Charlemagne: Conquest, Empire, and the Making of the Middle Ages

Catalog description

The age of Charlemagne sits at the nexus of antiquity and the middle ages. For two hundred years Charlemagne’s family, the Carolingians, welded together fragments of splintered Roman imperial tradition and elements from the Germanic world to forge a new, medieval European civilization. This seminar examines that process by exposing students to the primary sources, archaeological evidence, and modern scholarly debates surrounding the Carolingian age. Topics include the Carolingians' rise to power; Charlemagne’s imperial coronation; interactions with the Islamic and Byzantine worlds; the revival of classical learning; the Church; warfare; the economy; Vikings; and collapse of the Carolingian Empire. P