Siege of Paris, 885-886

Objective of Assignment: To familiarize you with primary sources used to reconstruct a military event. Including analysis of two modern historians’ views of the reliability of the ancient or classical author. To strengthen your understanding of differences between primary and secondary sources in research. To provide you with additional practice finding and utilizing primary and secondary sources. Student Outcomes: After completing this assignment, you will have a better understanding of how to identify. In addition  evaluate one primary source and two secondary source writings and their role in reconstructing military events. Use of Chicago-Turabian footnote or endnote citation and multimedia resource are required. Assignment Directions: Part 1).

To complete this assignment, please choose one of the following battle sites (battlefields or sieges) listed below and studied in this course and complete a primary source evaluation of the event. Siege of Paris, 885-886Part 2). After choosing your battle site, identify the primary classical or medieval historian (choose only one historian) associated with the event and discuss the reliability of his or her narrative and analysis. Include a short biography of this historian and their personal relationship to the event. Further was the author a witness to the events or relying on other material in his or her reconstruction). This will require consultation with a minimum of two modern academic secondary sources (monographs or scholarly articles, online tertiary sources are forbidden).

Further Description

In this exercise, please consult the primary source writing itself with an eye on identifying three critical passages tied to the battle site (battlefield or siege). Please explain why those passages, in your mind, best represents the primary source historian’s understanding of the event. Do your modern authorities generally agree or disagree with this historian’s perception of the event (here, include troop numbers, strategies, tactics, or motivations for battle or siege)? Finally, from your understanding of the author and the events he or she chronicled, what biases should a researcher be aware of when using this primary source to reconstruct military history? Paper Organization: Please use the following organization for the paper (use as section subheadings).

: Introduction: Here, introduce the battle or siege and its significance and the primary source historian to your reader. Include a short biography of the ancient, classical, or medieval historian (primary source) and their relationship to the event. Finish your one-paragraph introduction with a bolded thesis statement on the reliability of the source to the event. Three Critical Passages: Next, identify three critical passages from your historian’s writings that best reconstruct the event. We encourage use of block quotes, followed by any modern analysis from required secondary sources (interpretations from modern historians). Finally, are there any issues with the primary source’s analysis and those of the modern historians? Do your modern authorities generally agree or disagree with this historian’s perception of the event (here, include troop numbers, strategies, tactics, or motivations for battle or siege)?

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