University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Prof. Martha Carlin

Here are links to some primary sources for the research paper topics for History 203:

1. Peasant life

Excerpt from Charlemagne’s capitulary of Frankfurt, 794, giving the prices of staples
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/794capit-frankfort.html

Excerpt from a “polyptique” (an early form of economic census) by Abbot Irminon of the Abbey of St. Germain-des-Pres,
c. 800. The polyptique surveys the abbey’s estates, and this excerpt concerns the village of Villeneuve-St. Georges.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/800irminon.html

Charlemagne’s capitulary “De villis”
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/carol-devillis.asp

Inventory of Charlemagne’s estate at “Asnapium” (modern Annapes, just east of Lille, at the NE tip of France, near the Belgian border), c. 800
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/800Asnapium.html

Excerpt from Charlemagne’s capitulary of Diedenhofen, 805, on the military tax (Heribannum) payable by all freemen
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/805Herbannm.html

Excerpt from a capitulary of Louis the Pious, c. 817, on the duties of coloni (serfs)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/817coloni.html

2. Viking raid

Accounts of Viking attacks, 789 and 793
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/lindisfarne/lindisfarne.html

(If the above link will not work, here is the same text at another link:)
https://sites.uwm.edu/carlin/lindisfarne/

Excerpts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the years 878-886
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/angsax-chron1.html

The Battle of Maldon: poem about the defeat of an English local militia by the Vikings in 991
Text of the poem, in a recent English translation by Jonathan A. Glenn (see bottom of page of poem): http://www.lightspill.com/poetry/oe/
Translator’s notes and maps of the battle site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120223235323/https://faculty.uca.edu/jona/second/malnotes.html
See also the following website on the Battle of Maldon and its sources:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/%7Egrout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/maldon/maldon.html

3. Benedictine monk or nun

Rule of St. Benedict
https://web.archive.org/web/20180827075333/http://www.osb.org/rb/text/toc.html

Rudolf of Fulda, Life of St. Leoba, Abbess of Bischofsheim (d. 779; Life written c. 836)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/leoba.html

Carolingian plan of the monastery of St. Gall, Switzerland
original manuscript: http://www.stgallplan.org/recto.html
redrawn, with captions in English translation: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/monastery_st.gall_swiss.jpg

4. Life at Charlemagne’s court

Einhard’s Life of Charlemagne
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/einhard.html

Notker of St. Gall’s Life of Charlemagne (883-4)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/stgall-charlemagne.html

More primary sources on Charlemagne’s reign can be found in the Internet Medieval Sourcebook at:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1h.html#Charlemagne