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The Early Middle Ages

An image of a stone carving of a woman with a hook attached
Steelyard Weight with a Bust of a Byzantine Empress and a Hook, 400-450 CE. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This lecture course will explore the transformation of the Roman Empire into distinct kingdoms and empires throughout the Mediterranean and northern Europe from c.400 to c.1100. In particular, this course will focus on such varied topics as shifting gender identities and roles, sharp debates amongst and between religious movements, innovations in trade and warfare, and the broader impact of climatological changes on everyday life. In this course, students will learn how to mine written and material primary sources in order to uncover the varied ways in which Byzantine, Islamic, and western Christian communities remolded their shared pasts in new and dynamic ways to shape their present circumstances. Students will have ample opportunities to collaborate with their fellow classmates in active participation encouraged throughout the semester, and they will be expected to transform this preparatory work into short written papers, a midterm exam, and a final project.

Department of History, Queen's University

49 Bader Lane, Watson Hall 212
Kingston ON K7L 3N6
Canada

Undergraduate

Phone

Graduate

Queen's University is situated on traditional Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe territory.