Primary Source Analysis

Primary sources are the most important evidence for historians to make sense of the past. They are sources written accounts, literature, legal documents, images, films, even physical remains that people from the past left behind. Each historian, like any person, will approach a primary source with a different set of experiences and skills, and will therefore interpret and analyze the source differently. There is no one right interpretation. However, there can be wrong interpretations if the historian is not careful and thorough.

In order to best analyze a primary source, you need context: of both the source and the era that it comes from. When reading through a primary source you should be considering the following questions:

• Who created it (what may be their unique bias or perspective)? What kind of source is it (legal document, letter, drawing, etc.)? When was it created (significance of time period)? What is the content/information in the source? Why would this source be created (i.e. whats its purpose)? How does this source inform us about the past and the historical context of the period (i.e. levels of development, attitudes/worldviews, conflicts, etc.)?

The evaluation of the last two questions (the why and how questions) are where you find most disparities in historiography. Remember that there is no one right interpretation. However, there can be wrong interpretations if the historian is not careful and thorough.

Part I

Read the following primary sources in this document:

Part II

Think about how these sources relate to the course lectures and textbook readings from the module and compose analysis of the sources.

Assignment Guidelines

• Should be at least 500 words. Submit as text only (not a file) so that Turnitin can review your submission.
• Analysis should not just summarize the content. Focus on the purpose of the source (why you think it was created) and how the source informs us about the historical context of the period. To do this well, you should make clear, direct, and thoughtful connections to the course lecture material on this topic. Don’t be afraid to include quotes from the sources that you found most relevant.
• Please, please, please do not use generative AI (Chat GPT, Grammarly, or anything similar). Doing so is a violation of the academic integrity policy for this course. I honestly just want to read your ideas about how these sources relate to the course lecture material. And it makes me sad when I have to read (and try to evaluate) something that is not the genuine work of a real human being.

The following excerpts come from different sources but come from followers of Christianity and Buddhism in Eurasia during the 1st 6th centuries. As you read, keep in mind the origins of these universal religions (Christianity: Eastern Mediterranean; Buddhism: India)

New Testament, Matthew 28:1820. Levant (1st c CE)

Then Jesus came to [his apostles] and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father [God] and of the Son [Jesus] and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 27, Kashmir (South Asia), (2nd c CE)

[The Buddha spoke to his followers] “Into your hands, young men of good family, I transfer and transmit, entrust and deposit this supreme and perfect enlightenment arrived at by me after … incalculable ons. … do your best that it may grow and spread. … Receive it, young men of good family, keep, read, fathom, teach, promulgate, and preach it to all beings. … follow my example; imitate me in liberally showing this knowledge … to the young men and young ladies of good family who successively shall gather round you. And as to unbelieving persons, rouse them to accept this law.”

Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, France (500 CE)

…Queen Clotilda [the wife of Frankish king Chlodweg or Clovis] wished to consecrate [the king] in baptism, she tried unceasingly to persuade her husband, saying: “The gods you worship are nothing, and they will be unable to help themselves or any one else. For they are graven out of stone or wood or some metal. …” … [T]he king was by no means moved to belief, and he said: “It was at the command of our gods that all things were created and came forth, and it is plain that your God has no power and, what is more, he is proven not to belong to the family of the gods.” … The queen did not cease to urge him to recognize the true God and cease worshipping idols. But he could not be influenced in any way to this belief, until at last a war arose with the Alamanni [another Germanic people], in which he was driven by necessity to confess what before he had of his free will denied. It came about that as the two armies were fighting fiercely, there was much slaughter, and Clovis’s army began to be in danger of destruction. He saw it and raised his eyes to heaven, and with remorse in his heart he burst into tears and cried: “Jesus Christ, whom Clotilda asserts to be the son of the living God, who art said to give aid to those in distress, and to bestow victory on those who hope in thee, I beseech the glory of thy aid, with the vow that if thou wilt grant me victory over these enemies, and I shall know that power which she says that people dedicated in thy name have had from thee, I will believe in thee and be baptized in thy name. For I have invoked my own gods but, as I find, they have withdrawn from aiding me; and therefore I believe that they possess no power, since they do not help those who obey them. I now call upon [you, God], I desire to believe [you] only let me be rescued from my adversaries.” And when he said thus, the Alamanni turned their backs, and began to disperse in flight. And when they saw that their king was killed, they submitted to the dominion of Clovis ….Then the queen asked saint Remi, bishop of Rheims, to summon Clovis secretly, urging him to introduce the king to the word of salvation. And the bishop sent for him secretly and began to urge him to believe in the true God, maker of heaven and earth, and to cease worshipping idols, which could help neither themselves nor any one else. But the king said: “I gladly hear you, most holy father; but there remains one thing: the people who follow me cannot endure to abandon their gods; but I shall go and speak to them according to your words.” He met with his followers, but before he could speak the power of God anticipated him, and all the people cried out together:/ “O pious king, we reject our mortal gods, and we are ready to follow the immortal God whom Remi preaches.”

Kakhun, Haedong Kosung-Chon (Lives of Eminent Monks), Korea (372 CE)

[Shundao] possessed great virtue, and was of an outstanding character. With a compassionate mind, he attempted to redeem the beings of this world. Having vowed to spread widely the teaching of Buddha, [he] traveled throughout China. … [During 372 CE] the monarch Fu-chien of Chin [a post-Han kingdom] dispatched an envoy and the monk Shundao with images of the Buddha and Buddhist scriptures [to the Korean court of the Kingdom of Koguryo]. With appropriate ceremony, the king Sosurim and his courtiers greeted [them] at the gate to the city. … Their thankfulness and happiness overflowed. … Gradually, in this way, the teachings of the Buddha began to spread like the fragrance of an orchid or the mist. However, as society was too unprepared and the people too simple-minded, the faith did not take root.

Letter from Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, to Contantius, Italy (379 CE)

You have undertaken the office of a Bishop, and now, seated in the stern of the Church, you are steering it in the teeth of the waves. Hold fast the rudder of faith, that you may not be shaken by the heavy storms of this world [the Germanic invasions of the Roman Empire]. …

Let them [wealthy Romans] learn to seek the wealth of good wishes, and to be rich in holiness; the beauty of wealth consists not in the possession of money-bags, but in the maintenance of the poor. It is in the sick and needy that riches shine most. … let the wealthy learn to seek not their own things, but the things of Jesus Christ, that Christ also may seek them, and recompense to them what is their own. … His kingdom.

Shi Baochang, Biqiuni Zhuan (The Lives of Nuns), China (516 CE)

Fa-sheng’s secular surname was Nieh. Her family was originally from Ch’ing-ho [in north China, north of the Huang He River, but, during the fighting when the [non-Chinese] dynasty of Latter Chao (319350) was coming to power, the family fled south to Chin-ling [that is, to the southern capital, on the Yangzi River].

In the fourteenth year of the yan-chia reign period (437) of the Sung, Fa-sheng, who was talented, intelligent, and very quick to understand everything, became a nun [at the age of seventy] in Establishing Blessings Convent in the capital city. She had sojourned there in her old age, but, even though once again the imperial capital was peaceful and prosperous, she still longed for her old home. Only by delving deep into the mysteries [of Buddhism] was she able to leave behind sorrow and forget old age.

Origen, Against Celsus, Levant (Eastern Mediterranean, (248 CE)

We see, indeed, in private houses [early Christian] workers in wool and leather, and fullers, and persons of the most uninstructed and rustic [rural] character, not venturing to utter a word in the presence of their elders and wiser masters; but when they get hold of the children privately, and certain women as ignorant as themselves, they pour forth wonderful statements, to the effect that [the children and women] ought not to give heed to their father and to their teachers, but should obey [the Christians]; … that [Christians] alone know how men ought to live, and that, if the children obey them, they will both be happy themselves, and will make their home happy also. … that if [the women and children] wish (to avail themselves of [Christian] aid,) they must leave their father and their instructors, and go with the women and their playfellows to the women’s apartments, or to the leather shop, or to the fuller’s shop, that they may attain to perfection;and by words like these they gain them over. … those [Christian] individuals, who in the market-places perform the most disgraceful tricks, and who gather crowds around them, would never approach an assembly of wise men, nor dare to exhibit their arts among them; but wherever they see young men, and a mob of slaves, and a gathering of unintelligent persons, thither they thrust themselves in, and show themselves off [i.e., preach].

Shi Baochang, Biqiuni Zhuan (The Lives of Nuns), China (516 CE)

When she was a child T’an-hui delighted in the thought of practicing the [Buddhist] religion, but her parents would not permit it. …, when the foreign master of meditation Klayashas entered the region … to propagate the practice of meditation and contemplation, T’an-hui, eleven years old at the time, asked her mother to invite the master of meditation to visit them, for she wished to consult him about methods of meditation. Her mother agreed to do so. The moment Klayashas saw T’an-hui he marveled at her natural propensity and ordered her to cultivate the practice of meditation and also requested the nun Fa-y to keep her under supervision. T’an-hui’s mother, however, had already arranged her betrothal to the son of T’an-hui’s paternal aunt. Because the day for the marriage had been set and was not to be changed, the nun Fa-y took her in secret to the convent.

T’an-hui made a solemn vow, saying, “If I cannot carry out my intentions to lead the religious life but instead am compelled to marry, then I shall burn myself to death.” When the governor, Chen Fa-ch’ung, heard about this he sent an envoy to summon T’an-hui. He gathered together greater and lesser officials, as well as other prominent individuals, and then requested all the monks and nuns to investigate the difficult problem thoroughly.

Chen Fa-ch’ung asked, “Are you truly able to lead the life of a Buddhist nun or not?”

T’an-hui replied, “It has been my humble wish for a long time, and I especially beg your help in my distress.”

Chen Fa-ch’ung said, “I approve,” and he sent an envoy to consult with her aunt, who then obeyed his instructions and released T’an-hui from her betrothal.