Paradigms and Methods in Early Medieval Studies

Abstract

Introduction: Themes and Concerns of the Essays C.Chazelle & F.Lifshitz PART I: EAST AND WEST: THE 'PIRENNE THESIS' IN THE 21ST CENTURY Aryans, Semites and the End of Antiquity: Rereading Henri Pirenne's Mohammed and Charlemagne C.Leyser The 'Slavic East', the Amber Trail and the Origins of the European Economy F.Curta Mitteleuropa and the Pirenne Thesis: Between Byzantium and the Latin West (800 -1025) C.Bowlus PART II: ARCHEOLOGY AND MATERIAL CULTURE Drawing a Line Under Antiquity: Archeological and Historical Categories of Evidence in the Transition from the Ancient World to the Middle Ages M.Kulikowski Cities as Idea and Reality in Late Antique Gaul: Does Archeology Suggest a New Paradigm? B.K.Young Material Ethnogenesis? A Crystal Conch of the 'Goths' G.Kornbluth People or persons? Ethnicity as a Paradigm for the Study of Early Medieval Art L.P.Nees PART III: GENDER, WOMEN, AND FAMILY STRUCTURES Period Trouble: Contesting the Teleology of Medieval Women's History L.Bitel Intertext and Context in the Early Middle Ages: Gender Ideology and Baptismal Liturgy in Carolingian Francia F.Lifshitz Carolingian Creation of the Model of Patrilineage C.B.Bouchard PART IV: THE WORLD OF TEXT AND INTELLECT Thinking Outside the Box: Problems with the Paradigms of Early Medieval Thought C.Chazelle Political History: Authors as Actors J.Glenn PART V: YESTERDAY AND TODAY Are 'They Not Like Us'? B.Bachrach Mary Magdelane, Merovingians, and the Priory of Sion: The Modern Mythology of Medieval History G.Koziol