Aims

The course aims to provide a representative view of the history of the Church in the Middle Ages to enable the student to recognise its principal signs, to know how to use the working instruments in the area and to develop his/her personal, theological judgement, thanks to contact with this history.

Main themes

The course begins with the fall of the Roman Empire and finishes at the end of the15th century. It studies Christianity under the Merovingians and the Carolingians, the expansion of monasticism, the Christianisation of Europe, the Imperial Church, the Gregorian and Clunian Reforms, the birth of the Cistercians, then of the mendicant orders, the rise in feminine piety, the Devotio moderna and the pre-Reformation. The course pays special attention to the daily lives of Christians. It takes special note of the history of the Church in our regions, as well as widening its scope to study the situation of the Eastern Churches.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisite: the use of the book by J. Comby, "Pour lire l'histoire de l'Église," and of documents of the period in question.