SEQUENCE OF CLASSES AND READINGS
Unit 1: Early Medieval Rulership
January 13: Course introduction
January 15: Roman Imperial Models: Augustus, Constantine, and Theodosius
Readings: Online text: Powers
of the Emperor (http://129.186.40.170/THOMAS/netscape/lex.htm)
Online text: Roman law (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/corpus1.html)
January 17: Augustine and Gelasius: Christian ideas about power and
states
Readings: Tierney, Crisis
of Church and State, 1-15
Valentinian on the powers of the Roman Church (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/valentian1.html)
January 20: HOLIDAY
January 22: the Papal State and the Donation of Constantine
Readings: Blumenthal, 1-63
January 24: Early Medieval Political Ideas
Readings: Black, Political
Thought, 1-41 (intro and ‘the political community’)
January 27: Charlemagne and the Revival of Imperial Ideology
Readings: Online texts General
capitulary on the missi, 802 (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/carol-missi1.html)
Online text: Summons to military service (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/carol-sum1.html)
Optional on-line text: Einhard on Charlemagne’s personality (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/einhard1.html)
January 29: Alfred the Great: Career and Government
Readings: Alfred the
Great, 1-48 (with maps and genealogies at pp. 59-63)
January 31: Alfred’s Legacy
Readings: Alfred the
Great, 65-120, 163-186, 189-191, 193-194
UNIT 2: Church vs State, part 1: the Investiture Controversy
February 3: Lecture the Investiture Controversy
Readings: Blumenthal, 64-133
February 5: discussion: Investiture Controversy
Readings: Tierney, Crisis
of Church and State, 33-42, 45-52
February 7: discussion: Investiture Controversy
Readings: Tierney, Crisis
of Church and State, 53-73, 74-76, 85-88
Unit 3: Law and Collective Activity
February 10: Lecture: Traditional Law and Legal Revival in the 12th
Century
Readings: Reynolds: 1-66
Online text: Dispute at Breal (http://www.uncg.edu/~rebarton/breal-dispute.htm)
Online texts: Disputing and Dispute Resolution (read only documents 1,
2, 4, 9 and 14 from this long selection of texts)
(http://www.uncg.edu/~rebarton/disputes-vendomois.html#2)
February 12: Gratian and Canon Law
Readings: Tierney, Crisis
of Church and State, 116-126 [Decretists], 97-103 (law and Roman law)
February 14: Common Law in England
Readings: Reserve Room:
English
Historical Documents, v. 2, pp. 407-410 (Assize of Clarendon) and 462-479
(Glanvill)
February 17: Fraternities and Guilds
Readings: Reynolds, 67-78,
155-218
February 19: Urban Communities
Readings: Reserve Room:
Stephenson and Marcham, Sources of English Constitutional History,
96-101 (the Charter to
Ipswich, the Record of Proceedings at Ipswich, and the Communal Oath of
the Londoners), and 103 (Ordinance for
the Defense of London)
February 21: Discussion: the Beauvais Dossier
Readings: On-Line Text:
the Beauvais Dossier (http://www.uncg.edu/~rebarton/beauvaisdossier.htm)
February 24: Kingdoms
Readings: Reynolds: 250-339
Tierney, Crisis of Church and State, 159-164
February 26: Assemblies and Representation
Readings: Reserve Room:
Stephenson and Marcham, Sources of English Constitutional History,
109-110 (Summons to
a Great Council, 1205), 112 (Summons to a Great Council, 1213), 115-126
(Magna Carta), 139-140 (Ordinance
for the Preservation of the Peace), 141-142 (writs of Summons). The Magna
Carta is also available on-line, at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/mcarta.html.
February 28: Discussion: Vertical and Horizontal bonds
March 3: MIDTERM EXAM
Unit 4: the Becket Dispute
March 5: Henry II and Angevin Kingship
March 7: Henry vs. Becket
Reading: Reserve Room: English
Historical Documents, v. 2, pp. 698-736
DUE: Initial Statement of Topic and Argument, March 7, in class
March 10 - March 14: Spring Break
March 17: Discussion: Becket Texts
March 19: Discussion: Becket Texts
Readings: Reserve Room:
English
Historical Documents, v. 2, pp. 736-776
Unit 5: Rise of Political Thought
March 21: Lecture: The Rise of Political Theory
Readings: Black, Political
Thought, 136-161
March 24: Discussion: John of Salisbury
Readings: Reserve Room:
Cary Nederman and Kate Forhan, Medieval Political Theory - A Reader:
the Quest for the
Body Politic, 1100-1400 (Routledge, 1993), 26-27, 30-60
DUE: BIBLIOGRAPHY, March 24, in class
March 26: Discussion: Aquinas
Readings: Tierney, Crisis
of Church and State, 165-171
Unit 6: Problematizing the State
March 28: The State as a Concept: Strayer’s Checklist
Readings: Black, Political
Thought, 85-92, 93-116
March 31: Discussion: Some Medieval Governmental Sources
Readings: Reserve Room:
Inquest of Sheriffs (1170): English Historical Documents, v. 2, pp. 438-440
On-Line Text: the Collection of Scutage (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/scutage.html)
On-Line Text: Fees for the Use of the Great Seal (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1199Johnfees.html)
Reserve Room: Stephenson and Marcham, Sources of English Constitutional
History, 104-109 (Judicial
records of 1194)
April 2: Discussion: Modern Scholars: Figgis, Kern, Post, and
Tierney; Cheyette
Readings: Reserve Room:
Brian Tierney: The Middle Ages: volume 2, Readings in Medieval History,
3rd edition,
pp. 245-268 (Figgis, Kern, Post, Tierney)
Reserve Room: Fredric Cheyette,
“The Invention of the State,’ in Bede Lackner and R. Philip, eds., Essays
on Medieval
Civilization (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1978), 143-178.
Unit 7: Church vs State, part 2: Boniface VIII versus Philip IV
April 4: Conflict between Boniface and Philip I: Narrative and the
Papal Bulls
Readings: Tierney, Crisis
of Church and State, 172-192
April 7: Theorists Respond to the Conflict: Giles of Rome and John of
Paris
Readings: Black, Political
Thought, 42-58
Tierney, Crisis of Church and State, 193-200, 200-210
DUE: SOURCE ANALYSIS, April 7, in class
April 9: Marsilius of Padua
Readings: Black, Political
Thought, 58-71
Reserve Room: Nederman and
Forhan, Medieval Political Theory, 173-199
April 11: INSTRUCTOR AT CONFERENCE
Unit 8: Disorder in the Church: Poverty and Authority in the 14th
Century
April 14: the Spiritual Franciscans
Readings: Reserve Room:
Janet Coleman, “Property and Poverty,” in The Cambridge History of Medieval
Political
Thought, c.350-1450, ed. J.H. Burns (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1988), 607-648.
April 16: the Debate on Poverty and the Power of the Church
Readings: On-Line Text:
Pope John XXII’s Bull Quum inter nonnullos (1323) (http://www.franciscan-archive.org/index2.html;
at this click on the blue menu-link ‘Documents’, then scroll down until
you see “Quum inter nonnullos”. Click on the
English translation of this bull)
Handout: Spiritual Franciscans
April l8: SPRING HOLIDAY (no class)
April 21: Ockham
Readings: Black, Political
Thought, 71-78 (on Ockham)
DUE: THESIS PARAGRAPH AND OUTLINE: April 21
April 23: The Great Schism
April 25: Conciliarism
Readings: Black, Political
Thought, 169-185 (conciliarism, Cusa)
On-Line Text: the Council of Pisa (1409) (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1409pisa.html)
On-Line Text: the Decree Sacrosancta (1415) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/constance1.html
On-Line Texts: the Decree Frequens (1415) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/constance2.html
Unit 9: Disorder in the State? Or a new order?: Representative Institutions
in England
April 28: The Growth of Parliament
DUE: Final Draft, Research Papers, April 28 in class
April 30: the Deposition of Richard II
Readings: Black, Political
Thought, 162-169
Reserve Room: Carl Stephenson and Frederick G. Marcham, Sources of English
Constitutional History, v. 1
(Harper and Row, 1972), 232-242, 250-257 [Parliamentary Rolls 1377-1398
and the Parliament of 1399]
May 2: the Wars of the Roses
May 5: Discussion: Legitimacy, Sovereignty and Faith in Late Medieval
England
May 6 (Tuesday, but class meets anyway per university schedule): Medieval
and Modern: a wrap-up?
May 7: READING DAY