Required Books
[AWH] = Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. Augustan Rome. Bristol Classical Press, 2007. ISBN: 9781853991387.
[TFXN] = Noble, Thomas F. X. Charlemagne and Louis the Pious: Lives by Einhard, Notker, Ermoldus, Thegan, and the Astronomer. Translated by Thomas F. X. Noble. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780271035734. [Preview with Google Books]
[JF] = Froissart, Jean. Chronicles. Translated by Geoffrey Brereton. Corrected reprint edition. Penguin Classics, 1978. ISBN: 9780140442007.
[SA] = Armitage, Simon. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Translated by Simon Armitage. Faber and Faber, 2007. ISBN: 9780571223275.
[Virgil] = Virgil. The Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2010. ISBN: 9780143106296.
Useful Reference Books
Bowman, Alan, et al., eds. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. X: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC—AD 69. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780521264303.
Hornblower, Simon, and Antony Spawforth, eds. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780199545568.
McKitterick, Rosamond, ed. The New Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 2: c.700–c.900. Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780521362924. [Preview with Google Books]
Online Resources
JSTOR—The Scholarly Journal Archive, including several relevant classical studies and archaeology journals.
Lacus Curtius—Your source for Cassius Dio, Plutarch, and other ancient sources in translation, among other items of interest.
The Perseus Digital Library—A wealth of information relevant to our subject: ancient texts and translations, extensive photo archives of an impressive range of sites, and plenty of secondary material.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook—A useful on-line collection of medieval sources translated into English.
Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilizations—A wonderful series of maps and geodatabases related to multiple aspects of Roman and medieval civilization.
Readings by Session
| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| PART I: The Roman Empire in the Age of Augustus | ||
| 2 | Hard Power—From Octavian to Augustus |
Wells. The Roman Empire. Harvard University Press, 1995, pp. 11–30. ISBN: 9780674777705. [Preview with Google Books] Gruen. “Augustus and the Making of the Principate.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus. Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 33–51. ISBN: 9780521807968. [Preview with Google Books] |
| 3 | Soft Power—Persuasion and the Principate |
The Achievements of the Divine Augustus. [AWH] “Augustan Rome,” pp. 1-42. “Augustus of Prima Porta.” Photograph on Wikipedia. |
| 4 | Running the Empire | Levick. “Techniques of Management and the Feel-Good Factor.” In Augustus: Image and Substance. Pearson, 2010, pp. 115–63. ISBN: 9780582894211. |
| 5 | Empire and the Gods |
[AWH] pp. 63–97. [Virgil] Book 6. Gransden, K.W. and S.J. Harrison. “Reading the Aeneid” in Virgil: The Aeneid. Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 34–46. ISBN: 9780521539807. |
| 6 | Virgil’s Imperial Epic | [Virgil] Book 8. |
| 7 | Imperial Destiny: Aeneas and Dido |
[Virgil] Book 4. Ovid. Ovid, Heroides 7: Dido’s Letter to Aeneas. CANE Press, 2004. ISBN: 9781934971086. |
| 8 | The City of Rome and the Forum of Augustus | [AWH] pp. 43–62. |
| 9 | Assessing Augustus: Suetonius and Tacitus |
Suetonius. Lives of the Caesars. Translated by Catherine Edwards. Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780199537563. Tacitus. Annals. Penguin Classics, 2013, pp. 1.1–15. ISBN: 9780140455649. |
| PART II: Emperors of Europe—Charlemagne and Louis the Pious | ||
| 10 | Overview: The Reigns of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious | Costambeys, Marios, Matthew Innes, and Simon MacLean. The Carolingian World. Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 31–79, and 154–222. ISBN: 9780521564946. [Preview with Google Books] |
| 11 | Narrating Carolingian Triumphs: The Annales Regni Francorum |
Jong, Mayke de de. The Penitential State. Authority and Atonement in the Age of Louis the Pious, 814–840. Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 59–67. ISBN: 9780521881524. Annals, Royal Frankish. Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard’s Histories. Translated by Bernhard Walter Scholz. University of Michigan Press, 1970, pp. 73–125 (entries for years 794–829). ISBN: 9780472061860. [Preview with Google Books] |
| 12 | Assessing Charlemagne: Eingard’s Life of Charlemagne |
Jong, Mayke de de. The Penitential State. Authority and Atonement in the Age of Louis the Pious, 814–840. Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 67–72. ISBN: 9780521881524. [TFXN] “Einhard, Life of Charles the Emperor.” pp. 1–50. |
| 13 | Assessing Louis the Pious, I: Thegan’s Deeds of Emperor Louis |
Jong, Mayke de de. The Penitential State. Authority and Atonement in the Age of Louis the Pious, 814–840. Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 72–79. ISBN: 9780521881524. [TFXN] “Thegan, Deeds of Emperor Louis.” pp. 187–218. |
| 14 | Assessing Louis the Pious, II: The Astronomer’s Life of Emperor Louis |
Jong, Mayke de de. The Penitential State. Authority and Atonement in the Age of Louis the Pious, 814–840. Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 79–89. ISBN: 9780521881524. [TFXN] “Astronomer, Life of Emperor Louis.” pp. 219–302. |
| 15 | Imperial Epics: Karolus Magnus et Leo Papa and Ermold the Black |
Papa, Karolus Magnus et Leo. Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance. Translated by Peter Godman. University of Oklahoma Press, 1985, pp. 22–4, and 197–207. ISBN: 9780806119397. Jong, Mayke de de. The Penitential State. Authority and Atonement in the Age of Louis the Pious, 814–840. Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 89–95. ISBN: 9780521881524. [TFXN] “Ermold, In Honor of Louis, the Most Christian Caesar Augustus.” pp. 1197–86. |
| 16 | Apocryphal Stories: Notker’s Deeds of Charlemagne | [TFXN] “Notker, Deeds of Emperor Charles the Great.” pp. 51–118. |
| PART III: The English Empire in the Age of Edward III | ||
| 18 | Origins: Legendary Antecedents for English Empire | Geoffrey of Monmouth. History of the Kings of Britain. Penguin Books, 1977, pp. 51–74 and 212–65. ISBN: 9780140441703. |
| 19 | Beginning the War: The Order of the Garter and the Battle of Crécy | [JF] pp. 37–45, 55–110. |
| 20 | Continuing the War: English Success, French Resurgence | [JF] pp. 111–92. |
| 22 | Ricardian Poetry, Edwardian Themes: Arthur’s Court Reappears | [SA] pp. 1–3. |
| 23 | Chivalry and Empire in a Post-Edwardian World |
[SA] p. 4. Mann. “Courtly Aesthetics and Courtly Ethics in SGGK.” Studies in the Age of Chaucer 31 (2009): 231–65. Ingledew. “SGGK and the Edwardian Era.” In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Order of the Garter. University of Notre Dame Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780268031763. |
| 24 | Combat, Tournament, and the End of a Reign | [JF] pp. 309–15, 373–85, 402–8, and 421–71. |
