Paul Freedman opens his Yale course on the Early Middle Ages, 284-1000, by laying out the Roman Empire's strengths and the cracks that would bring it down. He describes an Empire centered on the Mediterranean, unified by a shared elite culture and language despite its ethnic diversity, and remarkable for its size and tolerance. He then turns to the third century, when that size became a liability: East-West and urban-rural imbalances strained the system, and an army that had learned it could make and unmake emperors turned political succession into a recurring crisis. Freedman previews the course's major arcs, including the rise of Christianity, barbarian invasions, and the survival of the Byzantine Empire, framing subsequent lectures around the reforms later emperors attempted. Recorded in Fall 2011, this is the scene-setting first lecture for the full course.