Humanitas: High & Late Middle Ages Program

Unlike most contemporary approaches to history, which reflect the fashions and biases of the fleeting present, Humanitas offers students something more substantial. Following C.S. Lewis’ stout defense of reading primary sources in “On the Reading of Old Books,” Humanitas will help “persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but it is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.” Geared towards history, humanities, and humane letters courses, the Humanitas series offers a continuous, unfolding narrative of Western Civilization through a collection of carefully curated primary source documents.

Full program includes:

Humanitas: High & Late Middle Ages

Humanitas High & Late Middle Ages Books 1 and 2 begin with the establishment of feudal society following the Norman Conquest and trace the growing tension between Church and state while the Crusades bring Europeans to the Holy Lands. The Black Death ravages Europe, the Peasants’ Revolt and Hundred Years’ War disrupt social stability, and Constantinople eventually falls. Yet the medieval mind and imagination is resilient and fruitful. Scholasticism flourishes, religious life witnesses the advent of mysticism and new forms of lay piety, and the courtly love tradition produces some of the best literature the world has ever known.

The 50 chapters include:

• Accounts of historical events and figures such as the Battle of Hastings, the Crusades, Thomas Becket, and Joan of Arc
• Writings by central figures such as Anselm, Hugh of Saint-Victor, Aquinas, Bonaventure, Julian of Norwich, and Hildegard of Bingen
• Records of early explorers such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and Felix Fabri
• The writings of literary masters from across Europe: Marie de France, Dante, the authors of the York Mystery Plays, Chaucer, Petrarch, and Shakespeare

Humanitas: High & Late Middle Ages Teacher's Guide PDF

Humanitas High & Late Middle Ages Teacher's Guide PDF offers teachers further resources for understanding the texts included in Humanitas High & Late Middle Ages Books 1 and 2.

The guide supplies teachers with:

• lesson objectives and plans
• teacher's tips that point to specific portions of the source document, providing additional context for the source documents and suggesting points of discussion
• additional notes that will help teachers show students how the various source documents relate to each other
• questions for discussion and writing (taken from the student edition)