History 101: The Rise of European Civilization
Spring 2016: MWF 10:00-10:50 (Weyerhaeuser 217)
Professor Katherine Smith
email: kasmith2@pugetsound.edu
phone: (253) 879-3906 (ext. 3906)
office hours: Wyatt 142, Mon. 1:00-2:00, Thurs. 9:00-11:00
*and by appointment (please email me to set up a time)
Course description: This course serves as an introduction to European
history from the fourth to seventeenth centuries. Rather than offering a
year-by-year account of historical events, the course introduces students to the political structures,
socioeconomic developments, and belief systems that shaped people’s lives, and aims to convey a sense
of the texture of lived experience during the late antique, medieval, and early modern periods. Themes
we will address include: the transformation of the Roman world in Late Antiquity; interactions between
Rome’s three heirs (the Latin West, Byzantium, and the Islamic world); the relationship between secular
and religious authorities in various periods; and the intellectual revolutions of the Renaissance and
Reformation. Satisfies the Humanistic Approaches core.
Goals of the course: All students will have the opportunity to
 cultivate the basic skill-set of the historian: reading primary sources closely, using them to
make historically-minded arguments, and identifying and engaging with the claims of other
historians;
 improve their analytical skills by engaging with a variety of sources in class discussions and
written assignments;
 become familiar with the history of Europe from the fourth to seventeenth centuries, and
be able to identify and compare key elements of past European cultures;
 and gain a better understanding of the historical origins of the institutions, ideologies, and
conflicts that shape our world in the present.
Texts: The required books listed below are available at the bookstore. Some additional readings will be
found on our course’s Moodle site and on the web, as noted in the schedule of classes.
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Michael Burger, The Shaping of Western Civilization, Vol. 1: From Antiquity to the Mid-Eighteenth Century
(University of Toronto Press, 2014)
Sources of the Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, Vol. 1: To 1750, 4th edn, ed. Katharine Lualdi
(Bedford-St Martin’s, 2012)
Giusto Traina, 428 AD: An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire, trans. Allan Cameron
(Princeton University Press, 2009)
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, trans. Seamus Heaney (W.W. Norton & Co., 2001)
Einhard and Notker, Two Lives of Charlemagne, trans. David Ganz (Penguin, 2008)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. Bernard O’Donoghue (Penguin, 2006)
Gene Brucker, Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence, 2nd rev. edn (University
of California Press, 2004)
Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents, ed. and trans.
Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivan (Bedford-St Martin’s, 2005)
History 101 Course Reader (= CR in schedule of readings)
Assignments and Evaluation:
1) Class Participation and Preps: Class discussion is not a spectator sport! In order to do well –
and, just as importantly, get something out of the course – it is crucial to keep up with the reading, and
come to class with the assigned texts in hand, ready to discuss them. To prepare for discussion, read
assigned sources actively, jotting down notes and questions that you can refer to in class. In addition,
each student will be assigned to one of four participation groups (designated by the letters A, B, C, and
D on the schedule of classes). On 4 out of your group’s 6 designated dates, you will turn in a typed,
paragraph-long response to one or more of the ‘PREP’ questions of the day. You may choose to turn
in preps for any 4 of your group’s 6 dates, but please note that late preps will not be accepted, since the
preps’ purpose is to enhance in-class discussion. I will not give the preps formal grades, but will mark
them with ✓, ✓+, or ✓- and count them towards the class participation grade.
*Note on Attendance: Regular attendance is essential to your success in the course, and I take
attendance each class. I understand that illness and emergencies can occur in the course of the semester,
and will not penalize you for missing up to two classes. Be advised that I will deduct 1/3 grade from the
participation grade for each additional absence. I reserve the right to withdraw any student from the class for excessive
unexcused absences, normally defined as more than 6 over the course of the semester. If you are ill or have an emergency
that will take you out of class for several days, please contact me so I can excuse these absences and we can
arrange for you to stay on track.
2) Quiz(zes): Because knowledge of geography is crucial for historians, we will have a map quiz on
Wednesday, Jan. 27th at the start of class. On the first day I will hand out a sample map and list of
landmarks to be covered. Following the map quiz, we’ll have 4 additional, non-cumulative quizzes that
will test your understanding of key themes, events, and texts. Each of these quizzes will have five
questions: term IDs (choose 2 out of 3) and short answer questions (choose 1 out of 2). Short answer
questions on the quizzes will be taken from the PREP questions in the schedule of readings below. The
best way to prepare for quizzes is to keep up with reading, take good notes, and ask questions as we go
along. Quiz dates: Jan. 27th, Feb. 10th, March 4th, April 4th, and May 2nd.
3) Short Essay on 428AD: This short essay (~3-4 pages), due Friday, Feb. 5th asks you to develop a
close reading of a primary source we have read together, using Giusto Traina’s monograph 428AD: An
Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire to situate your source in its historical context. No outside
research will be required for this assignment.
4) Mini research paper: For this project, due March 11th, you will carry out a modest amount of
research on a primary source of your choice listed our syllabus between Feb. 5th and March 9th, locating
at least two new relevant scholarly secondary sources (such as subject encyclopedia articles, journal
articles, or books). Using this research, you will write a short essay (~3-4 pages) using your secondary
sources to situate the source in its context. On March 11th we’ll have a symposium where everyone will
have a chance to share highlights from their research.
5) Final project: In lieu of a final exam, you will complete a final project using the Atavist program
to create a multimedia lesson plan for a class on a particular theme or series of events related to
European history between c.1100 and c.1600. For this project, you will need to do some research to
identify three new relevant primary sources, including at least one non-textual source (e.g., a map,
building, work of art or music), and two new secondary sources. We’ll have workshops dedicated to
learning the Atavist program on April 6th and 8th. The final project, consisting of an essay of ~1,500
words with accompanying media and timeline, will be due on May 9th via Moodle.
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Breakdown of Final Grade
class participation:
quizzes:
short essay on 428 AD:
mini research paper:
final project:
18%
30% (6% each)
12%
16%
24%
Help with Research and Writing: I am available to discuss readings, assignments, writing and
research strategies during office hours and by appointment. I encourage you to make use of two
additional resources: the staffs of Collins Library and the Center for Writing, Learning, and Teaching.
We will have multiple workshops with our liaison librarian, Peggy Burge, but consider making an
individual appointment with her to discuss your mini research paper and/or final project. I guarantee
she will help you find sources you would have otherwise missed! She may be reached at
pburge@pugetsound.edu or via our course’s library page.
The Center for Writing, Learning, and Teaching (Howarth 109) is another excellent resource for
anyone who wants to become a better writer, is learning to write in a new discipline, or needs help with
an assignment. You can make an appointment with one of the peer writing advisors by email
(writing@pugetsound.edu) or phone (ext. 3404). If you’re new to the writing in the discipline of
History, consider making an appointment with the Center’s resident History major, Alex Plant.
University Policies:
Disability-Related Accommodations: If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning
disability that may impact your course work, please contact Peggy Perno (Howarth 105, ext.3395). She will
determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and
documentation is confidential.
Academic Honesty: All students are expected to abide by the guidelines on academic honesty
outlined in the Logger (at http://www.pugetsound.edu/student-life/personal-safety/studenthandbook/academic-handbook/academic-integrity/). Violations of honesty in research (i.e., inventing or
falsifying sources or data) or writing (i.e., borrowing the arguments or words of others without attribution),
or the defacing or destruction of library materials will result in a grade of ‘0’ for the assignment in question
and, at the instructor’s discretion, dismissal from the course.
Emergency Information: Please review university emergency preparedness and response
procedures posted at www.pugetsound.edu/emergency/. Familiarize yourself with hall exits and the
designated gathering area for your class and lab buildings. If building evacuation becomes necessary
(e.g., earthquake), meet your instructor at the designated gathering area so she/he can account for your
presence. Then wait for further instructions. Do not return to the building or classroom until advised
by an emergency response representative. If confronted by an act of violence, be prepared to make
quick decisions to protect your safety. Flee the area by running away from the source of danger if you
can safely do so. If this is not possible, shelter in place by securing classroom or lab doors and
windows, closing blinds, and turning off room lights. Stay low, away from doors and windows, and as
close to the interior hallway walls as possible. Wait for further instructions.
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CLASS SCHEDULE
(readings listed below classes for which they are due, and in suggested order)
Unit 1: The Late Roman World
(W) Jan. 20
Introduction to the course
(no reading today!)
(F) Jan. 22
The ‘decline and fall’ of Rome as a historical problem
Hist101 syllabus (read it carefully, please!)
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 131-154
Lualdi, Sources, pp. 1-3 (Intro) and docs. 6.2 (Graffiti) and 6.4 (Paul of Tarsus)
IDs: crisis of the third century, dominate, apostolic succession, martyrdom
PREP: What internal crises confronted the late Roman Empire? What challenges did
Christianity pose to traditional Roman institutions and values?
(M) Jan. 25
Constantine changed everything (or did he?)
(CR 1-8) The Conversion of Constantine, acording to Eusebius, Edward Gibbon, and Peter
Brown, in Makers of the Western Tradition, ed. J. Kelley Sowards (Boston: Bedford-St
Martin’s, 1997), 117-131.
Lualdi, Sources, 7.1 (Arius and the Nicene Creed)
IDs: Constantine, Arianism, Nicene Creed
PREP: How did Constantine’s official support for Christianity change the Christian Church
and the Roman world more broadly? Why did third- and fourth-century Christians perceive
heresy to be such a serious problem, and how did the ‘war on heresy’ impact the Church?
(W) Jan. 27
Rome’s final century
Traina, 428AD, introduction & chapters 1-4
(CR 9) Evagrius, Life of St. Simeon Stylites, from Readings in Ancient History, ed. William S.
Davis (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912), Internet Medieval History Sourcebook, at
https://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/evagrius-simeon.asp
Lualdi, Sources, 7.3 (Benedict of Nursia)
IDs: Sassanid Empire, Theodosius II, monasticism
PREP: What political, cultural, and religious transitions were in progress on the eastern borders
of the Roman world in 428, and what roles did monks and bishops play in these changes? Did
Romans believe their empire was in terminal decline or not?
*Quiz 1 (Map Quiz) Today*
(F) Jan. 29
Rome’s final century, cont.
Traina, 428AD, chapters 5-7
(CR 10-12) Sidonius Apollinaris, “A Civilized Barbarian and a Barbarous Roman,” from The
Letters of Sidonius, trans. O.M. Dalton (Oxford: Clarendon, 1915), Internet Medieval
History Sourcebook, at http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/sidonius2.asp
IDs: foederati, Galla Placidia, bishops
PREP: How did government, society, and daily life change in the Western Empire with the
settlement of barbarian groups like the Goths and Vandals?
(M) Feb. 1
Rome’s final century, cont.
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Traina, 428AD, chapters 8-10 & epilogue
Lualdi, Sources, 7.2 (Augustine of Hippo)
(CR 13-16) Augustine, The City of God, excerpted in Sources of the Western Tradition, Vol. 1,
9th edn, ed. Marvin Perry (Boston: Wadsworth, 2014), 190-93.
IDs: Vandals, Augustine of Hippo, pilgrimage
PREP: How did paganism continue to inform late Roman life? How was intolerance of
religious difference justified by fifth-century Christians? What were the characteristics of the
Christian worldview as exemplified by Augustine?
Unit 2: The Three Heirs of Rome
(W) Feb. 3
From Western Empire to barbarian kingdoms
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 154-61
Lualdi, Sources, 6.3 (Tacitus) and 7.4 (Burgundian Code)
IDs: wergeld, Visigoths, Theodoric
PREP: What institutions and customs (or lack therof) distinguished Germanic groups as
non-Roman? What changes did the Germanic peoples institute in the Western Roman
Empire, and what aspects of Roman government and society did they embrace?
(F) Feb. 5
The Islamic world as a post-Roman civilization
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 161-165
Lualdi, Sources, 8.1 (Qur’an) and 8.2 (Terms of Peace)
(CR 17-22) Hugh Kennedy, “The True Caliph of the Arabian Knights,” History Today 54,
no. 9 (2004): 31-36.
IDs: dhimmis, caliph, Abbasids
PREP: What factors enabled Muhammad’s heirs to rapidly conquer much of the former
Roman Empire? In what ways were the early Islamic caliphates the heirs of Rome?
*Short essay on 428AD due*
(M) Feb. 8
From Romans to Byzantines
(CR 23-29) Stephen Williams and Gerard Friell, “The Survival of the Eastern Roman
Empire,” History Today 48, no. 11 (November 1998): 40-46.
Lualdi, Sources, 7.5 (Procopius) and 8.3 (St Theodore)
IDs: Justinian, themata, iconoclasm
PREP: Was the Eastern Roman Empire fundamentally backward- or forward-looking in the
sixth to eighth centuries? What can the Life of St. Theodore tell us about provincial life in
seventh-century Byzantium?
Unit 3: The Early Medieval West
(W) Feb. 10
The Western Empire after Rome
(CR 30-39) Robin Fleming, “Bones and the Historian: Putting the Body Back in
Biography,” in Writing Medieval Biography, ed. David Bates, Julia Crick, and Sarah
Hamilton (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2006), 29-48.
(CR 40-48) Tomb of Childeric, in Readings in Medieval History, Vol. 1: The Early Middle Ages,
4th edn. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010), 113-21.
IDs: Franks, Anglo-Saxons, Childeric
PREP: What can forensic archaeology tell historians about standards of living in the early
Middle Ages? What do the contents of the tomb of the chieftain Childeric reveal about
Frankish society and its values in the century after Rome’s fall?
*Quiz 2 Today*
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(F) Feb. 12
A world in transition
Lualdi, Sources, 8.4 and 8.5 (Balthild and Gregory the Great)
(CR 49-57) The Career of Clovis According to Bishop Gregory of Tours, in From Roman to
Merovingian Gaul: A Reader, ed. Alexander Callander Murray (Peterborough, Ontario:
Broadview Press, 2000), 271-86.
(CR 58-70) Ruth Johnston Staver, “Anglo-Saxon Culture,” in A Companion to Beowulf
(Greenwood Press, 2005): 163-186. *background for Beowulf!
IDs: Clovis, Gregory the Great, Balthild
PREP: What strategies did missionaries and secular rulers use to promote Christianity in
early medieval Europe? How much were rulership, religion, and social hierarchies in the
sixth- and seventh-century West influenced by Roman and Christian models?
(M) Feb. 15
Heroes and monsters
(Web) Background on the Beowulf poem and manuscript, at the British Library:
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/englit/beowulf/
Beowulf, trans. Heaney, pp. 3-103
IDs: Sutton Hoo, comitatus, Heorot
PREP: What do the rituals of hospitality, storytelling, and gift giving, as described in
Beowulf, reveal about the values of early medieval society? How important were centralized
governments and the rule of law in this world?
(W) Feb. 17
Heroes and monsters, cont.
Beowulf, trans. Heaney, pp. 105-213
(no IDs today!)
PREP: Why were feuding and peacemaking central preoccupations in the world of Beowulf?
According to the Beowulf poet, what are the qualities of good (or bad) kings, and good (or
bad) retainers?
(F) Feb. 19
Research methods workshop with Peggy Burge
PREP: Before class, please submit your paragraph-long proposal for the mini research
paper via Moodle. Bring your laptop or tablet to class so you can follow along with Peggy
Burge’s presentation on library resources.
Unit 4: Carolingian Europe
(M) Feb. 22
Charlemagne and his world
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 165-72
Lualdi, Sources, 9.1 (Capitulary)
Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, pp. ix-xv and 3-12 (intro), 15-21 (text)
IDs: Carolingians, counts, missi dominici
PREP: Under what circumstances did the Carolingians take power, and how did Einhard
justify the overthrow of the Merovingians? Assess the military, political, and ideological
strategies Charlemagne used in his attempt to create a unified Carolingian empire.
(W) Feb. 24
Charlemagne and his world, cont.
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Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, pp. 21-44
(CR 71-77) Richard Hodges, “Charlemagne’s Elephant,” History Today 50/12 (Dec. 2000): 21-27.
Lualdi, Sources, 9.4 (Ahmad al-Ya’qubi)
IDs: Carolingian Renaissance, Abu l’-Abbas, Donation of Constantine
PREP: Which of Charlemagne’s accomplishments does Einhard emphasize, and why?
Compare the models of rulership espoused by Carolingian rulers and contemporary
Abbasid caliphs.
(F) Feb. 26
Charlemagne as legend
Notker, Life of Charlemagne, pp. 47-52 (intro) and 55-116 (text)
IDs: Vikings, Treaty of Verdun, Abbey of Saint Gall
PREP: How is Notker’s Life of Charlemagne different from Einhard’s? How might we explain
these differences by thinking about 1) Notker as a conscious critic of Einhard and 2) about
what has happened in Charlemagne’s empire in the 70 years since his death?
(M) Feb. 29
Post-Carolingian collapse and recovery
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 173-176
(CR, 78-85) Simon Coupland and Janet Nelson, “The Vikings on the Continent,” History
Today 38, no. 12 (Dec. 1988): 12-19.
(CR 86-93) The Annals of St-Bertin and Muslim Accounts of Vikings in Iberia, in The
Viking Age: A Reader, eds. Angus A. Somerville and R. Andrew McDonald (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 2010), 252-61 and 269-72.
IDs: castellans, Peace of God, manors
PREP: How did the Viking invasions affect the Carolingian Empire and its peripheries?
Compare the responses of Frankish Christians and Iberian Muslims to Viking attacks.
Unit 5: Europe around the first millennium
(W) Mar. 2
Society and hierarchies, North and South
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 177-78 and 181-86
Lualdi, Sources, 9.2 (Liutprand), 9.6 (Fulbert of Chartres), and 10.1 (Commendas)
IDs: Christendom, commenda, vassalage
PREP: Why was the relationship between the Latin West and Byzantium so strained by the
tenth century? How did lord-vassal relationships shape the political and social order of
Northern Europe after c.1000? Judging from the commendas, how different was the
Mediterranean world’s society and economy from that of Northern Europe in this period?
(F) Mar. 4
Church and state: competing visions of the world
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 186-200
Lualdi, Sources, 10.2 (Investiture Conflict) and 10.5 (William I)
IDs: simony, Norman Conquest, Domesday Book
PREP: Why did the ideal world order envisioned by the eleventh-century papacy conflict
with the ambitions of secular rulers? What do the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Domesday Book
reveal about changing models of medieval kingship in the late eleventh century?
*Quiz 3 Today*
(M) Mar. 7
Crusading and the idea of Christendom
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(CR 94-99) John France, “The Capture of Jerusalem,” History Today 47, no. 4 (April 1997):
37-42.
Lualdi, Sources, 10.3 (Fulcher of Chartres), 10.4 (Ibn al-Athir) and 11.4 (Choniates)
IDs: First Crusade, Reconquista, Cathars
PREP: What factors influenced western Christians’ decision to go on crusade? What were
the long-term consequences of the crusading movement for the Latin West, Byzantium, and
the Islamic world?
Unit 6: The Central Middle Ages: Renewal and Reform
(W) Mar. 9
Secular states and the ‘papal monarchy’
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 200-211
(Web) Fourth Lateran Council (read only canons 1, 3-4, 10, 13-16, 18-21, 61, 67-70), at the
Internet Medieval Sourcebook: http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/basis/lateran4.asp
*Print out and bring in two of the canons you find most interesting!
IDs: Thomas Becket, Magna Carta, papal monarchy
PREP: What prerogatives did the monarch-popes of the thirteenth century claim over the
bodies and souls of everyone in Christendom? How can we explain the rising power of
secular rulers and the concurrent decline of papal power after 1300?
(F) Mar. 11
Research Symposium
PREP: Come prepared to discuss your mini research project due today, and to share the
most interesting or surprising discovery you made in the course of your research.
*Mini-research project due*
SPRING BREAK: No Classes March 14-18
(M) Mar. 21
Reason, Faith, and the Search for Truth
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 211-220
Lualdi, Sources, 11.1 (Abelard) and 11.2 (University Life)
IDs: scholastic method, universitas, Sic et Non
PREP: What were the intellectual goals of scholasticism, and how did these reflect (and
sometimes collide with) the interests of the institutional Church? What factors influenced
the rise of self-governing universities throughout Europe after c.1200?
(W) Mar. 23
Chivalry and courtliness
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pp.ix-xviii (intro) and 3-36 (poem)
IDs: chivalry, courtly love, romanz
PREP: What can Sir Gawain tell us about elite social mores, domestic life, and gender roles
in fourteenth-century Europe? In what ways did chivalry, courtesy, and Christian piety
inform the actions of Gawain, his fellow knights, and courtly ladies?
(F) Mar. 25
Chivalry and courtliness, cont.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pp. 37-78
Lualdi, Sources, 11.3 (Chrétien de Troyes)
ID: Chrétien de Troyes
PREP: Is Gawain a paragon of chivalry and courtliness, or does he fall short? How does
Gawain compare with Chrétien de Troyes’ Lancelot? What moral and social lessons did the
Gawain poet intend to convey to his fourteenth-century audience?
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Unit 7: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century
(M) Mar. 28 Setting the stage: the medieval mindset
Lualdi, Sources, 11.4 (Francis & Clare), 12.2 (Hadewijch), 12.4 (Dante)
IDs: friars, beguines
PREP: What must medieval Christians do – and avoid – to live a good life, according to
these writers? To what extent did the medieval ideal of virtuous living include or exclude
women? Was the medieval worldview basically optimistic or pessimistic?
(W) Mar. 30
The Black Death and its aftermath
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 220-25
Lualdi, Sources, 13.1 (Black Death)
IDs: Black Death, flagellants, Babylonian Captivity
PREP: How did the medieval worldview shape responses to the Black Death? What were
the main short- and long-term consequences of the plague?
(F) Apr. 1
No Class (Prof. Smith will be away at a conference)
(Use this time to catch up on reading in advance of the fourth quiz!)
(M) Apr. 4
Challenges to the old order
(CR 100-06) Dan Jones, “The Peasants’ Revolt,” History Today 59, no. 6 (June 2009): 33-39.
Lualdi, Sources, 13.2 (Thomas of Walsingham) and 13.3 (Chaucer)
IDs: Lollards, English Peasants Revolt, ‘radix malorum est cupiditas’
PREP: What were the long- and short-term causes of the popular revolts of the later
fourteenth century? What existing hierarchies did late medieval rebels challenge?
*Quiz 4 Today*
(W) Apr. 6
Introduction to the final project: Workshop 1
Today we’ll have the first of two workshops to introduce the final project. Prof. Andrew
Gomez and librarian Peggy Burge will give us a tutorial on the Atavist program, which we
will use to produce the final project.
PREP: Sign up for a Google/Gmail account if you don't already have one, since you’ll need
to use Google Drives for the final project, and do some preliminary thinking about the final
project. Please bring your laptop or tablet to class so you can follow along.
(F) Apr. 8
Introduction to the final project: Workshop 2
Today we’ll have our second workshop on the final project, and there will be additional
time to try out the features of Atavist and do any necessary troubleshooting.
PREP: There will be some Atavist related exercises TBA. Once again, please bring your
laptop or tablet to class so you can follow along.
Unit 8: An Age of Intellectual and Artistic Rebirth
(M) Apr. 11
Humanism and Italian society
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 226-32
Lualdi, Sources, 13.5 (Rucellai and Bruni) and 13.6 (Alessandra Strozzi)
IDs: humanism, Medici, Platonic Academy
PREP: What were the components and aims of humanist education, and how did these
differ from the scholastic model? Do Alessandra Stozzi’s letters bear out the popular view
of the Renaissance as a time of increased opportunity and individual freedom?
(W) Apr. 13
Renaissance society and its values
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Giovanni and Lusanna, chapters 1-3 (skim pp. 39-62)
IDs: Lusanna di Benedetto, Giovanni di Ser Lodovico della Casa
PREP: How does the story of Giovanni and Lusanna illuminate socioeconomic divisions,
gender roles, and ideas about marriage and family in fifteenth-century Florence? Which
elements of Lusanna’s and Giovanni’s respective stories did you find believable?
Questionable? Why?
(F) Apr. 15
Renaissance society and its values, cont.
Giovanni and Lusanna, chapters 4-5
(no IDs today!)
PREP: How unusual was Giovanni and Lusanna’s relationship in the context of
Renaissance Florence? What do we learn from this story about premodern European
morality? Do you agree with Gene Brucker’s assessment that Lusanna was “an
extraordinary woman?”
(M) Apr. 18
Art, patronage, and politics
(CR 107-11) Paul Strathern, “Machiavelli, Leonardo, and Borgia: A Fateful Collusion,”
History Today 59, no. 3 (March 2009): 15-19.
(CR 112-16) Niccolò Machiavelli, excerpts from The Prince, in The Renaissance Reader, ed.
Kenneth J. Atchity (New York: Harper Perennial, 1997), 100-04.
(CR 117-19) Giorgio Vasari, Life of Leonardo da Vinci, from Lives of the Most Eminent
Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, trans. Gaston De Vere (London: Philip Warner, 191214), Internet Medieval Sourcebook,
http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vasari1.html
IDs: Cesare Borgia, chiaroscuro, Italian Wars
PREP: In what ways did Machiavelli’s vision of the ideal prince break with traditional
medieval notions of rulership? How might this vision have been influenced by the author’s
own experiences? What light does Vasari’s biography shed on Leonardo da Vinci as an artist
and on changing conceptions of artists more generally?
Unit 9: Europeans Look Outwards and Inwards
(W) Apr. 20
Borders real and imagined
(CR 120-22) Sir John Mandeville on Prester John, and Letters Between Pope Innocent IV
and Guyuk Khan, in The Crusades: A Reader, 2nd edn., ed. S.J. Allen and Emilie Amt
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014), 364-67.
(CR 123-28) Judith Herrin, “The Fall of Constantinople,” History Today 53, no. 6 (June 2003):
12-17.
(CR 129-31) Peace Agreement between Sultan Mehmed II and the Signoria of Venice, in
Reading the Middle Ages, ed. Barbara Rosenwein (Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press,
2006), 497-99.
IDs: Prester John, Mongols, Ottomans
PREP: To what extent did the Mongol and Ottoman invasions prompt Europeans to
rethink their own place in the world? In what respects did Europeans remain hostile to
outsiders, and in what respects were they willing to negotiate with and learn from them?
(F) Apr. 22
Europeans and the ‘New World’
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Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies, pp. 1-18 (intro) and 46-59, 65-83 (text)
IDs: conversos, Treaty of Granada, La Navidad
PREP: How did fifteenth-century educational systems, intellectual currents, and religious
beliefs shape Columbus’ character? How did Columbus and his companions present
themselves (and, by extension, European culture) to native peoples? Which aspects of these
new lands and their inhabitants particularly interested Columbus?
(M) Apr. 25
Conquest and colonization
Enterprise of the Indies, pp. 18-37 (intro) and 102-05, 118-22, 140-47, 155-76 (text)
IDs: Treaty of Tordesillas, encomiendas, Columbian Exchange
PREP: How did the colonization of Hispaniola proceed, and what did the Spanish crown
and colonists hope to gain from this venture? What did the first European colonists admire
about the ‘new world’ and its peoples, and what did they seek to change?
Unit 10: An Age of Reformations and Religious Wars
(W) Apr. 27
The Reformation begins
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 235-45
Lualdi, Sources, 13.4 (Hus) and 14.4 (Luther)
IDs: indulgences, justification by faith, priesthood of believers
PREP: What were Luther’s most radical theological ideas, and how do these compare with
Hus’ views? What political, social, religious, and technological factors encouraged the spread
of the Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire and beyond?
(F) Apr. 29
Radical Reformations and Catholic reform
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 245-54
Lualdi, Sources, 14.5 (Calvin) and 14.6 (Loyola)
(CR 132-36) Andrew Pettegree, “Michael Servetus and the Limits of Tolerance,” History
Today 40, no. 2 (Feb. 1990): 40-45.
IDs: predestination, Anabaptists, Jesuits
PREP: Why did Calvin and his followers see a reform of social and domestic bonds as a
necessary complement to the reformation of religion? What were the main features of the
Catholic Reformation, and how were these shaped by the advent of Protestantism?
(M) May 2
Religious wars and the challenge of tolerance
Burger, Western Civilization, pp. 254-68
Lualdi, Sources, 15.1 (Edict of Nantes) and 15.2 (Montaigne)
IDs: ‘cuius regio, eius religio,’ Huguenots, politiques and doctrinaires
PREP: Why were many early modern Europeans willing to die or kill over religion? What
discourses of toleration emerged out of the bloody sixteenth-century wars of religion, and
what were the assumptions behind these?
*Quiz 6 Today*
(W) 5/4
Last class: Symposium on the Final Projects
PREP: Come to class prepared to discuss your proposed lesson plan, including its
objectives and primary sources.
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Don't forget: Final projects are due on Monday, May 9th at 10:00am (the time of our
regularly scheduled final exam)!
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