The Fall of Rome, Byzantium, and Dark Ages Europe: Medieval History Notes, pt 1.

Thank you!

I’m so glad you came! It was great meeting you all, and I hope you enjoyed the presentation. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. I love feedback!

Because I’m a huge fan of primary sources, I include, along with my presentation, some short selections from primary sources that will hopefully be of interest and shed some more light on topics I’ve only briefly touched on. All of these are in modern translation, so they’re easy to read and rather fascinating to go through.

Part One: 400-1000 CE

Presentation: (PDF)

Class Resources:

The Secret History, by Procopius. (Check out Chapter 9!)

Justinian Suppresses the Nika Revolt, by Procopius.

The Ruin of Britain, by Gildas. (Gildas was a historian-monk. Here he writes about the stupidity of Vortigern inviting barbarian mercenaries.)

The History of the Britons, by Nennius. (Nennius is a major source for stories about King Arthur. Here he gives the legend I talked about.)

The Life of Charlemagne, by Einhard. (These selections talk about what Charlemagne was like as a man, which is very interesting!)

In case you missed it…

Notes for part two of the class (on the Norman Conquest, the Crusades, etc) are here. Notes for part three of the class are here.