The Early Middle Ages, 284-1000
Western Europe's transformation from the accession of Diocletian to the feudal era, taught by Paul Freedman, Yale's Chester D. Tripp Professor of History and a specialist in medieval social history. The 22 lectures recorded in Fall 2011 cover Constantine and the Christianization of Rome, the fall of the Western Empire, Justinian's Byzantium, the rise of Islam and the Abbasid caliphate, Charlemagne's Carolingian renaissance, and the Viking invasions that close the period around the year 1000. Reading includes Augustine's Confessions, Einhard's biography of Charlemagne, and Chris Wickham's The Inheritance of Rome, graded through a short paper, a midterm, and a long research paper. Video lectures and full transcripts are free on Open Yale Courses. Freedman also wrote a companion book, published by Yale University Press, tied to the course.