FIRST PAPER ASSIGNMENT: the Early Middle Ages
Due-Date: Friday, September 29, in class
Format: a 3-page, typed, double-spaced, well-written and carefully proofread paper! Citations to texts should be informal: use parenthetical citations with a shortened, but still indicative name of the text and a page number. For instance, (Salic Law, p. 123) or (Bishop Remigius, p. 129) or (Saint Benedict, p. 159), etc.
Assignment: Write a 3-page response to one of the following questions. Make sure to use primary sources as evidence for your argument. Make sure, too, that you state and defend an argument/thesis.
1. How did the Franks' understanding of law differ from that of
the Romans? Were there
any similarities between the two?
2. Could women exercise power in the Frankish kingdoms? If not,
why not? If so, in what
ways and in what contexts?
3. In what ways did Christianity affect the Franks, and in what
ways did Frankish culture
influence or change Christianity?
4. What principles underly Benedict's Rule for Monks? Do those
principles conform with
or contradict the general cultural values of the Frankish (or
early medieval) world?