HI101 History 500-1500. Introduction to Norwegian and International history

Contents and structure

The subject provides an overview of key features of the historical development in Europe in the period from approx. 500 to approx. 1500. The subject provides an overview of various political, economic, religious and cultural changes from late antiquity to the Reformation. Key keywords for the subject are war and peace, political culture and state development, religion and communication, economy and society. Within the political sphere, the emphasis is on the development from the collapse of the Roman Empire in Western Europe to the emergence of a number of national kingdoms in the High and Late Middle Ages, e.g. in England, France, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. From a cultural and religious perspective, the focus is on how the Catholic core areas on the continent went from a time of crisis in the 8th and 9th centuries, to Western Christianity expanding after the year 1000 in the north and east, e.g. in Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe. Here it will also be natural to look at the contact between Western Christendom and the two neighboring civilizations, namely Eastern Christendom (Byzantium) and the Islamic world. Here, in particular, the papal church, investiture disputes, crusades, Christianization and state formation processes are key keywords. Within society and economy, the central theme is feudal structures and trade networks in the Early and High Middle Ages, while there is a focus on the social, cultural and demographic changes as a result of epidemics, wars and climatic changes in Europe in the Late Middle Ages.

Course reductions

• SA503 - Frå antikken til den franske revolusjon. Verda fram til 1800 - Reduction: 10 studypoints
• SA600 - Historie før 1700: Frå antikken til den vitskaplege revolusjonen - Reduction: 10 studypoints