January
Week 1
16 T Time, History, and Medieval History: Course Intro
- Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft, pp. 17-24 (Moodle)
18 TH Constantine the Great: the First Christian Emperor of Rome
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 50-75 (Part I, ch. 3)
- Eusebius, Life of Constantine, Book I, Chpts. XXVIII, XXIX, XXX, XXXI:
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/vita-constantine.asp
Week 2
23 T The Fall of Rome: The End of Civilization?
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, Part I, ch. 4
- Edward Gibbon on the Fall of Rome: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/gibbon-fall.asp
25 TH Germanic Migrations
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 111-129
- Geary, Readings in Medieval History, pp. 58-59 (Tacitus, Germania, par. 1, 2, 4, 5), pp. 60-63
(par. 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23)
Week 3
30 T The Germans: Cultural Identities and Ethnic Patters
- Patrick Geary, “Europe of Nations or the Nations of Europe: Origin Myths Past and Present” (2013): pp. 36-49 (Moodle)
- Geary, Readings in Medieval History, p. 69 (Jordanes, History of the Goths, par. IV), pp. 76-78 (par. XXI, XXIV, XXV, XXVI)
February
1 TH The Franks
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 130-140
- Geary, Readings in Medieval History, pp. 105-108 (Salic Law, Titles I, II, XIII, XIX, XLI); p. 111 (Title LXII); pp. 112-113
(Bishops Remigius of Reims and Avitus of Vienne, Letters to Clovis); p. 114 ff. (Gregory of Tours, Histories, par. 12, 27)
Week 4
6 T The Lombards
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 140-149
- Paul the Deacon, History of the Lombards, Book 1, Chpts: VIII, IX; Book 2, Chpts: from VI to IX, and XII (Moodle)
8 TH The Monastery and the Monks
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 170-187 (Part II, ch. 8)
- Geary, Readings in Medieval History, pp. 136 ff. (St. Benedict, Rules for Monasteries, Prologue, Ch. I, II, V, VI, VIII, XXII, XXXIX,
XL, LIII, LXIV)
Week 5
13 T Insular and Celtic Cultures
- Geary, Readings in Medieval History, pp. 191-194 (Bede, History of the English Church and People, Book Three, Ch. XXV);
pp. 215-216 (Theodore, Penitential, Preface, Book 1, Ch. I); pp. 218-219 (Theodore, Ch. V)
15 TH The Byzantine Civilization
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 255-278; 298-317
- The Byzantine Legacy: https://www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/
- Geary, The "History" of Putin: The Origins of Ethnic Nationalism in Europe
F 16 Make-up day for Thursday, April 25
--- TV documentary screening and discussion
Week 6
20 T Charlemagne: The Father of Europe
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 375-404 (Part IV, ch. 16)
- Geary, Readings in Medieval History, pp. 233 ff. (Einhard, The Life of Charlemagne, Ch. 3, 6, 7, 8, 15, 17, 18, 19,
22, 24, 25, 28, 29)
22 TH The Carolingian 'Renaissance'
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 405-413 (Part IV, ch. 17)
- Geary, Readings in Medieval History, pp. 247 ff. (Selected Capitularies: Herstal, 779; Concerning the Saxons, 797;
Charles the Great on the study of Literature; De villis)
Book Chapter Review Due on 23 February, 11:59PM
February 26-March 1 (Mon-Fri) Spring Break
March
Week 7
5 T The Transition to the Post-Carolingian World
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 427-444 (Part IV, ch. 18) (pp. 444-452: optional)
- Geary, Readings in Medieval History, pp. 267 ff (Duoda, Handbook for her Son, Ch. 1, 4, 5, 10, 11)
7 TH The "Dark Ages"
- Richard Hodges, "The Not-So-Dark Ages"
- Documentary screening and discussion
Week 8
12 T Feudalism and Social Trifunctionalism
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 508-528 (Part IV, ch. 21)
- Adalbero of Laon, Poem for King Robert, selections (Moodle)
14 TH Cluny: The Most Powerful Medieval Abbey
- Geary, Readings in Medieval History, pp. 286-292 (Cluniac Charters)
Take-Home Midterm Exam, due on 15 March, 11:59PM
Week 9
19 T The Violent World of the Knights: the Peace and the Truce of God Movements
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 529-543 (Part IV, ch. 22) (pp. 543-551: optional)
- Reading the Middle Ages, ed. by Barbara H. Rosenwein, document 4.5 ‘The Peace of God' (Moodle)
21 TH The World of Magic and Superstitions
- Aron Gurevich, Medieval Popular Culture, selections (Moodle)
- Burchard of Worms, Decree, ‘On superstitions’ (Moodle)
Week 10
26 T Heresy and Heretics
- Heresies of the High Middle Ages, ed. by Wakefield and Evans, selections (Moodle)
28 TH Vikings and Viking Raids
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 150-169
- Geary, Readings in Medieval History, pp. 182-188 (Bede, History of the English Church and People, Book One, Chpts. XXIII,
XXV, XXX, XXXII)
April
Week 11
2 T The Islamic Civilization
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 279-289 (Part III, ch. 12); 318-319 (Part III, ch.14); 324-330 (Part III, ch. 14); 338-347
(Part III, ch. 14)
- Al-Qabisi, On Teachers and Students; Al-Farabi, The Perfect State; in Rosenwein (ed.) Reading the Middle Ages (Moodle)
4 TH The "Rebirth" of the Year 1000
- Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome, pp. 552-564 (Ch. 23: Conclusions); R. Landes, The White Mantle of Churches, in Idem, ed.
by H. Nigel (2003) (Moodle)
- Ralph Glaber, "On the First Millenium": https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/glaber-1000.asp
Week 12
9 T Universal Political Powers and the Investiture Controversy
- Joseph H. Lynch and Phillip C. Adamo, The Medieval Church: A Brief History, pp. 156-169 (“The Eleventh-Century Reforms”)
- Gregory VII Dictatus Papae: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/g7-dictpap.asp
- Henry IV, Letter to Gregory VII: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/henry4-to-g7a.asp
- Gregory VII, Lay Investitures Forbidden: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/g7-reform2.asp
11 TH The First Crusade, Western Christians, and the "Others"
- The First Crusaders, ed. by Brian Tierney, selections
- Cord J. Whitaker, "Race-ing the Dragon: The Middle Ages, Race, and Trippin' into the Future", Postmedieval: A Journal of
Medieval Cultural Studies 6 (2015): 3-11
Paper Due: 12 April, 11:59PM
Week 13
16 T The Crusader States, Jerusalem, and the Knights Templar
- John France, The Crusades and The Expansion of Catholic Christendom (2006) selections (Moodle)
- Reading the Middle Ages, ed. by Rosenwein, doc. 5.11 (Ibn al-Athir, The First Crusade) (Moodle); Bernard of
Clairvaux, In Praise of the New Knighthood, selections (Moodle)
18 TH Medieval Rome
- Maya Maskarinec, City of Saints: Rebuilding Rome in the Early Middle Ages, selections (Moodle)
Week 14
23 T Final Discussion: A Long Middle Ages
- Jacques Le Goff, Must We Divide History Into Periods? selected pp. (Moodle)
25 TH NO CLASS
Final Exam