Boston College Woods College of Advancing Studies HS08115 European Civilization taking a make-up examination.

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1 Boston College Woods College of Advancing Studies HS08115 European Civilization Instructor: Martin R. Menke, Ph.D. Office Hours: Before and After Class (Usually, I am in the Advancing Studies Office by 5: 15 pm.) Voice Mail: (603) menke@bc.edu Course Outline: We will address European history from the Renaissance, i.e., from the fifteenth century to the outbreak of the French Revolution in We will concern ourselves with three themes: 1. The development of the modern state in France, Britain, and Germany, 2. The role of religion in politics, 3. The role of culture in history, 4. the globalism of European, Asian, African, and American culture in the early modern period. Course Structure: Lectures will last the first sixty to seventy-five minutes of each class. Discussions about readings or about the lecture's content will take up the balance of class time. Some videos will be shown. Question guides will be distributed to accompany these video presentations. Course Requirements: A course such as this is a synthetic exercise. Careful completion of the readings, attention to the lectures, and participation in discussions are necessary to assemble the "big picture" this course attempts to provide. Names and events serve to explain the concepts we will address in our thematic approach to European history. Required written work are two essays of 5-6 pages in length, one midterm examination, and one final examination. Details of all assignments will be forthcoming. The examinations will consist of a combination of essays and identifications. Participation in discussions is essential. Anyone who misses more than three classes cannot earn a passing participation grade. Anyone who misses more than five classes can earn a passing course grade only if all other work is exemplary. Grading Scheme: Oral participation in discussions: 20% Video questions due September 22: 10% First essay due October 20: 20% Midterm examination on November 1: 15% Second essay due November 17: 20% Final examination on December 15: 15% University Policies: You must present a note from the Dean's office or from a physician before taking a make-up examination. Please notify me immediately of certified learning disabilities. Written assignments submitted late will be penalized by a grade for every day late. Weekends count as two days. The university's policies on academic integrity apply as stated in the university's publications. Do not let cell-phones ring in class. If you are using a laptop in class, do not surf the internet during class time, even if the Red Sox should be in the World Series. Required Text Books: Lynn Hunt et al, The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, A Concise History. 3 rd ed. Boston: Bedford, Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises. Machiavelli, The Prince. Voltaire, Candide.

2 Documents available on-line. Course Schedule: September 8: Introduction Syllabus distribution and screening of The Mission with viewing questions. Students who miss this class must complete the following assignment: Either at the Media Center on the Lower Level in O Neill Library, or by means of Netflix or through your local library or video rental store, you must view the movie The Mission (Warner Bros, 1986, DVD release 2003). Its library call number is O Neill Media Center Stacks PN1997.M You must also complete the questionnaire attached to this movie and bring it to class on September 22. September 15: The Renaissance Fall of Constantinople Renaissance in the West Hunt, pp , , Machiavelli, The Prince September 22: The Age of Exploration Advances in Technology Spanish and Portuguese Exploration French, English, and Dutch Exploration Hunt, pp , An Aztec Account of the Spanish Conquest Letter from Hernan Cortes to Charles V about his conquest Video Questionnaire due. September 29: The Protestant Reformation The Realm of Charles V Calvin and Zwingli Martin Luther Hunt, pp , , , Martin Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian (Please enter this site through the Fordham Online History Sourcebook.) October 6: The Catholic Reformation and the Thirty Years War Council of Trent The Jesuits The Thirty Years War and the End of Habsburg Hegemony Hunt, pp , Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises October 13: England's Way to Constitutional Monarchy. Tudor and Stuart England Glorious Revolution Constitutional Settlement Hunt, pp , John Locke, Second Treatise on Government (excerpts):

3 sel.html Declaration of Right: October 20: French Absolutism Henri IV, Louis XIII and Richelieu Louis XIV and the Modern State Baroque Art and Architecture Hunt, pp , , J.B. Bossuet, On Kingship (excerpts): First Essay due. October 27: The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment Advances in Science Origins of the Enlightenment Optimism and Pessimism Hunt, pp , , , Voltaire, Candide TUESDAY, November 1: Midterm Examination Midterm Examination November 10: Enlightened Absolutism Prussia Russia Frederick II, Essay on the Forms of Government (excerpts): Catherine II, various documents: November 17: The Decline of the Ancien Regime Weakness of Absolute Government Failed Attempts to Reform Rococo Art and Architecture Hunt, pp , Arthur Young, Travels in France, Memoirs of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette, Second Essay due November 24: Thanksgiving Day December 1: Origins of the French Revolution Crisis of 1788 The summer of 1789 Hunt, pp Abbé Sieyes, What is the Third Estate? December 8: The Revolution. Constitutions and Conventions Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen,

4 Civil Constitution of the Clergy: December 15: Final Examination. First Essay Assignment During the past month, we have begun to concern ourselves with the enormous transformations that occurred in Europe in the beginning of the early modern period. In a thoughtful and carefully crafted essay, please discuss that transformation. In your essay, please focus on: A. How did the increased contact with non-europeans, be it in Western Asia or in the Americas, help undermine the medieval mind s firm understanding of nature, religion, and government? B. How did the renaissance, northern and southern, help lay the groundwork for the reformations of the sixteenth century? C. In a thoughtful conclusion, please try to explain the connections between increased contact with non- Europeans, the renaissance, and the reformations. Second Essay Assignment Since the midterm, we have concerned ourselves with the development of English constitutional government and the French absolute monarchy. We have discussed the development of the modern state in both England and France. In a well-organized essay, please compare and contrast the development of England with the development of France in the seventeenth century. Please focus on the following: A. What role does religion play in each state s development? B. How does the relationship between the monarch and the elites develop in each state? C. In a reflective conclusion, please determine which state is more likely to remain stable and prosperous in the eighteenth century. Why? Requirements for Essays I.. Use proper English. Check carefully your spelling, grammar, and style. A. Avoid the passive voice. B. Maintain one tense. C. Be sure subject and predicate agree in number. D. Punctuate correctly. E. Avoid colloquialisms, slang, jargon, and the excessive use of foreign words; written English frequently differs from spoken English. II. Since this essay represents your point of view, avoid needlessly emphasizing this point by using "me, myself, and I." III. Make absolutely, positively sure your essay has a thesis. Your essay should make a point or argument which you support in the paragraphs of your essay. IV. Submit your essay in type-written form. A. Have margins of one inch on all sides. B. Double-space the lines. C. Make sure your essay is five to six pages in length. D. Use no font larger than 12-point. V. Organize your thoughts into paragraphs that follow from the thesis. Make smooth transitions from one paragraph to the next. The first paragraph should you include your thesis.

5 VI. Above all else, be concise. Understanding History I. Reading With the exception of field-based research that crosses into the fields of archaeology or anthropology, historians learn by reading. First, they acquire a rudimentary framework of the facts in chronological order. Then, they read more to understand the historiographical context: what have past historians written about this topic, what claims are current historians making. Finally, they read the evidence, everything from tombstone epitaphs to economic or demographic statistics to diplomatic correspondence. Only then can historians begin to claim that they have achieved some measure of historical understanding. Your job is a little simpler. In these courses, you are asked to acquire a framework of the facts in chronological order. Then, you are to take all of the readings, your lecture notes, images from the slides and maps to develop some coherent understanding of the past. Your success in this course is determined by the degree of understanding you achieve. This means, however, that you have to read very carefully. How does one do that? You cannot memorize all there is to read. First, lay aside the highlighter; it will not serve you well. Imagine yourself the week before an examination, trying to remember why you underline what you thought important a month ago. Instead, try the following: 1. Read a page or two, and then try to summarize each paragraph in a sentence. Write that sentence down. 2. Try to identify the thesis or main point of the text you are reading, write that down, too and identify it is as thesis or main point. Identify supporting arguments or pieces of evidence, too. 3. At the end of each chapter or at the end of the document, summarize it, too. You may think that this is much work; it is. History is much work. It is, however, much easier to put in work steadily and then, before the examination, review thirty or even sixty pages of notes than it is to review several hundred pages of readings in a night or two. II. Writing Historians communicate their research in essay form, either in publications or in the form of papers given at conferences. In this course, too, you will write essays, both in papers and on examinations. Writing a history paper is much like arguing a case before a court of law. 1. You need to have a strong, clear, and interesting opening statement: your thesis, in which you lay out what you intend to prove to be true. 2. Each paragraph that follows should be a discussion of some piece of evidence that supports the claim you made in your thesis. Be sure to include transitions from paragraph to paragraph, and be sure that each paragraph includes at least one sentence in which you analyze the evidence to explain why and how it supports the thesis. 3. Finally, the end of your essay should include a brief summary of the evidence to show that you successfully proved your point. You should then offer some other analytical commentary, either about the contemporary relevance of what you studied or to raise some new questions that came up in your studies. III. Studying The best means to determine how much you really understand is to have to explain to someone else, so study in groups. Also, regular studying, especially in form of a brief review before and/or after each class, does much to improve your memory and understanding of the material.