Discussion Post
• Discuss the impact of technology on Medieval society and culture and the impact of society and culture on the development of Medieval technology.
• Choose any of the questions asked by Hans Peter Broedel in the Doing History section of "The Medieval Period" chapter, and answer it, tying your response to other areas of The Medieval Period chapter.
• The term Middle Ages was invented during the Renaissance in order to heap opprobrium on what was seen as a sterile age in which government had degenerated into feudal anarchy, religion into superstition, and scholarship into pedantic quibbles of schoolmen over texts that they scarcely understood. First, explore why people rediscovering the works of classical Greece and Rome saw the Middle Ages as sterile; and then state whether or not that was a fair assessment, providing examples to support your view.
• The intellectual history of the later Middle Ages has traditionally been described as decadent, autumnal, waning. Yet recently a few scholars have asserted that the period between 1250-1450 was one of innovation, change, possibility. Which view is more accurate and why? Medievalists tend to dismiss this argument out of hand. Take a fresh look at this argument and consider the extent to which the Middle Ages was an sterile age, merely passing on diluted versions of the heritage of antiquity, and the extent to which it contributed new and vital elements to the European tradition.
• Describe the agricultural technology used by Medieval Europeans and West Africans. In your opinion which was more effective (or even more advanced)? Use examples from the reading to support your answer.
The response must include a reference list. Using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, double-space, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.