Romans and Barbarians, 370-750
- Course Code
- HIST 0095
- Course Type
- Tutorials
- Subject Credit
- Course Availability
The crumbling of a mighty empire which had proclaimed itself universal, and supreme even in spiritual matters, has provided a rewarding theme for historians and moralists for centuries; nonetheless, recent years have seen a great increase in scholarly interest in the sub- and post-Roman world. The sparse and intriguing written sources have been supplemented with insights from archaeology, material culture, and a range of other disciplines. As a result students can discover much more about the huge changes (and remarkable continuities) of this extraordinary period than was possible a generation ago; but because of the comparative paucity of the sources they can engage in the scholarly debate for themselves at a depth that is difficult in other eras.
Sample Topics
- Migration and Invasion; Labels and Frontiers
- Living in the Ruins? Western Successor States
- The world of Justinian
- ‘Sitting crowned upon the grave’: the Western Church
- Economic change
- The Inheritance of Rome: Culture and Literacy
- Saints, monks and missionaries
- The Challenge of Islam