Medieval Overview

They are the Dark Ages, because most people are in the dark about the period.

I love the Middle Ages, especially the High Middle Ages. It was a gradual recovery after the fall of Rome and then a reinvention of society around the church, the feudal political model and Gothic architecture and heavily armored knights and tall castles. The sword and the lance and the battleaxe were still the primary weapons of warfare. It was a very romantic and mysterious time. Most news was sung by traveling troubadours. Imagine if news anchors were required to sing their stories and were paid in beer and wine!

Ryan's lecture series is simply outstanding.  The clear structure, uncluttered presentation style, beautiful, HD pictures make it a pleasure to watch;  his balanced, theological-historical discourse easy to follow, his voice pleasantly modulated.  He answers the question of what caused the reformation to occur without taking sides, but considers many of the contributing factors: tribal, religious, philosophical sufficiently deeply to be informative, choosing the right facts to proper understanding without being confusing.  The reformation and its antecedents is indeed a complex and emotive subject, much open to interpretation, misuse and misunderstanding.  Ryan steers a clear path through time and the various strata of emerging and waning societies and forces, adding layer upon layer of knowledge, avoiding repetition, needless detail or, most pleasing of all, dramatic hyperbole.  This is far and away the best series on the middle ages, its precursors and aftermath that I have found and is an excellent adjunct to reading more specific works and visiting the sites themselves.

The identity of Europe (the West) is shaped by the Middle Ages.   Understanding the period = a comprehensive education.   Absolutely engrossing time. 

thank you for publishing this fantastic lecture.

I wish I could have sat under your teachings when I was a young Bible College student. However, I am now learning a lot from these lectures. I have studied Church History for more than 40 years but you bring a clarity of thought that is so refreshing and I would say even inspirational. Thank you so much. Fr. Allen+

you are great......sir......you have allowed me a wonderful wonderful jewel of knowledge for free.thank you

The Crusades were a noble endeavor.

The
Asian Cultures were intellectually superior during this time, during this troubled christian
time the evil crusades.

Dark ages tossing the good and bad and replacing it with supreme ignorance

Was Luther a Dominican, if so, what did they think of him? I can't help notice his resemblance and uniform to that to Fr. Gregory Hesse.

I really enjoy your lectures but I like to spice them up with a bit of classical music. Perhaps you could edit music in your lectures which match a bit with the period you are discussing. Just my two cents <3

Your videos are outstanding and I enjoy them a lot. Having said that, I think this is the one I enjoyed the less

IMHO, the Middle Ages are a period that has to be studied and valued by itself (the same as with other historical period). I see this approach in others of your videos, such as the ones about Merovingians or Charlemagne.

However, this video seems to see the Middle Ages mostly from the point of view of the Reformation, a later historical development. The Middle Ages is important because there were precedents to Luther (headwaters of the Reformation), because there were things Luther reacted against or because there are things that are not as strange to the followers of Luther as the ones in early Church.

It is like explaining that the Empire Roman was important because it was the inspiration for the Carolingian Empire. Or it's like the Reformation was the central point of history (I thought Jesus had this role but I see it was Luther) and everything had to be assessed using it as the measure rule.

Besides this point, I think your videos are top-notch. I have watched about 10 of them but I am looking forward to watching them all.