Instructor: Courtney Booker	History 99, Section 12
Spring 1998	Monday 2:00-4:50 Bunche A152
Office Hours: Wednesday 9:30-11:30	Course Web Site URL:
Office: Bunche 5270	http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/booker/courses/9912/
Campus Mailbox: Bunche 6272	My E-mail: cbooker@ucla.edu

In the ninth century, a demon named Wiggo took possession of a small girl and, through her, proceeded to chastise the local populace for its moral decline. In a neighboring county, a local "prophetess" named Thiota foretold that the end of the world was imminent. What are the assumptions implicit in each of these accounts? How did each pundit in her own way utilize the idea of a "Golden Age?" Why is it that, while the demon's words were understood as those of a "teacher," the prophecies of Thiota brought nothing but a public whipping to a woman seen as having been "in a state of confusion?" Is it relevant that, around the same time, major political upheaval was threatening to throw the entire Frankish kingdom into civil war? What do these medieval accounts have to tell us about the ways in which the modern West operates within its own "Age of Anxiety?"

As we examine the number of ways anxiety over feelings of societal "decline" was expressed during different moments of "crisis" in the Middle Ages, we will attempt to account for both the differing modes of "complaint," and their relative success in eliciting a desired response. For the differences in these "rhetorics of decline" tell us much about the different concerns of each age and society, the particular options for critical discourse available to each, and their respective (and often competing) visions of an idealized "Golden Age."

However, in order to pursue these goals, we must learn and practice a number of skills in order to achieve some measure of proficiency in the endeavour of research and writing-that is, the practice of History. In this respect, critical thinking is paramount, for it is a skill that you will use unceasingly throughout both this course and life-in your reading, research, writing, and speaking. Thus, the only "pre-requisite" for this course is the desire to know, and to ask many questions toward this end.

Course Philosophy & Requirements:

Overarching Philosophy: Anything worthwhile takes work. Since I am committed to your intellectual growth, and think that this commitment is worthwhile , I will work to make this a fun, challenging, and rewarding educational experience. However, you are your own best teacher-I'm learning about our topic together with you each week, not authoritatively telling you everything there is to know about it. Thus, only you can do the work it takes to expand your horizons, to develop your critical thinking skills, and to think deeply about the course, your own life, and your role in the larger scheme of things.

1. Reading of all assigned material.
   • Absolutely essential. See nos. 2 & 3 below.

2. Weekly reaction paper postings on the course website. (Click here for Sample reaction papers)
   • Each week, a one-page "reaction paper" will be due at least one full day prior to the day of the seminar. Students will prepare a brief, (maximum length) one page critical assessment of the readings assigned for each week and post it to the WWW message board. The paper should not be a summary of the readings but rather should come to terms with the intellectual, methodological, or conceptual issues raised by them. These are to be posted on the WWW so that all students can read all of their colleagues' papers prior to meeting for class. Do not read the reaction papers already posted before you write and post your own. However, feel free to respond to the reaction papers of others after you have done your own posting. (A note on posting: I suggest that you first prepare your paper on a word processing program and then copy and paste it to the message board).

3. Active participation in seminar discussions.
   • You are expected to actively participate in the class discussion each week by interacting with your colleagues in an informed, thoughtful, and considerate manner. Active participation requires critically reading and thinking about all of the week's assigned material. "Understanding" is not necessarily a consequence of this reading, but questions should be. For the questions you raise will act as the framework of our seminar discussions. Please note that participation is worth 35% of your course grade, and that unexcused absences from class will naturally result in a lower class participation grade.

4. Written assignments:
   • One 7-10 page paper concerning a critical historical analysis and evaluation of a mode of "decline" rhetoric due in the final week of the quarter.

   • I will be happy to assist you with organizing your thoughts and ideas during my office hours or by appointment.

Required Texts:

• The 3 required books are available for purchase at Sisterhood Bookstore in Westwood, (1351 Westwood Blvd.) on the corner of Westwood and Rochester. Their phone no. is (310) 477-7300. They are open every day from 10 AM - 8 PM.

  • Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft

  • Georges Duby, History Continues

  • C. Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe

• The course reader is available for purchase at Course Reader Material in Westwood (1141 Westwood Blvd., 11/2 blocks north of Wilshire). Their phone no. is (310) 443-3303. They are open Monday - Friday, 9 - 6, and Saturday, 10 - 5.
  • History 99 Course Reader (price?)

• In addition, all texts are on reserve in Powell (College) Library.

Grading:

• 35% seminar participation
• 35% final paper
• 30% Web reaction papers

Course Schedule:

Week 1	Topic: Introductions and Preconceptions. Selective URL tour.
Week 2	Topic : Introduction to the History of Mentalities. Assigned Reading: Fink, "Marc Bloch", pp. 205-214 Bloch, The Historian's Craft, ch. 2 (Historical Observation), ch. 4 (Historical Analysis) Hutton, "The History of Mentalities: The New Map of Cultural History", pp. 237-259 Duby, History Continues, ch. 1 & 2.
Week 3	Topic: Crisis and Decline Typologies Assigned Reading: Dutton, "Introduction", pp. 1-18 Starn, "Historians and Crisis", pp. 3-22 Starn, "Meaning-Levels in the Theme of Historical Decline", pp. 1-31 Graus, "Social Utpoias in the Middle Ages," pp.3-19. Williams, "Contemporary Analyses of Decline", pp. 6-25 Duby, History Continues, ch. 3 & 4.
Week 4	Topic: The "Crisis of the Third Century." Assigned Reading: Hollister, ch. 1 Kishlansky, et al., "Crisis of the 3rd Century", pp. 164-166 Cameron, "Crisis of the 3rd Century", pp. 1-12 Lewis and Reinhold, Primary Sources, pp. 372-412 Mazzarino, The End of the Ancient World, pp. 32-48 MacMullen, "The Perception of Decline", pp. 1-23 Duby, History Continues, ch. 5 & 6.
Week 5	Topic: Augustine and the Invasion and Sack of Rome. Assigned Reading: Hollister, ch. 2; Brown, Augustine of Hippo, pp. 287-339 Augustine, "Sermon on the Sack of the City of Rome", pp. 1-7, 53-75 Coyle, "Augustine on Apocalyptic", pp. 1-34 Mommsen, "St. Augustine and the Christian Idea of Progress: The Background of 'The City of God'", pp. 265-298 Mommsen, "Orosius and Augustine", pp. 325-348 Duby, History Continues, ch. 7 & 8.
Week 6	Topic: Civil War, Vikings, and the Nightmares of the Carolingians. Assigned Reading: Hollister, ch. 6-7 Engelbert, "Lament on the Battle of Fontenoy", pp. 363-365 Florus of Lyons, "Lament on the Division of the Empire", pp. 265-273 Ermentarius, "On the Miracles of St. Philibert", pp. 434-437 Anonymous, "The Vision of Charlemagne", pp. 423-424 Wallace-Hadrill, The Vikings in Francia, pp. 1-17 Ogg, "The Northmen in the Country of the Franks", pp. 163-173 Dutton, The Politics of Dreaming in the Carolingian Empire, pp. 81-156, 195-224 Duby, History Continues, ch. 9 & 10.
Week 7	Topic: Millenarian Anxieties. Assigned Reading: Hollister, ch. 8-9 Focillon, "The Problem of the Terrors", pp. 39-72 B. McGinn, "Adso of Montier-En-Der", pp. 81-96 R. Landes, "The Social and Political Climate of Aquitaine at the Turn of the Millennium", pp. 24-49 R. Landes, "Rodolfus Glaber and the Dawn of the New Millennium: Eschatology, Historiography, and the Year 1000", pp. 57-77 Landes, "Giant with Feet of Clay" Duby, History Continues, ch. 11 & 12. • Post this week's reaction paper on the bulletin board at the Online Millennium Discussion site after reading its 2 articles.
Week 8	Topic: The Investiture Conflict Assigned Reading: Hollister, ch. 12 "St. Peter Damian," pp.508-509. "Damian's Letters," pp.130-133, 194-196, 263-271. Morrison, Investiture Controversy: Issues, Ideals, and Results, pp.38-67. McGinn, "Apocalypticism and The Great Reform," pp.94-102. Duby, History Continues, ch. 13 & 14.
Week 9	Topic: Crusading and Losing to the Infidel. Assigned Reading: Hollister, ch. 10 Cowdrey, "Pope Urban II's Preaching of the First Crusade", pp. 177-188 Riley-Smith, "The Preaching of the First Crusade", pp. 37-53 McGinn, "Apocalyptic and Non-Apocalyptic Themes of the Eleventh Century", pp. 88-93 Constable, "The Second Crusade as Seen by Contemporaries", pp. 266-276 "Failure of the Second Crusade", pp. 121-123 Riley-Smith, "The Attraction of Crusading", pp. 61-67 Siberry, "Sin and its Consequences", pp. 68-108 Duby, History Continues, ch. 15 & 16.
Week 10	Topic: The Black Death Assigned Reading: Hollister, ch. 16 Duby, History Continues, ch. 17.