We designed this book to support lower-division or general studies courses for the history and culture of the period 500–1500. This book is not a world civilizations textbook; instead, it is a history from a global perspective, showing connections and comparisons among peoples across political boundaries and geography, across religions and languages, and at the intersections of various economic systems. Through this book we introduce the rich and exciting events, artifacts, documents, literature, and art of the period, and offer students from diverse places a chance to encounter their heritage and consider it alongside other cultures. This is not medieval history as it is traditionally presented – we hope it will show students how they, no matter their backgrounds, have something at stake in the study of the past.
The authors teach many sections of this type of course each year in History, English, and Art History departments. For many of our students, a course such as this will be the first, and often only, view they have of premodern interconnections and transcultural networks that inform the present day. For many of our immigrant and refugee students, it is often the first, and maybe only, time they will see the artifacts and history of their native cultures in a formal classroom setting. Some of these students will be the next generation of scholars, others will move on to degrees outside the humanities, and our hope is that they all will be challenged to think creatively and expansively about the role history continues to play in their lives and professions.
Theoretical frameworks grow and shift; individual instructors will always have the delight and responsibility of providing fresh ideas. To support those efforts, we provide frequent theory boxes that address contemporary debates. This book also has a companion website with additional resources, new discoveries, and up-to-date information. History is all about formulating questions, and our students will ask different questions from the ones we ask them. Our job is to spark their curiosity and provide critical thinking tools to carry them forward.
Global Medieval Contexts 500–500: Connections and Comparisons has three sections: 500–900, 900–1300, and 1300–1500. Occasionally, evidence provided in a chapter will be earlier or later than the period designated for that specific section – this flexibility is necessary to provide context. In each of the three sections, the chapters are organized by a general topic: religion, economies, politics, and society. The chapters can be used in chronological order or by general topic; for instance, an instructor may want to follow economic change over the period by having students read the three chapters that focus on economies: chapters 2, 6, and 10. But in all cases, we intend the chapters to interlink and reference each other. In keeping with our interdisciplinary teaching, each chapter has two sections: the first provides a historical overview and the second offers cultural expressions of those themes and events.
The introduction, “Orientation,” is meant to “re-orient” students’ understanding of time, geography, and the cosmos as perceived by different cultures of the period. (We also use the word orientation as a demonstration of how a word in one context is positive, but in another has negative connotations of racial prejudice.) Overall, the book covers eight major geographical regions, although not every region will appear in each chapter. In the chapter introduction, we indicate which regions, cultures, and trends will be used as examples of the chapter theme. The primary regions are Mesoamerica, North and sub-Saharan Africa, the Mediterranean basin, western and eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent (and Indian Ocean), East Asia, and Oceania. In order to make the material lively and relevant, we find it most effective to begin with themes such as trade, worship, warfare, survival, exploration, and migration, and work from there to map geographies and comparative chronologies.
This text is best used alongside a sampling of primary sources in translation. At the beginning of each chapter section, we include a category called “Evidence,” which contains a select list of primary sources. In almost every case, there are inexpensive versions of these texts or images of these objects accessible online. At the end of each chapter, we offer sample research and discussion questions along with additional reading. We know that instructors will follow their own expertise in choosing materials to round out the course. If you do not see a topic you need, we suggest forming a research question. Instructors will also develop their own assignments, but one suggestion is to have each student choose a culture or region to follow throughout the course, creating a record of its religious, economic, political, and social history according to the themes offered in the book. Students could present their work at the end of the semester, providing their peers with knowledge about that specific culture or geographic area. Students could be guided to cultures or regions with lesser representation in the book.
A primary challenge we faced in writing this book is that terminology is undergoing much-needed and rapid change. As scholars around the world work to put the histories of conquered, suppressed, and even lost cultures on a par with those of the European colonizers, we know long-used terms, methods, and assumptions will be challenged and displaced. Take, for example, two words in the title: medieval and global. As we know, “medieval” is particularly tied to European history and not necessarily applicable to the major events of non-European cultures nor to the way those cultures defined historical time. However, “medieval” is pervasive in Western scholarship and has been applied by many cultures to their own history. It is also a term prevalent in internet searches for the period, and for most students reading this textbook in English, it conjures up the centuries under discussion. Until there is consensus on an alternative, we use the term because it is familiar to students for the period 500–1500. The use of “global” is also under construction; we use it here because it communicates to students that the text provides information about people from many parts of the globe.
We are hyper-conscious of terminology used comfortably and unselfconsciously for centuries. For example, the use of Western in the previous paragraph and its “opposite” Eastern are shorthand for differentiating distinct cultures, but what are these cultures? The terms are reductive, inaccurate, and formed by racist Euro-superiority. East and West change with the vantage point. For instance, the famous Chinese text Journey to the West records the trials of a monk going west to learn more of the ancient teachings of the Buddha. The “west” he seeks is India; from a European perspective, India is not the West.
Flawed as they are, until there is widespread agreement on new terms that help us negotiate and discuss the topic of global history and culture from 500 to 1500, we use, with humility, medieval, global, and sometimes West and East, because otherwise we would risk the unintended consequence of stifling or silencing discussion entirely. We expect that terms and words will be under constant discussion and scrutiny in the classroom. We hope that you will have frank discussions with your students about which terms are most useful and appropriate; you may decide as a class not to use a term that we have used here. To that end, we have also framed theoretical questions in each chapter. These “theory boxes” are indicated by a question title (“Is it wrong to recover and move the human remains and sacred objects of 'Indigenous peoples'? or “How is new technology changing 'maritime archeology'?) and can be used to begin discussions on the important issues facing scholars today.
In writing Global Medieval Contexts, we faced another language challenge: every instructor of world material cannot know all the languages from which the information is derived. We can feel uncomfortable and even illegitimate about interpreting translations, but if we are caught up in that quandary, we cannot offer students a wide-lens perspective that takes into account the constant and vibrant transcultural and translingual environments in which people lived from 500 to 1500. The primary goal of this book is to provide an introduction to the period and, as such, we stand on the shoulders of scholars who spend and have spent their lives decoding texts. By offering an introduction informed by this wealth of scholarship, maybe we will inspire the next generation to study ancient languages, thus preserving and amplifying these voices in the historical record.
So too, we know that interpretations of text-bearing objects and images will evolve. Some of these objects and images accompany texts, others are informed by textual sources, and still others are more imaginative or evocative of many possibilities. When introducing and examining works of art, we offer information for students to understand the medium, contexts – religious, economic, political, social – and the figures or events depicted. We will not be able to decode the purposes or potential meaning of every aspect of a work or its longer visual tradition, but students can explore further through class discussions, recommended readings, and our companion website.
Yet another linguistic challenge is determining how to spell words from languages other than English. We have tried to use those spellings scholars use most commonly in the present day, but even then, there is variation. We trust that readers will be flexible about spelling conventions. In addition, since students reading in English will not understand diacritics for all the languages represented nor understand their use in the period 500–1500, we do not use diacritical marks. We want names and terms to be searchable so that students and instructors can most easily find information on topics that interest them. As for pronunciation, a guide seemed too involved for this text, especially when students and instructors can look to the internet for spoken representations.
We are aware that many of our examples are still weighted toward European history and culture, that we use terms that are actively being debated, and that we cannot translate all languages and visual imagery for ourselves. We believe this to be true of many instructors teaching this type of introductory course. But by beginning with recognizable constructs, we capture students’ interest and have the opportunity to extend their knowledge to other ideas, cultures, and geographies. Like you, we are always listening to our diverse student populations and incorporating their historic “pasts” into what we teach. We cannot do it all but can do something to advance a global view of the period and pass on our enthusiasm to the next generation of students, wherever they are from and whatever languages they know.
We expect that instructors will expand and add topics according to their own research and their student audiences. What we provide is foundational content on which current debates can be layered. We suggest connections and comparisons to welcome new students and potential scholars into those conversations.