History 379, Whitman College

Special Topic: Cultural Encounters in Pre-Modern Europe, c. 450-1492

 

Prof. Cotts                                                                                                                             cottsjd@whitman.edu

Office: Maxey 211                                                                                                                526-4789

Office Hours:  MW 2:30-4:00 Th 3:00-4:30

 

            Medieval Europe was not a monolithic or entirely isolated civilization but an uneasy synthesis of alternative cultural possibilities.  This course considers moments of cross-cultural contact, conflict and negotiation during the millennium before the “age of discovery” that was allegedly inaugurated by Columbus’ voyages.  We will discuss the convergence of Germanic, Christian and Classical streams of culture in early medieval civilization, and then explore violent confrontations with other cultures, especially as represented by the Crusades.  Other topics for consideration include the conversion of the Germanic peoples to Christianity, tensions between Celts, English and Normans in Britain, the place of long-distance trade in linking distinct civilizations, and thirteenth-century missionary efforts in Asia.  Assigned secondary literature will approach the issue of cultural assimilation and the role of ecological factors in conditioning cultural interactions.  Class meetings will emphasize student discussion of primary sources. 

 

Books for Purchase:

  • Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times
  • Alfred Crosby, Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900

·        S. J. Allen and Emilie Amt, eds., The Crusades: A Reader

  • The Heliand, trans. G. Ronald Murphy
  • Gerald of Wales, The History and Topography of Ireland
  • Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America, trans. Magnus Magnusson and Herbert Palsson
  • Christopher Dawson, ed., Mission to Asia
  • Christopher Columbus, The Four Voyages, trans. J. M. Cohen

 

Course requirements:  Attendance at all class meetings and participation in discussions is required; occasionally students may be asked to prepare a brief presentation.  Written work will consist of two short (4-6 pages) papers, a final examination and an independent project, for which details will be provided later in the semester. 

 

Evaluation:  Your course evaluation will be determined according to the following criteria:

 

Two papers: 40%

Class participation: 25%

Project: 20%

Final: 15%

 

 

 

 

Schedule of meetings and assignments

 

Week One: Introduction and General Problems

 

            August 31: Introduction to the course

 

            September 2  Cultural encounters as an historical category

                                 

                        Reading: Bentley, Chapter 1

                                       Teofilo Ruiz, “Center and Periphery in the Teaching of Medieval                                    History,” in Medieval Cultures in Contact, ed. Richard F. Gyug                                                   (electronic reserve)

             

Week Two: Ancient Religions and Conversion

 

            7  World religions in comparative perspective

 

                        Reading: Bentley, Chapters 2 and 3

                                       Selections from the Confucius, the Upanishads, the life of the                                                    Buddha, and the New and Old Testaments(handout)

 

            9  Christianity and conversion in late antiquity

 

                        Reading: Pliny, letter to Trajan on the Christians at:

                                       http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pliny1.html

                                       Eusebius on the conversion of Constantine at:

                                       http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/conv-const.html

                                       Gregory of Tours, et. al., on the conversion of Clovis at

                                       http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/496clovis.html

                                       The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity at:

                                       http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/perpetua.html

                                       Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints, chap. 1 (reserve)

 

Week Three: The Christianization of Germanic Europe

 

            14  Tacitus and the search for “Germanic” culture

 

                        Reading: Selections from Tacitus, Germania, at:

                        http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/tacitus-germania-excerp.html

                                       Begin the Heliand

 

            16  The Christianization of the Saxons

           

                        Reading: Charlemagne’s Capitulary on the Saxons at:

                                       http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/carol-saxony.html

                                       Complete the Heliand

 

Week Four: Vikings and Americans at the end of the First Millennium

 

            21 Norse culture and its westward expansion

 

                        Reading: Introduction and Graenlandinga Saga in Vinland Sagas

 

            23 Norse voyages to North America

 

                        Reading: Eirik’s Saga in Vinland Sagas

 

Week Five: The Celtic Frontier

 

            28 Race, law and ethnicity on Europe’s frontiers

 

                        Reading: Robert Bartlett, chapters 8 and 9 of The Making of Europe:                                 Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350 (reserve)

 

            30 Discuss Gerald of Wales

 

                        Reading: Gerald of Wales, The History and Topography of Ireland

 

Week Six: The Crusades I

 

****Monday, October 4: First Paper Due****

 

            October 5 The origins of the crusading ideal

 

                        Reading: Allen and Amt, eds. The Crusades: A Reader, 1-36, 179-89

 

            7 The First Crusade and the crusader states

 

                        Reading: Crusades, 37-80, 93-124

 

Week Seven: The Crusades II

 

            12 NO CLASS

 

            14 The Second and Third Crusades

 

                        Reading: Crusades, 125-77

 

Week Eight: The Crusades III

 

            19  Crusading in the Thirteenth Century

                       

                        Reading: Crusades, 219-61, 341-52

 

            21 Conversion, conflict and convivencia: Christians and Muslims in Spain

 

                        Reading: Crusades, 297-339

 

Week Nine: Trans-cultural interaction in the High Middle Ages

 

            26 Intellectual exchange

 

                        Reading: Marie-Thérèse d’Alverny, “Translations and Translators,” in                                           Robert L. Benson and Giles Constable, eds., The Renaissance of                                                    the Twelfth Century (electronic reserve)

                                       Adelard of Bath on Arab science at:

                                       http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/adelardbath1.html

                                       Peter the Venerable on translating the Koran (handout)

 

28 A pre-modern “world system”?

 

                        Reading: Bentley, chapter 4

                                       Selections from Janet Abu-Lughod, Before European Hegemony:                               The World System 1250-1350 (electronic reserve)

 

Week Ten: Early Missions to Asia

 

            November 2 The Mongol invasions and contact with Europeans

           

                        Reading: Crusades, 390-93

                                       Mission to Asia, 79-156

                                     

            4 The journey of William of Rubrock

           

                        Reading: Mission to Asia, 156-220

                                      James D. Ryan, “Conversion or the crown of martyrdom:                                                          conflicting goals for fourteenth-century missionaries in central                                           Asia?” in Medieval Cultures in Contact (electronic reserve) 

 

Week Eleven: Asia and the European Imagination 

 

            9 Mapping the medieval world

 

                        Discuss images in class

 

            11 Reliable Sources? Marco Polo and “Sir John Mandeville”

 

                        Reading: Crusades, 387-90

                                       Short selections from The Travels of Marco Polo at:

                                       http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/mpolo44-46.html

                                       http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/polo-kinsay.html

                                       Stephen Greenblatt, “From the Dome of the Rock to the Rim of                                                the World” (electronic reserve)

 

 

Week Twelve: Expansion and Ecology

 

            16 Humans migration, technology and exploration

 

                        Reading: Crosby, 1-131

 

            18 Of rats, microbes and men

 

                        Reading: Crosby, 145-216, 269-308

 

***Friday, November 19: Second Paper Due

 

Thanksgiving Break

 

Week Thirteen: Columbus and a New Order?

 

            30 The First Voyage of Columbus

 

                        Reading: The Four Voyages, 27-76, 115-23

 

            2 Later Voyages and a transition to a new world system

 

                        Reading: The Four Voyages, 206-26, 265-76

                                       Bentley, chapter 5

 

7          Presentations

 

9          Summary and Review

 

 

Final Examination: Wednesday, December 15 at 2:00 pm