Western Civilization I / Unit 10 WC1 0924 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Sequencing Early Medieval Europe, 476 to 1066
The idea
The exam gives four early medieval events and asks their order across six centuries. The method is three anchors: four seventy-six, eight hundred, ten sixty-six. Between the first two lies the age of the Germanic kingdoms and the papacy's rise; between the last two lie partition, invasion and feudalism.
In practice
Place seven events. Clovis's conversion about five hundred: kingdoms, early. Gregory the Great about six hundred: kingdoms, papacy rising. Tours in seven thirty-two and Pepin's coup in seven fifty-one: kingdoms, late, in that order. Lindisfarne in seven ninety-three: seven years before the coronation. Verdun in eight forty-three: partition. Otto I in nine sixty-two and Lechfeld in nine fifty-five: invasion age, Lechfeld first. Alfred in eight seventy-eight falls between Verdun and Lechfeld. Read: Clovis, Gregory, Tours, Pepin, Lindisfarne, coronation, Verdun, Alfred, Lechfeld, Otto, Hastings.
Where people slip
The trap is the Vikings and Charlemagne. The raids began before his coronation and he fortified the Seine, so a question placing all Viking activity after eight fourteen is wrong. And Otto's coronation came seven years after Lechfeld, not before.
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