History 305 (Fall 2000):
Seminar: Heirs of the Roman Empire: Byzantium, Latin Christendom, and Islam in
the Middle Ages
This course provides a comparative framework for studying the three great
medieval societies that arose out of the Roman empire, focusing on both the
unity and diversity of the early medieval Mediterranean. The course will begin
by examining the transformations of the late antique period (c. 300-600) that
led to the division and eventual demise of the Roman empire. Next it will trace
the developments of the three major successor states that arose in the early
medieval period (c. 600-1000): the Byzantine empire, the Abbasid caliphate, and
the Frankish kingdom. Readings will examine literary as well as archaeological
sources and confront some of the most controversial debates over the economic,
political, and religious structures of late antique society.
Books
The following books are available for purchase:
Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity
Averil Cameron, The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity
Mark Whittow, The Making of Byzantium
William Cook and Ronald Herzman, The Medieval World View
Ira Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies
Photocopies of primary source texts are available in Founders 202 (in the HIST305 box) and on reserve. Students are advised to make their own photocopies to bring to class.
Requirements and Grading
You will be graded based on the following components:
Three Short Primary Source Papers (15% each)
A Research Paper (20 pages) (35%)
On-time completion of assignments (bibliography, outline, and
rough draft) (10%)
Final draft of paper (25%)
Class Participation (20%)
HIST 305 Course Conference
I have set up a course conference on First Class where you can find the course
syllabus, paper topics, instructions for writing papers, and changes in reading
assignments. Please be sure to check the conference before doing your readings
as I do anticipate some modifications. I will also be posting messages from time
to time.
Readings
I. The Byzantine Empire
The Late Roman Empire
Secondary Source Readings:
Peter Brown, The World of Late
Antiquity, pp. 7-45, 82-94, 137-48
Primary Source Readings:
Eusebius, The Life of Constantine,
Book I: 12-32, 39-48, Book II: 61.2-73, Book III: 4-15
or In Praise
of Constantine (The Tricennial Orations)
Ammianus Marcellinus, Histories, Book
31
Ambrose, Letters to Valentinian II
and Theodosius I
Augustine, City of God, Book V:
21-22, 24-25, Book XI: 1, Book XIV: 28, Book XV: 1-2, 4;
Book XVIII:
2, Book XIX: 6-7, Book XXII: 22
Additional Readings:
Garnsey and Saller, The Roman Empire,
chapters 2-3
Averil Cameron, The Mediterranean
World in Late Antiquity, Introduction, chapters 1, 2, 4
Christianity and Philosophy
Secondary Source Readings:
Peter Brown, The World of Late
Antiquity, pp. 49-81, 96-112
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World
View, chapters 1-4
Primary Source Readings:
The New Testament: St. Paul: Romans
1-2, 1 Corinthians 7, Letter to the Galatians
Acts of Thekla and Paul in Elizabeth
Clark, Women in the Early Church
Martyrdom of
St. Perpetua
Augustine, Selections from
Confessions in The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces
The Life of St. Anthony, chapters
1-15, 72-92, trans. Robert C. Gregg
The Life of Proclus
Additional Readings:
The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or
John
Averil Cameron, The Mediterranean
World in Late Antiquity, chapters 3 and 6
Peter Brown, " The Rise and
Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity," in Society and
the Holy in
Late Antiquity
Patricia Wilson-Kastner, A Lost
Tradition: Women Writers of the Early Church, preface
The Age of Justinian
Secondary Source Readings:
Peter Brown, The World of Late
Antiquity, pp. 150-71, 115-35
Averil Cameron, The Mediterranean
World in Late Antiquity, chapter 5
Primary Source Readings:
Procopius, History of the Wars, vol.
III, pp. 337-47, 15-23; vol. I, pp. 451-73
Procopius, Secret History, chapter XI
Theodosian Code (selections) in
Patrick Geary, Readings in Medieval History
The Institutes of Justinian, Book I:
Titles I-VI, VIII-X, Book II: Title 1, trans. J. B. Moyle
Additional Readings (on reserve):
Mark Whittow, The Making of
Byzantium, chapter 3
A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman
Empire, chapter 9
Chris Wickham, Early Medieval Italy,
chapter 1
From Roman to Byzantine Empire
Secondary Source Readings:
Peter Brown, The World of Late
Antiquity, pp. 172-87
Mark Whittow, The Making of
Byzantium, chapters 4-6
Primary Source Readings:
Documents on Iconoclasm: Daniel Sahas,
Icon and Logos, preface, pp. 80-96, 176-85
Chronicle of Theophanes,
Introduction, pp. 626-88, trans. Cyril Mango and Roger Scott
Additional Readings:
Averil Cameron, The Mediterranean
World in Late Antiquity, chapters 7-8
Judith Herrin, The Formation of
Christendom, chapter 8
Daniel Sahas, Icon and Logos, pp.
3-44 (reserve)
II. The Islamic Caliphate
The Birth of Islam: Muhammad and the Early Conquests
Secondary Source Readings:
Peter Brown, The World of Late
Antiquity, pp. 189-203
Ira Lapidus, A History of Islamic
Societies, pp. 11-53
Primary Source Readings:
The Qu'rān (selections) in The
Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces
Ibn Ishāq, Biography of Muhammad in
The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces
Mahmoud Ayoub, The Qur'an and Its
Interpreters, vol. 1, 41-54; vol. 2, 202-14
al-Balādhurī, from The Opening Up
of the Lands in W. McNeill/M. Waldman, The Islamic World
Constitution of Medina in John Alden
Williams, Themes of Islamic Civilization, pp.12-15
al-Tabarī, Death of Uthman, from The
History of Prophets and Kings in McNeill/Waldman
Additional Readings (on reserve):
Michael Cook's biography of Muhammad
Fazlur Rahman, Islam, chapters 1-3
Encylcopedia of Islam, various
articles
Stephen Humphreys, Islamic History,
pp. 68-98
The Umayyad Caliphate
Secondary Source Readings:
Ira Lapidus, A History of Islamic
Societies, pp. 54-67, 98-109
Primary Source Readings:
Hasan al-Basrī, Letter to al-Hasan
in Williams, pp. 162-64
Hasan al-Basrī, Letter to 'Umar II
in McNeill/Waldman
Ziyād Ibn Abīhī, Inaugural Speech
in McNeill/Waldman
Additional Readings:
G. R. Hawting, The First Dynasty of
Islam, pp. 1-33
Richard Bulliet, Conversion to Islam
in the Medieval Period, pp. 33-42 Encylcopedia of Islam, various articles
The Development of Theology and the Shari'a
Secondary Source Readings:
Fazlur Rahman, Islam, chapters 4 and
6
Primary Source Readings
al-Shāfi'ī, Risāla (Islamic
Jurisprudence), pp. 67-87, 179-94, 285-52
al-Ash'arī
Additional Readings:
Encylcopedia of Islam, various
articles
Wiebke Walther, Women in Islam, pp.
47-72
The Abbasid Revolution
Secondary source Readings:
Ira Lapidus, A History of Islamic
Societies, pp. 67-98 (check)
Primary Source Readings:
al-Tabarī, The Abbasid Revolution
Additional Readings:
Stephen Humphreys, Islamic History
Hugh Kennedy, The Early Abbasid
Caliphate, pp. 35-45
The Golden Age of the Abbasids: Religion, Philosophy,
and Literature
Secondary Source Readings:
Ira Lapidus, A History of Islamic
Societies, pp. 120-36 (check)
Fazlur Rahman, Islam, chapters 5 and
7
Primary Source Readings:
Ibn Hanbal, al-Mu'tazilī, al-Ash'arī,
and Māturīdīya in Williams, pp. 28-33, 164-71
al-Farābī, from Attainment of
Happiness in McNeill/Waldman
al-Jāhiz, from Merits of the Turks
in McNeill/Waldman
al-Tanūkhī, from Ruminations and
Reminiscences in McNeill/Waldman
Additional Readings:
Encylcopedia of Islam, various
articles
Alfred L. Ivry, Al-Kindi's
Metaphysics, pp. 22-34
III. The Frankish Kingdom
From Roman to Frankish Gaul
Secondary Source Readings:
Peter Brown, The World of Late
Antiquity, pp. 115-35
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World
View, chapter 5
Primary Source Readings:
Tacitus, Germania in Patrick Geary,
Readings in Medieval History
Sidonius Apollinaris
Jordanes, History of the Goths in
Patrick Geary, Readings in Medieval History
Additional Readings:
Henri Pirenne, Charlemagne and
Muhammad, 17-20, 62-74, 140-56, 163-69, 183-85
Richard Hodges and David Whitehouse,
Mohammed, Charlemagne, and the Origins
of Europe
Walter Pohl, Kingdoms of the Empire:
The Integration of Barbarians in Late Antiquity
Peter Wells, The Barbarians Speak
Brian Ward-Perkins, From Classical
Antiquity to the Middle Ages
The Merovingians
Secondary Source Readings:
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World
View, chapter 6
Primary Source Readings
Gregory of Tours, History of the
Franks in Patrick Geary, Readings in Medieval History
Salic Law in Patrick Geary, Readings
in Medieval History
Additional Readings:
Patrick Geary, Before France and
Germany, pp. 77-96, 117-35
Chris Wickham, "The Fall of Rome
Will Not Take Place," in Lester Little and Barbara
Rosenwein, Debating the Middle Ages
The Carolingian Empire and Its Aftermath
Secondary Source Readings:
Cook and Herzman, The Medieval World
View, chapter 7
Primary Source Readings:
Einhard, Life of Charlemagne in
Patrick Geary, Readings in Medieval History
Capitularies of Charlemagne in
Patrick Geary, Readings in Medieval History
Hugh of Lusignan
Additional Readings:
Chris Wickham, Early Medieval Italy,
chapter 7
Jean Dunbabin, France in the Making,
843-1180, chapter 3
Timothy Reuter, Germany in the Early
Middle Ages, pp. 70-77, 148-54, 166-74
Religion and Society in the Frankish World
Secondary Source Readings:
Aron Gurevich, Medieval Popular
Culture
Primary Source Readings:
Life of St. Bathild or Life of St.
Radegund
Gregory the Great, Life of St.
Benedict in Patrick Geary, Readings in Medieval History
Rule of St. Benedict in Patrick
Geary, Readings in Medieval History
Einhard, The History of the
Translation of the Blessed Martyrs of Christ
Additional Readings:
Thomas Head and Richard Landes, The
Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious
Response in France around the Year
1000, Introduction, pp. 1-18 (reserve)
Frederic Cheyette, "Giving Each
His Due," in Lester Little and Barbara Rosenwein,
Debating the Middle Ages, pp. 170-79
(reserve)
Robert Bartlett, Trial by Water and
Fire: The Medieval Judicial Ordeal
Lester Little, Benedictine
Maledictions: Liturgical Cursing in Romanesque France
Suzanne Wemple, Women in Frankish
Society
Due Dates for Papers and Assignments
3/2 First Primary Source Paper Due
3/30 Second Primary Source Paper Due
4/20 Third Primary Source Paper Due
4/27 Bibliography Due
5/4 Outline Due
5/8 Oral Presentations
5/11 Rough Draft Due
5/21 Final Paper Due
Check the History 305 Course Conference for instructions on all assignments.