Schedule of readings and assignments

This material is subject to change (and has been intentionally left blank for the latter half of the course). Changes will be posted to the Calendar and Assignments pages.

Phase I - Consolidation and Growth

New States

1. T (8 Feb)  Introductions

2. Th (10 Feb) Ottonians, Normans, and Beyond

• Reading: Bennett 145-53; SOURCES: Geary - Liuprand of Cremona, A Chronicle of Otto's Reign , p. 600-607.
• Project - Bayeux Tapestry
• Informal writing assignment due - 1 - Tapestry assignment

3. T (15 Feb) Feudalism - A concept that counts?

• Reading: Bennett 141-145; SOURCES: Geary - Fulbert of Chartres, Letter to William of Acquitaine, p. 386; Hugh of Lusignan, Agreement between Lord and Vassal p. 387-392.
• Informal writing assignment due - 2 - Assessment of Lord and Vassal relationships. What has each promised the other?

Economic Change

4. Th (17 Feb) The Agricultural and Commercial Revolutions

• Reading: Bennett 160-187, De Villis, Southampton Guild Organization, Life of St. Godric, Otto I - Grants a Market, Otto I - Grants rights for tolls
• Website Exploration: From the Medieval Technology Pages - The horse harness, the heavy plow, and the whippletree.
• Paper #1 : Go to Roots of the Commercial Revolution, then Trade and Commerce, then Rise of Towns. Pick one document from each section and write 2-3 page paper (about 750 words) on how your documents, taken together, demonstrate the changing nature of the medieval economy. Due Tuesday, Feb 22.
  • CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Monastic and Church Reform

5. T (22 Feb) Cluny and the Cistercians

• Reading: Bennett 188-203, Geary - Cluniac Charters and Charters of the Grossi Family, p. 321-327; Bernard of Clairvaux, p. 350-359.
• Paper #1 due

Phase II - Results of Consolidation

Militant Christendom

6. Th (24 Feb) Crusades to the East

• Reading: Bennett 217-241, Geary - Group 1 read: Fulcher of Chartres, Group 2 read Solomon Bar Simson, Group 3 read Ibn Al-Athir, Group 4 read Anna Comnena (pages 407-442). Come to class prepared to present your document to the class.
  • Informal writing assignment due - 3 - Write-up of your preparation. For your document, you need to be able to describe the following. What happened? Who did what to whom? What are the reasons given for the actions? How do you interpret the document's genre, authorial intention, and intended audience?

7. T (1 Mar) Crusades to the North; Crusades within Europe

• Reading: TBA (handouts in class)

Empire and Papacy

8. Th (3 Mar) Gregorian Reforms and its consequences; Barbarossa

• Reading: Bennett 242-267, Documents on Gregory and Henry

9. T (8 Mar) Debate on Empire vs. Papacy (includes some additional documents to read)

• Informal writing assignment due - 4 - Write-up of your preparation. Consider the side you are going to take in your debate. Write up the major points you are going to make to defend your side. Write down the questions you wish to ask the other side.

10. Th (10 Mar) Fourth Lateran Council and Papal Monarchy

• Readings: Geary - The Canons of the Fourth Lateran Council, p. 443-469
  • Everyone is responsible for reading all the canons.
  • Then focus on canons 1-3, 13, 21, and 71. We will discuss those as a class specifically
  • You will also be assigned one or two other canons to read. You will need to write your paper on these canons. You ALSO need to have read the canon for this class meeting, although the paper is not due until the 15th.
• Paper #2 - Write a 2-3 page paper (about 750 words) that explicates the canons you have been assigned. What problems are the canons meant to solve. What effects, intended or unintended, might the canons have had on the Church?
  • Group 1: Canons 4 and 5
  • Group 2: Canons 6 and 7
  • Group 3: Canon 8, 18, 19
  • Group 4: Canons 14-17
  • Group 5: Canons 23-27
  • Group 6: Canons 50-52
  • Group 7: Canons 67-68

11.T (15 Mar) Universities - theology and law

• Readings: Bennett, 308-322. Group 1 read: Acquinas' Proof of the Existence of God, Group 2 read: Anselm's Proof of the Existence of God
• Other readings - Statues of the University of Paris, Courses at Paris, Condemnation of Errors, Medieval Students' Songs.
• Paper #2 is due today.

12. Th (17 Mar) Midterm due

Phase III High Medieval Society and Culture

13. T (29 Mar) Chivalric Literature, Crusade literature, Castles

• Readings: Bennett, 292-301. Sources TBA.

14. Th (31 Mar) Gothic Architecture

• Readings: Bennett 302-307. Sources:
  • Abbot Suger of St. Denis
    • De Administratione
  • Scriptum Consecrationis
  • The Cathedral Chapter of Chartres: The Riot of 1210
  • Think about what this document says about the tensions between town and church.
• Browse - The Gothic Cathedral site. What are the features you find most interesting?
• Informal writing assignment due - 5 - What is Suger's rationale for the decorations he installs in his church? Describe it and then react to it. Does it make sense? How does he understand the role of the Church?

Piety and Learning beyond the University

15. T (5 Apr) Mendicant Orders

• Reading: Bennett 210-216. Geary, p. 470-474 (rule of St. Francis). Geary 478-492. (Canonization of St. Dominic, Defense of the Mendicants). Lives of St. Francis - Excerpts (print these out!). Passage on the Birds, the Wolf, and the Rich Man (three separate links. Print these out too please) from The Little Flowers of St. Francis.
• Debate Suger vs. Francis
• Informal writing assignment due - 6 - Prepare for a debate (it will be shorter this time) on the views of St. Francis on the nature of the Church against the views of Suger. Summarize Francis' views and compare them to Suger's in a single paragraph. Be ready to place them against each other in class discussion.

16. Th (7 Apr) Women and Piety in the Middle Ages

• Reading: Geary, 815-823 (Catherine of Siena) and 567-599 (Margery Kempe)
  • Optional reading: St. Clare (click English. Many things to skim, but focus on the Rule)
• Informal writing assignment due - 7 - Why do people in general react so negatively to Margery? How do Church officials react? What's the meaning of the difference?

17. T (12 Apr) Women's lives in the centreal and late Middle Ages

• Reading: Southwark Prostitution Laws (handout), Wife of Bath's Prologue. Judith Bennet, "Medieval Women: Modern Women, across the Great Divide."
• Paper #3 due- Choose a chapter from the Book of Margery Kempe and write a textual analysis of the chapter. Click here for more information.

New conflicts

18. Th (14 Apr) England and France

• Reading: Bennett, 268-288. Sources: Geary 686-704 - Joinville, "Life of St. Louis," Geary 776-789 - Magna Carta (and related documents)
• Informal writing assignment due - 8 - Read the Magna Carta. Who is protected? Who is penalized? What effect does this agreement have on the formation of England, both positive and negative.

19. T (19 Apr) Reconquista and Mongols

• Reading: Bennett, 289-291. Sources here.
• Informal writing assignment due - 9 - Medieval reactions to the Mongols (see page)

Phase IV - Decline and Response

The crises of the 14th Century

20. Th (21 Apr) Demographic - The Black Death (and more!)

• Reading: Bennett 326-345 and handouts
• Informal writing assignment due - 10 - How do people understand what is happening? How do they react?

21. T (26 Apr) Avignon and the decline of the Papacy

• Reading: Selections from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook (print out)
  • Clericos Laicos
  • Unum Sanctum
  • Anagni - Reaction to the event
  • Licet Juris
  • Marsilius of Padus: Conclusions Also read Selections as time permits
  • Condemnation of Marsilius
  • Letter of Petrarch
  • Poem against the Papacy of Avignon

22. Th (28 Apr) Outsiders - Jews in Medieval Society

• Reading: Geary 801-803 (Fuero de Cuenca)
  • Explore the site: The Jews in the Middle ages.
  • Additional in-class readings.
    • Gilbert Crispin
    • Anti-Semitic Legends
• Informal writing assignment due - 11 - Discuss what the images, specifically, tell you about the status of Jews in the Middle Ages. Pick one image and (print out a copy) focus on that.

The 15th century; harbingers of the Early Modern World

23. T (3 May) The birth of "La France" - 100 years war, Joan of Arc, War of the Roses, the beginnings of absolute monarchy

• Reading: Bennett 346-366. Geary, 716-757.

24. Th (5 May) Global Exploration and the rise of the Atlantic world

• Reading: Online Explorer Exercise

25. T (10 May) Popular Uprisings and the Spread of Heresy - The Reformation and its precursors

• Reading: Bennet, 367-384. Geary, "Jacques Fornier," 524-544. (Print out online sources)
  • Condemnation of Wycliffe
  • The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards
  • Lollard Beliefs on Pilgrimages
• Informal writing assignment due - 12 - Why become a heretic?
• Paper #4 - Discussion of the online comparison between Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta

26. Th (12 May) Let's go out to the movies! (Required). Informal Writing Assignment will be generated if required.

• Sources to help inform your understanding of the film
  • Usmah Ibn Munqidh (1095-1188): Autobiography , excerpts on the Franks
  • Ernoul: The Battle of Hattin , 1187.
  • De Expugatione Terrae Sanctae : The Battle of Hattin , 1187.
  • De Expugatione Terrae Sanctae : The Capture of Jerusalem by Saladin , 1187.
  • Roger of Hoveden: The Fall Of Jerusalem , 1187.
  • Handout on Life of Saladin

FINAL EXAM IS DUE ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, BY 12:00 (our scheduled exam time is May 18, 9:00-11:00 a.m.)

 

Page last updated: 1/29/05
Comments to: David Perry
Homepage URL: http://www.stolaf.edu/courses/2004sem2/History/212/
© 2005 by David Perry and St. Olaf College