The european experience: church, state and society paper 1

History 114E 22235: The European Experience: Church, State and Society

Paper 1

This paper is due February 15, 2018 in class.

This paper should be 3 pages long, typed in 12 font, double-spaced, with one inch margins all around.  The pages should be stapled together.  All your language and ideas and conclusions in your paper should be your own. If you have borrowed language, ideas or conclusions from any source, including our class readings and discussions, you MUST acknowledge that source and provide an appropriate citation.  Use the MLA citation format.

Since this is a Writing Enhanced course, students are required to revise the first paper.  Revising a paper means improving the paper’s writing and/or content.  If there is insufficient improvement, the grade will not be raised.  Revised papers are due one week after the papers are returned in class.   

Answer the following question:

Wickham calls Gregory a “moralist” (p. 33) and that means he had strong notions of right and wrong, which guided his perception of the people he knew and his interpretation of events in his .  He finds fault with King Sigibert; and he describes King Chilperic and Queen Fredegunda as morally corrupt and wicked rulers.  How did they misbehave and what were their motives for their crimes?  Of course, Bishop Gregory hated Chilperic and Fredebunda.  Can you see alternative explanations for their conduct?         

This paper should rely on Wickham, , pp. 31-33 for the power of bishops; Bishop Gregory of Tours (d. 594); and the Frankish rulers he knew personally: King Sigibert (561-575), King Guntram (561-93), and King Chilperic (561-584) and his Queen, Fredegunda, mother of the future king, Chlotar II (584-629).  See pp. 34-36 for background on the history of the kingdom of the Franks in Gregory’s time.  The paper focuses mainly on the reading from Bishop Gregory of Tours’ History of the Franks, in the folder called “Fredegunda.”     

Writing assignments will be graded on clear development of a thesis, careful organization of material, accuracy in discussing the paper’s sources, understanding of historical events, and completeness in discussing the paper topic.  Papers should also be free of major writing errors.