In this class, we will explore firsthand accounts of pillage and conquest, from the ancient world to the Fall of Constantinople.
We will read the works of writers like the first barbarian historian, a Goth, whose work has survived (Jordanes), as well as someone who was held captive by Tamerlane (Johann Schiltberger), someone who had dinner with Attila (Priscus), someone who witnessed a Viking funeral (Ibn Fadlan), someone who knew someone who had a conversation with the unhappy spirit of St. Andrew on the road to Jerusalem (Raymond, Canon of Le Puy), and someone—an “Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior”—who survived a duel with a Christian crusader (Usamah ibn-Murshid).
We will also read the works of some writers who might be better compared to untrained folk artists or primitive painters, writers such as the unnamed author of The Secret History of the Mongols, who described a domestic scene outside Genghis Khans tent that ends in a beheading; or the monks of Novgorod in Russia, who wrote of the approaching Mongol horde and the bribes paid to save their city; or the British monks who recorded Viking raids in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; or the Welsh Norman who could find nothing to like about the Irish but their music.
We will pick-apart these sources while asking ourselves, “Are these accounts accurate? Can they be relied on? Do they tell the whole story?”
WEEK I (Oct 9)
BARBARIANS ON THE LANDSCAPE
Strabo, from Geography, 24 C.E.
WEEK II (Oct 16)
THE GREEKS’ BARBARIANS
Herodotus, “Scythians and Thracians,” 424 B.C.E
WEEK III (Oct 23)
ROME ENCOUNTERS THE CELTS
Diodorus Siculus, “Romans and Celts Battle in Umbria,” ca. 390 B.C.E.
Livy, “The Celts Enter Rome,” ca. 390 B.C.E.
Polybius, “The Early Celtic-Roman Wars,” 223 B.C.E.
WEEK IV (Oct 30)
Julius Caesar, “On the Gauls,” 58 B.C.E.
Diodorus Siculus, “On the People and Customs of Gaul,” ca. 50 B.C.E.
Julius Caesar, “Border Battles,” 55 B.C.E.
WEEK V (Nov 6)
Julius Caesar, “On the Germans,” 55 B.C.E.
Tacitus, Germania, 98 C.E.
WEEK VI (Nov 13)
Julius Caesar, “The First Invasion of Britain,” 55 B.C.E.
Diodorus Siculus, “The People and Customs of Britain,” ca. 50 B.C.E.
Tacitus, “A Battle Between Romans and Caledonians in Southern
Scotland,” ca. 80 C.E.
WEEK VII (Nov 20)
THE GOTHS TURN SOUTH TO ROME
Ammianus Marcellinus, “The Gothic Invasion and the Battle of Hadrianople,” 378 C.E.
Procopius, “Alaric Sacks Rome,” 410 C.E.
Edward Gibbon, “The Death and Funeral of Alaric”
(NO CLASS ON NOVEMBER 27TH)
WEEK VIII (Dec 4)
Claudian,“The Huns,” ca. 400 C.E.
Priscus, “Negotiating and Dining with Attila,” 449 C.E.
Jordanes, “A Goths Biography of Attila,” 551 C.E.
WEEK IX (Dec 11)
Edward Gibbon, from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
WEEK X (Dec 18)
“The Battle of Maldon,” 991 C.E.
“Viking Raids,” from The Annals of St. Bertin, 843-859 C.E.
“Viking Raids,” from The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 994—1016 C.E.
Ibn Fadlan, “A Viking Funeral,” 922 C.E.
Procopius, “The Beastly Eruli,” ca. 560 C.E.
(NO CLASS ON DECEMBER 25TH)
(NO CLASS ON JANUARY 1ST)
WEEK XI (Jan 8)
Geraldus Cambrensis, “The Customs of the Irish,” 1185 C.E.
“Bricrius Feast and the War of Words of the Women of Ulster,” from Cuchulain of Muirthemne, 12th Century
WEEK XII (Jan 15)
Juvaini, from The History of the World Conqueror, 1260 C.E.
“Some Incidents During Genghis’s War with the Tatars,” from The Secret History of the Mongols, 13th Century
WEEK XIII (Jan 22)
MONGOLS AND TATARS
C. de Bridia, from The Tartar Relation, 1247 C.E.
From The Chronicle of Novgorod 1224-1239 C.E.
Matthew Paris, from Chronicles, 1240-1243 C.E.
WEEK XIV (Jan 29)
Ahmed ibn Mohammed Ibn Arabshah, from The Life of Timur, 15th Century
Johann Schiltberger, from Travels and Bondage, ca. 1430 C.E.
WEEK XV (Feb 5)
THE CRUSADES: INFIDELS
Robert the Monk, “Pope Urban II Calls for a Crusade,” 1095 C.E.
Anonymous Norman Knight and Raymond, Canon of Le Puy, “The Capture of Jerusalem,” 1099
Usamah Ibn Murshid, “Encounters with Crusaders in Syria,” ca. 1150 C.E.
Doukas, “The Fall of Constantinople,” 1453 C.E.