REQUIRED READING: 

You will be responsible for this information.

Tierney, B. Western Europe in the Middle Ages: 300-1475. This is the basic text for the course. Its emphasis is on the West, but the course will not be so exclusive.

Stephenson, C. Medieval Feudalism. A brief book dealing with the development and practices of feudalism in the West.

Notker & Einhard, Two Lives of Charlemagne. Two perspectives on Charlemagne from contemporary writers.

Procopius. The Secret History. A book of scandalous behavior during the time of Justinian and Theodora.

Handout Packet

EVALUATION

There will be two mid-term exams, (100 points each), 3 map quizzes total 50 points), a final TAKE HOME exam (150 points), and a book/web review (50 points, see below)-a total of 450. You will be graded on total points and you must take all exams & do the review to receive a passing grade.

GRADING: The goal is a standard "curve" of 90-80-70-60, but I may curve downward if I feel the difficulty of the questions warrants such a decision. "Plus" and "minus" grades will be given for the top and bottom two percentage points in each category. If 80-90 is the B range, then 80-81 will be B- and 88-89 will be B+. There will be no quotas for either high or low grades.

MAKE-UP EXAMINATIONS will be given without regard to excuse, PROVIDED I am notified of the need on or before the next class period after the originally scheduled exam. Make-ups will be scheduled at 7 am Friday mornings and will contain fewer (or no) choices on questions which may be more demanding than the regular exam. This is to compensate for the additional time to prepare.

MAP QUIZZES will be given on selected Wednesdays, in each section of the course (defined by exams) during the first 5 minutes of class. There will be only one make-up map quiz given in early December, also on a Wednesday. Anyone may take the fourth quiz to replace a missing or the lowest map score. In other words, best 3 of 4 count. See below for the places to be tested and the form of the quiz.

EXAM CONTENT: Exams will include identifications and varying-length essay questions. there will be no true-false, matching, or multiple-guess. Study guides and more specific information will be provided about a week before the in-class exams.

CLASSROOM PROCEDURE

Classes will consist of PowerPoint illustrated lectures with other audio-visuals from time to time. The pictures are to help you understand and follow the lecture.  They are not just pretty things to look at.  Also do take notes from the lecture (that is, the words).  Don't just copy down the cryptic comments that are on the screen.  Questions are WELCOMED, provided they are not excessive or off the topic. If you wish to argue and/or debate or ask long questions, a better place and time is in my office after class. PLEASE do ask any question that is needed to clarify points. As Mr. Garrison says, "There are no stupid questions, only stupid people."

CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR should not need to be mentioned. Your classmates are here to learn, I am here to teach; any disruption or disturbance of this process will be considered sufficient cause to remove an offender from class temporarily or permanently.  Note that cell phones can be really irritating.  Turn them off, please.

ATTENDANCE is your concern, but cutting class is bad, n-kay? You are adults capable of handling the responsibility involved in coming to class to learn rather than be graded. Important announcements and changes are given in class. All material presented in class is liable for testing.

READING AND STUDY HABITS

If you are a freshman, please come to see me immediately! This is important for you and your grade.

It is important to keep up on the reading.  Just how you do this is your business.  I don't give daily reading quizzes, even in freshman level classes.  But do know that you cannot hope to keep everything straight if you insist on reading all of Plutarch or Arrian at a sitting.  The text and supplements ought to help you understand Roman history better, to fill in where lecture was sketchy, to draw other conclusions and insights than you will get in class.

It is wise to periodically review your class notes to see if you can make sense of the material.  If you cannot, it is time to revise, to come see me, or go back and fill in from your books.  

Don't  wait till you get the study guide to prepare for the exams.  Work on the material for at least a week.  Think about what kind of questions I could give you (hint:  what were the main topics of this section of the course?).

In Studying: Note that you will be writing examinations composed of essay questions. You will need to compile a basis of specific information to back up your contentions, generalizations, and opinions. Names and dates are often necessary to do this. Beware amassing (and writing) large amounts of unrelated facts OR unsupported generalities. Neither shotgunning nor BSing will result in a satisfactory grade.

Work on the maps for the map quizzes, a few new places at a time.  If you do this over a week, you will have memorized the names, locations, and spelling of all the items on the map!

 

LECTURE AND READING SCHEDULE

TOPIC I: LATER ROMAN EMPIRE

Lecture 01: Introduction
Lecture 02: The Roman Empire
Lecture 03: Early Christianity
Lecture 04 Romans and Christians
Lecture 05: Constantine
Lecture 06: Imperial Christianity
Lecture 07: Late Imperial Civilization

Readings: Tierney, 1-52

TOPIC II: EAST AND WEST DURING THE INVASIONS

Lecture 08: Rome and the Barbarians
Lecture 09: Visigoths and the Frontier
Lecture 10: Germanic Flood (Map Quiz 1)
Lecture 11: Fifth Century Imperial Government
Lecture 12: 24: Clovis and the Franks
Lecture 13: Theodoric's Kingdom

Readings: Tierney, 61-84, 94-105

EXAMINATION I: See class syllabus for exact date

TOPIC III: DAWN OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE

Lecture 14: The City and the Empire
Lecture 15: Justinian
Lecture 16: Justinian's Reconquest
Lecture 17: Aftermath of the Reconquest
Lecture 18: Monasticism: Origins and Spread
Lecture 19: Benedict and the Benedictines
Lecture 20: Gregory I and the Growth of the Papacy

Readings: Tierney 47-60, 85-94, 94-105; Procopius, all

TOPIC IV: BYZANTIUM AND ISLAM

Lecture 21: Heraclius and the Persians
Lecture 22: The Arabs and Mohammed
Lecture 23: Growth of Islam
Lecture 24: Empire under Siege 
Lecture 25: Islamic Civilization

Readings: Tierney 121-133

TOPIC V: SEVENTH CENTURY

Lecture 26: Anglo-Saxons in England
Lecture 27: Christianity and Anglo-Saxon Culture
Lecture 28: The Isaurians and Iconoclasm
Lecture 29: Merovingian Chaos

Readings: Tierney 111-121, 127-133

EXAMINATION II: see class syllabus for exact date

TOPIC VI: THE CAROLINGIAN AGE

Lecture 30: Mayors and Popes
Lecture 31: Charlemagne
Lecture 32: Carolingian Government
Lecture 33: Carolingian Renaissance
Lecture 34: Later Carolingians
Lecture 35: Vikings and Other Barbarians

Readings: Tierney 134-156; Einhard & Notker, all.

TOPIC VII: THE END OF THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

Lecture 36: Origins of Feudalism
Lecture 37: Feudalism and Government
Lecture 38: Feudal Society
Lecture 39: Feudal France & Ottonian Germany
Lecture 40: Resurgence of Byzantium
Lecture 41: Europe at the Millenium

Readings: Tierney 157-188; Stephenson, all.

TAKE HOME FINAL EXAMINATION: due Monday, Finals Week: 12 noon in my office.

 

BOOK AND WEB ASSIGNMENT 
(due mid-November, see written syllabus)

There are two parts here. First, find a book on a topic that interests you. You may choose from any topic you want on the early middle ages (400-1000), exclusive of Islam. That is: late Roman Empire (after 400), Byzantine Empire, the Germanic invasions, Charlemagne, early feudalism, just to name a few. The book must be academic: that is, with footnotes or endnotes, bibliography, preferably from a university press. As an alternative, you may read an original text. If you find your book dull and boring after the first few pages, get another book! I want to ok your book in person. That is, I want to see it and approve it. You must have my approval by the date of the first exam, class time.

The second part is to find at least two sites on the web that discuss your topic, or a major part of the subject of the book If you find a web site that only briefly mentions your topic, look for other websites. Print off the websites (if they are really long, limit yourself to 4 pages).

Here is the hard part: write a book review, discussing the author's thesis (this should be clear in the preface or at least by the first chapter), basic content, and how well the author conveyed that information to you, the intelligent undergraduate student. I expect the tone of this review to be more analytical than descriptive, but you do need to relate what is in the book, how deep or shallow the presentation is, what is covered and omitted, and so on.

The second part of the review (label it somehow) is to be a basic analysis of the web sites in light of the book. How well did they complement the book, supplement the book, give better (or worse) insights than the book, go off on an interesting and/or valuable tangent from the book, make a more exciting presentation than the book, whatever. If you found a site with a lot of illustrations, are they better than the book? The final paragraph should be your own conclusion in which you deal with the issue of information from the web vs. information from written sources. In other words, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the web for helping you understand medieval history.

Overall, this project should be about six pages long, double spaced, Times New Roman 12 point (or similar) text, with standard 1-inch margins. Title pages, blank pages, required printouts, and whatever you use to make this look good, don't count in the 6 pages! If you are finished by the beginning of page 5, you are probably being shallow and superficial. If you are still not done when you hit page 8, you are being too verbose. In either case, fix it. Staple the review upper left hand corner, and staple the two web printouts separately. Put the whole thing in a plain manilla folder. I deduct 25 points for clear plastic binders.

Due dates:
Date of 1st Exam: book approved (I deduct 1 point per day late penalty)
Monday following Thanksgiving Break (I deduct 5 points per day late penalty)
Bonus: get it done by Halloween and I'll get it back by November 10 to be revised.

 

HISTORY 440 MAP QUIZ STUDY SHEET

 

MAP QUIZ 1	MAP QUIZ 2	MAP QUIZ 3
Adrianople Adriatic Sea Aegean Sea Africa (Province) Alexandria Anatolia Antioch Aquilea Black Sea Britain Chalcedon Constantinople Crimea Dacia Danube River Egypt Elbe River English Channel Gaul Greece Illyria Ireland Italy Jerusalem Judea Jutland Mediterranean Sea Milan Nicaea North Sea Oder River Pannonia Ravenna Rhine River Rome Sicily Spain Straits of Gibraltar Thrace	Aegean Sea Alexandria Alps Anatolia Antioch Arabia Felix Arabian Sea Armenia Bagdad Balkan Peninsula Carthage Chalcedon Cyprus Damascus Danube River Ephesus Euphrates River Fez Frankish Kingdom Gibraltar Jerusalem Kufa Mecca Medina Mesopotamia Monte Cassino Nicaea Nile River Ostrogothic Italy Persia Persian Gulf Pyrenees Ravenna Red Sea Sardinia Spain Tigris River Vandal Kingdom Visigothic Kingdom	Aix-la-Chapelle Apulia Aquitaine Austrasia Austurias Avars Bavaria & Carinthia Black Sea Brittany Bulgaria Burgundy Calabria Cordoba Corsica Danube River Denmark Duchy of Benevento Elbe River Emirate of Cordoba Ireland Kingdom of the Franks Lombard Kingdom London Magyars Mercia Neustria Northumbria Papal States Paris Pavia Pyrenees Ravenna Rhine River Sardinia Saxony Spanish March Tours Wales Wessex

 

On all maps, I will mark the places, you will fill in the names (spelling does count).

Rivers will be marked with arrows Cities and specific sites will be marked with an X Mountains will be marked with overlapping triangles Regions will be marked with hatching Small islands with just a circled number Bodies of water just with a circled number

Make-Up Map Quiz 4 will cover all items on this list. For exact dates of map quizzes, see the written syllabus

 

press the globe to get a select list of places to visit including MyDDP

 

For information about your instructor and links to:
the Department of History
and
Washington State University (WAZZU)

go to
the inaccurately named

Richard S. Williams Unpretentious Home Page

by pressing the comm-badge

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