The Many Dramas of the Midi: Perspectives on Southern France

Day: Thursdays

Dates: September 12 – October 17, 2024

Time: 9:30am – 11:30am

Location: Carleton University

Price: $150+HST

Parking Info & Room Number will be sent by email 1-2 days prior to the lecture date

**This series is not recorded**

Overview

The South of France, colloquially known as Le Midi, is one of the best-loved regions of Europe. These lectures will explore some of the more salient historical influences that have shaped the region. The lectures are topical, not chronological; aside from the usual kings, nobility and wars, equal weight will be given to broad economic and social themes.

Topics

Week 1 – The Context: the Mediterranean world, the economy, including agriculture, trade and plagues. The variety of human societies as they changed over time.

Week 2 –  Political: from Rome to Louis XIV, including concepts of sovereignty, linkages and rivalries and local power centres. The long struggle between Spain and France.

Week 3  – England and the Hundred Years War: Gascony, the quintessential medieval polity. The continuation of economic linkages after England’s defeat. The fictional Gascons.

Week 4 –  A tradition of religious (cultural / political) dissidence)? I. The Cathar heresy and the Albigensian Crusade; the Inquisition and the persistence of proscribed belief.

Week 5 – . A tradition of religious (cultural / political dissidence)? II. Protestantism, religious wars and the fight for the Crown of France; resistance to royal absolutism.

Week 6 – Society and Culture: some realities of the imagined, romantic history of the South. Consideration of touchstones such as the troubadours, courtly love and legends of the Cathars.

Lecturer Biography

Michael Dawson holds a PhD in European History from the University of Toronto. As a career Foreign Service Officer, he served in New Delhi, Moscow, Washington and at the Headquarters of the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs. In Ottawa, his principal files included Canada-USA bilateral relations, international security issues including NATO policy and arms control, and Canada’s support for the Northern Irish peace process.