Readings

Required Books

[AWH] = Buy at Amazon Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. Augustan Rome. Bristol Classical Press, 2007. ISBN: 9781853991387.

[TFXN] = Buy at Amazon 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] = Buy at Amazon Froissart, Jean. Chronicles. Translated by Geoffrey Brereton. Corrected reprint edition. Penguin Classics, 1978. ISBN: 9780140442007.

[SA] = Buy at Amazon Armitage, Simon. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Translated by Simon Armitage. Faber and Faber, 2007. ISBN: 9780571223275.

[Virgil] = Buy at Amazon Virgil. The Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2010. ISBN: 9780143106296.

Useful Reference Books

Buy at Amazon 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.

Buy at Amazon Hornblower, Simon, and Antony Spawforth, eds. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780199545568.

Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon Wells. The Roman Empire. Harvard University Press, 1995, pp. 11–30. ISBN: 9780674777705. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon 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 Buy at Amazon 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.

Buy at Amazon 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.

Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon Suetonius. Lives of the Caesars. Translated by Catherine Edwards. Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780199537563.

Buy at Amazon 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 Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon 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.

Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon 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.

Buy at Amazon 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 Buy at Amazon 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.

Buy at Amazon 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.