This course examines the reconstitution of much of the former Roman empire in the western provinces under the hegemony of the Carolingian rulers of the eighth and ninth centuries. Among the topics to be studied are the dynami interactions between powerful ecclesiastical and secular leaders that produced a distinctive vision of a Christian empire, the relations between the Carolingian, Byzantine, and Islamic polities, the means of building royal legislative and judicial power in an environment of fragmented authority, the role of literary and artistic activity in creating a distinctive "Carolingian Civilization", the military activities that consolidated the empire, and the fragility of the imperial enterprise.