European Early Middle Ages

The purpose of this class is to introduce you to the formative years in the development of European society and to teach you historical thinking skills through the study of primary source materials. We will examine the diverse elements that combined to make medieval Europe distinctive: Graeco-Roman cultures of the Mediterranean; Judeo-Christian traditions of the ancient Near East; Celtic, Germanic, and Scandinavian cultures in western Europe; Russian, Slavic, and Magyar cultures in eastern Europe; and the influences of Byzantine and Islamic civilizations. Class discussion and writing exercises geared around the primary sources will develop historical empathy and understanding of the past in context.

In addition to the textbook, students are required to read primary source selections in translation on the web at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook and be prepared to discuss these readings in class. Two topical secondary histories engage students with issues of cultural identity, nationalism, and socio-economic features of early medieval Europe. This course is writing intensive: we will use writing to learn the materials through journal and in-class writing exercises and will approach writing as a process in the formal papers.

Reading

• Rosenwein, Barbara H., A Short History of the Middle Ages, 2nd ed., Vol. I: From c. 300 to c. 1150 (Toronto: Broadview Press, 2004).
• Geary, Patrick J., The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002).
• McKitterick, Rosamond, ed., The Early Middle Ages (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook (IMS)
• Other handouts and web links

Virtual Reality: Although the Internet is no substitute for the library and email is no substitute for class attendance, students will need to utilize the online environment as part of this class. The course syllabus is online with links to the readings and updates to the course schedule in the event of changes. Students are expected to access the Internet Medieval Sourcebook for primary source readings and make use of the UH Library databases and search engines for their research papers. Also, it is UH policy that “students are responsible for checking their email account frequently and consistently to remain current with University communications. They are expected to monitor and manage their email storage quota to insure that their mailboxes are not saturated and are able to receive new messages."

Disability Access: If you feel you need reasonable accommodations because of the impact of a disability, please 1) contact the KOKUA Program (V/T) at 956-7511 or 956-7612, QLCSS 013; 2) speak with me privately to discuss your specific needs. I will be happy to work with you and the KOKUA Program to meet you access needs related to your documented disability. The Office of Student Affairs also provides a wide array of learning assistance, counseling, and support services to meet your needs.

Student Conduct: Students are expected to be familiar with and adhere to university norms and expectations stated in the Catalog and the Student Conduct Code. Common courtesy is expected in the classroom, including but not limited to: arriving and departing on time or notifying the instructor of a need to be excused, cell phones off, laptops in use only for course work, listening respectfully to other students, and timely submission of work. The instructor assumes students will behave honorably in submitting their own work and has no tolerance for cheating, particularly plagiarism in writing assignments.

Plagiarism, a form of cheating punishable under the UHM Student Conduct Code, is the use of someone else's words or ideas without citation or acknowledgement. This includes exact/unique phrases without quote marks; interpretive arguments (as opposed to general knowledge information) made to sound as your own when they are not; and sentences, paragraphs, or whole papers copied or downloaded into your paper. Any paper submitted to me that violates this standard will receive an automatic F (0 points) with no resubmission. We can discuss the case, but if we fail to agree on whether plagiarism occurred, the case will have to go to the Dean of Students, where the penalty if guilt is found is worse than an F on a paper.

I. Parachuting over the Landscape

• 08/22 First Day Introductions: Getting Medieval
• 08/24 Preview of books, Gillett Ethnogenesis article
• 08/29 Roman World Transformed, Rosenwein, ch. 1
• 08/31 Emergence of Sibling Cultures, Rosenwein, ch. 2
• 09/05 Creating New Identities, Rosenwein, ch. 3
• 09/07 Political Communities Reordered, Rosenwein, ch. 4
• 09/12 Myth of Nations, Geary intro, ch. 1-3
• 09/14 Medieval Origins of Europe, Geary, ch. 4-6
• 09/19 Book Review Workshop, bring full draft (due 9/26)

II. Truffle-hunting in the Forest

• 09/21 IMS: Using Primary Sources
• Bowdoin: How to Read a Primary Source
• Using Primary Sources on the Web
• 09/26 IMS: End of Rome (book review due)
• 09/28 IMS: Byzantium through Macedonian Dynasty
• 10/03 IMS: Islam through the Abbasid Caliphate
• 10/05 IMS: Roman Church
• 10/10 IMS: Early Germans
• 10/12 IMS: Celtic World
• 10/17 IMS: England: Anglo-Saxon Britain
• 10/19 IMS: Carolingians (submit paper source)
• 10/24 IMS: Iberia: Visigothic Spain and Al-Andalus; Jewish Life selections
• 10/26 IMS: Tenth Century Collapse
• 10/31 Primary Sources in Perspective, bring journal and notes
• 11/02 Primary source analysis Paper Workshop, bring full draft (due 11/9)

III. Satellite Images

• [11/07 election holiday]
• 11/9 Primary source paper due; topics approved and groups assigned for chapters
• 11/14 Politics, McKitterick ch.1
• 11/16 Society, McKitterick ch. 2
• 11/21 Economy, McKitterick ch. 3 (annotated bibliography due)
• [11/23 Thanksgiving holiday]
• 11/28 Religion, McKitterick ch. 4 (thesis and outline due)
• 11/30 Culture, McKitterick ch. 5
• 12/05 Wider World, McKitterick ch. 6
• 12/07 Research Paper Workshop: bring a complete draft paper
• 12/12 Final research papers due at noon, at classroom Kuykendall 309

1. clear thesis and argumentation, indicated in the introduction and in the organization of the paper;
2. adept analysis of sources and other information as evidence or examples; and
3. vigorous, readable prose style free of grammar and syntax errors.

Drafts are accepted for comment if received (email okay) at least 48 hours before the due date. Citations should follow the Chicago Manual of Style for humanities notes and bibliography (NOT science style of in-text author-date). See Diana Hacker online style guide.

Late papers without a documented excuse lose 3/100 for every day late.

Rewrites are allowed only for papers originally submitted on time. If you choose to rewrite a paper, you must do a complete redraft modifying the content and organization, not just “fixing” sentences. Rewrites are due one week after the paper was returned by the instructor. The two grades will be averaged.

For assistance with writing, see links on the instructor's mainpage (near the bottom) or go to the Manoa Writing Program page for resources, including the Writing Workshop.

Needless to say, attendance and participation is an integral part of success in this course. The instructor will spot check journals, read and respond to in-class writing exercises, and examine drafts brought to paper workshops. If students are coming unprepared to class, the instructor may give unannounced pop quizzes that cannot be made up. If for some reason you are unable to attend class, you must notify the instructor in advance, by email or phone. In the event of a documented medical problem or emergency, the instructor will work with the student to develop an alternate assignment to make up lost class time. Those with scheduled absences, such as athletes, should work with the instructor to submit reading journal entries via email on or before the missed class day.

Reading suggestions: Preview the book by skimming the introductions and conclusions. Read a chapter at a time, focusing on arguments, not data. Do not take copious notes or highlight as you read. Rather, read to the end of the chapter, keeping your main questions in mind, and then write a brief summary or set of notes after you have finished a chapter. Bring these notes to the class discussions on 9/12 and 9/14. Bring a full draft to the paper workshop on 9/19 (final book review, 3-5 pages, due on 9/26).

These are the questions you can ask as you read and address in your review:

1. What is the purpose and thesis of the book? Look at the Preface or Introduction to find out what the author set out to do and why.
2. What are the themes of the book? Look at the Table of Contents as well as the introductory material to find out what key ideas and issues the author addresses.
3. What is the author's point of view? Examine the thesis and arguments, as well as the handling of evidence, to see what that approach is.
4. What sources does the author use and how effectively does the book use evidence or examples to support arguments?
5. For the purposes of this class, how does the book contribute to our understanding of the early Middle Ages? How does it complement or supplement the textbook?

• Don't describe the book's contents, unless the description is subsumed under one of the questions above. For example, a listing of the chapters might serve as evidence of a good organization.
• Don't adopt the author's voice as your own. The review should be in your voice, analyzing the author.
• Don't quote excessively from the book. Use quotes only when you want to give the exact flavor of the author's work or when you want to comment on style.

Research guidelines: Pick an area that interests you and try tracking down several primary sources to see which one is doable: is there a full text source in translation in our library or online? Are there secondary sources and background on the author or text? Is it a text that illustrates an issue or provides some basis for argument? Submit your chosen text by 10/19.

Analysis guidelines: Relate the specific text as a piece of evidence to the general context found in the textbook and in comparison with other types of evidence. Keep in mind that any source is merely a fragment and cannot be used to generalize about early medieval society as a whole. Aim for a qualified thesis that makes an argument about what the evidence can tell us and what its limits are, but also try to engage it with some historical empathy. Bring a preliminary thesis and introduction to class on 10/31.

Writing guidelines: The paper should have a thesis (main argument) clearly articulated in the first paragraph. This argument should NOT be a description of the text and what it says, but your analysis of what it means as a piece of evidence. Sub arguments spinning off from that main thesis should form the basis of the paper’s organization. Bring a full draft (7-9 pages) to the paper workshop on 11/2.

Final paper (reorganized and cleaned up) is due at the beginning of class, 11/9.

Presentation Guidelines

• you have the entire 75 minutes: do not cut short by more than 10 minutes
• mix lecture with discussion to engage students with issues
• balance between parachute view and truffle hunting; focus on issues and themes
• don’t just review the chapter, since everyone should have read it; bring in primary sources (e.g., relate to ones we already read or point us to others at IMS), or other examples, comparisons
• you may use visuals (online, powerpoint, overheads, handouts); if you want to have students look at something in advance, send them by email and/or post them
• discussion: you may do large group or break into groups
• research: depending on where you are on your topic, feel free to present what you are finding and ask for feedback
• group work: share tasks evenly both in preparation and in presentation
• grading (counts as plus, check or minus in 10% participation and incorporated into research paper as a plus, check, or minus factor of up to 5 points): I will be grading your presentations as a group and noting individual contributions: knowledge (bringing in other relevant materials), clarity (ability to explain ideas), engagement (asking good questions, getting discussion going)

Final Research Paper

Research guidelines: Locate at least three primary sources and 7-10 secondary sources, including scholarly books and journal articles, but excluding textbooks, general audience books, and encyclopedias. Hint: Check the bibliographies in the textbooks. Submit an annotated bibliography by 11/21.

Analysis guidelines: Find an issue or controversy that arises from the evidence and explore different sides or different ways of interpreting the evidence. Your views may change as you explore, but make sure that your arguments are balanced and take into account all of the evidence, not just what supports your views. Preliminary thesis and outline due by 11/28.

Writing guidelines: Initial drafts may be more exploratory as you write to find your ideas. Subsequent drafts should develop a clear thesis up front and a strong organization built around arguments, not descriptions (check the first sentence of every paragraph for flow). Full draft (12-15 pages) due at the paper workshop on 12/7.

Rewriting: The key to success is to thoroughly revamp your paper. You may need to turn the whole paper upside down by getting the strong arguments that come through at the end and putting them up front in the introduction, then reorganizing around these key arguments. Final draft is due 12/12 at noon.