1
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Department of History
THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
Europe in the Making: Culture, Leadership, and Community in the Early Medieval West
(A.D. 300-1050)
Professor Brigitte M. Bedos-Rezak
Office: King Juan Carlos Center (KJCC), Rm. # 610
Office Phone: 212 998-8608
e-mail: bbr2@nyu.edu
Office Hours: TBA
DRAFT
In our exploration of the general course of social, economic, political, religious, and
cultural developments in the Early Middle Ages (300-1000), we will in fact be reviewing the
processes which brought about the making of a new civilization, that of Western Europe. In
shaping and interpreting their environment, early medieval men and women tapped the resources
of Roman, Germanic and Christian cultures. Each of these cultures is a fundamental ingredient in
the crucible of Europe; their various alloys and interactions with Judaism and Islam imprinted
the European scene with diversity and a wide range of human experience and experimentation.
This course will consist of lectures and discussion.
Lectures and readings have been arranged in topical units. At the beginning of each new
unit, students will receive in class a handout containing 1) the outline of the lecture to be given
on that unit's topic, and 2) a list of proper names and unusual terms and concepts used during the
lecture, and 3) questions on the readings to be addressed by students during discussion sessions.
Upon receiving their handout, which will be numbered so as to correspond to the
syllabus, students should read the pertinent assignment, consider the questions raised about it in
the handout, and come to class prepared to share their answers.
Syllabi and handouts are also available on NYU Classes, in “Resources.”
2
There will be a mid-semester exam, a final exam, and a term paper. Each of these
three elements will have equal weight in determining the final grade which will also take into
account student attendance and participation in class discussion.
The mid-semester examination will cover the material that has been treated in class up
to that time, as well as the accompanying reading assignments; the final examination will cover
the material dealt within the latter part of the course; it will not be cumulative.
Students should choose the topic for their papers early in the semester. The paper in its
final form is due onTBA. Papers received after that date will earn a grade below A.
Although initial suggestions for a relevant bibliography will be available from the
instructor, you will be responsible for developing the list of references pertinent to your topic.
The bibliography should consist of at least 10 items, typically monographs, articles, or book
chapters, excluding standard text-books on medieval history and items cited in the syllabus.
Book chapters must each come from different books.
The term paper must be 15-18 pages in length, including footnotes and bibliography, and
have a thesis, as its purpose is to have you present, expound, and defend the validity of your
point of view on your chosen subject. You will be investigating a question or testing a hypothesis
that you yourself have formulated during preliminary readings. Partially a research project, your
paper should also be an exercise in historical argument. In its final form, it should be legible and
include footnotes or endnotes and bibliography.
Attached to this syllabus is a style sheet to which you should conform when writing a
note and citing a book or an article.
Some examples of topics you might choose are as follows:
1.
The Conversion of the West to Christianity
2.
Cultural exchanges between Roman and Germanic Peoples
3.
Diversity of the Carolingian World: Peoples, Religions, Languages, Laws
4.
Vassalic institutions and Carolingian Imperialism
5.
Scientific Achievement of the Early Middle Ages
Important dates, also posted on NYU Classes,
TBA
All readings are available as follows: books have been put on Reserve at the Bobst
3
Library –Book Reserves-, where they can be read in the Reserve Room; articles available
on line have been put on Electronic Reserve and can be accessed via NYU Classes, NYU
Libraries, Course Reserves; scanned articles and book chapters can be accessed via NYU
Classes, Resources.
Books available for purchase from the University Bookstore:
Primary Sources
St. Augustine, The Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick (Oxford, 1998)
St Benedict’s Rule, ed. Patrick Barry (Hidden Spring, 2004)
Einhard, The Life of Charlemagne (Ann Arbor, 1960)
Tacitus, Germania, Penguin Books, 1970
Brian Tierney, The Middle Ages. Volume I: Sources of Medieval History, 6th ed. (NY, 1999)
Interpretive Studies (Secondary Sources)
Henry Chadwick, The Early Church, Penguin Books, 1993
Roger Collins, Early Medieval Europe 300-1000, 2nd ed. (New York, 1999)
William R. Cook and Ronald B. Herzman, The Medieval World View. An Introduction, 2nd ed.
(NY-Oxford, 2004)
F.L. Ganshof, Feudalism. Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching 34 (Toronto, 1996)
C.H. Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism. Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe, 2nd ed. (NY,
1989) - May be out of print
Pierre Riché, The Carolingians. A Family who Forged Europe (Philadelphia, 1993) - May be out
of print
Malcolm Todd, The Early Germans 2nd ed. (Blackwell, 2004)
RECOMMENDED ONLY
Primary Sources
David Herlihy, The History of Feudalism (New Jersey-London, 1979) - May be out of stock
David Herlihy, Medieval Culture and Society (Waveland Press, 1993)
4
PRELUDE
1.
The Crisis of the Late Roman World
Roger Collins, Early Medieval Europe 300-1000, chapters 1-4
Brian Tierney, The Middle Ages. Volume 1: Sources of Medieval History,
1: "Ammianus Marcellinus: Faults of the Roman People"
3: "Salvianus: The Burden of Taxation"
FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
2.
The Classical Legacy
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World View, chapter 2: ‘The Classical Heritage’
Cicero, On Old Age - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/cicero-oldage.html
3.
The Christian Legacy. I: Doctrine and Politics
Henry Chadwick, The Early Church, chapters 1-3; pp. 121-124; chapter 8
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World View, chapters 1 and 3
"The Gospel According to Matthew"
Tierney, Sources of Medieval History,
5: "The Nicene Creed"
7: "Church and State: The 'Edict of Milan'”
4.
The Christian Legacy. II: Culture and Philosophy
Chadwick, The Early Church, pp. 90-93 (Tertullian), and chapters 15 and 18
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World View, chapter 4: ‘The Latin Fathers: Jerome
and Augustine.’
St. Augustine, The Confessions, books 1-9
5
Tierney, Sources of Medieval History,
7: “Church and State: The Dispute Between Symmachus and Ambrose;
Augustine and Gelasius"
8: "Jerome on Classical Literature"
5.
The Germanic Legacy
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World View, pp. 90-111
Malcolm Todd, The Early Germans, Introduction, and chapters 1-6
Tacitus, Germania
THE BARBARIAN WEST
6.
Barbarian Migrations and the settlement of Germanic Kingdoms
Collins, Early Medieval Europe, chapters 6-7, 11-12
Todd, The Early Germans, chapters 7-12, and conclusion
Tierney, Sources of Medieval History, 10: "A Romanized Ostrogoth: Theodoric"
7.
Frankish Society in Merovingian Gaul
Collins, Early Medieval Europe, chapters 10
David Herlihy, The History of Feudalism,
10: "Merovingian Dependency, illustrated by Model Charters"
Tierney, Sources of Medieval History,
4: "Sidonius Apollinaris: Country House Life in Gaul"
11: "A Barbarous Frank: Clovis"
14: "The Law of the Salian Franks,"
15: "Formulae Concerning Ordeals"
8.
Monasticism and the Expansion of Christianity
Collins, Early Medieval Europe, chapter 14
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World View, chapter 6
6
C.H. Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism. Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe,
chapters 1-4
David Herlihy, Medieval Culture and Society,
II, 7: "The Founding of Monte Cassino, according to Gregory the Great"
The Rule of Saint Benedict, http://www.ccel.org/b/benedict/rule2/rule.html or St
Benedict’s Rule, ed. Patrick Barry
Tierney, Sources of Medieval History,
19: "Ireland: Monks and Missionaries"
21: "England, Rome and Germany"
9.
The Growth of Papal Leadership
Chadwick, The Early Church, chapter 16: ‘The Papacy’
Collins, Early Medieval Europe, pp. 68-75
Herlihy, Medieval Culture and Society, II, 9: "The Synod of Whitby, according to Bede
the Venerable"
Tierney, Sources of Medieval History,
16: "The Primacy of the Roman See"
17: "The Petrine Doctrine according to Leo I"
18: "Papal Headship in Action: Gregory the Great"
24: "Rome, Byzantium, and Frankish Gaul
25: "The Founding of the Papal States"
10.
Cultural Synthesis
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World View, p. 111-128
Herlihy, Medieval Culture and Society,
II, 10: "The Bibliography of Bede the Venerable"
II, 11: "Latin poems"
III, 14: "Anglo-Saxon lyric poetry"
III, 15: "Beowulf"
THE CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE
11.
Economy
Georges Duby, Rural Economy and Country Life in the Medieval West, pp. 3-58 and
7
documents A-H, pp. 361-386
12.
Government. I: The Rise of the Carolingians
Collins, Early Medieval Europe, chapter 15
Pierre Riché, The Carolingians. A Family who Forged Europe, pp. 1-140
Einhard, The Life of Charlemagne
Tierney, Sources of Medieval History,
26: "Charlemagne: King and Emperor"
13.
Government. II: Imperial Administration and Vassalic Institutions
Collins, Early Medieval Europe, chapter 16
F.L. Ganshof, Feudalism, pp. 3-61
Riché, The Carolingians, pp. 281-324
Herlihy, The History of Feudalism,
11: "The Earliest Known Oath of Vassalage, from the “Annales Regni
Francorum"
12: "Vassalage and Dependency in the Carolingian Capitularies"
Tierney, Sources of Medieval History, 27: "Carolingian Government"
14.
The Carolingian Renaissance
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World View, p. 143-155
Riché, The Carolingians, pp. 325-363
Tierney, Sources of Medieval History, 28: "Monastic Life and Culture"
THE TENTH CENTURY: CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY
15.
The Disintegration of the Carolingian Empire and the Restructuring of Europe
Collins, Early Medieval Europe, chapters 17-19
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World View, p. 155-174
8
Riché, The Carolingians, pp. 141-280
Herlihy, The History of Feudalism,
20: "A Benefice Given by Charles the Bald"
21: "The Capitulary of Quiercy-sur-Oise"
35: "A Castle in Spain"
36: "A Castle in Lyonnais"
Tierney, Sources of Medieval History,
32: "Lordship and Vassalage"
33: "The Fief and Private Jurisdiction"
34: "Feudal Obligations"
9
STYLE SHEET
Notes
Either footnotes (at the bottom of each page), or endnotes (gathered at the end of the
paper) are acceptable.
Notes in parenthesis should NOT appear within the text of a history paper.
The purpose of a note is two fold. 1): reference to primary and secondary sources in
support of the information used for the paper. 2): marginal commentary or elaboration of a line
of reasoning which sheds further information and/or support of the argument, but that would
interfere with the flow of the main text.
Books
First Citation:
Jacob Burkhard, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (Basil, 1860), p. 216, OR pp. 216223.
i.e. Name, Title, Place of Publication, Date of Publication
Subsequent Citations:
Burkhard, The Civilization of the Renaissance, pp. 230-250
i.e. Name, Short Title, page
Later Editions:
Terney Frank, An Economic History of Rome, 2nd ed. (Baltimore), p. 124
Louis J. Paetow, A Guide to the Study of Medieval History, re. ed. (1931; reprint New York,
1964), pp. 65-73
Multiple Volumes:
Max Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, 1 (Munich, 1911), p. 78
i.e. Cite only the specific volume in question. If it is necessary to refer to the whole work,
the following should be used:
Max Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen des Mittelalters, 3 vols. (Munich, 1911-1913)
Edited or Translated Works:
Marc Bloch, Feudal Society, trans. L. A. Manyon (Chicago, 1961), pp. 57-62
Charles d'Orléans, Choix de poésie, ed. John Fox (Exeter, 1973), p. 12
Ronald L. Numbers and Darrel W. Amundsen, eds., Caring and Curing: Health Medicine in the
Western Religious Traditions (New York, 1987), p. 135
Articles
First Citation:
David Herlihy, "The Carolingian Manse," Economic Historic Review, vol. 13 (1961), 12-25
10
i.e. Name, Title in quotes, Journal underlined, vol. no. date in
parenthesis, page number
Subsequent citations:
Herlihy, "Carolingian Manse," pp. 14-18
i.e. Name, Short Title in quote, page
Italics and Quotations Marks
Quotations run into the text are placed in quotation marks. Quotations longer than 5 or 6
typed lines should be typed double-spaced and indented, without quotation marks.
Material to be underlined or italicized in the typescript (so as to be eventually printed in
Italics) includes:
Titles of works of Art
Titles of books, poems and periodical publications
Technical terms
Words and phrases in a foreign language
Scholarly Reference Words
Ibid., - - - to be used when the reference is THE SAME AS THE ONE IMMEDIATELY
PRECEEDING IT.
Ibid., loc. cit. - - - to be used when both the title reference (Ibid.) and the page number (loc. cit.)
are the same
Dates
The correct form is "1390s", NOT "1390's or spelled out.
The abbreviated form "12th c." should be limited to the notes; in the text always spell out
as "twelfth century." The adjectival form requires a hyphen, as in "twelfth-century manuscript."
Capitalization
Middle Ages is capitalized
For further guidelines or clarification, see A Manual of Style, 15th ed. (Chicago, 2003).