History V57.0111-001 – V65.0111-001
THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES – CULTURE, LEADERSHIP, & COMMUNITY
IN THE EARLY MEDIEVAL WEST (300-1050 C.E.)
Instructor:
Email:
Telephone:
Office:
Michael Stoller
michael.stoller@nyu.edu
(212) 998-2566
1M-13 Bobst Library
Office Hours:
Class:
Location:
By Appointment
TR 9:30-10:45
TAs:
This course explores the emergence of Western European civilization from the tumultuous
centuries following the collapse of the Roman commonwealth, as the peoples of the West forged
a new way of life, weaving together the remnants of Greco-Roman antiquity, the culture and
institutions of Europe’s Germanic invaders, and the religious assumptions of Western
Christianity. By the millennial year 1000, this “crucible of Europe” would yield the fundamental
elements of what historians often call “the medieval synthesis,” a new world that would define
much of the character of Europe for the millennium to come.
Requirements:
There will be a mid-term and a final examination, and each student will write two short essays.
The mid-term examination will cover all material in the class up to that date. The final exam will
cover the entire span of the course. The two examinations will each represent 25% of the final
grade, and each essay will count for 10%, with participation in discussion in the recitation
sections forming the last 30%. Each week in recitation one student will be asked to make a brief
presentation on the primary source readings for the week to initiate discussion of those texts.
There may also be periodic quizzes in the recitation sessions.
Each of the two essays will be 5-6 pages in length and will be a close reading of one of the
primary source texts assigned among the weekly readings. Students will be expected to provide a
careful discussion of the text they have chosen, its historical significance and what it tells us
about the particular historical phenomena to which it relates. This is not a research paper but
rather a close reading and discussion of a text based on a student’s understanding of the subject
and analysis of the document.
Students are strongly encourage to visit the instructor during office hours or to make an
appointment, if office hours are not convenient, to discuss and questions they may have or to talk
about their plans for the two essays.
Important dates:
September 25: First Essay Due
October 16: Mid-Term Examination
November 20: Second Essay Due
REQUIRED READINGS
Print Resources:
All print resources are available for purchase at the NYU Bookstore and are on Reserve at
Bobst Library.
Augustine of Hippo, Confessions. Translator Henry Chadwick. (Oxford World Classics Series).
Oxford University Press, 1998.
The Bible – Any unabridged edition will do. The Bookstore has copies of the New Oxford
Annotated Bible on hand.
Roger Collins, Early Medieval Europe, 300-1000, 2nd edition. Palgrave, 1999.
William Cook & Ronald B. Herzman, The Medieval World View: An Introduction. 2nd edition.
Oxford University Press, 2004.
Einhard & Notker the Stammerer, Two Lives of Charlemagne. Translator Lewis Thorpe.
Penguin, 1969.
F.L. Ganshof, Feudalism. University of Toronto Press, 1996.
Tacitus, Germania, Hard Press, 2006.
Online Resources:
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook.html Links to the IAHS will be provided in the weekly readings.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html - Links to the IMS
will be provided below in the weekly readings.
Blackboard Resources:
The following items have been provided on the course Blackboard site under “Course
Resources:”
Maps of Europe in the Early Middle Ages
Genealogies of the Merovingian, Carolingian, Capetian and Saxon Dynasties
CLASS & READINGS SCHEDULE
SEPTEMBER 2-4:
The Classical Inheritance – The Legacy of Greece & Rome
Read:
Cook & Herzman, Chapter 2 – “The Classical Heritage”
Cicero, On Friendship (Internet Ancient History Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/cicero-friendship.html
Epictetus, The Enchiridion (eBooks@Adelaide):
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/mirror/classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html
SEPTEMBER 9-11:
The Christian Inheritance – The Emerging Church & its Doctrine
Read:
Cook & Herzman, Chapters 1-3
The Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 1 & 2 Samuel, Job, Daniel,
Matthew, John, First Corinthians, Revelation
Tertullian, On the Flesh of Christ (The Tertullian Project):
http://www.tertullian.org/anf/anf03/anf03-39.htm#P9237_2537879
Eusebius, The Conversion of Constantine (Internet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/conv-const.html
SEPTEMBER 16-18:
The Christian Inheritance – The Dawn of Christian Philosophy
Read:
Cook & Herzman, Chapter 4
Augustine of Hippo, Confessions - all
SEPTEMBER 23-25:
The Christian Inheritance – Monastic Culture
Read:
Cook & Herzman, Chapter 6
John Cassian, Institutes of the Coenobia, transl. Edgar C.S. Gibson – the Preface:
http://www.osb.org/lectio/cassian/inst/instpref.html#pref
Benedict of Nursia, The Rule, transl. Boniface Verheyen:
http://www.kansasmonks.org/RuleOfStBenedict.html#ch1
SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 2:
The Crisis of Classical Antiquity & the Collapse of Rome
Read:
Collins, Chapters 1-6
Ammianus Marcellinus, History, XIV.16 – “The Luxury of the Rich in Rome” (Internet
Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/ammianus-history14.html
Procopius of Caearea, History of the Wars, III.3-7, transl. H.B. Dewing – “Gaiseric and the
Vandal Conquest of North Africa” (Internet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/procopius-vandals.html
OCTOBER 7-9:
The Germanic Legacy
Read:
Tacitus, Germania – all
OCTOBER 16: MID-TERM EXAMINATION
OCTOBER 21-23:
The Barbarian Migrations & the Emergence of a New Europe
Read:
Collins, Chapter 7
Jordanes, The Origins and Deeds of the Goths, transl. Charles C. Mierow (University of
Calgary):
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html#III
Theoderic the Ostrogoth, Selected Letters (Internet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/theodoric1.html
OCTOBER 28-30:
Rome, the Irish & the Christian Re-conversion of Europe
Read:
Collins, Chapter 14
The Monk Jonas, The Life of St. Columban, transl. Dana C. Munro (Internet Medieval
Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/columban.html
Bede the Venerable, Ecclesiastical History – The Conversion of England, transl. J.H. Robinson
(Internet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/bede1.html
The Correspondence of St. Boniface, transl. C.H. Talbot (Internet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/boniface-letters.html
NOVEMBER 4-6:
The Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth
Read:
Collins, Chapter 11
Abbo of Fleury, The Martyrdom of St. Edmund, King of East Anglia, transl. K. Cutler (Internet
Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/870abbo-edmund.html
Bishop Asser of Sherborne, The Life of King Alfred, transl. J.A. Giles (Online Medieval and
Classical Library):
http://omacl.org/KingAlfred/
NOVEMBER 11-13:
The Emergence of the Franks – The Merovingians
Read:
Collins, Chapter 15
The Law of the Salian Franks, transl. Ernest F. Henderson (Intenet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/salic-law.html
Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks – “On the Conversion of Clovis,” transl. Ernest Brehaut
(Internet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/gregory-clovisconv.html
NOVEMBER 18-20:
Rise of the Carolingians & the Institutions of Feudalism
Read:
Collins, Chapter 16
Ganshof, Chapters 1-3
Einhard & Notker the Stammerer, Two Lives of Charlemagne, - all.
Asnapium: An Inventory of One of Charlemagne’s Estates, transl. F.A. Ogg (Internet Medieval
Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/800Asnapium.html
Charlemagne, General Capitulary of the Missi, transl. D.C. Munro (Internet Medieval
Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/carol-missi1.html
NOVEMBER 25:
The Carolingian Renaissance
Read:
Cook & Herzman, Chapter 7
Charlemagne, Letter of Baugaulf of Fulda, c. 780-800, transl. D.C. Munro (Internet Medieval
Sourcesbook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/carol-baugulf.html
Charlemagne, The Capitulary De Villis, transl. James H. Robinson (Internet Medieval
Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/carol-devillis.html
Lupus of Ferrières, Letter 5, to Einhard, transl. Graydon Regenos (The Tertullian Project):
http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/scanned/lupus_letter5.htm
DECEMBER 2-4:
The Late Carolingians & the Disintegration of the West
Read:
Collins, Chapters 18-19.
Cook & Herzman, pp. 155-174.
Annals of Xanten, 845-853, transl. James H. Robinson (Internet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/xanten1.html
Three Sources on the Ravages of the Northmen in Frankland, c. 843-912, transl. F.A. Ogg
(Internet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/843bertin.html
DECEMBER 9:
The Slow Re-emergence: Ottonians, Capetians & Cluniacs
Read:
Collins, Chapter 20
Liutprand of Cremona, Report of his Mission to Constantinople, 968, transl. Ernest F. Henderson
(Internet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/liudprand1.html
Richer, The Election of Hugh Capet, transl. F.A. Ogg (Internet Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/987capet.html
Foundation Charter of the Abbey of Cluny, 910, transl. Ernest F. Henderson (Internet Medieval
Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/chart-cluny.html
The Synod of Charroux, The Peace of God Proclaimed, 989, transl. O.J. Thatcher (Internet
Medieval Sourcebook):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pc-of-god.html
DECEMBER 11: REVIEW