A Free Yale Course on Medieval History: 700 Years in 22 Lectures

In 22 lectures, Yale historian Paul Freedman takes you on a 700 year tour of medieval history. Moving from 284–1000 AD, this free online course covers “the conversion of Europe to Christianity, the fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Islam and the Arabs, the ‘Dark Ages,’ Charlemagne and the Carolingian renaissance, and the Viking and Hungarian invasions.” And let’s not forget St. Augustine and the “Splendor of Byzantium.”

You can stream all of the lectures above. Or also find them on YouTube, iTunes and this Yale website.

The Early Middle Ages, 284–1000 will be added to our list of Free History Courses, a subset of our meta collection, 1,700 Free Online Courses from Top Universities. Below, we’ve added a list of the key texts used in the course:

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Comments (16)
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  • Wendy Burgess says:

    Do these courses count towards a degree?

  • Azay Delay says:

    What book does one recommend along with Paul Freedman’s course on medieval history? I’d like to follow up with something written. Please advise.

  • Evangeline Englert says:

    I donate monthly from my checking account.

  • Barbara Hess says:

    Dr Feedman is a superb lecturer and is quite engaging. Excellent use of vocabulary and knowledge.

  • Jodi Sedlarczuk says:

    How and when can I start

  • Sunita Jayakumar says:

    I would like to enroll in the above course.

  • Jack Redden says:

    Is the subsequent course on the high Middle Ages also available online? This first course is fascinating — a wonderful professor.

  • Daniel Seligman says:

    A thorough and engaging set of lectures. Professor Freedman’s expertise and enthusiasm make the early Middle Ages a joy to study.

  • Berislav Kangrga says:

    This is a great idea that we can watch live teaching.
    Professor has very interesting model of teaching. All the best from Serbia.
    Berislav Kangrga, a history teacher

  • ATTY. RENATO M. ESMALE says:

    I am a Filipino. I am very interested to listen as history is my interest.

    How can I join?

    Is this Yale University?

    Thank you very much.

    My contact number is 09195391119.

    Truly yours,

    Atty. Renato M. Esmale

  • mary lee says:

    There is nothing on the arch of Constantine that depicts messages in the sky.

  • Margaret Gadke says:

    When does it start?

  • Jan Spiljard says:

    As this course has been made a free online course, I would like to start doing it.

    I have looked through the course materials and found almost everything. What I seem to be missing is the readings for each lecture. As I understand it you read parts from at least from the key text as preparation for a lecture and possibly some extra reading stuff.

    I see a reading list per lecture, but that seems to be a list of optional additional reading stuff on the lecture, not anything that must be read to prepare for a lecture. Is there such a list.

    Thanks and regards
    jan spiljard

  • Jan Spiljard says:

    Never mind.

    Found it.

  • Abdelouadoud El Omrani says:

    No medieval history is reliable and comprehensive as long as it skips (very intentionally and against all scientific methodologies) the 700 years of that brilliant European history crafted by Arabs in Andalusia

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