagan philosophies and state ritual of Late Antiquity, then moves into the moral ruminations of Augustine. A digestible and concise two-chapter discussion of Augustine's thought frames the end of consensus paganism, as Christianity gains critical mass.

Daileader guides the listener through the swirling masses of Barbarian invaders [also see included maps for tribal names and mobility]. His masterful explanation of the Viking attacks that used the river systems of Europe was, for me, a highlight of the course. Also, Daileader delivers a continuous flow of rich insights into religious culture and language-change in context of the Christianization of northern Europe. The eye-opening snippet from New Testament in Saxon is itself worth the price of the course!

Presentation Style: Academic treatment of the existing evidence is fair-handed. Daileader's speech is clear and precise in every word pronounced. Descriptions are free of jargon and pitched to undergraduates, making the ideas accessible to any educated adult. His professorial tone of voice follows a steady cadence, with enough variation to stay engaging. In each chapter, I found myself laughing at his gentle jokes about human foibles. The listener can feel his sympathy for the real conditions of life in the Dark Ages.

I have already purchased Daileader's next series, the High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages. 100% recommended.

One of the three best courses I ever took

Was a history major in college but we barely touched on the Middle Ages. Yet our world becomes more and more medieval every day. If you want to under how the plague effects society, or dogma influences public discourse, or the unintended consequences of fighting wars in the middle east this time period is the place to look.

Don’t be scared off by the period

As Prof Daileader notes, this is an unpopular period among historians. But he does a great job presenting what is known about the key groups and events that follow the so-called “fall” of the Roman Empire. He’s interesting and actually quite hilarious too.

Stimulating

Good insights. Puts together a broad view across many political entities. Makes revealing connections in enticing ways.

Excellent lectures

A real good account of an age of whom we know to little. It casts nere light upon the decline of the Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe.

Well Done

Very nice survey of the period between the ending of the Roman Empire and beginnings of Europe.

very broad, not as detailed as would have liked.

fine if you know nothing of the time, otherwise find more detailed lectures. thanks for making a 15 word minimum audible

Lectures, not a book

It’s great snippets of the latter fall of the Roman Empire. The guy’s voice is a bit grating, but the information is great.

informative and fun!

if you love to learn about ancient life you'll love this course, I didn't know what to expect with early middle ages and I got so much out of it. 100% recomend!

Early early Middle Ages, background and ... yawns.

Did Professor Philip Daileader do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

This is a very typical "history course", the kind we all know from school, if we had a teacher that really knew his topic, was interested, loved the theme ... and just couldn't wake us up in time before class ended.

The pro is: Mr. Daileader knows his ways around, he presents a very stringent, logical line of historic events that "follow one another with some believable interconnections".
At first I was irritated because he started his journey way before what we usually call "middle ages" (around 300 AD), but that soon made enough sense, as he laid out the grounds for the political (and to some degree religious) developments throughout the "medieval world".
Also on the pro side: By concentrating fully on the "hero characters", by strictly following global events, Mr. Daileader manages to explain the rather complex and divided historical lines in a "graspable package".

The con is: Aside from the very unusual presentation (it sounds as if Mr. Daileader recorded the sessions after long and very hard working days, only wishing to get to bed as soon as possible and barely being able to concentrate on the notes from which he, quite audible, pun intended, reads) it's exactly the concentration on the global political view. There is nearly no "every day life" in this lecture, there is no "why did the people in the world do what the people in the world did", there is no "where do we get our information from", no "can we believe this view on history, since we clearly only have data from victorious sides", no doubt, no insight, no "if you want to know more about this, read xyz", no "As abc points out - and you can find more about this by looking at ...". It is all a giant block of "this is how it went. Period."
Sure, there are some very carefully placed "we don't know exactly" lines, but at the end of the course the audience is left alone with no clue where to go for more in depth detail, or some hints at what might have been completely different than presented.

Now, I do understand that evidence is lacking for a lot of events covered in this course. But archaeology is constantly making (slow) progress, views are getting changed, data is questioned. Mr. Daileader ignores this, strictly following his notes, not once speaking freely and "in the here and now".
This is the sad side of those cliche teachers: They seem to know so much, that any kind of doubt or careful questioning bounces off from them and the fact that we only have very shady ideas of "how it all came together" seems but a distraction to them.

Still: What you can get from this course, content-wise, is well worth the time spent listening to it. If ... you speed up playback :-)

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Someone get that gentleman a coffee. A strong one, please.

The constant (and I mean constant) yawning and stressing of every second "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd" or "thhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaatt" (followed by another suppressed yawn) or a break, while Mr. Daileader regathered his thoughts made concentrating on the GREAT content so unnecessarily difficult ... speeding up playback a tad helped, but required even more concentration to follow the lectures.