Thursday, April 5, 2007

Today we're looking at a variety of articles from the Pierre Riche reading. I first want to give you a link to a website describing the monastery at St. Gall. It isn't perfect, but if you browse among the reconstructions, you can get a good idea of what it may have looked like. Second, I have some pictures of the Cathedral at Aachen and a 360 degree panorama of the interior.

Riche takes us more deeply into some of the features of the Carolingian world than our textbook reading so far. Here are your Homework Questions; answer four out of the five.

1. How unified was the Carolingian empire? What were the forces driving for unity? What were the various sources of diversity? How did these either complement or conflict with one another?


2. The Carolingians built their power on networks of support from laity and clergy alike. How stable were these networks? What inclinations among the rich and powerful were threats to stability?


3. What was monastic life like? How do the descriptions of monasteries and their surroundings in this account compare to your impressions of monastic life from reading the Benedictine Rule?


4. What was life like for ordinary people? What were the various social ranks and degrees among people of the humble walks of life?


5. What was life like for women, especially of the elite? What privileges did they enjoy? What kinds of dangers, limitations, and/or indignities did they face?

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