1. The Influence of Latin

2. Rural Life Struggle to maintain precarious existence Danger of impact of reduced yield Issue of technology (or lack thereof) Impact of armies/wars Coloni (sing. colonus - half-free peasants working lands and providing rent, produce or service

3. Aristocrats and their Estates Rich minority as ruling class Attempts by state to keep urban upper classes (curiales) in cities; increasingly ineffective Estates as principal residences of aristocrats, becoming self-sufficient, fortified and armed communities. Nobility becoming increasingly rural-based Decentralisation of power structures

4. The Cities Economic decline Change in treatment of collegia (guilds) Unpleasant, unsanitary, unsafe environments Shrinking and becoming more fortified Shift from secular to sacred buildings, and increased focus on religious themes in art/decoration

5. Questions Of Loyalty

6. The Position of Women Generally regarded as inferior to men Expected to remain in domestic realm. Frequently criticised if did not Problem of lack of sources

7. Education Normally restricted to upper/wealthier classes Standard (Classical) subject matter Standard texts: Donatus (4th c.): Ars Minor and Ars Major Priscian (4th-5th c.): Institutes

8. Education Martianus Capella (5th c.): Nuptials of Mercury and Philology: seven liberal arts: Trivium:Grammar Rhetoric Dialectic Quadrivium:Arithmetic Music Geometry Astronomy

9. First Cause/One nous/Intellect Soul Intellectual Thought Neoplatonism Plato Plotinus (205-70) Others looking backwards or forwards

10. Law Republican/early imperial law highly developed, influenced by Greek thought Later imperial law less abstract, more use of precedents Roman Provincial (Vulgar) Law Theodosian Code (438)