Early Medieval Cultures Essay
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
This assignment provides you with an opportunity to discuss an insight you gained in this unit by comparing the development of two Early Medieval cultures.
For this assignment, choose two specific Western cultures between 632-1000 C.E. Using these, build a comparison that identifies at least three differences and three similarities from political leadership, and economic and social and/or cultural elements. Highlight any shared influences, biases, and perspectives. Before your conclusion, you will write a paragraph in which you reflect on the guidelines for ethical and rigorous study of cultures detailed at the beginning of the unit lesson (mentioned in Step 1 below). As you finish your assignment, include conclusions drawn from both your comparisons and your reflection. The assignment steps below will provide more guidance.
Step 1: Review the section at the beginning of the Unit Lesson entitled “Be Careful When Making Historical Assumptions.”
Step 2: Choose two appropriate sources, not including the textbook. At least one source must come from the CSU Online Library. The Academic Search Ultimate and eBook Academic Collection databases in the CSU Online Library would be good places to start your search. Resources should be credible and peer-reviewed by historians and cannot include Wikipedia, Biography.com, History.com, or any other .com site; resources should also not be taken from any type of message board or other encyclopedia-type sites, including those listed in the CSU Online Library research guides, which are provided for quick reference only and not for paper research.
If you need additional help with using or locating information in the CSU Online Library, there are library video tutorials available on the main page of the online library under the heading “Research Guides.”
Step 3: Complete your research using the guidelines on ethical and rigorous research you reviewed in Step 1:
- Choose two specific times and locations to research. Specific times and locations are necessary to avoid generalization.
- Avoid all generalization beyond the data you have researched on those times and locations, including projections of your own views.
- Avoid anachronism, which is the use of data or circumstances from today as if they are evidence of what the past means. Form your conclusions using only data from the past.
- Compare like terms, meaning the same kinds of things, in a point-by-point comparison (rather than writing about one culture and then the other).
- Consider artifacts and other cultural products.
- Use strong sources as indicated above.
- Include at least one comparison drawn from each of the following: 1) politics; 2) social organization or cultural products; and 3) the economy.
Step 4: Prepare a reflection on your use of the guidelines for ethical and rigorous historical research. What was your experience of attempting to limit generalization, anachronism, and use of weak sources? The assignment is not considered complete without this component.
Step 5: Write your essay in this order without headings: introduction, comparisons, reflection, conclusions. Your essay must be at least 500 words in length.
Please review the guidelines on essay writing that were presented at the end of the Unit III Scholarly Activity instructions; they will help guide you in this assignment.
Resources
The following resource(s) may help you with this assignment.
SAMPLE STUDENT ANSWER
Cultural Differences Similarities Between the Merovingians and Carolingians
The Merovingians and Carolingians are two main cultures that dominated western culture between 600-1000 C.E (Wiesner-Hanks et al., 2019). The Merovingians were established by Clovis in about 481. The Merovingian dynasty came to an end in 752 when Pippin deposed Chilperic with the help of pope Zacharias (Wiesner-Hanks et al., 2019). Pippin started the new dynasty known as the Carolingian dynasty. Though the two dynasties came from the same ancestor, they have differences and similarities discussed in this paper.
One of the similarities is that women had the same role in both cultures. Merovingian politics provided women with opportunities to control family finances (Saghi, 2017). Within the royal household, queens had control, over the royal treasury and often acted as diplomats. Ordinary women in this Empire controlled their household’s finances and expenditures. Similarly, women in Carolingian Empire exercised a lot of power over their family’s finances because their husbands spent most of their time away on state duties (Wiesner-Hanks et al., 2019). Women in both empires hosted visitors, raised children, and maintained a moral community. They also cared for the sick.
The second similarity is that both cultures embraced Christianity. Both people from Carolingian and Merovingian were Christians. Many Merovingians who funded monasteries and abbeys or served as abbots and bishops, were rewarded with sainthood. Christianity was also significant in the Carolingian era. For instance, Charles Martel and his son Pippin III (r. 751–768) had strong ties with the church and showed their support by supporting Christian missionaries in their empire. One of the most notable missionaries they supported was Englishman Boniface (680–754) (Wiesner-Hanks et al., 2019). Boniface had a close relationship with the Roman pope. Pope Zacharias used his apostolic authority as pope to help Pippin take Merovingian Empire by deposing the Merovingian ruler Chilperic in 752.
The last similarity is that both the Merovingian and Carolingian emperors used Latin as an official language. For instance, Charlemagne, a Carolingian king directed all monasteries in his kingdom to educate secular clergy and monks to better understand Christian writings. The writings were done in Latin. The Kings in this era also communicated officially in Latin. The Merovingian kings’ officials read and wrote official communications in Latin. Though the two empires had similar cultures, their way of life was slightly different.
The first difference in culture between the two cultures is long hair. Charlier et al. (2016) noted that Merovingians’ long hair set them apart from other Franks such as the Carolingians. The authors noted that the Merovingians were sometimes known as long-haired kings. A Merovingian who had short hair could not be allowed to rule the Merovingians. Any Merovingian leader could be outstared by being tonsured and taken to the monastery. The Merovingians believed that if a king cut his hair, his power was lost and he had to abdicate and step down as the king of Salian Franks. On the other hand, Carolingians did not value hair. Their kings could cut their hair if they wanted.
The second difference is the governance system. In Merovingian Empire, emperors used dukes and counts to rule in case of war (Broome, 2015). The positions of dukes and counts were not hereditary and were not attached to any specific territory. Counts were public officials appointed by the Merovingian emperor to administer justice, collect taxes, and raise troops during the war. Dukes were high-ranking military officers who were selected when the empire was going to war and was not attached to any distinct territory. However, Carolingian Empire’s governance was a feudal system. The title of the Duke of the Franks in the Carolingian Empire was given to an important person after the emperor. The duke was often the de facto ruler in Carolingian rule (Wiesner-Hanks et al., 2019). Unlike dukes in the Merovingian Empire who were military officers, dukes in Carolingian Empire were significant political figures.
The third difference is the attendance of cathedral and monastic schools in the two empires. Saghi (2017) noted that cathedral and monastic schools were established in Carolingian Empire. The same schools were also present in Merovingian Empire. However, in Carolingian Empire, people of nobility were also allowed to attend the schools unlike in the Merovingian times when the schools were exclusively for the clergy (Saghi, 2017). The last difference is that Merovingians had a culture of lifting their leaders on a shield over their heads to proclaim them a king. This practice was not observed during the Carolingian era.
Student historians have ethical principles and guidelines that guide them when learning about the past. One of the principles is that historians should study the past as it was before learning from it. They should learn what happened as it was before deciding to apply it in their current life. Historians should also apply intellectual empathy to understand and explain developments in the past. They must understand how people in the past acted. The third principle is that historians must use data from specific historic periods to understand what happened during that time. Historians should also depend on a variety of evidence when understanding what happened in the future. They must consider all available data when making conclusions. Lastly, historians should avoid generalizing data from history.
In conclusion, the similarities of Merovingian and Carolingian cultures are that women had the same roles in society, they both embraced Christianity, and Latin was used as an official form of communication. However, they had differences in culture and beliefs. For instance, Merovingians believed that their kings must have long hair because it symbolized power. This belief was not shared by Carolingians. In terms of governance, counts and dukes were not hereditary in the Merovingian era, but hereditary in the Carolingian era. Dukes had no power over territories in the Merovingian era but in the Carolingian era, the dukes were so powerful. Carolingians allowed nobles to attend cathedral and monastic schools which was not the case in Merovingian Empire. I used guidelines to ensure the ethical study of the two cultures. For instance, I considered all the data when explaining my points. I also studied the past as it is without changing anything.
References
Broome, R. (2015). Pagans, rebels and Merovingians: Otherness in the early Carolingian world. The Resources of the Past in Early Medieval Europe, 155-171.
Charlier, P., Nielen, M. A., Augias, A., Prévost, A., Weil, R., & McMullan-Weitzel, B. (2016). Into the wax: forensic and anthropological analysis of human hairs in Merovingian and Carolingian royal seals (France). Forensic Science, Medicine, And Pathology, 12(2), 220-225.
Saghi, A. T. (2017). A Comparison of the Constitutionality and the State Structure of the Merovingian and Carolingian Eras of the Frankish Empire. Jura: A Pecsi Tudomanyegyetem Allam-es Jogtudomanyi Karanak tudomanyos lapja, 363.
Wiesner-Hanks, M. E., Crowston, C. H., Perry, J., & McKay, J. P. (2019). A History of Western Society, Concise Edition, Volume 1 (13th Edition). Macmillan Higher Education. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781319112547
Jermaine Byrant
Nicole Johnson
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