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Barbarian Invasions and the Fall of the Western Empire. What caused the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire. Beowulf. Discuss Beowulf. Why is this poem so widely read and used? What is its value? What kind of person was the poet? How would you describe Beowulf?. When was Beowulf written?.
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Barbarian Invasions and the Fall of the Western Empire What caused the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire
Discuss Beowulf • Why is this poem so widely read and used? What is its value? • What kind of person was the poet? • How would you describe Beowulf?
When was Beowulf written? • 600 CE • 700 CE • 800 CE • 900 CE • 1000CE
What language is it written in? • Latin • Greek • Arabic • English • French
Where does the story take place? • England • Scotland • France • Scandinavia • Rome
Discuss Beowulf • Why would a Christian Englishman (monk?) want to write about a pagan, Scandinavian warrior? • Who would the likely audience have been? • How does the Beowulf manuscript from 1000 CE illuminate the culture of Germanic people around 500 CE?
How did each of the following civilizations fall from the height of its influence? • Sumerian city-states • The Old Kingdom in Egypt • The Middle Kingdom in Egypt • The New Kingdom in Egypt • Minoan Crete • The Ancient Hebrews • Athens
Why did Rome fall?What have you heard? • Lead in the water • Christianity • Depletion of the soil in Italy • Lack of infrastructure • Something else
Which barbarian tribe proved to be Rome’s most formidable enemy in the 400s? • The Huns • The Goths • The Franks • The Saxons • The Vandals
What seems odd about this depiction of the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410?
St. Augustine of Hippo(354-430)sought to explain why the Christian God would allow Rome to be sacked.
Battle of Cape Bon, 468 CE,North Africa, 45 miles from Carthage
East Anglian King Baptized 605 Died 625 Induced to adopt Christianity by Ethelbert of Kent Bretwalda Both pagan and Christian Raedwald
Discuss barbarian culture • What types of sources can yield insight into the mostly illiterate people who inhabited northwestern Europe after 476? • What do we mean by the term barbarian? • What types of people were these barbarians?
Medieval Fusion The creation of a distinctly medieval culture: 300-1000
Barbarian Invasions • Continuity in the East • Disruption in the West • Explanations for the Fall of Rome • St Augustine • Machiavelli & Gibbon • Internal factors • Christianity • Crisis of the third century • Exogenous factors • Growth of Germanic supergroups
Overview • Features of Medieval Fusion • Barbarian cultures: Germans, Celts • The Judeo-Christian Culture • Classical institutions and traditions • Discussion of Beowulf
Overview • Features of Medieval Fusion • Barbarian cultures: Germans, Celts • The Judeo-Christian Culture • Classical institutions and traditions • Discussion of Beowulf
During the Middle Ages, several cultures fuse within Europe • Barbarian • Germanic/Norse • Celtic • Gothic • Slavic • Ancient • Roman • Greek • Middle Eastern • Christian
Germanic Literature • Literature as a source and its difficulties • Ancient literature: Tacitus - A Roman writes about Germania • Medieval literature: Beowulf, Njal’s Saga • Glorification of warrior heroes • great fighters • overcome incredible odds • superhuman strength • Often fatalistic in outlook; the inevitably of death • Love of gold and riches: plunder • Vengeance and retribution: law of the talion • barbarian legal codes