2nd Edition

Early Medieval Europe 300–1050 A Guide for Studying and Teaching

By David Rollason Copyright 2018
    420 Pages
    by Routledge

    420 Pages
    by Routledge

    Early Medieval Europe 300–1050: A Guide for Studying and Teaching empowers students by providing them with the conceptual and methodological tools to investigate the period. Throughout the book, major research questions and historiographical debates are identified and guidance is given on how to engage with and evaluate key documentary sources as well as artistic and archaeological evidence. The book’s aim is to engender confidence in creative and independent historical thought.

    This second edition has been fully revised and expanded and now includes coverage of both Islamic and Byzantine history, surveying and critically examining the often radically different scholarly interpretations relating to them. Also new to this edition is an extensively updated and closely integrated companion website, which has been carefully designed to provide practical guidance to teachers and students, offering a wealth of reference materials and aids to mastering the period, and lighting the way for further exploration of written and non-written sources. 

    Accessibly written and containing over 70 carefully selected maps and images, Early Medieval Europe 300–1050 is an essential resource for students studying this period for the first time, as well as an invaluable aid to university teachers devising and delivering courses and modules on the period.

    PART I: INTRODUCTION

    Chapter 1 Why study this period?

    Formative character

    Challenges to study

    This book's aims

    Questions, models, and experiments

    PART II: EMPIRE AND PEOPLES

    Introduction

    Chapter 2 From Roman Empire to barbarian kingdoms: cataclysm or transition?

    The First Doom and Gloom Model

    The Second Doom and Gloom Model

    The Deliberate Roman Policy Model

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Chapter 3 The dismemberment and survival of the Byzantine Empire

    The First Doom and Gloom Model

    The Second Doom and Gloom Model

    The Deliberate Byzantine Policy Model

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Chapter 4 The Arab conquests

    Approach 1: Accepting validity of the written sources

    Approach 2: Being sceptical of the sources

    Approach 3: Reading back from the heyday of the Umayyad and ‘Abbasid caliphates

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Chapter 5 The making of peoples

    The Biological Model

    The Constitutional Model

    Why did peoples form?

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Conclusion

    Timeline: Part II

    PART III: POWER AND SOCIETY

    Introduction

    Chapter 6 Pagan, Roman, and Christian beliefs about Rulers: ideological power

    Paganism and rulership

    Roman ideology and kingship

    Christianity and rulership

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Chapter 7 Edicts, taxes, and armies: bureaucratic power

    Written documents

    Oral communication, symbolism, and ritual

    Government departments and staff

    Capabilities of governments

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Chapter 8 Kings, warriors, and women: personal power

    War-bands

    Feasting, drinking, and the hall

    The social pyramid

    Aristocratic elites

    The role of women

    Nearness to the king

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Conclusion

    Timeline: Part III

    PART IV: THE ECONOMIC FOUNDATION

    Introduction

    Chapter 9 Trade as a driving force?

    Pirenne and his critics

    The nature of the Roman and Byzantine economies

    The economic influence of the Arab caliphate

    Decline and revival of trade?

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Chapter 10 Cultivating the land: the basis of European society?

    The continuity of Roman agriculture

    An agricultural revolution?

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Chapter 11 Towns and cities: the functions of urban life

    The fate of Roman cities

    Functions of cities and towns

    Growth of cities and towns

    New towns

    Cities and towns as tools of power

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Conclusion

    Timeline: Part IV

    PART V: THE CHURCH’S TRIUMPH

    Introduction

    Chapter 12 Conversion to Christianity

    The Roman Empire

    The barbarians within the Roman Empire

    Conversion outside the former Roman Empire

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Chapter 13 The success of monasticism

    ‘Bottom-up’ model

    ‘Top-down’ model

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Chapter 14 The power of bishops and popes

    Bishops and popes in the Church hierarchy

    The resources of popes and bishops

    Bishops and popes in the world

    Companion website resources

    Research and study

    Conclusion

    Timeline: Part V

    General Conclusion

    Sources

    References

    Image Credits

    Biography

    David Rollason is Emeritus Professor of History at Durham University, UK. His previous publications include Northumbria 500–1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom (2003) and The Power of Place: Rulers and Their Palaces, Landscapes, Cities, and Holy Places (2016). His research has included the cult of saints in Anglo-Saxon England, twelfth-century historical writing, the extensive medieval list of names known as the Durham Liber Vitae, and most recently royal and imperial sites across Europe

    'This is a wholly original "textbook" that explodes the genre in an enormously fruitful way. By focusing on evidence and interpretations, rather than offering a summary of what we think we know, it opens up for students the excitement of history as a conversation, a puzzle, even a game. The Early Middle Ages is an ideal period for such an exercise, given the relative scarcity of sources and the vibrant state of contemporary scholarship in the field. This is a book that treats students with great respect and offers instructors opportunities for creative pedagogy. Anyone teaching the period should have it on the shelf.'

    Adam J. Kosto, Columbia University, USA

     

    'David Rollason’s Early Medieval Europe provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the sources for early medieval history as well as the historiographical debates occupying scholars right now. This new edition incorporates a wealth of fresh material on Byzantium and the Muslim caliphate, while retaining its unique approach that takes students seriously as active participants in the learning process.'

    Scott Bruce, University of Colorado Boulder, USA