EUH 3323 – Weekly topics

Week 1 (August 21-22): What is Eastern Europe?

• A question of terminology: Central, Eastern, Southeastern, and East Central Europe; see maps of East Central. Southeastern and Eastern Europe

Week 2 (August 25-29): Sources and the Dark Ages

• Written and archaeological sources [Curta xix-xxiv]; see examples of a 12th-century Rus’ seal, a birch-bark letter from Novgorod, a Bulgar inscription on a column, and a Runic inscription found in Staraia Ladoga
• The last century of Roman power in the Balkans [Curta and Rossignol 9-14]; see a map of the Roman Empire; see a view of Philippi (Greece) and a plan of of Caričin Grad (Serbia, possibly Iustiniana Prima); see the plan of the sixth-century Roman fort at Iatrus (Krivina, Bulgaria) and an example of copper coin struck for emperor Justinian
• Slavs and Avars [Curta and Rossignol 15-23; Curta 3-8 and 293-296]; see the ideal reconstruction of a sunken-floored building with clay oven, a map of Europe around 600 and read a presentation of an Avar warrior’s burial

Week 3 (September 1-5): Early medieval Balkans

• Croats and Serbs [Curta and Rossignol 24-28; Curta 16-18]
• Bulgars and early medieval Bulgaria [Curta and Rossignol 54-60; Curta 14-16 and 83-84]; see a gold medallion of Omurtag; visit Pliska and the site of the Madara Horseman

Week 4 (September 8-12): The West in the East, ca. 800-900

• Avars and Franks [Curta and Rossignol 42-46; Curta 8-11 and 21-22 ]
• In-class assignment #1. Carantania [Curta 25-27]
• Early medieval Moravia [Curta and Rossignol 47-53; Curta 23-24]; see a bird-view reconstruction of the ninth-century hillfort at Pohansko

Week 5 (September 15-19): “Steppe empires”

• The Khazars and their conversion to Judaism [Curta and Rossignol 35-41 and 93-96; Curta 35-40]; see a of map of Khazaria and a brief presentation of Sarkel; see a few examples of Khazar weapons (including slightly curved sabers)
• Volga Bulgars,  [Curta and Rossignol 60-65 and 97-100; Curta 40-42]; see a map of Volga Bulgaria and a brief presentation of Bolgar
• Pechenegs, Cumans, and Oghuz [Curta and Rossignol 66-70; Curta 48-54]

Week 6 (September 22-26): Conversion to Christianity

• The mission of Cyril and Methodius to Moravia [Curta and Rossignol 79-85; Curta 27-35 and 265-266]; see a brief presentation and a facsimile (sample copy) of the Freising Manuscripts; see also an introduction to the Glagolitic script
• Prince Boris and the conversion of Bulgaria [Curta and Rossignol 86-92; Curta 42-45 and 283-284]; see an icon of St. Clement of Ohrid; visit the church of St. Panteleimon (St. Clement’s monastery) and the monastery of St. Naum in Ohrid
• Bulgaria under kings Symeon and Peter [Curta 58-64]; see a brief presentation of the site and the ramparts of Preslav (see also the plan of the town); see a biography of St. John of Rila and visit the Rila Monastery

Week 7 (September 29-October 3): The “iron century”

• Emperor Samuel and his war with Basil II [Curta 64-67]; see a map of the military operations in the Balkans; visit the ruins of the Church of St. Achilles in Prespa (with a plan of the fortified power seat on the island) and Samuel’s Fortress in Ohrid
• In-class assignment #2. Trade and trade centers in East Central Europe [Curta and Rossignol 194-203]
• Magyars [(Curta and Rossignol 112-116; Curta 47-48, 105-107, and 186-189]; see a map of the presumed migration of the Magyars and a map of the Magyar and Viking raids

Week 8 (October 6-10): The rise of Rus’

• Vikings in Russia and the Normannist controversy [Curta and Rossignol 71-75; Curta 67-73]; see Scandinavian tortoise brooches, Viking-age swords, and a hoard of dirhams; see a shaded relief map of Russia.
• Conversion of Rus’ [Curta and Rossignol 101-105]
• Kievan Rus’ [Curta 266-269, 272-273, and 285-293]; visit the St. Sophia Church and the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev

Week 9 (October 13-17): Byzantium in the Balkans

• Byzantine Greece [Curta and Rossignol 128-132; Curta 77-78, 80-83, 84-86, 98-99, 148-153, and 190-192]
• Byzantine and post-Byzantine Dalmatia [Curta and Rossignol 121-127; Curta 89-91, 93-98, 100-101, and 273-277]; see a map of Croatia

Week 10 (October 20-24): New powers, I

• Early medieval Poland and the Piasts [Curta and Rossignol 106-111; Curta 110-113, 118-120, 123-126, and 214-218]; see brief presentations of Ostrów Lednicki and Ostrów Tumski, Duke Mieszko I’s palace in Poznań, and Giecz; see a reconstruction of the tenth-century stronghold at Grzybowo; see the martyrdom of St. Adalbert and the transfer of his remains from Prussia to Gniezno (twelfth-century panels on the bronze doors of the cathedral in Gniezno); see a genealogy of the Piasts
• The non-Christian neighbors of Poland [Curta and Rossignol 117-120 and 140-145; Curta 57-58 and 183-186]; see a reconstruction of TrusoLinks to an external site.
• Přemyslid Bohemia [Curta and Rossignol 261-270; Curta 107-110, 113-118, 126-129, 135-136, and 159-161]; see a map of the present-day Czech Republic; visit the St. Clement church in Levý Hradec, the chapel of Sts. Peter and Paul in Budeč, the basilica of St. George in the Prague Castle (see also a reconstruction of the tenth-century castle), the initial St. Vitus Cathedral (Rotunda) in Prague, the Sázava monastery, and  the Znojmo Rotunda (with a fresco in the interior); see the statue of St. Wenceslas in Prague and his medieval portrait; see also a brief presentation of Český Krumlov

Week 11 (October 27-31): New powers, II

• Hungary after the conversion to Christianity [Curta 130-132, 195-198, and 269-271]; visit the Spiš Castle (Slovakia) and an outline of the history of the Saxons in Transylvania
• In-class assignment #3. The non-Christian inhabitants of Hungary [Curta and Rossignol 214-218 and 400-405; Curta 132-134 and 207-210]; visit the old synagogue in Sopron
• Medieval Serbia and the Nemanjids [Curta and Rossignol 284-293; Curta 218-223 and 307-311]; visit the Žiča royal monastery

Week 12 (November 3-7): Economy and society

• Agriculture, rural economy and cities [Curta and Rossignol 159-164, 182-193, 349-352, and 371-386; Curta 156-159, and 162-169]
• Social organization [Curta and Rossignol 171-181 and 358-365; Curta 143-145 and 153-156]
• Feudalism in Eastern Europe [Curta and Rossignol 366-370; Curta 136-139 and 169-170]

Week 13 (November 10-14): Catholicism and Orthodoxy: the rift in Eastern Europe

• Royal saints and monasticism in Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland [Curta and Rossignol 225-236 and 406-416; Curta 178-180]; see pictures of the abbey churches of Sv. Krševan (Zadar) and Św. Jakub (Sandomierz)
• Orthodoxy in Rus’ [Curta 198-203 and 213-214]
• In-class assignment #4.  Orthodoxy and religious dissent in the Balkans [Curta and Rossignol 219-224; Curta 176-178, 190-192, and 210-212]

Week 14 (November 17-21): Crusades in Eastern Europe

• Crusades and Eastern Europe [Curta and Rossignol 271-276; Curta 229-237, 240-244, 251-254, and 260-261]
• The Fourth Crusade [Curta 248-251]
• The Baltic crusades [Curta and Rossignol 277-283; Curta 238-240, 244-248, and 254-260]; see a brief history of the German Order of St. Mary (Teutonic Knights); see pictures of Üxküll (Ikškile), Toruń, Riga and Marienburg (outside and inside)

Week 15 (December 1-5): The Balkans and the Mongols

• In-class assignment #5. The Second Bulgarian Empire [Curta 303-307 and 311-319]; visit Tărnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire (see, especially, the plan of the city and the St. Demetrius Church)
• The Mongol invasion [Curta and Rossignol 294-300; Curta 325-342]; see a series of maps of the Mongol Empire; see a dirham minted for the Golden Horde Khan Uzbek, and a brief presentation of Golden Horde art