1. What happened to Western civilization after the collapse of the Roman Empire? What functions did the Latin church perform during this period? What role did monks and the papacy play?
2. How did the Frankish empire rise? How did it come to represent a fusion of Roman and Christian universalism? What role did Charlemagne play in this process? What happened to the Frankish empire after Charlemagne's death?
3. How did feudal society develop in response to the collapse of the Frankish empire? How was that society organized? What roles did women play in it?
4. How did manorialism function as an economic system? What roles did lords, priests, and serfs play in that system?
5. How did a new intellectual culture begin to develop during the Early Middle Ages? What role did Boethius, Cassiodorus, and Isidore of Seville play in that process? What role did the Carolingian Renaissance and its leading figures play?
6. What were the major works of early medieval literature? What sources did they draw from, and what were their principal concerns?
7. What are the major works of early medieval art and architecture? What are their defining characteristics? In what ways are the Carolingian Palatine Chapel at Aachen and the Ottonian abbey church of St. Michael at Hildesheim especially notable?
8. In what ways do the Middle Ages mark the birth of Europe as a distinct civilization?