HIST 346 - Medieval Popular Culture: Europe from 1300 to 1600

3 Credit(s)

This course examines popular culture in Central and Western Europe during the late Middle Ages. It briefly surveys the historical context of the period 1300–1600, focusing on the assumptions of the elite, literate establishment. It then considers elements of popular belief, notions of cosmic order and disorder, the customs of the reversible world (carnival), medieval attitudes toward sexuality, and manifestations of anticlericalism. In examining these aspects of the lives of non-elite, “ordinary” people, it pays special attention to the relationship between high and low culture, the use of imagery for the communication of ideas to the illiterate lower classes, and the subversive dimension of popular culture.