7. Mythbusting the Middle Ages

Goals for this week (October 18th/ 20th)

On Wednesday, we will explore the topic of medieval religion.

On Friday, we will discuss ideas of medieval identity. We will think about how gender and sexuality, as well as honour and reputation defined medieval ideas of individuality and community.

We will also introduce the students to the Reacting to the Past game framework.

Read/Watch/Listen

Ames, Christine Caldwell. “Medieval Religious, Religions, Religion.” History compass 10, no. 4 (2012): 334–352.

During the Fall Term break, students will be responsible for reading and making sense of their character sheet and reading the beginning of the Game Manual (chapter 1). In the week after break, we will speak about the history of Byzantium and answer any preliminary questions you have about the game.

Practice

(Optional): Create a literature note and a permanent note on the Christine Ames's reading. The topic of the permanent note should be, "What is medieval religion?" or some smaller subtopic on that theme.

Going Further

On Perusall, I have added two folders - one entitled Crusades and the other East Roman Empire (Byzantium) filled with key primary and secondary sources to help understand the events of the Fourth Crusade. For bonus points, annotate any of the sources in those folders to learn more about the events covered in the game.