This course is designed to engage students in conversations about particular perspectives on the history of a selected nation, region, people, culture, institution, or historical phenomenon as specified by the respective instructor. By taking this course, students will come to understand, and develop an appreciation for, some combination of: the origins and evolution of the people, cultures, and/or political, economic, and/or social institutions of a particular region(s) of the world. They may also explore how human encounters shaped individual and collective identities and the complex political, economic, and social orders of the region/nation/communities under study. Instructors and subject will vary.

This course is devoted to the history of the Iberian Peninsula, home to modern Spain and Portugal, during the Middle Ages. The simultaneous presence of large communities of Christians, Jews and Muslims, and the influence they had on one another, distinguishes Iberia from (most of) the rest of medieval Europe. That phenomenon will be a major theme throughout the course. In chronological terms, it begins with the conquest of the peninsula by armies from North Africa in 711, establishing Muslim rule over the majority of the region. It then examines the era of Muslim ascendancy after 711, before turning to the small Christian kingdoms in the far north. In the eleventh century, political and cultural initiative shifted in their direction, and they achieved predominance on both counts by the dawn of the fourteenth century. The last part of the course takes us from 1300 until the defeat of Granada, the last Muslim realm, by the Kingdom of Castile in 1492. That same year, the Jewish population of Castile was expelled by royal command, bringing the religious diversity of medieval Spain to an end. There is no textbook for the course, though there are two shorter texts you will need to purchase or borrow. All other readings will be provided through bCourses.

Repeat Rules

Requirements class fulfills