Do you like themes rather than specific people or events?

Discussion Topic
Like last week, we’re taking another week to focus fully on preparing for your final paper. To that end, let’s look at milestone 2 of your final project, an annotated bibliography for five scholarly sources that you’ll be using in your final paper.

This week you need annotations for 5 scholarly sources about your topic. The process of writing these annotations will require you to read and understand your sources, which will in turn set you up well for next week’s thesis statement milestone. As you track down more scholarly sources, remember that the most promising ones are often those you’ll find through our library that come from peer-reviewed journals or academic publishers, and that our 24/7 online reference librarian chat is a fabulous tool. You may also want to explore (again) the LibGuide the library has created for our course.

Each annotation will begin with a full citation for that source, then include one paragraph summarizing the information contained in your source and one paragraph analyzing your source. In your analysis paragraph, think about the ways in which your source is or isn’t valuable and why, how it relates to other sources on your topic, and what it will help you accomplish in your paper. Remember in these annotations that a good paragraph length is 6-8 sentences so that you can really dig in.

Follow this example as you format your annotations:

Annotated Bibliography

Follow this example as you format your annotations:

Annotated bibliography:

Boilen, B. (2018, March 12). John Prine: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert [Video file]. Retrieved from

John Prine, a legendary songwriter in the USA, performs three songs … [put your summary paragraph here].

Students might not know John Prine, but National Public Radio chooses various artists … [Put your analysis paragraph here].

Suzuki, M. (2007). Rewriting the odyssey in the twenty-first century: Mary Zimmerman’s Odyssey and Margaret Atwood’s penelopiad. College Literature, 34(2), 263-0_10.

This article can be found in Bellevue University’s online library in the ProQuest database. The article discusses … [put your summary paragraph here].

The author helps readers understand both the similarities and differences between … [put your analysis paragraph here].

Remember, you will need 5 scholarly sources, with a full citation, a paragraph of summary, and a paragraph of analysis for each one. This research will help give you a more nuanced, textured understanding of the material you’ll be working with for your final.

Annotated bibliography:

Boilen, B. (2018, March 12). John Prine: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert [Video file]. Retrieved from

John Prine, a legendary songwriter in the USA, performs three songs … [put your summary paragraph here].

Students might not know John Prine, but National Public Radio chooses various artists … [Put your analysis paragraph here].

Suzuki, M. (2007). Rewriting the odyssey in the twenty-first century: Mary Zimmerman’s Odyssey and Margaret Atwood’s penelopiad. College Literature, 34(2), 263-0_10.

This article can be found in Bellevue University’s online library in the ProQuest database. The article discusses … [put your summary paragraph here].

The author helps readers understand both the similarities and differences between … [put your analysis paragraph here].

Remember, you will need 5 scholarly sources, with a full citation, a paragraph of summary, and a paragraph of analysis for each one. This research will help give you more nuanced, textured understandings of the material you’ll be working with for your final.

Your list of things to do this week:

Take an optional and virtual field trip if time allows.
Read Chapter 10 in our textbook.
Review the PowerPoint from the textbook publisher if that helps you as you read.
Watch three videos that highlight topics in your readings.
Take the self-assessment for Chapter 10.
Complete Milestone 2 of your final paper.

If you are in Rome, live in the Roman style; if you are elsewhere, live as they live elsewhere.
~St. Ambrose to St. Augustine

Readings

Please read the following chapter(s) in your course textbook and view any other listed resources:

Chapter 10, Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources
These optional PowerPoint slides are a handy way to see the main points as you read.

Videos

Web Link 1:

Richard Taylor uncovers evidence that shows how and why our parish churches came to play such a crucial role in the everyday life of the Middle Ages.

Directed by Karen Selway, fl. 2007; presented by Richard Taylor, 1967-; produced by Karen Selway, fl. 2007, British Broadcasting Corporation, in Churches: How to Read Them, Episode 2 (London, England: BBC Worldwide, 2010),

Web Link 2:

Presented by Professor Robert Bartlett—one of the world’s leading medievalists—this lively series will be the ultimate guide to the medieval world. Bartlett’s authoritative style, incredible grasp of content, and awareness of current debate make him the perfect ambassador to transport us back in time and to explore what motivated people from centuries ago. Bartlett will consider what surprising beliefs we share with our ancestors, as well as what differences define us.

Directed by Nat Sharman, fl. 2003; produced by Nat Sharman, fl. 2003, Open University and British Broadcasting Corporation, in Inside The Medieval Mind, Episode 1 (London, England: BBC Worldwide, 2008),

YouTube Link:

Virtual Field Trip (Optional)

Do you have some spare time for medieval art? If so, then go here, even if it is only a virtual tour. Oh my, they have treasures galore. This virtual field trip is optional, but you might find something to help your discussions this week.

“The museum’s collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the museum’s branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.”

Web Link 3:

Chapter Overview

Web Link 4:

hapter 10 Overview

Students tend to be very interested in the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and exploration of the matter provides an excellent opportunity to look more deeply at the factors that make empires fall. A good place to start is with two maps of Europe, ca. 300 C.E. and ca. 500 C.E. (excellent maps of Europe for each century from year 1 to year 2000 can be found at Historical Maps, which will show more clearly than mere words could that the eastern Roman Empire survived but that the western empire was carved into a number of states labeled with various Germanic ethnic names such as the Kingdom of the Franks. Then ponder a question “What happened to change the picture between 300 and 500?” People have written extensively on this topic. Some issues to consider:

Edward Gibbons’s classic argument that it was all the fault of the Christians, who drained top talent from the administration and were too fond of “turning the other cheek.” (It’s important to note that a number of fourth-century bishops, such as Ambrose, actually spent part of their career as administrators and that Christians in fact have always had an extremely poor track record when it comes to cheek-turning.) A comparison to the implication of Daoists in the fall of the Han dynasty is instructive.
The issue of hiring mostly Germanic mercenaries to staff the armies of Rome (note that this was not a new phenomenon).
The theory that, as soon as the empire stopped expanding, its fall began (which cannot be supported if one looks at a basic chronological chart).
The weakness of Roman bureaucracy (especially compared to that of Han China), with very few bureaucrats and a system that was largely militarized and that gave much of the responsibility for governance to unpaid members of the elite.
The role of Germanic pressure in bringing down the empire, especially considering that Roman-trained armies could easily defeat Germanic tribal forces.
The great Visigothic crisis of 375–378, with the Visigothic defeat of Emperor Valens at Adrianople, and consideration of how badly this issue really affected the empire.
The division of the empire into eastern and western units, was finalized in 395 C.E.
Recently, the historian Pierre Riché subtitled a book on the Carolingians (Charlemagne’s dynasty) “a family who forged Europe.” Charlemagne, his immediate predecessors, and his successors as kings of the Franks do indeed stand out in the history of the early Middle Ages for their bold efforts at state building, creating an amalgam of Christian, Germanic, and Roman practices to form a surprisingly strong state that influenced all later European states. This consolidated Kingdom of the Franks suffered heavily under the onslaught of the last wave of invasions of Europe (by Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims), but much of what these figures created survived.

Medieval studies can begin with a review of conditions in the early Germanic successor states — low literacy, gradually dissolving vestiges of Roman administration, and a high degree of decentralization. From there, follow the story of the Carolingians, emphasizing that this was only the most successful example of a phenomenon that occurred elsewhere in Europe, such as Mercia under King Offa or Visigothic Spain. Charles Martel’s consolidation of power in Francia was a protection of the church and provided leadership against Muslim invasions from Spain. Anglo-Saxon missionaries played a role through an alliance with the papacy in consolidating the Carolingian hold on power. Also, Charlemagne led highly successful military campaigns, which made him so wealthy that he could experiment with governmental reform.

It is interesting to look at why Vikings liked to raid, what real damage they did, why they were difficult to fight, and the effect of the larger-scale Viking attacks on England in encouraging centralization. On other fronts, large-scale Magyar raids on East Francia encouraged the emergence of a strong German state, and Muslim raids on Italy helped create strong Italian city-states.

This chapter examines the remarkable expansion of French-influenced Western Christendom in the period after the year 1000. Are you curious about this topic? You might begin with an examination of Europe’s “core lands,” most notably France, at the turn of the millennium and then consider the preeminence of heavy cavalry (“knights”), the economic recovery, the beginnings of significant population growth, and the status of religion around the year 1000. Alas, we are not able to devote as much time as deserved to topics such as the English conquest of Ireland and Wales, Scandinavian efforts to conquer Finland, the Christian conquest of Spain (Reconquista), the conquest of Prussia, and much of the Baltic, especially by the Teutonic Knights and their allies, the maritime expansion in the Mediterranean, the Holy Land Crusades and establishment of the Crusader principalities, or Western efforts to seize Byzantine territories.

Do you like themes rather than specific people or events? If so, then you might enjoy further readings about the militarism of later medieval Europe, including the high level of training of knights, the social importance of knights, the integrated nature of medieval armies with heavy reliance on infantry, as well as a comparison to the military capability of Europe’s enemies. Or, you might like to read more about the role of political decentralization in encouraging expansion by private entrepreneurship (e.g., Strongbow’s original plan to carve out a state in Ireland, the role of nobles in carving out states in the Near East, the Teutonic Knights’ seizure of Prussia) and how kings could take advantage of this private enterprise, most notably when the king of France gained control of Languedoc in the wake of the Albigensian Crusade. Other possible topics are the role of a rising merchant class, which is essential to the story of the Italian trading states in the Mediterranean, the Crusades, and the European expansion into the Baltic, or perhaps an exploration of the role of religion as a catalyst in the various crusading movements.

Last Completed Projects

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