I’m teaching a seminar in the autumn term on early medieval histories. (The course title uses the word “chronicles” not to focus particularly on those works but to reduce confusion with the second-year survey on early medieval history.) I went through a wholesale course redesign this summer to better intermix scholarly chapters and articles with the wealth of primary sources I rely upon. The course focuses on the early medieval genre of history and how histories were made and used in the period. One goal of the course is to open students’ minds to how immediate was the world of early medieval history. At the same time as they hearkened back to ancient Rome or the early church, much of the history that they crafted was about their own time or their near-contemporaries.
You can download the the PDF course outline. If you take a look at the first class topic, you’ll probably also figure out one of the current cultural influences I’ll be drawing on in the class. If not, the video segment below should clue you in!
jliedl.ca 