ME3223 POLITICS AND POWER IN CAROLINGIAN AND OTTONIAN EUROPE, c.800-1000
   
Lecturer Dr Helena Carr (Room 18, 71 South Street)
   
Credits 30
   
Availability Not running 2011-12
   
Class Hour See Timetable
   
Description This module deals with the political history of Europe under the hegemony of the Carolingian and Ottonian dynasties. Beginning with the emperor Charlemagne, the course traces the subsequent disintegration of the pan-European Carolingian empire under his successors, and the emergence of the Ottonian successor kingdom of the tenth century. Central themes will be the changing nature of early medieval politics; the construction and maintenance of royal power through ritual, history-writing and iconography; the ethos of the aristocracy; warfare and the impact of the Viking and Magyar raids; the development of the office of queenship; relations with Byzantium; and the importance of the period for the emergence of Europe.
   
Basic Reading
  • R. McKitterick,  The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians, 751-987 (London, 1983)
  • R. McKitterick, (ed.), The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 2, c.700-900 (Cambridge, 1995)
  • T. Reuter, Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800-1054 (London, 1991)
   

Course Structure

One two-hour meeting per week
   
Assessment 60% examination – one 3-hour paper
40% course work – three pieces of work,one of which may be an oral assessment
   

Learning Outcomes
  • Appreciation of the political history of the Carolingian and Ottonian periods
  • Develop confidence in engaging with current scholarly debates
  • Develop skills in analysing a variety of types of primary sources
   
Restrictions None