Course Objectives:

1.  to explore the beginnings of western civilization
2.  to examine in detail the central achievements of the medieval period
3.  to be explore the contours of medieval culture

Professor:

 A. Cameron Airhart
 NAB #308
 567-9427 or 567-8566
email: cameron.airhart@houghton.edu
 Office Hours:  TR 1:15 - 3:00
       and by appointment

Required Texts:

C. Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, 9th edition, 2002

Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity: Prophecy and Order, 2000

*Frances and Joseph Gies, Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages, 1995

*Barbara Newman, ed., Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World, 1998

*Peter Abelard, The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, 1998

Required Internet Texts:

*Gregory of Tours,  The History of the Franks.
*Gregory the Great,  Dialogues, Book II: Saint Benedict.
The Rule of St. Benedict.
*Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation.
*Einhard, Life of Charlemagne.
Documents related to the Viking incursions.
*The Song of Roland.
Documents related to the conflicts of Church and State, 1050-1300.
*Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God
*Dante, Divine Comedy, vol. 1, Inferno.
Other selected medieval sources

Course Requirements:

     The requirements consist of a midterm examination, a final examination, and five book reviews.  In order to pass the course, you must take both examinations and write all five book reviews.  If you fail to complete any of these, your final grade will be an "F."  There will be no exceptions to this rule, so if you have reason to think that you will not complete the assignments, please take another course.
     I think, too, a word is needed about my expectations for you in this course.  This course is reading intensive--there is no way to understand the foreign landscape of medieval history without intensive reading.  Consequently, there is no research component to this course.  This means that I expect the reading to be done when it appears on the syllabus.  If it isn't, the classroom will be stagnant and you will leave this course with little understanding of the Middle Ages.  If this is more than you bargained for, if this violates your sense of student rights, then drop the course now!  For you are entering the Middle Ages, and while you have liberties, you certainly have few rights.
 
Book Reviews:

    There are ten starred books in the reading list and you must chose five to review.   The reviews are due at class time on the first day of a book discussion.  No late review will be accepted.  The reviews are to be doubled spaced with one inch margins, 12 point or smaller font size, and 3 typed pages in length.  A review is not a report, but a discussion of the author's thesis, methods, evidence, and reliability.  You are thus free to chose any five from the list; do not get behind, however, for if you have completed no reviews and we have only four books left....

Grading:

 Midterm               30%
 5 book reviews    10% each*
 Final                    30%

*lowest review grade will be dropped
 
 

Part One: The Early Middle Ages

  Read: Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History,  Part One

 

M	13 Jan	Course Introduction
W	15 Jan	Rome Recedes	read: Russell, ch.3
F	17 Jan	Chaos	read: Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks.  Preface, Book One intro.
M	20 Jan	Chaos revisited	read: Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks. Book Two.
W	22 Jan	Chaos all-encompassing
F	24 Jan	The role of the Church	read:  Gregory the Great, Dialogues, Book II: Saint Benedict.; Russell, ch. 4
M	27 Jan	The role of the Church re-emphasized	read: The Rule of St. Benedict
W	29 Jan	From Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England	read: Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation,Book One
F	31 Jan	Bede cont
M	3 Feb	Bede cont	read: Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book Three
W	5 Feb	Bede concluded
F	7 Feb	The rise of the Carolingians	read: Russell, ch. 4
M	10 Feb	Charlemagne	read: Einhard, Life of Charlemagne
W	12 Feb	Charlemagne continued
F	14 Feb	Vikings!	read:  Annals of Xanten, 845-853 Annals of St. Bertin Abbo, Wars of Count Odo with the Northmen in the Reign of Charles the Fat Chronicle of St. Denis
M	17 Feb	Feudal society
W	19 Feb	A review of the most difficult period in western history
F	21 Feb	Midterm  examination

Part Two: The High Middle Ages

 Read:  Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History,  Part Two

 

M	24 Feb	Introduction to the High Middle Age	read: Russell, ch. 6
W	26 Feb	The Search for an Ordered Polity	read: Anon, The Song of Roland
F	28 Feb	Roland cont

Spring Break

  
  Easter Break