History 311: The Age of Reformation
Spring 2011: Tues/Thurs 11:00am-12:20pm
Instructor: Katherine Smith
email: kasmith2@pugetsound.edu
phone: 879-3906 (ext. 3906)
office/hours: Wyatt 142: Mon/Wed 11:00am-1:00pm
(and by appointment)
Course Description: Modern people tend to think of the
Reformation in strictly religious terms, as the movement that
divided the medieval church into Catholic and Protestant
camps. The scope of what are more properly termed Europe’s
Reformations was, in fact, much broader: Luther’s initial attack
on the Catholic Church in 1517 touched off a series of revolutions that divided states, rulers,
and neighbors against one another and ultimately altered the balance of power across
Europe. The teachings of both Protestant and Catholic reformers transformed civic life,
introduced new models of citizenship and government, and forever changed the family lives
of early modern Europeans. The course will focus on Northern Europe during the sixteenth
and early seventeenth centuries, paying special attention to the course of the Reformation in
the German states, Swiss cantons, the Netherlands, France, and England.
Course Objectives: In the course of the semester, all students will have the opportunity to
 assess the impact of Europe’s Reformations on the institutions and culture of
early modern Europe, though close reading and discussion of a range of primary
sources from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
 become familiar with and evaluate the major historiographical debates associated
with the study of the Reformation through a reading of important works of
scholarship written from a variety of perspectives.
 consider how the legacy of the age of Reformation has shaped, and continues to
shape, our own institutions and values.
Course Format: Classes will generally begin with a brief lecture designed to give an
overview of the day’s topic and clear up any areas of confusion, but the bulk of class time
will be devoted to discussion in which all members of the class are expected to participate.
There are a number of ways to join the conversation in class: you might make notes of
questions that come up in the course of doing that day’s reading assignment, underline a
passage in one of the sources that you think we should examine more carefully, or respond
to comments or questions raised by your colleagues in the class.
Requirements and Evaluation:
All members of the class will be expected to attend class regularly, participate in
discussions, complete two analytical essays (of 6-7 pages each), three reflection pieces (1½-2
pages each) based on assigned readings, take an in-class mid-term and write a final paper.
1) Class Participation: Students are required to attend class meetings and to keep up
with all reading assignments so that they can participate in discussions and activities. Be
advised that than more than two unexcused absences in the course of the semester will adversely affect your
participation grade, and that coming to class more than 15 minutes late constitutes an absence for
that day. I reserve the right to withdraw members of the class for excessive absences
(normally defined as five or more unexcused absences), so please inform me in advance if you
know you will need to miss class for a reason that warrants an excused absence (such as a
documented serious illness, family emergency, or university athletic event).
2) Two Essays: These assignments will ask you to develop original arguments based
on close readings of primary sources and modern scholarship we will read in the course of the
class. Detailed explanations of each assignment will be handed out in class two weeks prior to
the due dates. Essays will be evaluated on their effectiveness in meeting the following criteria:
- articulating a clear thesis, and defending this thesis in a thorough and well-organized fashion
- accomplishing a close reading of the sources under investigation, and paying attention not only
to the contents of the texts but to authorship, audience, purpose, and language
- demonstrating a thorough understanding of the historical context in which these texts were
produced, and drawing upon this understanding to support interpretations
3) Three Reflection Pieces: These short pieces of writing should reflect on an issue
or question derived from the reading assigned for the day on which the pieces are due.
Everyone will be assigned to a letter group (A-F) and your reflection pieces will be due on the
days marked with this letter in the syllabus. *Pick three out of your four letter-days to write reflection
pieces. You should not have to spend more than ½ hour on these; the point is not to produce a
polished essay but allow you to reflect on some aspect of the reading. No late reflection pieces
will be accepted.
4) Mid-Term Exam: Our mid-term is scheduled for the whole class period on
Thursday, March 10th. The exam will include an essay as well as a ‘blind reading’ of a primary
source related to the Reformation which we have not read (but which will be related to other
sources we’ve studied). Please note that in the case of the mid-term make-up exams will only
be given in the case of documented medical or family emergencies. The take-home final exam
will ask you to reflect on the broader themes of the course by answering a choice of two essay
questions.
5) Final Paper: Finally, you will write a final paper in which you consider how
historians define the Reformation. Your task will be to put together an edited collection of 810 primary sources produced in Europe between c. 1500 and 1650 that introduces readers to
what you, the editor, see as the most important historical developments of this period. The
final paper will consist of a title, a table of contents, and an editorial introduction laying out
the rationale for the collection, for a total of ≈8 typed, double-spaced pages. Final papers will
be due in my office on the date of our University-scheduled final exam.
Grading Breakdown:
Class Participation – 14%
Analytical Essays – 36% (18% each)
3 Reflection Pieces – 12% (4% each)
Mid-Term Exam – 18%
Final Paper – 20%
____
100%
Grading Scale: All assignments and participation will be graded on a 100-point scale from A to
F. Here are the numerical equivalents of each grade: A (94-100); A- (90-93); B+ (87-89); B (8486); B- (80-83); C+(77-79); C (74-76); C- (70-73); D (67-69); D (64-66); D- (60-63); F (0-59).
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Texts: The required texts listed below are available for purchase at the university bookstore.
Copies of all except the Lindberg Sourcebook and course reader may also be borrowed for 2hour periods from Collins Library reserves.
• Carter Lindberg, ed., The European Reformations Sourcebook (Wiley-Blackwell, 2000) ISBN:
0631213627
• Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations, 2nd ed. (Wiley-Blackwell, 1996) ISBN: 1557865752
• Eamon Duffy, The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village (Yale UP,
2003) ISBN: 0300098251
• Peter A. Morton and Barbara Dähms, eds., The Trial of Tempel Anneke, Records of a Witchcraft
Trial in Brunswick, Germany, 1663 (U. of Toronto, 2005) ISBN: 1551117061
• History 311 Course Reader (= ‘CR’ in schedule of classes)
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES_(readings listed below the due date and in recommended order)__
Tues, Jan 18th - Introduction: The Reformation as a Turning Point
Thurs, Jan 20th - Approaches to Studying the Reformation (A)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Prefaces & Ch. 1: “History, Historiography…”
(CR, 1-14) Richard van Dülmen, “The Reformation and the Modern Age,” in The German
Reformation: Essential Readings, ed. C. Scott Dixon (Blackwell, 1999), 193-220.
The Reformation of Religion
Tues, Jan 25th - Pre-Reformation Europe (B)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 2: “The Late Middle Ages”
- Sourcebook, docs. 1.9-11, 1.20, 2.5
(CR, 15-18) Late Medieval Ghost Stories, and a Pilgrim’s Journal, both ed. David Englander
et al. in Culture and Belief in Europe, 1450-1600 (Blackwell, 1990), 16-22.
Thurs, Jan 27th - The Reformation in Medieval Context (C)
Reading: (CR) Alastair McGrath, “The Shape of Late Medieval Religious Thought,” in The
Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation (Blackwell, 1987), 9-31.
- Sourcebook, docs. 1.8, 1.18-19, 1.30-31, 3.1-3.2
(CR, 31-34) Erasmus, “Julius Excluded from Heaven,” in The Praise of Folly and Other Writings,
ed. and trans. Robert McAdams (Norton, 1989), 142-49.
Tues, Feb 1st - Luther’s Challenge (D)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 3: “Dawn of a New Era”
- Sourcebook, docs. 2.1-3, 2.6-10, 2.15-17, 2.19-21
Thurs, Feb 3rd - The Challenge is Taken Up (E)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 4: “Wait for No One”
- Sourcebook, docs. 3.3-4, 3.6-7, 3.10-11
(CR, 35-39) Andrew Pettegree, “The Dynamics of Conversion,” in Reformation and the Culture
of Persuasion (Cambridge, 2005), 1-9.
Tues, Feb. 8th - The German Reformation (F)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 9: “Augsburg 1530 to Augsburg 1555”
- Sourcebook, docs. 4.3-4, 4.9-12, 8.12-13, 8.18-19, 8.21
The Radical Reformation
Thurs, Feb 10th - Reformation and Rebellion (A)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 6: “The Reformation of the Common Man”
- Sourcebook, docs. 14.6, 5.6, 5.10-11, 5.13-14, 5.16-18, 5.20-21
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(CR, 40-47) Heiko A. Oberman, “The Gospel of Social Unrest,” in The German Peasant War,
1525, ed. R.W. Scribner and Gerhard Benecke (Allen & Unwin, 1979), 39-51.
Tues, Feb 15th - The Anabaptists (B)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 8: “The Sheep Against the Shepherds” (to p.207)
Sourcebook, docs. 7.1-2, 7.7-8, 7.10-12
(CR, 48-56) Bob Scribner, “Preconditions of Tolerance and Intolerance in Sixteenth-Century
Germany,” in Tolerance and Intolerance in the European Reformation, ed. Ole Grell and Bob
Scribner (Cambridge, 1996), 32-47.
Thurs, Feb 17th - Case Study: The Rise and Fall of Anabaptist Münster, 1534-35 (C)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 8: “The Sheep Against the Shepherds” (pp. 207-13 only)
- Sourcebook, docs. 7.13-21
(CR, 57-65) R. Po-Chia Hsia, “Münster and the Anabaptists,” in The German People and the
Reformation, ed. R. Po-Chia Hsia (Cornell, 1988), 51-69.
Tues, Feb 22nd - Case-Study: Geneva Under Calvin (D)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 10: “The Most Perfect School of Christ”
- Sourcebook, docs. 9.1, 9.3, 9.5, 9.7-8, 9.11-16
(CR, 66-72) Robert Kingdon, “The First Calvinist Divorce,” in Sin and the Calvinists: Morals
Reform and the Consistory in the Reformed Tradition, ed. Raymond A. Mentzer (Sixteenth
Century Journal Publishers, 1994), 1-13.
A World Turned Upside Down
Thurs, Feb 24th - The French Wars of Religion
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 11: “Refuge in the Shadow of God’s Wings”
- Sourcebook, docs. 10.11-12, 10.15-22
(CR, 73-113) Natalie Zemon Davis, “The Rites of Violence: Religious Riot in SixteenthCentury France,” Past & Present 59 (1973): 51-91.
Tues, Mar 1st – Reform and Revolt in the Netherlands (E)
Essay #1 on “Reformation, Freedom, and Tolerance in the Sixteenth Century” due
on Friday, Feb. 25th by 3pm in my office (Wyatt 142). See handout for assignment details.
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch.12: “Blood of the Martyrs”
- Sourcebook, docs. 11.3-4, 11.6-7, 11.10-11
Thurs, Mar 3rd – The English Reformations: Beginnings (F)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 13: “Reformations in England and Scotland”
- Sourcebook, docs. 12.5-7, 12.15-16
(CR, 114-15) The Suppression of Glastonbury Abbey, from the Internet History Sourcebook
(CR, 116-19) William Roper, Life of Sir Thomas More (excerpts), ed. John N. King in Voices of
the English Reformation (Philadelphia, 2004), 260-67.
Tues, Mar 8th - The English Reformations: Conflicts and Compromises (A)
Reading: (CR, 120-34) Norman Jones, chapters 1-2 in The English Reformation: Religion and
Cultural Adaptation (Blackwell, 2002), 1-29.
- Sourcebook, docs. 12.17-19, 12.25
(CR, 135-40) “The Examination of Anne Askew,” ed. in Voices of the English Reformation, ed.
King, 231-41.
Thurs, Mar 10th - Mid-Term Exam (full class)
NB: The mid-term exam will consist of a ‘blind reading’ of a primary source which we
haven’t read as a class (but which is closely related to other sources and contexts we’ve
studied so far), as well as a choice of two essays.
**Spring Break: No Classes March 14th-18th**
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The Reformation of Society
Tues, Mar 22nd – Communal Life in Transition (B)
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 5: “Fruits of the Fig Tree”
- Sourcebook, docs. 4.1-4, 4.7, 4.9-13
Thurs, Mar 24th - Propaganda and Popular Culture (C)
Reading: (CR) R. W. Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German
Reformation, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1993), 1-13 and 37-58.
(CR, 160-63) Sixteenth-Century German Woodcuts, from Max Geisberg, The German SingleLeaf Woodcut, 1500-1550, 4 vols. (Hacker, 1974).
Tues, Mar 29th - Reforming Women and the Family (D)
Reading: (CR, 164-78) Susan C. Karant-Nunn, “Reformation Society, Women and the
Family,” in The Reformation World, ed. Andrew Pettegree (Routledge, 2002), 433-60.
- Sourcebook, docs. 3.12, 14.15-21
(CR, 179-81) Luther, “Letter to Katie,” and Calvin, “Letter Concerning a Pious Woman,”
both ed. and trans. Denis Janz in A Reformation Reader (Fortress, Press, 1999), 80, 218-19.
Thurs, Mar 31st - Morality and Respectability (E)
Reading: (CR, 182-207) Lyndal Roper, “Discipline and Respectability: Prostitution and the
Reformation in Augsburg,” History Workshop Journal 19 (1985): 3-28.
(CR, 208-20) Joel Harrington, “Bad Parents, the State, and the Early Modern Civilizing
Process” German History 16 (1998): 16-28.
Tues, Apr 5th - One Community’s Reformation: The Case of Morebath (F)
Reading: Duffy, Voices of Morebath, preface and ch. 1-4
Thurs, Apr 7th - The Case of Morebath, cont. (A)
Reading: Duffy, Voices of Morebath, ch. 5-7
Essay #2 on “The Reformation of Society” due on Friday, April 8th by 3pm
in my office (see handout for details of the assignment)
The Catholic Reformation
Tues, Apr 12th - Counter Reformation or Catholic Reformation? (B)
Readings: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 14: “Catholic Renewal and Counter-Reformation”
- Sourcebook, docs. 13.1-3, 13.10-15, 13.20
Thurs, Apr 14th – No class meeting (Prof. Smith will be away at a conference)
Tues, April 19th - Saints, Martyrs, and the Church Militant (C)
Reading: (CR, 221-36) R. Po-Chia Hsia, “The Triumphant Church” and “The Martyred
Church,” in The World of Catholic Renewal, 1540-1770 (Cambridge, 1998), 42-59, 80-91.
(CR, 237-40) Paolo Veronese’s Trial Before the Holy Tribunal (1573), in The Renaissance
Reader, ed. Kenneth Atchity (Harper Perennial, 1996), 220-22.
(CR, 241-47) Theresa of Avila, Life (1565), in Culture and Belief in Europe, ed. Englander, 243-55.
The Reformation of the Invisible World
Thurs, April 21st - Witchhunting (D)
Reading: (CR, 248-62) Stuart Clark, “Protestant Witchcraft, Catholic Witchcraft,” in The
Witchcraft Reader, ed. Darren Oldridge (Routledge, 2002), 165-179.
(CR, 263-79) Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer, Malleus Maleficarum (1486), and Johann
Weyer, De Praestigiis Daemonum (1563), both ed. William Monter in European Witchcraft
(Wiley & Sons, 1979), 10-27 and 35-47.
Tues, Apr 26th - The Case of Tempel Anneke (E)
-Reading: Trial of Tempel Anneke, Introduction (xii-xliii) & pp. 3-65.
Thurs, Apr 28th - The Case of Tempel Anneke, cont. (F)
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Reading: Trial of Tempel Anneke, pp. 66-151.
Legacies of the Reformation
Tues, May 3rd - Representing the Reformation in the Twenty-First Century
- Discussion of film: Luther, dir. Eric Tell (2003, 113 min.): Viewing at a time and place TBA
Reading: Lindberg, Reformations, Ch. 15: “Legacies of the Reformation”
(CR, 280-1) Steven Ozment, Review of Luther, in The American Historical Review 109/5 (2004).
Final Papers are due on Thursday, May 12th by 2pm in my office (Wyatt 142)!
(see paper assignment for details on what needs to be turned in)
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