Syllabus for History 81

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History81 will be organized into three sections. First, we will examine the social structures of seventeenth-century Europe. The seventeenth century was a period of economic crisis. How did this change the lives of the peoples of Europe, rich as well as poor? Second, we will study basic outlines of politics and national religions in the aftermath of the Reformation. We will focus our attention on England under Queen Elizabeth and the early Stuart monarchs, France’s attempts at creating absolutism under Louis XIII and Louis XIV, the rise of the Netherlands and the fall of Spain and Italy. We will strive to make sense of the confusing politics of central Europe and the Habsburgs. We will also examine the civil and religious wars of the period. Third, we will investigate cultural changes between 1550 and 1700. We will consider the importance of popular religion as well as organized religious programs like the Inquisition and missionary activities to “new worlds”. This was the era of the great witch hunts, so the class will discuss witches, as well as magic and alchemy, and how these phenomena were understood in the seventeenth century. The Scientific Revolution will be examined from both an astronomical and anatomical perspective so that we can appreciate the immensity of its discoveries.

This course is Writing Intensive and is designed to help develop your critical reading, thinking, writing and speaking skills. On discussion days we will read essays of prominent historians and the class period will be devoted to examining different historians’ interpretations of and events. You will do a great deal of writing this semester. There is a reaction paper due at the beginning of each discussion class. This is a 1-2 page paper in which you respond to the author of one of the texts for the week. You are to explain the argument that the author in making in his or her piece and state whether or not you found the argument convincing. Students are also required to write two longer papers. The shorter of the two will be 5 pages in length. The longer paper is a research paper on a topic of the student’s interest that has been accepted by the instructor. In class readings may be used as research for this paper, but additional sources will be necessary. Students are encouraged to meet with the professor to discuss paper outlines or rough drafts of papers. The final exam will be composed of essay and short answers questions. The exam questions require students to synthesize the class discussions and the readings.

Requirements:
Reaction Papers 20%
Long Paper 40%
Short Paper 20%
Final Exam 20%

Required Books:
Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
R. J. Knect, Richelieu. New York, NY: Routledge, 1991.

Class Schedule:
UNIT I SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN THE 17TH CENTURY
Week One Introduction
9/3 Introduction and Geography

9/5 Lecture: Social Hierarchies and Estates

Week Two Economic Challenges
9/10 The Seventeenth-Century Crisis and Its Effects

9/12 Social Hierarchies and Estates

Readings Robert Darnton, "The Great Cat Massacre" in The Great Cat Massacre and other Episodes in French Cultural History. NY: Basic Books, 1984.
Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.

Week Three Religious Challenges
9/17 The Protestant Reformation

9/19 DISCUSSION - Reaction paper due at the beginning of class

Readings Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
Lyndal Roper, "Blood and Codpieces: masculinity in the early modern German town" in Oedipus and the Devil. NY: Routledge, 1994., 107-124.

UNIT II THE POLITICAL WORLD OF THE 17TH CENTURY
Week Four Southern Europe
9/24 Spain: the Most Catholic Kings

9/26 IN-CLASS EDITING SESSION
SHORT PAPER DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS

Readings J.H. Elliot, “Self-Perception and Decline in Early Seventeenth-Century Spain” Past and Present, 74 (February 1977), 41-61.
J.I. Israel, “The Decline of Spain, a Historical Myth?” Past and Present 91 (May 1981) 170-180.
Gretchen Starr-Lebeau, "Mari Sanchez and Ines Gonzalez: Conflict and Cooperation among Crypto-Jews," in Women in the Inquisition, ed. Mary Giles. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, 19-41.

Week Five Southern Europe
10/1 Italy in an Age of Decline?
REVISED SHORT PAPER DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS

10/3 DISCUSSION - Reaction paper due at the beginning of class

Readings


Week Six The Age of Absolutism?
10/8 France and the Wars of Religion

10/10 Louis XIII and Richelieu

Readings R. J. Knect, Richelieu. New York, NY: Routledge, 1991.

Week Seven The Age of Absolutism?
10/15 Louis XIV and Absolutism at Versailles

10/17 DISCUSSION - Reaction paper due at the beginning of class

Readings Sharon Kettering, "Brokerage at the Court of Louis XIV," The Historical Journal, 36/1 (1993), 69-87.
Jeffrey Merrick, "The Cardinal and the Queen" French Historical Studies 18/3 (1994): 667-699.
Dorothy R. Thelander, "Mother Goose and Her Goslings: The France of Louis XIV as Seen through the Fairy Tale," The Journal of Modern History 54/3 (1982): 467-496.

Week Eight England and the Challenge to Absolutism
10/22 The Tudors

10/24 The Stuarts

Readings Thomas Cogswell, "The Politics of Propaganda: Charles I and the People in the 1620s," Journal of British Studies 29/3 (1990): 187-215.
Ann Hughes, "The King, the Parliament, and the Localities during the English Civil War," Journal of British Studies 24/2 (1985): 236-263.
Steve Pincus, "Coffee Politicians Does Create: Coffeehouses and Restoration Political Culture," The Journal of Modern History 67/4 (1995): 807-834.

Week Nine The Netherlands and the Challenge to Absolutism
10/29 The Netherlands

10/31 DISCUSSION - Reaction paper due at the beginning of class

Readings Herbert H. Rowen, "The Dutch Revolt: What Kind of Revolution?" Renaissance Quarterly 43/3 (1990): 570-590.
Jonathan Israel, "Dutch Influence on Urban Planning, Health Care and Poor Relief," in Health Care and Poor Relief in Protestant Europe, 1500-1700, eds. Ole Peter Grell and Andrew Cunningham. NY: Routledge, 1997, 66-83.


Week Ten The Holy Roman Empire and the Challenge to Absolutism
11/5 The Holy Roman Empire and the Thirty Years War

11/7 A Look toward Eastern Europe

Readings William Hagen, "Seventeenth-Century Crisis in Brandenberg: The Thirty Year's War, The Destabilization of Serfdom, and the Rise of Absolutism." The American Historical Review, 94/2 (1989): 302-335.
Theodore Rabb, "The Effects of the Thirty Years' War on the German Economy," The Journal of Modern History 34/1 (1962): 40-51.
Merry Wiesner, "Paternalism in Practice: the Control oc Servatns and Prostitutes in Early Modern German Cities," in Gender, Church and State in Early Modern Germany. NY: Longman, 1998: 94-113.

UNIT III CULTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS
Week Eleven Cultural Challenge: the Witch Hunts
11/12 Witch Hunting in Europe

11/14 DISCUSSION - Reaction paper due at the beginning of class

Readings Edmund Kern, "Confessional Identity and Magic in the Late Sixteenth Century: Jakob Bithner and Witchcraft in Styria," Sixteenth Century Journal 15/2 (1994): 323-340.
Anita M. Walker and Edmund H. Dickerman, "A Woman under the Influence: a Case of Alleged Possession in Sixteenth-Century France," Sixteenth Century Journal 13/3 (1991): 533-554

Week Twelve Cultural Challenge: the Scientific Revolution
11/19 The Scientific Revolution

11/21 Popular Piety and Local Religion

Readings Harold Cook, "Good Advice and Little Medicine: The Professional Authority of Early Modern English Physicians," Journal of British Studies 33 (1994): 1-31.
Thomas Kuhn, "Mathematical vs. Experimental Traditions in the Development of Physical Science," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 7/1 (1976): 1-31.

Week Thirteen Final Paper Preparation
11/26 IN-CLASS EDITING SESSION
LONG PAPER DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS

11/28 NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING
Readings

Week Fourteen STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
12/3 Student Presentations

12/5 Student Presentations
REVISED LONG PAPER DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASSFinal exams are due before noon on Thursday 12 December to the History Department on the top floor of Hoxie Hall.