to syllabus

Unit 9:  Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. 

readings: 

• Hunt, The Making of the West:  Peoples and Cultures, ch. 9 (pp. 319-357). 

• Lualdi, Sources of the Making of the West:  Peoples and Cultures, ch. 9, pp. 151-159. 

QUIZ will be on Key Terms in Hunt, p. 357.

Questions on Hunt

Ch. 9 (pp. 319-357)

1.  What accounted for the great increase in the wealth and power of the Byzantine Roman Empire in the 700s-900s and how did this affect Byzantine culture?   

2.  What internal and external developments might be seen as weakening the Byzantine state during this same period of wealth and power, and what new states emerged "in the shadow" of Byzantium?   

3. What developments in the Abbasid Caliphate resembled developments in Byzantium and Western Europe in the 700s-900s?

4.  What is the main evidence that the Islamic territories shared a common (unified) culture in the 700s-1050, and what evidence is there that the Islamic world was becoming fragmented?

5.  What policies increased the power and authority of the Carolingian dynastic state (e.g., what kinds of policies towards the aristocrats and the Church?)? 

6.  What was Charlemagne's "unifying vision," how did he go about trying to make this "vision" into reality, and did he succeed in building a stable unified Christian Empire that would last long after his death?  Explain!

7.  How was the social hierarchy in Western Europe organized under "feudalism," how did feudal lords turn their control over land into wealth and power, and why did this lead to so much violence?     

BIG QUESTION:  Think about the entire chapter.  On pp. 319-320, the authors say that the common factor in political life in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the Islamic territories in this time period was a "crisis of loyalty." What does that mean, and what is the best evidence of this "crisis" in all three regions? 

Questions on Lualdi

We will focus on two documents for this unit:  "Charlemagne's "General Capitulary for Missi" (pp. 151-155) and Liutprand of Cremona's  "Report to Otto 1" (pp. 155-159)

Answer the "Six Questions" for both documents:

• Who wrote it, where, and when?
• What type of document is it?
• Who was the intended audience?
• What was the author's goal?
• What is the author's main point?
• What does it tell us about that society?

OK.  Here are the main discussion questions for these documents:

1.  Charlemagne saw himself as the protector and defender of all Christendom and believed that this required strong centralized power over all of his subjects.  What in the "General Capitulary for Missi" shows this?

2.  What does Liutprand's "Report" tell us about German perceptions of Byzantium and Byzantine perceptions of the Germans?