John S. Ott
Portland State University
Cramer Hall 441-H
Winter 2024

Drawing upon a combination of primary and secondary historical sources, this course surveys the social, political, economic, intellectual, and religious development of western continental Europe and the Mediterranean from Late Antiquity (ca. 250 C.E.) through the early Middle Ages (to ca. 1000 C.E.), focusing on the interaction and contributions of the principal cultures -- Roman, Judeo-Christian, Islamic, and northern European -- that shaped it. Topics include: expressions of power and ideology in Roman and Christian cultural contexts; how the pluralistic and polytheistic cultures of the Roman empire came to embrace monotheism; social and gender roles in the late Roman and post-Roman world; the rise of Germanic and Islamic successor states following the collpase of the western empire; the growth of the Carolingian Empire in the eighth through ninth centuries and the devolution of the Carolingian political achievement; and the emergent Europe of the year 1000.

Course objectives

• To gain a reasonably broad and deep content knowledge of late Roman and early medieval history;
• To cultivate proficiency at reading primary sources, critically and historically;
• To develop textual analysis, interpretation, and writing skills through discussions, exams, and written assignments;
• To appreciate the diversity of the medieval world in its various social, religious, and cultural forms of expression;
• To enhance communication and verbal analysis skills through daily class discussion of the sources.

Cluster Elective (UNST), History Major/Minor, and Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) Minor

This course serves as an upper-division elective for the Interpreting the Past Junior Cluster, the History Major and Minor, and the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Minor. If you are interested in pursuing the MEMS Minor, contact Prof. Ott for information or help with questions.

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Course evaluation

Classes will be structured around discussion of readings (instructor-led and group-based), illustrated lectures, written assignments, and media presentations. As the organization and success of the class depend on daily individual preparation and participation in discussion, each student's contribution to the class dynamic will be weighted in the assessment of grades. Guidelines for all assignments will be posted below well in advance of deadlines. Student performance will be evaluated according to the following criteria, on a scale of 1000 points:

• Regular attendance, in-class work, and participation in discussion - 200 points (20%). Active, engaged participation in class discussion, group work, and all other participatory components of the class, divided between attendance (100 points) and discussion (100 points). Attendance is taken daily and weighted at 5 points/class (thus, assuming 20 days X 5 points ea. = 100/200 points for attendance). Participation in discussion is weighted at 100/200 points, and discussion will be carried out as a class and in small group formats. An attendance sheet will be circulated daily; it is the student's responsibility to sign it. In determining participation portion of grade, excellent attendance (90%+) without any oral participation will usually be assessed a grade of 'C' (thus, 75/100 points). Note that an 80% rate of attendance can yield no more than an 80% participation grade (which in turn assumes regular/daily participation). You may miss one class (unexcused/no explanation required) without penalty. Excused absences will count neither for nor against your participation grade. For absence to be considered excused, the instructor must be notified in advance of class. Excused absences include for illness, family emergency, or other sever mitigating circumstances.
• Map quiz - 100 points (10%). Given Thursday, January 18, in class. Make-up quizzes will be given in cases of documented emergency, and with advance notification of instructor. The map template will be circulated in advance to course e-mail list.
• Pop quizzes - 70 points (7%). Around 5-6 quizzes, held at random during the term on readings assigned for that day. Given at beginning of class; no make-ups will be given. It will, however, be possible to make up missed or dropped points on these quizzes through extra credit questions and bonus points. No quizzes will be given in the first two weeks of the term.
• Notetaking journal (for final exam) - 80 points (8%). You must maintain a daily notebook for the class in which you record your lecture and discussion notes. This will be submitted on Thursday, Feb. 8 (40 points) and again on Thursday, March 7 (40 points), and return for preparation of and use on the final exam itself.
  
• Two comparative, primary source-based analysis papers (about 5 pp. each) - 300 points (150 points X 2) (30%). Due in class Tuesday, February 20 and and Thursday, March 14. | Essay 1 Guidelines | Essay 2 Guidelines |
  
• Final blue book exam (essay-based, notebook assisted) - 250 points (25%). Given Thursday, March 21, 12:15-2:05. | Exam Guidelines |

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Course materials

The texts below are available for sale at the PSU Bookstore. A copy of each is also on 2-hour reserves at Millar Library (go to Circulation Desk),

• Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks, trans. Lewis Thorpe (Penguin, 1974);
• Early Medieval Europe Primary Source Reader (PSR: dark blue cover; Univ. of Toronto Press, 2019/2023)

Optional textbook (for those who'd like a good written survey of the period), also on 2-hour reserve at Millar:

• Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome. Illuminating the Dark Ages, 400-1000 (London and New York, 2009). A limited number of copies are available in the PSU Bookstore.

All readings are required unless otherwise noted. Also, please note that several of our readings this quarter are available on-line and/or via Course reserves through Millar Library, and may be downloaded to computers or other devices.

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Accessibility notice

If you have, or think you may have, a disability that may affect your work in this class and feel you need accommodations, contact the Disability Resource Center to schedule an appointment and initiate a conversation about reasonable accommodations. Students who require additional consideration for the timely completion of any of the course requirements due to accessibility needs should speak to the instructor at the beginning of the term, and must be registered with PSU's Disability Resource Center.

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Title IX statement

Federal, state, and PSU policies require faculty members to mandatorily report any instances of sexual harassment, sexual violence, and/or other forms of prohibited discrimination. PSU faculty are required by law to file a report if they have reasonable cause to believe that a child with whom they come into contact has suffered abuse, or that any person with whom they come into contact has abused a child. These reports are not confidential. However, campus resources where reports may be made confidentially may be found by following this link.

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Senior auditor expectations

Please consult syllabus distributed in class.

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E-mail policy

When contacting the Instructor via e-mail, please bear in mind the following:

- I consider 48-72 hours to be a reasonable period in which to respond to inquiries. I am usually much faster than this, but not always.

- I will not, in general, respond to student e-mails received after 5:00 p.m. until the following day(s), nor will I generally respond to student e-mail sent after 5:00 on Friday until Monday morning. Please plan accordingly.

- Please remember to identify yourself and state your query as clearly as possible.

- I will not fill in students who miss class on the details of a particular lecture or discussion. Please seek that information from your fellow students.

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Syllabus

Please note that a number of our readings this term are found on Course Reserves at Millar Library and are available as downloadable .pdfs. From that web page, type in 'Ott' and then click on the folder labeled 'Reading Folder for HST 354U' --> Online access -->  View full text.

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I.  The Later Roman Empire: continuities and evolutions

T (1/9) Introduction

Lecture: A many-faceted box and an intriguing burial

Handout: Course syllabus

TH (1/11) 'Rome, mother of mortals, mother of gods'  | Consult: Reading  Guide #1  |

Readings:

• Early Medieval Europe Reader: 'From the Latin Panegyrics' and Rutilius Namatianus, 'From His Voyage Home' (PSR, pp. 1-7, 27-30) Note: **Use paginataion at TOP of page**;
• Ammianus Marcellinus, History, 14.6 ('The faults of the Senate and people of Rome'), pp. 45-50 (Course reserves; note that this document also includes readings from Ammianus assigned for next week)

Optional reading: Wickham, Inheritance of Rome, pp. 21-49

Lecture: The Empire around 300: the Diocletianic Recovery

T (1/16) Power, wealth and patronage in the later Empire  | Consult: Reading Guide #2  |

Readings:

• Athanasios of Alexandria, Life of St. Antony, ed. and trans. Carolinne White, in Early Christian Lives (London: Penguin, 1998), Prologue and chapters 1-12 (pp. 7-17) (Course reserves);
• Palladius, The Lausiac History, "On Melania the Elder" (New York: Macmillan, 1918), pp. 147-149, 158-161 (Course reserves);
  
• Salvian of Marseilles, On the Governance of God, in From Roman to Merovingian Gaul. A Reader, ed. and trans. A. C. Murray (Peterborough: Broadview, 2000), pp. 119-125 (Course reserves)

Lecture: 'Haves,' 'have nots,' and 'want nots' in an age of transition

TH (1/18) A barbarian Empire | Consult: Reading Guide #1 |

Readings:

• Ammianus Marcellinus, History, 31.1-12-14, pp. 410-422, 432-439 (Course reserves; note that this reading is part of the same .pdf as the above reading of Ammianus 14.6);
• Sidonius Apollinarus, Letters ('Description of King Theoderic II' and 'Pleasing Queen Ragnahild'), in From Roman to Merovingian Gaul. A Reader, ed. and trans. A. C. Murray (Peterborough: Broadview, 2000), pp. 194-198 (Course reserves)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 76-108

Lecture: The 'barbarization' of Rome

MAP QUIZ, IN CLASS

T (1/23) 'Christian times'  | Consult: Reading Guide #1 |

Readings:

• Early Medieval Europe Reader: Orosius, Histories against the Pagans (PSR, pp. 8-26)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 50-75

Lecture: The many Christianities of Late Antiquity

TH (1/25) Conversion of Europe | Consult: Reading Guide #3 |

Readings:

• Sulpicius Severus, Life of St. Martin of Tours, ed. and trans. Carolinne White, in Early Christian Lives (London: Penguin, 1998), pp. 131-159 (Course reserves)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 170-187

Lecture: From sacred groves to altar tables

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II.  The Roman successor states in the west, ca. 450-750

T (1/30) Rise of the Frankish kingdoms  | Consult: Reading Guide # 4  |

Readings:

• Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, Book I, pp. 63-72, 86-94, 97-99 (= Book I Preface, prologue, chaps. 1-6, 30-44, 48), and Book II, pp. 103, 108-114, 125-129, 132-158 (= Prologue, chaps. 3-4, 10-12, 18-43)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 111-129

Lecture: The world of Gregory of Tours

TH (2/1) The Franks

Reading:

• Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, Book III, pp. 161-75, 180-83, 187-89 (= chaps. 1-14, 18, 31); Book IV, pp. 197-98, 207-17, 219-27 (= chaps. 1-3, 13-21 and 26-31); Book V, pp. 253-54, 263-67 (= Prologue and chaps. 6-11); Book VI, pp. 329-33, 377-81 (= chaps. 5, 45-46); Book IX, pp. 489-491 (= chap. 9); Book X, pp. 602-604 (chap. 31)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 170-202

T (2/6) Women, power, scandal, and sanctity I: Radegund of Thuringia/Poitiers  | Consult: Reading Guide # 4  |

Readings:

• Venantius Fortunatus, Life of St. Radegund of Poitiers, in Medieval Saints. A Reader, ed. Mary-Ann Stouck (Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1999), pp. 205-217 (Course reserves) -- read before HF!;
• Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, Book IX, pp. 481-482, 526-39 (= chaps. 2, 39-43); Book X, pp. 567-575 (= chaps. 15-18) [death of Radegund and dispute at the nunnery of Holy Cross];
• Letter of Caesaria, abbess of Arles, to Radegund of Thuringia (Poitiers) (c. 558/59) (online here)

TH (2/8) Women, power, scandal, and sanctity II: Byzantium under Justinian (527-565) and Theodora (d. 548), Byzantine power couple | Reading Guide #5 |

Reading:

• Prokopios, The Wars of Justinian, trans. H. B. Dewing and Anthony Kaldellis (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2010), pp. 60-65 (Course reserves);
  
• Prokopios, The Secret History, ed. and trans. Anthony Kaldellis (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2010), pp. 28-31, 36-65 (Course reserves)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 255-278

Lecture: The Byzantine Empire in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries

NOTEBOOKS DUE, END OF CLASS

T (2/13) Muslim Iberia | Consult: Reading Guide #5 |

Readings:

• Olivia Remie Constable, ed., Medieval Iberia. Readings from Christian, Muslim and Jewish Sources, 1st ed. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997): (1) 'Two Accounts of the Muslim Conquest'; (2) 'The Treaty of Tudmir (713)'; (3) 'Christian Resistance in the North (ca. 718 [but composed in the 880s!])' (pp. 28-42) (Course reserves)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 279-297 (318-347)

Lecture: The Arab/Muslim inheritance of Rome

FIRST ESSAY DUE, IN CLASS

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III.  The Carolingian Empire: renewal and innovation

TH (2/15) The Carolingians: Renovatio of Empire | Consult:  Reading Guide #6 |

Readings:

• Early Medieval Europe Reader: 'The Elevation of Pepin the Short'; 'The Reanointing of Pepin in 754'; 'Pope Stephen Scolds Charlemagne'; 'Einhard's Life of Charlemagne'; 'The Capitulary on the Saxon Territories' (PSR, pp. 31-62)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 375-392

Lecture: The Pippinids' Rise to Power

T (2/20) Kinship, emotion, and family in the ninth century | Consult: Reading Guide #6 |

Readings:

• Early Medieval Europe Reader: 'Dhuoda's Advice to Her Son'; 'Five Poems of Alcuin'; 'Freculf dedicates his book' (PSR, pp. 63-74, 83-84)

TH (2/22) Learning and belief in the ninth century | Consult: Reading Guide #7 |

Readings:

• Early Medieval Europe Reader: 'Alcuin's Dialogue with Young Prince Pepin'; 'Popular and Learned Beliefs: Two Specimens'; 'Ratramnus and the Dog-Headed Humans'; 'Agobard of Lyons and the Popular Belief in Weather Magic' (PSR, pp. 75-82, 85-94, 166-168)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 405-426

Lecture: Education and learning in the Carolingian World

T (2/27) The bonds of peasant society | Consult: Reading Guide #7 |

Readings:

• Early Medieval Europe Primary Source Reader: 'The Polyptique of Saint-Germain-des-Pres'; 'The Polyptique of the Church of Marseilles'; 'Of Bread and Provisions' (PSR, pp. 153-165, 169-174);
• Chris Wickham, "The Caging of the Peasantry, 800-1000," chap. 22 in The Inheritance of Rome (New York, 2009), pp. 529-551 (Course reserves)
  

Lecture: The 95%ers: peasants and peasant life in early medieval Europe

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IV. Carolingian dissolution

TH (2/29) Troubled inheritance: The end of the Carolingian empire | Consult: Reading Guide #8 |

Readings:

• Early Medieval Europe Reader: 'Thegan's Life of Louis'; 'The Ordinatio Imperii of 817'; 'The Astronomer's Account of the Rebellions'; 'The Final Days and Death of Louis the Pious' (by the Astronomer) (PSR, pp. 96-132)

Examine: Early Medieval Europe Reader, 'The Treaty of Verdun (843)' (PSR, pp. 133-135)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 392-404

Lecture: All his children: The vexed reign of Louis the Pious (814-840)

T (3/5) The Vikings | Consult:  Reading Guide #8 |

Readings:

• Early Medieval Europe Reader: 'The Annals of Xanten'; 'The Annals of Saint-Vaast'; 'Abbo's Account of the Siege of Paris'; 'The Wandering Monks of Saint-Philibert' (PSR, pp. 136-152);
• Anders Winroth, "Networks of Trade," chap. 7 in The Conversion of Scandinavia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), pp. 85-101 (Course reserves)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 472-507

Lecture: The Three Kingdoms and the 'Age of Invasions'

TH (3/7) FILM: The Northman (2022), dir. Robert Eggers (R)

NOTEBOOKS DUE, IN CLASS; ATTENDANCE WILL BE TAKEN

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V. Europe at the first millennium

T (3/12) The Ottonians and Byzantium | Consult:  Reading Guide #9  |

Readings:

• Liudprand of Cremona, Embassy to Nicephoros Phocas, in The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona, trans. Paolo Squatriti (Washington, D.C., 2007), 238-276 (Course reserves)

Optional: Wickham, Inheritance, pp. 427-452

Lecture: The Ottonians

TH (3/14) Social anxieties and the struggle for peace  | Reading Guide #10  |

Readings:

• Rodulfus Glaber, The Five Books of the Histories, Book IV (pp. 170-215), ed. and trans. John France (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989) (Course reserves);

Lecture: The Age of Iron: the Year 1000 and religious revival

SECOND ESSAY DUE, IN CLASS