Class 1.: Introduction
Assigned Reading:
Topics: Introduction
and practicalities, timeline, origins of civilization
I. Introduction
A. Practicalities
1. Name Cards
1. Name (last name first. 2. Address + tel. no.
3. Year 4. Major 5. Previous history courses
B. Syllabus
1. Office + office hours + Contact outside hours
2. The Course
3. Class Texts
4. Course structure
5. Requirements
6. Calendar
7. Class Rules
II. Geography
III. Music
A. Four pieces
Byzantine Chant (modern version.
Gregorian Chant
Hildegard of Bingen
Allegri
B. Sound - typical of middle ages ?
Monodic - single melodic line
Liturgical\ecclesiastical
Different from modern
- beat
- who performs
Similarities
- we still sing hymns - Christianity remains dominant
- note structure
Change over the period, and over area.
POINT: We are dealing with a very different civilization,
but one upon which the modern West is largely based.
IV. Why study Medieval History?
A. What is History?
Types of history?
Political, economic, social, legal, religious, women's etc.
POINT it's about everything.
Etymology
`histoire' (French) = story
``istoria' (Greek) = inquiries
The `past' and `history' - we make history from the past,
that's why its interesting to study.
B. Why study History?
Nature of education
1.-Skills - computer studies
2.-Why things are as they are - Physics
History - the science of the fourth dimension
it tells you where you are in time.
C. Problems of Periodization
We think in Years
Other civilizations often think thought in generations
or reigns [An example - OT and NT]
Few other civilizations are as history conscious
- they do not see themselves as successors to a whole
string of earlier cultures.
Modern chronology developed from need to calculate
date of Easter.
What we mean by `ancient', `classical'. `medieval',
`early modern' and `modern'
D. The Middle Ages as a Period
1. Intrinsic value and interest
2. Background of many people in US.
3. Value of its art
4. Origin of Western world predominance.
Modern dominance of western thought in world culture.
Look at situation in 1500
China - missions to Africa, gunpowder
Turkey - Controls whole Islamic world
India - important, but not very mobile
Europe - divided and squabbling
Why did Europe dominate in following centuries?
-need to look at its history i.e. its medieval history
IV. Questions and Answers
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© Paul Halsall, 1996.
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