History 110aProf. William E. Kapelle

Fall2015

EARLY MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION

Requirements: Two-hour exam, 3 brief synopses, and a final

Readings: Paperback texts and readings

Roger Collins, Early Medieval Europe, 300-1000, 3rd ed

Patrick Geary, Before France and Germany

Selections from these reserve books

Geoffrey Barraclough, The Crucible of Europe

Robert Browning, The Byzantine Empire

Graduate students: A. M. M. Jones, The Decline of the Ancient World

LecturesBiweekly assignments

1.The Roman EmpireCollins, pp. 1-51

2.The GermansGeary, pp. 3-68

3.The 3rd-Century Crisis(Jones, pp. 10-74, 252-69)

4. The New Roman Empire

  1. Christianity joins the Establishment
  2. The Visigoths

7.The Fall of Rome, ICollins, pp. 51-108, 162-68

8.The Fall of Rome, IIGeary, pp. 68-88

9.The Birth of ByzantiumBrowning, pp. 17-45

(Jones, pp. 74-102, 237-51)

  1. Theodoric and the Ostrogoths
  2. Clovis and the Franks
  3. The Anglo-Saxons
  1. Test

14.JustinianCollins, pp. 109-43

15.The Long-Haired KingsGeary, 88-116

16.The LombardsBrowning, pp. 46-76

17.The 6th-Century Disaster(Jones, pp. 103-43)

  1. Heraclius and his Nemesis
  2. Expansion of the Arabs

20.Fortress Byzantium, ICollins, pp. 144-286

21.Decline of the MerovingiansGeary, pp. 117-231

22.The Anglo-Saxon Mission

  1. Fortress Byzantium, II
  2. The Early Carolingians
  3. Charlemagne
  4. The Carolingian Empire
  1. Optional test

28.Iconoclasm?Collins, pp. 287-326

29.MonasticismBarraclough, pp. 54-105

30.The Later CarolingiansBrowning, pp. 77-117

  1. The Vikings, I
  2. The Vikings, II
  3. Birth of Feudalism

34.The Rise of WessexCollins, pp. 326-55

35.The GermanKingdomBarraclough, pp. 106-66

  1. Byzantium Resurgent

37.The Manor

38.Birth of the Village?

  1. Europe in 1000

If you are a student with a documented disability at BrandeisUniversity and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.

The class will have two hour exams around lectures 13 and 26 respectively and a final.

Success in this four- credit course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class. Thereadings in this class will take more time than their length may suggest because most students lack much background.

Statement from the Committee on Academic Honesty: “You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. The University policy on academic honesty is distributed annually as section 5 of the “Rights and Responsibilities” handbook. Instances of alleged dishonesty will be forwarded to the Office of Campus Life for possible referral to the Student Judicial System. Potential sanctions include failure in the course and suspension from the University.”