Course: GENERAL HISTORY OF MIDDLE AGES

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Course title GENERAL HISTORY OF MIDDLE AGES
Course code KHI/KODS
Organizational form of instruction Lecture + Seminary
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study 1
Semester Summer
Number of ECTS credits 6
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Drška Václav, doc. PhDr. Ph.D.
  • Fukala Radek, prof. PhDr. Ph.D.
Course content
Subject circles of the individual lectures: 1. Disintegration of the world of late Classical Antiquity, the emergence of "barbarian kingdoms" and the Franconian world The extinction of the Western Roman empire, the migration of "nations", the social structure of "new tribes" and their elites and the Eastern Roman empire. Franconian migration, the Merovingian empire, the Pippin-Charles? empire, the empire in 800, the pinnacle and the disintegration of the empire 2. Church in the early Middle Ages. Fights for the investiture Development of the Church organization from the originations of the Roman imperial church (the Milan edict) to the fight for the investiture, the relations between secular and spiritual power, early medieval heresies, patrology, the relations between East and West, the causes of the investiture dispute: proprietary and land churches, the Cluny-Lotharingian reform, the Saale empire under Henry III, imperial policy after the arrival of Henry IV, Roman papacy: the reforms after the arrival of Leo IX, Gregory VII, the progress of the clash, concordats with England and France, the concordat of Worms 3. Islam and Europe Preconditions and origins of Islam, Muhammad, the empire under the Umayyad caliphate, the empire under the Abbasid caliphate, Arabic Spain, the social-religious development of the Arab world, Arab culture 4. Western (Latin) Europe during Middle Ages France from the Verdun division to the reign of Philip II, England from the Anglo-Saxon invasion to the reign of John Lackland, the origination of the German Roman Empire: the Ottons and the Saales to the fight for the investiture, the arrival of the House of Hohenstafen and the developments in the empire, the expansion to Italy and its results, the Anglo-French conflict in the 12th and 13th centuries and its results: the centralized monarchy of Philip II and England of Magna Charta as the "early form of modern statehood" 5. Byzantine empire and the orthodox world The Byzantine empire at the turn of the 5th and 6th centuries, weakening of the empire and the expansion of Islam, iconoclasm, missions to the Slavs, Photios of Constantinople and the schism with the Latin Church, the end of the Macedonian dynasty, the Komnenos and the Angelos. The late Byzantine society and the upswing of the Turkish Ottoman empire: the domestic and foreign problems of the late Byzantine society, the attempts at closing a union with the West, the late crusades and the Ottoman expansion - the political conditions of the Balkan Peninsula and their transformations 6. European expansions The stabilization after 1600 and its economic and social impacts, domestic colonization: its methods and forms, external colonization: crusades to Palestine - socially-economic and political motivation, religious preconditions, 1st?4th crusade, its results; the Reconquest at the Iberian Peninsula and the origination of the Christian states in Spain, their development to the early 15th century 7. Papal policy from the Worm concordat to the origination of the Avignon papacy Church policy and the reformation programme of the papacy, fighting heresy and the disputes with the secular power, the significance of the Avignon period and its results 8. Developments in production methods and changes in social relations in Western Europe between the 13th and 15th centuries Medieval trade, development of fiscal relations, the origination and substance of urban society Characteristics of the distant trade - views of the contemporary research, main trade routes and their development, methods of trading and the development of fiscal relations, trade and "traditional" medieval elites, the standpoint of the Church; the emancipation of the urban society and the views of the current research, its internal organization and relation to feudal links (on the examples of Flanders, the Hanseatic League, Italy) 9. Centralized Western-European monarchies. Europe and the "crisis" of the 14th-15th centuries France of Philip

Learning activities and teaching methods
unspecified, unspecified, unspecified, unspecified
Learning outcomes
The given course is comprised of one semester, always held during the summer semester of the academic year. It includes a four-hour lecture and a two-hour seminar a week. The lectures serve to introduce students to the basic subjects of medieval studies, to develop basic knowledge of the development of medieval European society and to acquire information about the current state of research. The aim of the seminar is to introduce students to basic methodological and methodical processes of medieval studies via working with selected sources and literature. Emphasis is laid on successful interpretation of text and on heuristics of the discipline.
The graduates from the course have mastered the basic periodization of the given era, basic developmental and causal contexts as well as dating. They can characterize basic methodological approaches to the problematic subjects of the period, are familiar with the basic terminology and are capable of formulating their own standpoints. They can explain the main changes in the political configurations of the continent (historical geography) both from the point of time and space. They know the basic available editions of sources to the given period and are able to work with sources of narrative nature or of administrative origin under the lecturer?s guidance. They are well familiar with professional literature into the assigned extent and mainly with the representatives of the main tendencies in modern research in the sphere of medieval studies.
Prerequisites
None

Assessment methods and criteria
unspecified
Students are required to participate in the education, successfully pass both the continuous and final exams and to individually work with the recommended literature.
Recommended literature
  • Bednaříková, J. Stěhování národů. Praha, 2003.
  • Brooke, Ch. Evropa středověku v letech 962-1154. Praha, 2006.
  • Collins, R. Evropa raného středověku. Praha, 2005.
  • Drška, V. - Picková, D. Dějiny středověké Evropy. Praha, 2004.
  • Ehlers, J. a kol. Francouzští králové v období středověku. Praha, 2003.
  • Franzen, A. Malé církevní dějiny. Praha, 1995.
  • Huizinga, J. Podzim středověku. Jinočany, 1999.
  • Keller, H. Ottoni. Praha, 2004.
  • Lawrence, H. Dějiny středověkého mnišství. Brno, 2002.
  • Le Goff, J. Intelektuálové ve středověku. Praha, 1999.
  • Le Goff, J. Kultura středověké Evropy. Praha, 2005.
  • Mundy, J. Evropa vrcholného středověku. Praha, 2008.
  • Rapp, F. Svatá říše římská národa německého. Praha - Litomyšl, 2007.
  • Tauer, F. Svět islámu. Praha, 1984.
  • Zástěrová, B. Dějiny Byzance. Praha, 1992.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): History (Single Subject) (A14) Category: History courses 1 Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: Summer