HIST 3006 – Medieval Religious Life

HIST 3006A – Medieval Religious Life
Fall 2025

Instructor: Hicham Boutaleb

Course Description

This course explores religious, cultural, and intellectual life in Europe and the Mediterranean during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, emphasizing interactions among Western Christians (Franks/ifranj), Muslims (Saracens), and Romans (called “Greeks” by medieval Westerners, “Byzantines” by modern scholars). Iberia serves as a central site of cultural and intellectual exchange, demonstrating how knowledge, ideas, music, and artistic forms circulated across linguistic, religious, and geographic boundaries. Attention will be paid to ethnic-social acculturation, philosophy, and the arts as vehicles of cultural transfer—including instruments such as the oud/lute and other Mideast instruments.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Explain the broad political, religious, and social dynamics of Muslim-Christianinteraction in 11th- and 12th-century Europe and the Mediterranean.

• Become familiar with the processes of cultural and intellectual exchange acrossreligious and geographic boundaries.

• Analyze primary and secondary sources from the medieval Mediterranean,including texts, music, and visual media.

• Critically evaluate historiographical debates and interrogate academic, popular,and media representations of the players and periods.