Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper Full suit of plate armor

Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper and the suit of armor were made at around the same time, in the 1490s. They were also made in the same place: Milan. Contrary to the popular perception of the Middle Ages as a time of "knights in shining armor", full plate armor was only introduced at the end of the period (and even then, only the very richest nobles could afford it). And contrary to the popular belief that the Middle Ages ended when the Renaissance began, the Renaissance actually took place during part of the Middle Ages. The Renaissance is traditionally said to begin around 1300 AD in Italy. Many scholars view the Middle Ages as ending sometime around 1500, but we will discuss all that later.

Other Myths to Bust

Unlike portrayals of the Middle Ages in popular culture, in this course you will discover the reality of medieval people who:

Made abstract art more than 1000 years before Picasso.
Were multi-cultural.
Had effective medical remedies and made scientific discoveries.
Bathed. (This includes the vikings.)

Meet the Medieval People

So how do we move beyond popular perceptions and discover the Middle Ages? For that, we have to turn to the primary sources, which we will discuss in Module 1.