In the first part of this lecture, Professor Freedman discusses the emergence of the Vikings from Scandinavia in the ninth and tenth centuries.  The Vikings were highly adaptive, raiding (the Carolingian Empire), trading (Byzantium and the Caliphate) or settling (Greenland and Iceland) depending on local conditions. Through their wide-ranging travels, the Vikings created networks bringing into contact parts of the world that were previously either not connected or minimally so. Professor Freedman concludes the lecture, and the course, by considering what’s been accomplished between 284 and 1000. Although Europe in the year 1000 experienced many of the same problems as did the Roman Empire 284 where we began -- population decline and lack of urbanization, among others – the end of the early Middle Ages also arguable heralds the emergence of Europe and Christendom as cultural constructs and sets the stage for the rise of the West.

1. Course Introduction: Rome's Greatness and First Crises
2. The Crisis of the Third Century and the Diocletianic Reforms
3. Constantine and the Early Church
4. The Christian Roman Empire
5. St. Augustine's Confessions
6. Transformation of the Roman Empire
7. Barbarian Kingdoms
8. Survival in the East
9. The Reign of Justinian
10. Clovis and the Franks
11. Frankish Society
12. Britain and Ireland
13. Monasticism
14. Mohammed and the Arab Conquests
15. Islamic Conquests and Civil War
16. The Splendor of the Abbasid Period
17. The Crucial Seventh Century
18. The Splendor of Byzantium
19. Charlemagne
20. Intellectuals and the Court of Charlemagne
21. Crisis of the Carolingians
22. Vikings / The European Prospect, 1000

Major developments in the political, social, and religious history of Western Europe from the accession of Diocletian to the feudal transformation. Topics include the conversion of Europe to Christianity, the fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Islam and the Arabs, the "Dark Ages," Charlemagne and the Carolingian renaissance, and the Viking and Hungarian invasions.

Original Course Name: HIST 210: The Early Middle Ages, 284–1000.