Weighting of assignments for the final grade

Class participation: 20%
5 Quizzes (10% each): 50%
Paper 1: 15%
Paper 2: 15%

 

Participation: lectures and discussions

Participation points are assigned as follows: 1/2 point for each lecture or video attended, up to 10 points total; discussions: up to 10 points total, 1 point being for each discussion attended, 1 point for each discussion to which you make 1 or more substantive contribution.

 

Discussions: general instructions, readings and study questions

Prepare for each discussion by carefully reading the material to be discussed and preparing full answers to the study questions given below. Discussion will begin from a close focus on the primary text(s) assigned. Bring the text(s) to class. Be prepared to cite specific passages from it/them to support your answers to the study questions. This is an opportunity for you to work together as a group and take active responsibility for your learning and for the success of the course. Discussion sessions are not primarily intended for you to ask me questions. Please ask your questions during lecture. During the discussion sessions, I will act mostly as a moderator. If you wish to raise topics not covered in the study questions, please do so in the form of questions for discussion aimed at your fellow students. For each discussion session, you will receive one point towards your final grade for attending and one point for participating substantively at least once.

 

Discussion 1: Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks

For each of the following questions, be prepared to cite two or three carefully-chosen passages in support of your answer from different parts of Gregory's text. For each passage, you should be able to identify the named people and give a date for the events.

  1. What can we learn from Gregory's History about daily life and the social world of sixth-century Francia? Prepare to give three examples of passages from his text that suggest specific conclusions about social history.
  2. What was the bishop's role in the cities of Francia and in their rural hinterlands? What kinds of activities did bishops typically do? What relationships were important for their success? What unusual roles or activities for bishops does Gregory document?
  3. Gregory's society seems unusually violent and chaotic. Some scholars believe this reflects the reality of his times, while others argue that he has an underlying religious agenda of showing that his society is especially sinful, and thus over-emphasizes violence in portraying his society. Which view do you find more convincing? Support your answer with specific passages from Gregory.

Discussion 2: Beowulf: great art for a small world?

  1. Describe the society portrayed in Beowulf. Where do people live? How are they organized? How does the economy seem to work? What is the basis for political authority? What is the scale of the society? How big are settlements, kingdoms, armies, and so on? How does this compare to the society portrayed by Gregory of Tours?
  2. What are the key values of this society? Do they vary between social groups, regions, political entities, or other divisions, or not? How realistic do you think the poem’s depiction of these values is?
  3. What is the religion of Beowulf? Describe the religious ideas directly expressed and indirectly implied within the poem. What historical situations or developments might account for the religious ideas of the poem, and how?
  4. Prepare a question for discussion among your fellow students. Bring two copies of your question, one for yourself and one to hand in at the beginning of class.

Discussion 3: biography and/or hagiography, religion and/or the state: Einhard and Notker, Lives of Charlemagne; Ibn Ishaq, biography of Muhammad (Sirat Rasul Allah)

  1. How do Einhard and Notker each portray the figure of Charlemagne? What are his key traits, and how do these differ between the two biographers? How much of each portrait would you attribute to realism, and how much to ideals of kingship or other preconceived notions?
  2. How does each of these authors understand "Frankish" identity? What is distinctive about the Franks compared to other groups? Are the Franks a nation, an ethnicity, a kingdom, or some other kind of group?
  3. In what sense is each of these biographies a "Christian" text, or not?

Expanded study suggestions, applying these questions to the biography of Muhammad of Ibn Ishaq:

  1. How do Einhard and Notker each portray the figure of Charlemagne? What are his key traits, and how do these differ between the two biographers? How much of each portrait would you attribute to realism, and how much to ideals of kingship or other preconceived notions?
  1. How does each of these authors understand "Frankish" identity? What is distinctive about the Franks compared to other groups? Are the Franks a nation, an ethnicity, a kingdom, or some other kind of group?
  1. In what sense is each of these biographies a "Christian" text, or not?

Discussion 4: individual and society in the early medieval world: Life of Theodore of Sykeon; Life of Columbanus; Life of Cuthbert; Ibn Fadlan, Risala, excerpt; go here for some Swedish runestone inscriptions.

  1. When and where was each of these texts written, and if we know, by whom? When and where does the action of each text take place? Are there gaps between the context of composition and context of the actions described, or between the position or perspective of the author and that of his subject, for some of the texts? Where there are, describe those gaps in terms of specific historical contexts (times, places, cultural settings, etc.).

  2. One major theme of this course has been the degree to which late Roman-style institutions -- particularly urban life, bureaucratic administration, taxation, and professional armies (alongside civilian populations) -- were preserved, re-created, disappeared, or never existed, across different regions of the early medieval world. Think about each of these texts in terms of its author’s and its subject’s position in relation to such institutions. Which of these texts reflect the existence, or the awareness, of Roman-style social and governmental institutions? Which do not? Which reflect some mixture of these elements: how exactly? Which are the most “barbarian,” which are the most “Roman,” on the levels of their subjects’ lives, and of their authors’ perspectives? Does it really matter, and how much, whether Rome itself – or Constantinople for that matter – is mentioned, or otherwise forms part of the world known to a given text?

  3. We have also thought and talked about the lives and worldviews of individuals, usually heroic or exemplary figures, throughout this course. For each of these texts, what would you identify as the two or three key values or factors structuring individual choices (or fates)? Think about both those individuals presented in each text as exemplary or heroic, and about those who are mentioned in passing, or presented as passive victims or negative models to be avoided. What is the spectrum of values reflected in these disparate texts? What common elements, and what contrasts, emerge, and how do these correlate (or not) with shared historical contexts (place, time, religion, ethnicity, etc.)?

Discussion 5: travel, trade and the early medieval state: Book of the Eparch, excerpts; Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Treatise on Military Expeditions; Liutprand of Cremona, Report of his Mission to Constantinople; review Life of Theodore of Sykeon, Life of Columbanus, Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor

  1. List the following for each of these 6 texts: places named; journeys described or implied; objects and persons transported from one place to another, for sale, gift or other purpose (include letters); goods and services for sale, in which places; distant locations in touch with each other; and any other specific details you can think of that reflect the movement of people, goods, and ideas over long distances.
  2. What were the conditions of travel in the various regions of the early medieval world, according to these texts? Were some places easier or harder to travel in than others, and why? What situations are described in these texts as barriers to travel and communication, whether involving trade or not?
  3. Why do the people described in these texts travel? Who pays their expenses? How long do they stay away? Why do they return when they do?
  4. What was the relation of the state to trade and travel in the various regions covered by these texts? What differed from one region to another? Are there common themes in the ways that states tried to control or profit from travel, trade and commerce?
  5. What attitudes towards foreigners and travellers do these texts represent? What might explain any differences you observe? What about attitudes towards trade, commerce, and wealth gained from these activities?

Quizzes

There will be 5 quizzes, each of which will take 20 minutes to complete, during class time. Each quiz will include 10 multiple choice questions (5 minutes) and 3 identification questions (answer 3 of 5, 15 minutes). The multiple choice questions may test your knowledge of material from lectures, videos, or the reading. The identification questions will ask you to discuss terms from the lists below. For each term, you should be prepared to write a full paragraph that answers the questions, "When? Where? What? Who?", and shows that you understand what this person, place, thing or concept is, how it is different from other, similar items, and above all, why it is significant for understanding the period covered for the quiz. You do not need to give precise dates, but you must give at least an approximate date that places the term in chronological context. You must also give an explicit geographical context for each term. Many students find it helpful to make flash cards to study for the identification questions.

Terms for identification

Quiz 1

  1. Diocletian
  2. Constantine
  3. Huns
  4. Battle of Adrianople
  5. Vandals
  6. Anthemian Walls
  7. Romulus Augustulus
  8. Haghia Sophia
  9. Corpus Iuris Civilis
  10. Clovis
  11. Theodoric the Great
  12. Theodolinda
  13. furnished burial
  14. Benedict of Nursia
  15. Reccared I

Quiz 2

  1. Kaaba
  2. umma
  3. Hijra
  4. Ali
  5. Khusro II
  6. Battle of Yarmuk
  7. Umayyads
  8. Dome of the Rock
  9. Al-Walid I
  10. iconoclast
  11. Greek fire
  12. Emperor Leo III
  13. tagmata
  14. Constantine Copronymos
  15. Irene

Quiz 3

  1. Bede
  2. Sutton Hoo
  3. Offa
  4. Patrick
  5. peregrinatio
  6. Synod of Whitby
  7. mayor of the palace
  8. Pippin the Short
  9. Pope Leo III
  10. Missi dominici
  11. Aachen
  12. Charles the Bald
  13. Treaty of Verdun
  14. Caroline Minuscule
  15. Alcuin of York

Quiz 4

  1. futhark
  2. Odin
  3. Dannevirke
  4. Dublin
  5. Danelaw
  6. Rollo
  7. Khazars
  8. Birka
  9. Rurik
  10. Varangian
  11. Moravia
  12. Glagolitic
  13. Symeon
  14. Rus
  15. Olga

Quiz 5

  1. Harun al-Rashid
  2. Zanj Revolt
  3. shi'at Ali
  4. Abd al-Rahman I
  5. Cordoba
  6. Constantine Porphyrogenitos
  7. Paris Psalter
  8. Basil the Bulgar-Slayer
  9. Magyars
  10. Battle of Lechfeld
  11. Stephen I
  12. Cluny
  13. Three Orders
  14. Otto the Great
  15. Theophanu

Paper 1: Book Review (5-7 pages)

For this paper, you will choose a book from the course bibliography (click on the "Bibliography" link at the top of any page in this site), obtain a copy either from the SFSU library, or much more likely, by ordering the book through LINK+, and write a 5-7 page book review. Your review should be a critical analysis of the book you choose, NOT a summary of the book's contents. "Critical", in this context, means "evaluative", but need not imply "negative": a critical evaluation may be entirely positive.

Note that only books on the course bibliography can be used for this paper. Most books on the course bibliography are not in our library and will have to be ordered on LINK+, which takes at least a week. Do not wait until the last minute to get a book, as you may not be able to find one still in the library. If another student has already borrowed the only available copy of a book, choose another one.

Your analysis of the book must answer all of the following questions:

  1. What is the author's thesis? What implications does the author draw from his or her thesis?
  2. What sources does the author use? How did he or she choose those sources, interpret them, and present them?
  3. How convincing is the book's argument?
  4. What is the book's significance? How does it change our understanding of the topic it deals with?

The introduction (first paragraph) of your paper should contain brief answers to ALL of these questions. You may then expand upon and justify these answers in the body of the paper.

For each of these questions, you should support your claims about the book either with references to specific passages of the book you are reviewing, or if appropriate with direct quotations from the book.

Do not make writing style, accessibility, or how you like the book a main focus of your review. You may wish to refer to some of these issues if you feel that they contribute to answering question 4 above, but they should be relatively minimal.

In order to review a full-length book in a 5-7 page paper, you will need to be very concise. Avoid anything that will make your paper longer without adding to its substance, including:

  1. summarizing the book
  2. detailed accounts or lengthy narratives of historical facts
  3. long quotations
  4. wordy expressions and long-windedness
  5. vague generalizations

Paper 2: Analysis of a primary source (5-7 pages)

For this paper, you will need to choose a primary source assigned for the class and answer the following questions, based on your reading of the text itself and the supplementary materials (if any) included with it, and the reference books listed below. Do not use any sources not assigned for class or listed below under permitted reference books, as they will almost certainly contain serious errors of fact or interpretation. Do use all of the assigned books to the extent that they are relevant. Do not insert headings following the list of topics, but make sure your paper answers all of these questions.

  1. WHAT is it? What is the literary genre in which it was written (e.g. history, hagiography, letter, sermon)? What conventions govern this genre? If it is not a literary text, what is it (for example, the acts of a church council)? What features of the document are shaped by the kind of text it is?
  2. WHO created it and how? What was the author's position in society? What interests and concerns would go along with the author's social location? If the identity of the author is not precisely known, what can we say about the kind of person who probably wrote this document? What is the basis for this identification?
  3. WHEN and WHERE was it created (date and place, as precisely as you can find out)? What was going on in that place and time that would affect how a person like the author might perceive and interpret events?
  4. What is the POINT OF VIEW of the author or authors?  The document might have a clearly stated argument, but it is usually more subtle than that.  Use your knowledge of the period to figure out what the biases of the producer(s) might be.  Because a source has a point of view does not mean it is not valid or useful as historical evidence. Rather, the very fact that a source has a particular point of view is a crucial starting point for historical reconstruction, telling us how a person thought at a given point in the past.
  5. WHY was it created? Who was the original intended audience of the document? Who would have had access to it in the original context of its composition? What function did it serve?  Was it written in response to a particular kind of problem?  If so, what might the problem have been? 
  6. What is the document's SIGNIFICANCE as historical evidence? What can you conclude from a close reading of the document about the history of Christianity (as a worldview or belief system, as a social institution, as a cultural phenomenon, etc.) during the time period when the document was composed? Your answer can, indeed probably must, be selective. Choose what you think is the most important, most interesting, or most overlooked aspect of the document's significance.

Do not summarize the document. Do not give a narrative outline, but an interpretation based on evidence taken from the document, answering questions of "how" or "why" rather than merely "what happened." Do not assume that any document presents a direct reflection of "events," but at the same time avoid naively dismissing your text as uninterpretable or irrelevant because of its author's biases. Finally, remember that all the texts we are reading are translations, from several different languages: avoid arguments based on word choice or other aspects of the translated text.

List of primary sources:

[Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks: not recommended; prior written approval required]
Life of Theodore of Sykeon
John of Damascus, Apologia (you may want to consult me before choosing this text)
Life of Columbanus by Jonas
Life of Cuthbert by Bede
[Beowulf: not recommended; prior written approval required]
Einhard, Life of Charlemagne
Notker, Life of Charlemagne
Ibn Fadlan, Risala (you will need to place our excerpt in the larger context of the entire text)
Russian Primary Chronicle (again, you will need to get a sense of the shape of the entire text)
Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor (no larger context required)
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Treatise on Military Expeditions
Liutprand of Cremona, Report of His Mission to Constantinople
[NB: do NOT do Ibn Ishaq, Life of Muhammad]

Reference books for Paper 2:

Do not use reference books not listed here. Do not use Wikipedia or any other online sources. Be aware that I am familiar with all of the relevant material in both the listed reference books and in standard online sources such as Wikipedia and will notice violations of these rules. Consult all the listed reference books to find information relevant to your document. Be creative in identifying headings likely to lead to relevant information, and follow up on cross-references in the reference books. Plan to spend a minimum of 5-10 hours in the reference room to find all the information you will need. Plan to photocopy relevant entries rather than taking handwritten notes.

G.W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, and Oleg Grabar, eds. Late antiquity: a guide to the postclassical world. Cambridge MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999. [For topics through the 6th C] Reference Room (Annex 1) DE5 .L29 1999.

Edward D. English, ed. Encyclopedia of the medieval world. [For topics from the 6th C on] New York: Facts On File, 2005. Reference Room D114 .E55 2005 v.1, 2.

Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (abbreviation: ODB): Alexander P. Kazhdan et al., eds. The Oxford dictionary of Byzantium. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. [For topics in the Greek-speaking world] Reference Room, DF521 .O93 1991, 3 vols.

Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church: F. L. Cross, ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd ed., edited by E.A. Livingstone [NOTE: use this edition ONLY; entries are very brief] New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Reference Room, BR95 .O8 1997.

Everett Ferguson, ed. Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. Main collection. BR162.2 .E53 1990