Answer one of the following questions
in a full and conceptual manner. Move from your facts into concepts
and your ideas - and the importance of the subject.I will be looking for
knowledge (read the material, gone through helpful
parts of the Web ), your thinking and pondering. I will not
grade on grammar and spelling. Be sure to answer all the parts. If I ask
you to "be someone," then BE that human.
1. Monasticism.
What do you think was the purpose (s) of monasticism?
Analyze the role played by monks and nuns in early medieval society?
What does it mean when an historian writes: "monks became the heroes of Christian
civilization?" Do you agree? Why or why not?
2. Medieval Life-Early/Middle Middle
Ages.
I need you to describe and analyze Medieval Life in the early and Middle
"Middle Ages." Pick 5 important components and work with them. You
may use any 5 categories that strike you - from politics to food to sanitation
to medicine to economics or any of a dozen or so others. Its
your pick. Depending upon what you do with them in your essay, they
are all important! By working with them, I "think" I mean what strikes
you, gives you second thought, impresses you, and has some historical
significance in terms of impact, or development, or whatever!
3. "Dark" Ages.
"In the aftermath of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, a new era began
in Europe and the Mediterranean world. The ancient certainties of the Pax
Romana lay in ruins and while the eastern emperors, ruling from Constantinople,
kept the light of Roman civilisation burning, in the west that light flickered
and almost... almost, went out. And so began the period of European history
known as the Dark Ages, when out of the ruins of the Western Empire grew
a number of new successor kingdoms, ruled over by the barbarian, usually
Germanic, peoples who inherited it."
QUESTION:
What in the world does this business of the Dark Ages mean?
What do you think is a good definition of the Dark Ages.
How do you think the scholars decide a period is Dark? How seriously
should we take this Dark bit?
Finally, explain briefly the 5 major components that YOU believe made
up the Dark Ages.
Answer one of the following questions
in a full and conceptual manner. Move from your facts into concepts
and your ideas - and the importance of the subject:
4. Charlemagne's Governance.
Identify and comment briefly on the techniques and methods that Charlemagne
used to
Govern,
Expand,
Strengthen his vast empire.Evaluate the political
organization of the empire created by Charlemagne.
How well do you think his empire functioned ?
NOW, was he great? Why? Or Why Not? You must state your own
definition of greatness.
Any important legacies?
5. Feudalism.
Define feudalism .
Then build a picture of feudalism and explain how it arose out of the political,
economic, and social conditions of the age.
Are you surprised to see its development or expected it? Why? or Why
not?
How important was it?
6. Byzantium
What is the big deal about the Byzantine Empire. And the
great city of Constantinople? Why do historians and the texts feel it is
so important? After all, it isn't even in Western Civilization, is it? It
is just Turkey.!
7. Pick an area, a subject in this time period - a subject that you have been "surfing" and thinking about, that interests or intrigues you. Or an area in which you have many impressions or a vivid impression from your surfing and reading. Write your own question and then answer it or integrate your impressions into a thoughtful, analytical or creative essay. If you find yourself answering it in less than one full EMail page, you are on the wrong track. You are graded as much for your question as your answer. ALERT, THE major mistake students make with this question is to ask themselves too simple a question or to ask a question that results in a listing of facts or items.
IF, INSTEAD, YOU WOULD RATHER RESPOND TO A "REGULAR" QUESTION, YOU MAY WRITE INSTEAD ON ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TWO:
8. Emergence of a Distinctly European Society.
It is said that between 733, when the Muslims were defeated at Tours, and
the division of Charlemagne's empire in 843, a distinctly European society
emerged. Three of the main developments of this new society were Charlemagne's
empire, the rise of feudalism, and an intellectual revival.
Discuss this new Europe by describing each of these developments.
Was this a unique new society?
In what ways was this society different from that of Roman times?
9. Germanic Peoples/Barbarians.
What's the big deal about the barbarians?
Were the barbarians truly barbaric?