Byzantine Empire: Arcadius to Zeno.28 10. a) Early Medieval Britain and King Arthur.30 b) Holy Roman Empire – Germany.30 REVISION WORK (Texts 7-10) .32 Final Reading Comprehension Test.34 Final Vocabulary Test.38 APPENDIX 1 Active Glossary.40 APPENDIX 2 Topical Vocabulary.45 3 EARLY MIDDLE AGES Text 1. <...> First, Constantine III, a general in England, declared himself an emperor at York in 405 AD. <...> He took all the Roman troops out of the Roman Britannia Province, across the English Channel to Gaul, and he marched his army through Gaul, collecting the troops so they could all march on Rome. <...> When Theodosius died in 395 AD, he left the Roman Empire to his two sons, Honorius and Arcadius. <...> Honorius took the West and Arcadius the East. <...> Most of Honorius' work was done by a Vandal named Stilicho. <...> But while Constantine III was doing this, nobody was watching the border. <...> In January 409 AD, a lot of Alans, Vandals, and Sueves crossed the Rhine (which was frozen solid) and came into the Roman Empire. <...> There were no troops there to stop them, so they just traveled around Gaul taking whatever they wanted. <...> Meanwhile Constantine III was trying to take over Spain. <...> He sent his commander Gerontius to Spain, but then Gerontius decided to make himself Emperor instead of working for Constantine III. <...> In order to get a good-sized army together, Gerontius seems to have agreed to let the Alans, Vandals, and Sueves into Spain, and they promised to help him out. <...> Constantine III was killed, and so was Gerontius. <...> All of their soldiers (the ones from Britannia and the ones from Gaul, and maybe the ones from Spain too) were taken back to Italy to deal with the Visigoths. <...> This left Britannia, Gaul, and Spain pretty much open for Germans to take over. <...> The Visigoths had been living inside the Roman Empire since the battle of Adrianople in 378 AD. <...> But they had 4 not been treated very well: the Romans had kept them from getting food or building decent houses. <...> Under their new king, Alaric, the Visigoths demanded gold from Honorius <...>
Early_Middle_Ages.pdf
МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РФ
ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ БЮДЖЕТНОЕ
ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ
ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ
«ВОРОНЕЖСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ
УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»
EARLY MIDDLE AGES
Учебно-методическое пособие для вузов
Составители:
Е.Н. Верещагина,
И.М. Пиевская
Издательско-полиграфический центр
Воронежского государственного университета
2012
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. The Fall of Rome .............................................................................................4
2. Visigoths ..........................................................................................................7
3. Ostrogoths and Lombards................................................................................9
a) Ostrogoths ........................................................................................................9
b) Lombards .......................................................................................................10
REVISION WORK (Texts 1-3) .........................................................................11
4. Medieval Italy ................................................................................................13
5. Other tribes.....................................................................................................16
a) Vandals ..........................................................................................................16
b) Franks and Merovingians ..............................................................................16
c) Carolingians ...................................................................................................17
REVISION WORK (Texts 4-5) .........................................................................20
6. d) Capetians....................................................................................................22
7. e) Huns ...........................................................................................................24
8. Charlemagne ..................................................................................................26
9. Byzantine Empire: Arcadius to Zeno.............................................................28
10. a) Early Medieval Britain and King Arthur.................................................30
b) Holy Roman Empire – Germany...................................................................30
REVISION WORK (Texts 7-10) .......................................................................32
Final Reading Comprehension Test...................................................................34
Final Vocabulary Test........................................................................................38
APPENDIX 1 Active Glossary...........................................................................40
APPENDIX 2 Topical Vocabulary.....................................................................45
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4. Give the derivatives of the following, using the text:
1) advice
2) empire
3) invasion
4) angry
5) collect
6) remove
7) settle
5. Give the Russian equivalents for the following:
1) brought up at court
2) rise through the ranks
3) good-sized army
4) this left…much open… to take over
5) get wiped out
6) the Straits of Gibraltar
7) they were on their own
COMPREHENSION CHECK
6. True or False? (If it is false, say why it is so and correct the factual errors)
1. Constantine III declared himself a commander of Gaul.
2. Theodosius had three sons.
3. Most of Honorius’ and Arcadius’ work was done by their advisors.
4. A lot of Alans, Vandals, and Sueves were able to cross the Danube because
it was solid frozen.
5. The Visigoths had been living inside the Roman Empire since the battle
of Adrianople in 387 AD.
6. It was Visigoths who managed to attack the Eternal City and even sack it.
7. In the end the Visigoths marched up to southern Gaul and settled there.
8. The Romans were so weak that they weren’t able even to help the Angles
and Saxons against the Celtic invaders.
9. In 476 AD, the last Roman Emperor in the West was removed by Romulus
Augustulus.
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Text 2.
READING
1. Read and translate the following:
VISIGOTHS
The Visigoths established a kingdom for themselves within the collapsing
Roman Empire in 418 AD. They took over most of Gaul Aquitania, a very fertile
area which had been thickly settled by the Romans. The Visigoths at first acted
more or less as representatives of the Roman government, keeping order for
Rome in Aquitaine, but as time went on and Rome got weaker, the Visigoths began
to act more on their own account. When the Vandals left Spain for Africa in
429 AD, the Visigoths began to take over Spain as well. They were better administrators
than the Vandals had been.
In 509 AD, a catastrophe struck the Visigothic kingdom in southern Gaul
(which is known as the Kingdom of Toulouse). The Franks, who had taken over
northern Gaul, made an effort to break through to the Mediterranean under their
young king Clovis. One reason that the Visigoths and the Franks did not get
along was that the Visigoths were Arian Christians while the Franks were Catholics.
After
a big battle at Vouillé, the Franks won, and the Visigoths lost, and
their king was killed. The Franks took over most of southern Gaul, and most of
the Visigoths moved to Spain, where they founded a new capital city at Toledo
(so this kingdom is known as the Kingdom of Toledo).
In Spain the Visigoths fell under the control of the Ostrogoths, because the
Visigoths' new king, Amalaric, was only a baby, and his powerful grandfather,
Theodoric the Ostrogoth, offered to act as a regent for him (to rule for Amalaric
until he grew up).
Then soon after Amalaric grew up he was killed, and there was soon a civil
war between two men who wanted to be a king, Athanagild and Agila.
Athanagild, who was losing, asked the Roman Emperor Justinian to help him,
and Justinian sent troops right away, who put Athanagild on the throne and killed
Agila. But when Athanagild thanked the Romans and said they could go home
now, the Romans said no, they were going to stay. For the next seventy years and
more, the Visigoths were almost always fighting to try to get the Romans out of
Spain.
By 600 AD the Visigoths were the only Arians left in the Mediterranean
area (or anywhere else) and finally they too converted to Catholicism, under their
king Reccared.
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From 600 to 700 AD, the Visigothic kings got weaker and weaker. Even
though they did finally manage to get rid of the Romans, they didn't have much
power themselves. They gave away a lot of their land to reward their supporters,
and they weren't strong enough to collect much in taxes.
Finally in 711 AD the Arabs and Moors invaded from Africa, across the
Straits of Gibraltar. They took over Spain and made it a province of the Islamic
empire.
VOCABULARY
2. Give the antonyms for the following:
1. prosperous, flourishing
2. fruitless
3. to be defeated, lose
4. to break free from
3. Give the synonyms for the following:
1. to set up
2. densely populated
3. to continue
4. in their own way, independently
5. to manager, ruler
6. to make somebody a king
7. to struggle
4. Find the English equivalents for the following:
1. захватывать
2. прорваться к
3. уживаться с кем-либо
4. выгнать кого-л. откуда-л.
5. обратить(ся) в какую-л. веру
6. сторонник, последователь
7. империя
8. вестгот, вестготский
COMPREHENSION CHECK
5. Answer the following questions:
1. When did the Visigoths establish their kingdom?
2. Enumerate the areas they took over.
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