Interdisciplinary investigation of three of the best-documented pre-modern empires: the Roman empire of Augustus, the Frankish empire of Charlemagne, and the English empire in the age of the Hundred Years' War. Focuses on how large, multi-ethnic empires were created, sustained, legitimated, and contested through conquest, government, literature, art, architecture, thought, social relationships, economic organization, and technology. Students examine several different types of evidence, read across a variety of disciplines, and develop skills to identify continuities and changes in ancient and medieval societies.