A chronological survey from 900, with the foundation of Cluny by the Duke of Aquitaine, the last waves of Vikings, and the decline and end of the Carolingian Empire, up to 1200, with the Battle of Bouvines, the more formal organization of the first universities and the construction of the Gothic cathedrals. The main question will be: what happens when there is no real central power? Why did the term “Feudalism,” now nicknamed the F word by medievalists, was judged inappropriate to describe the situation?
A chronological survey from 900, with the foundation of Cluny by the Duke of Aquitaine, the last waves of Vikings, and the decline and end of the Carolingian Empire, up to 1200, with the Battle of Bouvines, the more formal organization of the first universities and the construction of the Gothic cathedrals. The main question will be: what happens when there is no real central power? Why did the term “Feudalism,” now nicknamed the F word by medievalists, was judged inappropriate to describe the situation?
