HIST 210
The Early Middle Ages, 284–1000
Fall 2011
Topics
- Course Introduction: Rome’s Greatness and First Crises
- The Crisis of the Third Century and the Diocletianic Reforms
- Constantine and the Early Church
- The Christian Roman Empire
- St. Augustine’s Confessions
- Transformation of the Roman Empire
- Barbarian Kingdoms
- Survival in the East
- The Reign of Justinian
- Clovis and the Franks
- Frankish Society
- Britain and Ireland
- Monasticism
- Mohammed and the Arab Conquests
- Islamic Conquests and Civil War
- The Splendor of the Abbasid Period
- The Crucial Seventh Century
- The Splendor of Byzantium
- Charlemagne
- Intellectuals and the Court of Charlemagne
- Crisis of the Carolingians
- Vikings / The European Prospect, 1000
Readings
- Central Texts
- Charlemagne’s Courtier: The Complete Einhard . ed. Paul Edward Dutton, Broadview Press, 1998.
- Gregory of Tours: The Merovingians . ed. Alexander Callander Murray, Broadview Press, 2006.
- Procopius, The Secret History . ed. Richard Atwater, University of Michigan Press, 1961.
- Wickham, Chris, The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 . Viking, 2009.
- Richards, Julian, The Vikings: A Very Short History. Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Course Packet
- Augustine, Confessions , ed. James Joseph O’Donnell. Oxford University Press, 1992.
- Berkey, Jonathan Porter, The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
- Brown, Peter, The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150-750 . Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971.
- The Burgundian Code: Book of Constitutions or Law of Gundobad, ed. Katherine Fischer Drew. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972.
- Fichtenau, Heinrich, The Carolingian Empire. Blackwelll, 1957.
- Jones, A.H.M., Constantine and the Conversion of Europe . English Universities Press, 1948.
- Rule of St. Benedict, ed. Ruth J. Dean. Blackwell, 1964.
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗Historical Open Yale Courses
- Historical Open Yale Courses offering. Texts and lecture titles are reproduced as bibliographic and topic information; reading requirements vary by the linked syllabus.