Indiana
University
History
H610/H710
Colloquium/Seminar
in Medieval European
History
Barbarians
Spring Semester 2011 | Dr. Deborah M. Deliyannis |
Place: Ballantine Hall 235 | Office: Ballantine Hall 708 |
Time: Th 6:15-8:15 pm | Office Hours: W 1:30-3:00 or by appt. |
email: ddeliyan@indiana.edu
|
Phone: 855-3431 |
Description
The term "barbarian" is problematic for modern historians of the Middle Ages. Some embrace it, and speak happily of "barbarian Europe" and "the barbarian invasions," while others have devised elaborate verbal constructs ("Germanic peoples", "transformation of the Roman world") in order to avoid using it. This class will focus on the concept of "barbarian" in the ancient and medieval worlds: on the way that these concepts are expressed in both medieval and in more modern studies of the period that we call the Early Middle Ages, and the way that modern scholars conceptualize the concept. We will read both primary (in translation) and secondary sources, in order to understand what ancient and medieval people meant by the term "barbarian", and how we might use it today.
Readings
Readings are assigned from books and/or articles that are on reserve in the library, and some of them have also been placed on Oncourse in the Resources folder. Some of these are available for purchase, and you might consider purchasing them.
Course requirements
25% Class participation
20% 2 book reviews (10% each)
15% Presentation of bibliographic essay/research paper
40% Bibliographic
essay/research paper
100% TOTAL
Participation
A large part (25%) of the course grade is based on class participation. You are expected to do the reading for each week, and come prepared to discuss it. Your participation grade will be based as much (or more) on what you say as how much you say. I will give you an estimate of your participation grade halfway through the semester, so that if necessary you can work to improve it.
Book reviews
Each student will write two book reviews, which will be presented to class (10 mins) on the day listed on the syllabus. The book reviews should be between 1000 and 1500 words long, and should take the format of a scholarly book review (any journal's format may be used). These books have been reviewed, of course, when they were published; I recommend that you NOT look at those reviews when writing your own, but you should, of course, look at reviews of other books to get an idea of the way you might go about it.
Bibliographic essay/research paper and
presentation
There will also be a 10-15-page bibliographic essay or a 14-20-page research paper, on a topic of interest to you and related to medieval barbarians in some way.
You must turn in a statement of your topic on Feb. 3, and you must have discussed it with me first (during office hours or by appointment; talking about it before or after class is not sufficient).
A preliminary bibliography for your paper must be turned in on Feb. 24. Some of the materials you may need may not be in our library, and you will be expected to order them from interlibrary loan.
This project will result in a 20 minute presentation in one of the last two class meetings. In the interests of preparing you to give conference papers, I would like you to write up and read your presentation. Part of the preparation will be timing yourself to keep to the 20-minute format.
Tentative schedule
Jan. 13 Introduction
Jan. 20 Overview, and the concept of the 'barbarian'
Readings: Jones,
William R. "The Image of the
Barbarian in Medieval Europe,"
Comparative Studies in Society and History 13 (1971): 376-407. JSTOR
Goffart, Walter. "Rome, Constantinople,
and the Barbarians." American
Historical Review
86 (1981): 275-306. JSTOR
Gillett, Andrew. "The Mirror of
Jordanes: Concepts of the
Barbarian, Then and Now." In A companion to late
Antiquity,
ed. Philip Rousseau (Malden: Blackwell, 2009), pp. 392-408. PDF Oncourse
Book
reports: Hall, Edith. Inventing
the Barbarian. Greek Self-Definition through Tragedy (Oxford, 1989). Wells
reserve PA3136
Isaac, Benjamin. The Invention of
Racism in Classical Antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.
chs. 1 and 2. Wells DF135 .I82
2004 checked out, due 2/4
Jan. 27
The
Barbarian in Late Roman Thought
Readings: Ladner,
G. B., "On Roman attitudes towards barbarians in late Roman
literature." Viator 7 (1976):
1-26. online via IUCAT
Wiedemann, T.
"Between men and beasts:
barbarians in Ammianus Marcellinus," in Past perspectives: studies in Greek and Roman historical
writing: papers presented at a
conference in Leeds, 6-8 April 1983, eds. I. Moxon, J. Smart
and A.
Woodman (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1986), pp. 189-201. PDF Oncourse
King, C.
"The Veracity of Ammianus Marcellinus' Description of the
Huns," American Journal of Ancient History 12 (1987
[1995]):
77-95. PDF Oncourse
Ammianus
Marcellinus, Book 31.2
Book
reports: Kelly, Christopher. Attila the Hun: barbarian
terror and the fall of the Roman Empire (London:
Bodley Head, 2008). Wells
reserve D141 .K45 2008
Feb. 3
Barbarians
in the Late Roman Empire
paper topics due
Readings: Blockley,
Roger C. "Roman-barbarian marriages in the late Empire." Florilegium 4 (1982): 63-79. PDF
Oncourse
Elton,
Hugh. "Fravitta and Barbarian Career Opportunities in
Constantinople." Medieval prosopography 17 (1996): 95-106. PDF
Oncourse
Salzman, Michele Renee.
"Symmachus and
the 'barbarian' generals." Historia. Zeitschrift für Alte
Geschichte
55 (2006): 352-367. PDF
Oncourse
Halsall, Guy.
Barbarian migrations and the Roman West, 376-568
(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2007), read Chapter 5, "Romans
and barbarians before 376," pp. 138-162. Wells
reserve DG311 .H35 2007
Book
reports: Liebeschuetz, J. H. W.
G. Barbarians and bishops:
Army, Church, and State in the Age of Arcadius and Chrysostom (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1990).
online via IUCAT; Wells DF543 .L33 1990
Wolfram, Herwig. The Roman Empire and its Germanic peoples, trans. by Thomas Dunlap (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). Wells reserve DG312 .W6613 1997
Feb. 10
The
Barbarian Invasions and the Fall of Rome
Readings: Goffart,
Walter. "The Theme of 'the
Barbarian Invasions' in Late Antique and Modern Historiography," in Rome's
Fall and After (London: Hambledon Press, 1989), pp. 111-132. PDF Oncourse
Goffart,
Walter. "The map of the barbarian
invasions: a longer look."
In The Culture of Christendom: Essays
in Medieval History in
Commemoration of Denis L. T. Bethell, ed. Marc A. Meyer
(London: Hambledon Press, 1993),
pp. 1-27. PDF Oncourse
Halsall, Guy. "Movers and Shakers: the Barbarians and the Fall of Rome," Early Medieval Europe 8 (1999): 131-45. online via IUCAT
Noble,
Thomas F. X. "Introduction:
Romans, barbarians, and the transformation of the Roman
Empire." In From Roman
provinces to Medieval kingdoms,
ed. T. F.
X. Noble (London: Routledge,
2006), pp. 1-22. PDF
Oncourse
Book
reports: Goffart, Walter. Barbarian tides: the migration age
and the
later Roman Empire (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
2006). Wells reserve D135 .G65
2006
Halsall,
Guy. Barbarian migrations and
the Roman West, 376-568
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2007). Wells reserve DG311 .H35 2007
Heather,
Peter. Empires and barbarians:
the fall of Rome and the birth of Europe. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
Wells reserve D135 .H436 2010
Feb. 17
Byzantium
and the Barbarians
Readings: Maurice's
Strategikon: handbook of Byzantine military strategy, trans. George T. Dennis (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), Book 11. PDF Oncourse
Kaldellis,
Anthony. "Classicism,
Barbarism, and Warfare: Prokopios
and the Conservative Reaction to Later Roman Military Policy," American
Journal of Ancient History n.s.
3-4
(2004-2005 [2007]) 189-218. PDF
Oncourse
Pallas-Brown,
Rachael. "East Roman
perceptions of the Avars in the mid- and late-sixth century," in Ethnicity
and culture in late antiquity,
eds. Stephen
Mitchell and Geoffrey Greatrex (London:
Duckworth, 2000), pp. 309-329. PDF
Oncourse
Book
reports: Luttwak,
Edward. The Grand Strategy of
the Byzantine Empire (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 2009). Wells
reserve U163 .L86 2009
Feb. 24
Ethnicity
and Barbarians I: theory
bibliographies due
Readings: Murray,
Alexander C. "Reinhard
Wenskus on 'Ethnogenesis', Ethnicity, and the Origins of the Franks,"
in On
barbarian identity: critical
approaches to ethnicity in the early middle ages, ed. Andrew Gillett (Turnhout:
Brepols, 2002), pp. 39-68. Wells reserve GN575 .O5 2002
Curta, Florin. "Some
remarks on ethnicity in
medieval archaeology," Early Medieval Europe 15 (2007):
159-85. PDF Oncourse
Book
reports: Jones, Siân. The
archaeology of ethnicity:
constructing identities in the past and present (London:
Routledge, 1997). not
at IU (will have to ILL)
Mar. 3 Ethnicity and Barbarians II: identifiers
Readings: Effros,
Bonnie. "Dressing
conservatively: women's brooches
as markers of ethnic identity?"
In Gender in the early medieval world: east and west, 300-900, eds. Leslie Brubaker and Julia M. H.
Smith
(Sewanee: University of the South
Press, 1996), pp. 165-184. PDF
Oncourse
Pohl, Walter.
"Telling the Difference:
Signs of Ethnic Identity," in Strategies of Distinction: The
Construction of Ethnic Communities, 300-800, ed. W. Pohl and
Helmut
Reimitz (Leiden: Brill, 1998), pp.
17–69. PDF Oncourse
Wormald, Patrick. "The Leges Barbarorum: law and
ethnicity
in the post-Roman West," in Regna and gentes, eds. H.-W. Goetz, J. Jarnut and W. Pohl
(Leiden: Brill, 2003), pp. 21-53. PDF Oncourse
Book
reports: Todd, Malcolm. Everyday
life of the barbarians: Goths, Franks and Vandals (London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1972).
Wells reserve GN549 .G4T63
James, Edward.
Europe's Barbarians, AD 200-600 (New York :
Pearson
Longman, 2009). Wells reserve
DG312 .J365 2009
Mar. 10 Ethnicity and Barbarians III: perceptions
Readings: Mathisen, Ralph Whitney. "Violent Behavior and the Construction of Barbarian Identity in Late Antiquity." In Violence in Late Antiquity, ed. Harold A. Drake (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), pp. 27-35. PDF Oncourse
Pohl,
Walter. "Perceptions of barbarian violence," in Violence
in Late Antiquity, ed. Harold A.
Drake
(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), pp.
15-26. PDF Oncourse
Oschema, Klaus. "Blood-brothers: a ritual of friendship and the construction of the imagined barbarian in the middle ages." Journal of Medieval History 32 (2006): 275-301. online via IUCAT
SPRING BREAK
Mar. 24 Barbarians and Christianity
Readings:
Salvian,
De Gubernatione Dei [note that this link takes you to
the preface and Book 1; you should then advance the PAGE to continue to
Books 2-3]
Mathisen,
Ralph. "Barbarian Bishops and the Churches 'in barbaricis gentibus'
during
Late Antiquity." Speculum
72:3
(1997): 664-697. JSTOR
Schott,
Jeremy M. "Porphyry on Christians and others: 'Barbarian wisdom,'
identity politics, and anti-Christian polemics on the eve of the great
persecution." Journal of Early Christian Studies 13 (2005): 277-314.
online via IUCAT
Lambert,
David. "The barbarians in
Salvian's De Gubernatione Dei." In Ethnicity and culture in
late antiquity, eds. Stephen
Mitchell and
Geoffrey Greatrex (London:
Duckworth, 2000), pp. 103-116. PDF
Oncourse
Fletcher, Richard. The
Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to
Christianity
(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999), ch. 1, "Who is it
for?" pp. 1-33. PDF
Oncourse
Mar. 31 The Barbarian Kingdoms
Readings:
Everyone
read: Kulikowski, Michael.
"Nation versus army: a necessary
contrast?" in On barbarian identity: critical
approaches to ethnicity in the early middle ages, ed. Andrew Gillett (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002), pp. 69-84.
Wells reserve GN575 .O5 2002
Everyone
read: Goetz, Hans-Werner,
"Introduction," pp. 1-12 and Evangelos Chryos, "The Empire, the gentes and the regna," pp. 13-20, in H.-W. Goetz, Jörg
Jarnut
and Walter Pohl,
eds. Regna and
gentes: the relationship between
late antique and early medieval peoples and kingdoms in the
transformation of
the Roman world (Leiden: Brill, 2003). PDF Oncourse
Then,
we will assign each person one chapter in Goetz/Jarnut/Pohl, eds. Regna and gentes. DMD
photocopies
Book
reports: Amory, Patrick. People
and identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554
(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1997). Wells
reserve DG504 .A56 2003
Barnwell, Paul S. Kings,
Courtiers and
Imperium. The Barbarian West, 565-725. (London:
Duckworth, 1997). Wells
reserve JC375 .B374 1997
Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. The Barbarian West, 400-1000
(London:
Hutchinson, 1952; 3rd rev. ed. 1967).
Wells reserve D121 .W192 1967
Apr. 7
Barbarian
Art
Readings:
Frassetto,
Michael. "Barbarian
Art," in Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation, ed. M. Frassetto (Santa Barbara,
CA:
ABC-CLIO, 2003), pp. 59-62. Wells/Fine
Arts reserve D135 .F73 2003
Hubert, Jean, J. Porcher and W. F. Volbach, Europe of the Invasions (New York: Braziller, 1969): read pp. XI-XVI, 155-206, and 209-285 (don't worry, 75% of it is pictures!). Wells reserve N7832 .H8732
Nees,
Lawrence. Early Medieval Art (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2002): read chs. 5, 6, and 9. Wells reserve N5970 .N44 2002
Apr. 14
After the Early Middle Ages
Readings:
Klaniczay,
Gabor. "Everyday Life and Elites in the later Middle Ages: the
civilised and the barbarian." In The Medieval World, eds. Peter Linehan and Janet L. Nelson
(London: Routledge,
2001), pp. 671-690. PDF
Oncourse
Jackson, Peter. "Christians, barbarians and monsters: the European discovery of the world
beyond Islam." In The Medieval World, eds. Peter Linehan
and
Janet L. Nelson (London: Routledge, 2001), pp. 93-110. PDF
Oncourse
Apr. 21
student
presentations
Apr. 28
student
presentations
Papers due in my email, Thursday May 5 at 5:00 pm