HIST 040 EARLY MODERN EUROPE Summer 2017 Instructor: Kathryn Taylor Email: kataylor@sas.upenn.edu Office: College Hall 214 Office hours: Friday, 1:00-2:00, and by appointment Day/Time: Wednesday, 4:30-8:20 This course traces the major cultural, intellectual, social, political and economic changes in Europe between 1450 to 1750. Topics will include Renaissance humanism, the impact of the printing press, the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, the Scientific Revolution, and the development of overseas empires. We will pay special attention to the political, ethnic, and religious diversity of Early Modern Europe, analyzing religious conflict and accommodation with respect to Catholics, Protestants, the Eastern Orthodox, Jews, Muslims and unbelievers. In so doing, we will examine the origins of modern conflicts about the historical definition of Europe and Europeans. We will read widely in primary sources those written at the time in order to determine not merely what happened in this period, but also how early modern Europeans understood the events through which they lived. In addition, this course will introduce students to the basic skills employed by historians, including the analysis of primary sources, the identification and critique of scholarly arguments, and the development of written arguments. Requirements include attendance and active participation in seminar meetings, discussion leading, four short primary source analyses, a mid-term, and a final exam. 1
REQUIRED TEXTS Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. James Brophy, et al. Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations: From the Age of Exploration through Contemporary Times, Vol. 2 (Sixth Edition). All additional readings will be made available online. You are expected to bring either a hard copy or an electronic copy of the week s readings to your weekly section meeting. EVALUATION Class attendance and participation 25% 4 Primary Source Analyses 20% Discussion leading 10% Midterm 20% Final Exam 25% PARTICIPATION Active participation is the foundation of seminar-style learning. In order to maximize your learning experience, it is important that you come to class having completed all the assigned readings and ready to pose questions and explore possibilities with your classmates. Regular attendance is required. Absences will only be excused for valid reasons that you must communicate to me ahead of time. PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSES Beginning after our first week, students will be expected to write four short analyses of primary sources. Students will be split into two groups, one group will turn in analyses even-numbered weeks, another on odd-numbered weeks. This does not mean that you can skip reading the assigned primary sources on your day off. These analyses should be two to three pages long, double spaced and Times New Roman font (size 12). They are due before the start of class and should be submitted via Canvas. If you have trouble submitting on Canvas, please let me know. On the day your sources analysis is due, you will be the expert in class on that source. Be ready to answer questions about its content and context and prepare a few discussion questions for your classmates to discuss. Your analysis should include basic information about the source (who, what, where, when) and then move on to consider some of the questions listed on the handout How to Analyze a Primary Source. There is no right or wrong way to do these. What I am most interested in is that you learn to engage with sources critically and pay attention to detail. Some questions to get you started are: Textual sources: 2
Who is the author and what do we learn about him/her? When was it created? Why did he/she write this text? Who is the audience? What does this text teach us about the past? How does it relate to the themes of the course Visual sources: Who created this object? Why was it created? When was it created Was it commissioned by someone? What materials and tools were necessary to create this object? Where would it have originally been located? Who would have used this object? DISCUSSION LEADING Beginning after our first meeting, students will sign up to introduce the secondary readings and to start off discussion twice over the course of the semester. MIDTERM AND FINAL These in-class exams will consist of a series of ID questions along with two essays. The ID questions will ask students to identify a person/place/idea and explain their significance in relation to early modern European history. The essay questions will be pre-circulated, however notes will not be permitted in the exams. Since you will have time to prepare your questions, I will expect you to cite relevant primary source evidence and historical facts to support your argument. COURSE SCHEDULE 1) May 24: Introductions 1) How to read primary sources 2) Where exactly is Europe? 3) What do we mean by early modern? 2) May 31: Lived Religion and the Life Cycle in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe Secondary: Wiesner-Hanks, EME, 50-84 Robert N. Swanson, Devotion, in Religion and Devotion in Europe, c. 1215-1515 Deborah Youngs, Age and Life Expectancy, in The Life-Cycle in Western Europe, c. 1300-1500 Wiesner-Hanks, The Female Life-cycle, in Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe Isidore of Seville, Etymologies excerpt on the ages of man; Gynecological Treatise, in Medieval England, pp. 402-410; Petition to reclaim a dowry because of bigamy, Germany, 1539 3
3) June 7: Renaissance Humanism Secondary: Wiesner-Hanks, EME, 126-143 Carol Everhart Quillen, Humanism and the Lure of Antiquity, in Italy in the Age of the Renaissance, ed. John Najemy, 37-58 Charles G. Nauert, Crossing the Alps, in Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe Petrarch, On his own ignorance (and that of many others) Baldesar Castiglione: from The Book of the Courtier (Perspectives, 41) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: from Oration on the Dignity of Man (Perspectives, 47) Niccolò Machiavelli: from The Prince (Perspectives, 49) Raphael: Portrait of Pope Leo X and Two Cardinals (Perspectives, 46) 4) June 14: The Ottoman Empire; Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Early Modern Mediterranean Secondary: Wiesner-Hanks, EME, 106-111 Cemal Kafadar, The Ottomans and Europe, in Handbook of European History, 1400-1600 Benjamin Kaplan, Divided by Faith: Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007), 294-330 ( Infidels ). Peace Agreement between the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II and the Signoria of Venice; The Alhambra Decree (1492); Robert Dankoff, ed., An Ottoman Traveller: Selections from the Book of Travels of Evliya Çelebi (London: Eland, 2010), 169-206. 5) June 21: The European Reformations Secondary: Wiesner-Hanks, EME, 162-197 Bossy, John. The Counter-Reformation and the People of Catholic Europe. Past & Present 47 (1970): 51 70. Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Old Church, in The Reformation Martin Luther, Preface to the Epistle to the Romans (1522); Calvin, Ecclesiastical Ordinances, 1541 ; Teresa of Avila, Life, c. 1-4, 8-11, 17-18, 20, 25, 27-29 6) June 28: The Global Reformation Midterm Secondary: Ditchfield, Simon. Decentering the Catholic Reformation: Papacy and Peoples in the Early Modern World. Archiv Für Reformationsgeschichte 101 (July 2010): 186 208. 4
Edward Muir, New Worlds of Ritual, in Ritual in Early Modern Europe 2d ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 190-201. Francis Xavier, Letter from India, to the Society of Jesus at Rome (1543); Francis Xavier, Letter to Ignatius of Loyola (1549); Francis Xavier, Letter from Japan, to the Society of Jesus in Europe (1552) 7) July 5: Cultural and Intellectual Life in the Sixteenth Century; The Scientific Revolution Meet in Kislak Center, Van Pelt Library, 6 th Floor for hands-on learning with early modern books and manuscripts Secondary: Wiesner-Hanks, EME, 144-160, 364-380 Asa Briggs and Peter Burke. The Print Revolution in Context, in A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet, 13-50 Wiesner-Hanks, Women and the Creation of Culture, in Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe Council of Trent decree concerning the index of books; Thomas More, Utopia (excerpts) Nicolaus Copernicus: from Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs (Perspectives, 183) Galileo Galilei: from The Starry Messenger and The Assayer (Perspectives, 189) Andreas Vesalius, Detail from the Frontispiece of De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543), (Perspectives, 210) 8) July 12: European Empires Secondary: Wiesner-Hanks, EME, 236-274, 490-524 Anthony Grafton, New Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery (Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1992), 95-155 ( All Coherence Gone ). Michel de Montaigne, Of Cannibals Gomes Eannes de Azurara, Chronicle of the Discovery & Conquest of Guiné (c. 1453) Film: How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman? 9) July 19: Social and Cultural Change, 1600-1750 Secondary: Wiesner-Hanks, EME, 279-311, 452-488 Debates about closing a city brothel, Germany 1560s; Merchant s love letter, Italy 1625; Theft by a servant, Denmark 1625; 5
Wife s legal deposition against an abusive husband, Russia 1659; Police report of a man arrested for sodomy, France 1723; Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne: Allegory of Poverty (Canvas) 10) July 26: The Rise of Absolutism; The Enlightenment Secondary: Wiesner-Hanks, EME, 380-405 Jean Bodin: from On Sovereignty (Perspectives, 132) Thomas Hobbes: from Leviathan (Perspectives, 138) Pierre Patel: Palace and Gardens of Versailles (Perspectives, 149) Immanuel Kant: What is Enlightenment? (Perspectives, 255) David Hume: from A Treatise of Human Nature (Perspectives, 229) Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu: from The Spirit of Laws (Perspectives, 232) Cesare Beccaria: Bonesana: from An Essay on Crimes and Punishments (Perspectives, 238) Jean-Jacques Rousseau: from The Social Contract (Perspectives, 244) 11) Aug 2: Conclusions Final Exam 6