New Online Course: The Myth of the Dark Ages
Learn how to see the past a bit better - a more real medieval world
Modern Medieval
by David M. Perry and Matthew Gabriele
(from Matt)
Hi everyone! This will be quick, but I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be doing a brand-new online course, partnering with the fabled 92nd Y in NYC.
The Myth of the Dark Ages: Seeing a New Medieval World
4 sessions: Thursdays 12-1pm
October 9, October 16, October 23, November 6
(I’m out of town October 30, so no class that day)
Live Zoom with Q&A
But all sessions are recorded and can be watched later
ALL ARE WELCOME!
Full description:
The word “medieval” often conjures images of the “Dark Ages”—centuries of ignorance, superstition, stasis, savagery, and poor hygiene. Beyond that, the “darkness” of medieval Europe is often taken to mean that the period is fundamentally unknowable. This characterization has historically allowed people in subsequent centuries to fill that supposedly “blank space” with their own preoccupations, forcing the medieval world to become a kind of playground for religious reformers in the early modern world, for 19th-century colonialists, and modern white supremacists, but also for contemporary fantasy authors and technologists.
Prof. Matthew Gabriele has spent his career researching not just the medieval world but our modern attraction (or revulsion!) towards the period.
In these four lectures and discussions, participants will discover where the idea of the “dark ages” comes from, what hold that term has on the imagination, and then explore what the medieval world was actually like. This 1,000-year period was filled with both horrors and wonders - a time in which an elephant could travel from Cameroon to Germany in the 9th century, when debates about Aristotle that began in Baghdad could be continued in Paris, but also when violence between Christians, Muslims, and Jews could seem overwhelming, and grain carts from China following an army west would bring a global pandemic that would decimate the populations of Asia, Africa, and Europe. In other words, these supposed “Dark Ages” are eminently knowable - filled with moments that upend our assumptions and demonstrate the period’s complexity.
This should be a lot of fun. I hope to see some of you there!
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