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The Birth of Europe – Mondays, 7:00PM
Spring Quarter (10 weeks): April 1 – June 3, 2024
Europe Expands, Silk Road, Marco Polo
The Birth of Europe studies the period from the Fall of Rome around 500 AD to the Renaissance, which begins to develop in the late 1300s; from Justinian (c. 500) to Chaucer (1400). We see the first new kingdoms appear in Northern Europe, the great new libraries, the monasteries, the cathedrals. And in the 1300s new international connections appear: the Silk Road, Marco Polo, and travelers all over Europe as recorded in the great Canterbury Tales. (Please see syllabus.)
William H. Fredlund, the Director of the Institute, obtained his B.A. and M.A. from UCLA, where he specialized in European history and art history. He studied in Italy on a Fulbright Fellowship and completed a double Ph.D. in history and humanities at Stanford, specializing in Renaissance Italy. Dr. Fredlund has taught for UCLA, the University of Florence, Stanford, and UCSC Extension.
