553A HIST THE BARBARIAN WEST, 400-1000
Fall 2007 Graduate Reading List & Requirements
Grade Distribution 50% Reading Responses (4 total) 25% Exams & Quizzes (total) 25% Final Essay
Reading Responses (weeks 1-6) Read the following assignments from books available in Alden or OhioLink. Write a two or three page summary for each set in which you address similarities and differences between the readings with regard to evidence and argument. The goal is not to nominate the better book but to appreciate how different scholars work together in the same field. Well meet for an hour or so to discuss each report, which you should deliver with enough time for me to read in advance (in my mailbox or by email attachment is fine).
1. Due Fri. 9/14 2. Due Fri. 10/5
3. Due Fri. 10/19
4. Due Fri. 11/2
Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (2005). Brown, The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity (2nd ed., 2003), pp. 1-141. Goffart, Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D. 550-800) (1988), pp. 3-19, 112-234. Effros, Caring for Body and Soul: Burial and the Afterlife in the Merovingian World (2002). Brown, Rise, pp. 145-215. Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks. Goffart, Narrators, pp. 235-328. Brown, Rise, pp. 219-379. Bede, Ecclesiastical History. Brown, Rise, pp. 383-488. McKitterick, History and Memory in the Carolingian World (2004). Einhard, Charlemagnes Courtier: The Complete Take Einhard.
Exams the two in-class exams on Thursday 9/20 and Thursday 10/18, as well as quizzes. Do not take the final exam.
Final Essay (due finals week) Write an argumentative essay on a topic of your choice using primary sources as evidence and secondary sources to help frame your argument. Your topic should come out of the readings youve done in preceding weeks. Well discuss it when we discuss the third set of readings. Many early medieval sources are available in translation. Some collections of primary sources will be very useful for exploration and to use in writing your paper. For example: B. H. Rosenwein, Reading the Middle Ages. J. N. Hilgarth, Christianity and Paganism, 350-750. C. D. Gordon, The Age of Attila. A. C. Murray, From Roman to Merovingian Gaul. T. Noble and T. Head, Soldiers of Christ. J. McNamara and J. E. Halborg, S...