Aaron M.

Moreno

Mediterranean History Syllabus

History of the Mediterranean: From Late Antiquity to Beyond the Crusades (ca 300-1300)

From poetry to sacrilege and conquistadors to men standing on pillars, this course has gathered a treasure trove of original medieval documents to take us on a journey throughout the Great Sea. The variety of readings allows us to examine the lives and interactions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims from the southern European, Greek, Middle Eastern, and North African worlds. We will compare these communities views on issues such as the ideal ruler and piety, in addition to their responses to events such as the rise of Islam and the Crusades. Each weeks readings have been kept to a reasonable length, so the work load is very manageable. COURSE MATERIALS: B. ROSENWEIN, Short History of the Middle Ages. COURSE READER. Free ONLINE material. An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Crusades, by Usamah bin Munqidh COURSE FORMAT: Lectures will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays. Reading the assigned textbook chapters beforehand will help you with the context, but my lectures will also provide the necessary background. Every Friday will be devoted to a discussion of the weeks readings. This Discussion Section will accordingly take place during normal course hours on Fridays and in the same lecture hall.
1

Aaron M. Moreno EVALUATION: Weekly Short Essays (20%)

Mediterranean History Syllabus

On Fridays, I email prompts for 1-2 page essays utilizing the next weeks themed readings. Choose one, and prepare to discuss it and the rest of the prompts during the following Fridays discussion section. Due to my traumatic first experience with college history writing, I do not record the grade written on the first weeks essay, and I attach extensive comments for improvement. Additionally, I allow students to have one week free of an essay requirement before the midterm exam, and a second week free of an essay requirement after the midterm exam. This option is usually appreciated during busy exam periods. There is no essay due for the first week of class, which means that you will have a total of twelve short essays due over the course of the fifteen-week semester, with only eleven of their grades being recorded. Friday Discussion Section Participation (20%) Participation is important for discussion and includes coming to class on time. You will have a five-minute grace period, after which time you will be considered late. Good participation will get you an A, sub-par participation (i.e. contributing significantly less than most of the class) will get you a B-, and not talking at all will get you a D-. Excused absences are for extreme cases only and usually require a doctors note. Midterm (25%) and Final Exam (35%) The format of both exams includes several identifications, each of which involves a comparison of two works of art, excerpts of text, etcetera which exemplify continuity, change, similarity, and/or diversity in history. You may address any two of these identifications in short-answer format. Additionally, before each exam, I will email three potential long essay questions addressing the same aforementioned themes, but on a broader and especially comparative scale. I will include two of these essay questions on each exam, and you may select one to answer.

Aaron M. Moreno

Mediterranean History Syllabus

Week 1

An Introduction to the Course

Readings: Essential Jewish & Christian Texts

ROSENWEIN: Ch. 1. ONLINE READINGS: Exodus ch. 20-22. Gospel of Matthew ch. 5-6. The Nicene Creed. Mon 29 Aug: Wed 31 Aug: Fri 2 Sept:

How and why would one study the Mediterranean? An Outline of the Course. Some Historical Background: The Jewish Tradition and Roman Empire Some Historical Background: The Rise of Christianity and New Rome of Constantinople

Week 2

Barbarians, Heresies, and Empires

Readings: Roman Views of Others

ONLINE: Tacituss Germania. Salic Law Code excerpts (Francia). Some Contemporary Perceptions of Pre-Islamic Arabs. The Pre-Islamic Poem of Imru-ul-Quais. Life of Saint John the Almsgiver,

Cypriot Bishop of Alexandria (Chapters 1-15). Mon 5 Sept: Wed 7 Sept: Fri 9 Sept:

The Fall of Rome and the Barbarian Kingdoms in the West The Byzantine and Persian Empires and the heresies and peoples in between Discussion

Week 3

Dr al-Islm and the Mediterranean I

Readings: The Rise of Islam

ROSENWEIN: Ch. 2. ONLINE: Preface to Orosiuss History Against the Pagans. Muslim Account of the Battle of Yarmuk.

Coptic and Muslim Accounts of the Conquest of Egypt. Spanish Account of the Conquest of Hispania. COURSE READER: Chronicle of Theophanes (Byzantine), pp 9-47. ONLINE READINGS: Quran, Surah 1 ; Surah 5, Verses 1-11, 44-66. Selections from the Hadith of

Sahih Burkhari - Vol. 2 Book 13 Numbers 1 and 2, Vol. 3 Book 46 Numbers 694, Vol. 4 Book 56 Number 660, and Vol. 8 Book 73 Numbers 1-3. Mon 12 Sept: Wed 14 Sept: Fri 16 Sept:

From the Rise of Islam to the Umayyads The New Christian Iberian Kingdoms and The Carolingian Empire Discussion

Aaron M. Moreno

Mediterranean History Syllabus

Week 4

Dr al-Islm and the Mediterranean II

Readings: Assimilation and Anxiety

ROSENWEIN: Ch. 3. ONLINE: Martrydom of Polycarp. Pact of Umar with the Syrian Christians.

Coptic Apocalypse of

Samuel. J. Safran, Identity and Differentiation in Ninth-Century al-Andalus. COURSE READER: S. Griffith, Martyrdom of Abd al-Mas an-Narn al-assn. (Palestine). Mon 19 Sept: Wed 21 Sept: Fri 23 Sept:

The Byzantine Empire in the wake of the Muslim Conquest The Abbasids Discussion

Week 5

Christian Consolidations and Abbasid Fragmentation

Readings: Diplomacy

ROSENWEIN: Ch 4. ONLINE: Luitprands and an Arab Envoys Embassies to Constantinople. Jerusalem (pp 13-22). COURSE READER: John of Gorzes Mission to Cordoba Mon 26 Sept: Wed 28 Sept: Fri 30 Sept: Willibalds Pilgrimage to

The Ottonians and The Byzantine Recovery The Caliphate of Cordoba and the Fatimids in Egypt Discussion

Week 6

The Pendulum of Power in Iberia

Readings: Of Kings and Generals

ROSENWEIN: Ch. 5 ONLINE: Abu-l-asan Al al-Masds Book of Golden Meadows (excerpts). COURSE READER: History of Leo the Deacon (Byzantine), Book I and Book II Chapters 1-10 (pp 5583). Historia Silense excerpts (Leon-Castile), extracted from The World of El Cid (pp 24-64).

Al-ibyn (Granada) (pp 87-92). Mon 3 Oct: Wed 5 Oct: Fri 7 Oct:

The Fall of the Cordoban Caliphate, the Taifa states The Kingdom of Leon and Castile Discussion

Aaron M. Moreno

Mediterranean History Syllabus

Week 7

MIDTERM, Italy

Readings: Jews in the Pre-Lateran Western Mediterranean

ONLINE: Toldot Yeshu (A Parody of Jesuss Life). COURSE READER: Letters of Pope Gregory the Great Concerning the Jews. (Italy). Mon 10 Oct: Wed 12 Oct: Fri 14 Oct: Chronicle of Ahimaaz

FALL BREAK (Have Fun!) Greeks, Lombards, Aghlabids, and Fatimids in Southern Italy and Sicily MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Week 8

Conquests in Italy and the East Readings: Folk Heroes and Soldiers of Fortune

ONLINE: Historia Roderici, in World of El Cid, 90-147. Geoffrey of Malaterras Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria and Sicily and Duke Robert his Brother, Chapters 1-35 (pp 1-33). COURSE READER: Epic of the Syrian-Greek Digenes Akritas (excerpts). Mon 17 Oct: Wed 19 Oct: Fri 21 Oct:

The Normans The Seljuk Turks Discussion

Week 9

The Crusades I

Readings: Jerusalem Conquered

ROSENWEIN: Ch 6. ONLINE: Fulcher of Chartres History of the Expedition to Jerusalem (excerpts). Preface and excerpts from Book X Chapters V- XI and Book XI Chapters I-VI of the Byzantine Princess Anna Komnenas Alexiad (pp 1-5 and 247-286). Count Stephens Letter Home to his Wife Adele. History of the Coptic Patriarchs of Alexandria (pp 398-399). Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Motives of the Earliest Crusaders

and the Settlement of Latin Palestine, 1095-1100. Mon 24 Oct: Wed 26 Oct: Fri 28 Oct:

The First Crusade The Military Orders in Iberia and the Holy Land Discussion

Aaron M. Moreno

Mediterranean History Syllabus

Week 10

The Crusades II

Readings: Life in the Crusader Kingdoms

An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Crusades, Section I. ONLINE: Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela (pp 30-40, 46-49) in the Holy Land. Ibn Jubayr in the Holy Land. Tractatus de Locis Sancte (Tract on the Holy Land). Mon 31 Oct: Wed 2 Nov: Fri 4 Nov:

The Second Crusade The Third Crusade Discussion

Week 11

Castile and the Berbers Readings: Iberian & Italian Conquest and Convivencia
Canons D.

ONLINE: Rabbi Ben of Tudelas Visit to Constantinople and Italy (pp 8-11, 19-24, 108-109). of Lateran Council IV (excerpts).

James I of Aragons Conquest of Mallorca (ch. 47-55, 84-90).

Nirenberg, Conversion, Sex and Segregation. COURSE READER: Ibn Jubayrs Visit to Sicily. Alfonso VIII of Castiles letter recounting his victory at Las Navas de Tolosa. Alfonso X of Castiles Siete Partidas law code (excerpts). Mon 7 Nov: Wed 9 Nov: Fri 11 Nov:

Holy War and Conquest in the Maghrib and Iberia: Almoravids, Almohads, and Castile The Nasrid Emirate of Granada and the Marinids in the Maghrib Discussion

Week 12

Religious Traditions & Movements in the Mediterranean

Readings: Holy Men

An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Crusades, Section II, Part 1 ONLINE: Gospel of Matthew ch. 3 ; 4 ; 19, verses 16-30. Life of St. Anthony (Ch. 1-16, 44-53). Life of St. Francis (excerpts). Life of St. Lazaros of Mt. Galesion (pp 75-108, 115-123). Mon 14 Nov: Wed 16 Nov: Fri 18 Nov:

Religious Renewal in Europe, Religious Traditions in the Greek Church Jewish Mysticism, Sufism Discussion

Aaron M. Moreno

Mediterranean History Syllabus

Week 13

The Power of the Italian Cities

Readings: Trade
Anthony Luttrell, Venetians at

ONLINE: VENICE: Papal License for Venetian Trade with Muslims. Mediaeval Malta. COURSE READER: VENICE:

Byzantine Decree Halting Venetian Weapons Sales to Muslims. GENOA: A Loan Agreement. A Boat Charter

Byzantine Concessions to Venetian Merchants. Contract. A Piracy Contract. Mon 21 Nov: Wed 23 Nov: Fri 25 Nov:

The Hohenstaufens in Italy; The Venetians, Genoans, and Pisans THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY (Have Fun!) THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY (Have Fun!)

Week 14

Autumn of the Crusades, Aragon

Readings: Accounts of the Fourth Crusade

ROSENWEIN: Ch. 7. ONLINE: Memoirs of Geoffrey de Villehardouin (pp 1-71) COURSE READER: Annals of Niketas Choniates (pp 294-320) Mon 28 Nov: Wed 30 Nov: Fri 2 Dec:

The Fourth Crusade and the founding Latin Empire of Constantinople The Aragonese Empire Discussion

Week 15

Aftermath of the Crusades

Readings: Latins in the Eastern Mediterranean

ONLINE: Ranner lori, Mendicant orders in the Principality of Achaia and the Latin Communal Identity, 1204-1453. COURSE READER: Chronicle of Morea (The Peloponnese). Constantinople. A Mongol Merchant Seeks Justice in Cyprus. Mon 5 Dec: Wed 7 Dec: Fri 9 Dec: Last Will of an Aragonese in

Mamlukes, Mongols, and the Fall of the Levantine Crusader Kingdoms The Mediterranean in the Aftermath of the Crusades Discussion