History 304: Renaissance Europe
Fall 2010: Tuesday & Thursday 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 other times by appointment)
Course Description: This course examines the great cultural
revolution known as the Renaissance from a number of perspectives,
considering new developments in the arts, political theory, historical
awareness, concepts of the self, science, and technology as interrelated
phenomena. The course’s primary focus is on the towns of Northern
Italy that served as the cradle of the Renaissance, but some
consideration is given to the spread of Renaissance ideals and innovations into Northern Europe up
to c. 1600.
Course Objectives: All students in the class will have the opportunity to:
 acquire an in-depth understanding of the traditions that shaped the movement we call
the Renaissance, from its origins in late medieval Italy through its development in the
wider European context during the 15th and early 16th centuries, and consider how
Renaissance ideals shaped Europeans’ reaction to indigenous cultures in the Americas;
 hone their analytical skills through close readings of the rich variety of primary sources
available for the study of the Renaissance, including narrative and non-narrative texts,
painting, sculpture, and architecture;
 and engage with and evaluate major historiographical debates concerning the origins and
legacy of the Renaissance as a pivotal and even unique period in European (and
Western) history.
Course Format: Classes will often begin with a brief lecture designed to give an overview of the
day’s topic and clear up areas of confusion, but the bulk of class time will be devoted to discussion,
in which all members of the class will be 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.
Texts: The required texts listed below are available at the campus bookstore, as well as (with the
exception of Dino Campagni’s Chronicle and Najemy’s Italy in the Age of the Renaissance) on 2-hour
reserve in Collins Library.
 Dino Compagni’s Chronicle of Florence, ed. and tr. Daniel E. Bornstein (University of Pennsylvania,
1986) ISBN: 0812212215
 Kenneth Gouwens, ed., The Renaissance: The Essential Sources (Blackwell, 2003) ISBN: 063123165X
 John Najemy, ed., Italy in the Age of the Renaissance, 1300-1550 (Oxford, 2005) ISBN: 0198700407
 Mary Hollingsworth, The Cardinal’s Hat: Money, Ambition, and Everyday Life in the Court of a Borgia
Prince (Overlook, 2005) ISBN: 1585678031
 Antony Grafton, April Shelford, and Nancy Siraisi, New Worlds, Ancient Texts, repr. ed.
(Belknapp, 1995) ISBN: 0674618769
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
History 304 Course Reader (Readings designated ‘CR’ in syllabus)
Requirements and Evaluation:
All students will be expected to attend class regularly, participate in discussions, write two
formal essays (≈6 pages each), three reflection pieces (1½-2 pages each), take an in-class midterm, and
write a final paper (≈8 pages) in lieu of a final exam.
1) Class Participation (including attendance): Students are required to attend class
meetings and to keep up with all reading assignments so that they can participate in discussions and
activities. Class discussion is not a spectator sport! Your participation grade will reflect not merely
your physical presence in the classroom, but your level of engagement with the material. Be advised
that than more than 2 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 more than 5
unexcused absences), so please inform me in advance if you know you will need to miss class for a
legitimate reason.
2) 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 3 out of your 4 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.
3) Two Formal Essays: These two assignments will ask you to develop original arguments
based on close readings of primary sources and modern scholarship which we will read as a group.
Each essay is to be ≈6 typed, double-spaced pages. The first essay is due on Monday, Sept. 27th and
the second on Friday, Nov. 12th. Detailed explanations of each assignment will be handed out in class
two weeks prior to the due dates.
4) Midterm Exam: While the paper assignments offer you chances to develop original
interpretations of specific texts and subjects, the midterm asks you to synthesize a larger amount of
material and reflect on broader themes. The midterm on Thursday, Oct. 14th will consist of a ‘blind
reading’ of a short primary source which we have not read (but which pertains to a topic we’ve
covered in depth) and a choice of two longer essay questions. We will do several ‘blind readings’ in
class prior to the exam, and the essay questions on the exam will be drawn from a list of possibilities
submitted by members of the class.
5) Final Paper: Finally, you will write a final paper in which you consider how historians
define the Renaissance. Your task will be to put together an edited collection of 8-10 primary sources
produced in Europe between c. 1350 and 1600 that introduces readers to what you, the editor, see as
the most important historical developments of the Renaissance. 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 on Tuesday, Dec. 14th by 3pm in my office.
Grading Breakdown: Participation – 14%
Formal Essays – 18% each, for 36%
Three Reflection Pieces – 4% each, for 12%
Midterm – 18%
Final Paper – 20%
____
100%
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Grading Scale: Written assignments, exams and class participation will all 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).
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES (NB: readings are listed below the date on which they’re due, and in the
recommended order)
Defining the Renaissance
Tues. 8/31: Introduction: The Renaissance in Time, Space, and Imagination
Thurs. 9/2: Historical Evaluations of the Renaissance, c. 1400-2000 (A)
- History 304 Syllabus
(CR, 1-15) Peter Burke, The Renaissance Sense of the Past (London, 1969), 21-48.
(CR, 16-21) Ugolino Verino, “The Glories of a New Golden Age,” and Leonardo Bruni, “The
Republican Legacy," in Images of Quattrocento Florence, ed. Stephano Ugo Baldassarri and Arielle Saiber
(Yale, 2000), 12-17 and 92-95.
(CR, 22-34) Selections from Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (first pub. 1860)
and Johan Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages (first pub. 1919), ed. in Zachary Schiffman, Humanism
and the Renaissance (New York, 2002), 11-35.
The City-States of Late Medieval Italy
Tues. 9/7: The Rise of the City-States (B)
- Najemy, Introduction (all) and ch. 9: John Najemy, “Governments and Governance” (pp. 184-92
and 195-203 only)
(CR, 35-44) Trevor Dean, ed., The Towns of Late Medieval Italy: Select Sources (Manchester, 2000), 1116, 39-41, 50-53, 58-61.
- Dino Compagni’s Chronicle, Introduction
Thurs. 9/9: A Tumultuous Age (C)
- Dino Compagni’s Chronicle of Florence, full text
Tues. 9/14: The Wealth of Italy: Trade and Banking (D)
- Najemy, ch. 6: Franco Franceschi, “The Economy” (pp. 140-44 only)
(CR, 45-66) Lisa Jardine, “The Price of Magnificence,” in Worldly Goods: A New History of the
Renaissance (Norton, 1996), 93-132.
Humanism and the Classical Revival
Thurs. 9/16: The Early Humanist Program (E)
- Najemy, ch. 1: Robert Black, “Education ” (pp. 18-24 and 33-36 only) & 2: Carole Everhart Quillan,
“Humanism” (pp. 37-47 only)
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, nos. 2-3 (Petrarch and Leonardo Bruni)
Tues. 9/21: Later Humanists (F)
- Najemy, ch. 2: Quillan, “Humanism” (pp. 52-58)
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, nos. 11-13 (Marsilio Ficino and Laura Cereta)
(CR, 67-87) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man (excerpts), trans. Paul Oskar
Kristeller in The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, ed. Ernst Cassirer et al. (Chicago, 1948)
Thurs. 9/23: Humanism as Social Commentary (A)
(CR, 88-111) Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, trans. Mark Musa and Peter Bondanella (Norton, 1977),
Preface, Introduction, and the following tales: I.1, III.1, IV.5, VI.10.
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, no. 6 & 9 (more tales from The Decameron)
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**First Formal Essay due on Monday, 9/27 by 3pm in my office**
(See the detailed explanation of the assignment handed out in class)
Tues. 9/28: Humanism and Political Theory (B)
- Najemy, ch. 12: Alison Brown, “Rethinking the Renaissance” (all)
- Gouwens, Sources, no. 5 & 8 (Machiavelli, selections from The Prince and Letters)
Art and Patronage
Thurs. 9/30: New Conceptions of Art and Artists (C)
(CR, 112-34) Peter Burke, “Artists and Writers,” in The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy
(Princeton, 1986), 43-87.
(CR, 135-78) Giorgio Vasari, Lives of Giotto, Brunelleschi, and Donatello, in Lives of the Artists, vol.
1, trans. George Bull (Penguin, 1965).
Activity: Go to the Web Gallery of Art to see some of the works of art and buildings described by
Vasari. Giotto: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/giotto/padova/index.html
Brunelleschi: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/brunelle/index.html
Donatello: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/d/donatell/1_early/index.html
Tues. 10/5: New Conceptions of Art and Artists, cont. (D)
(CR, 179-84) Michael Baxandall, “Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy,” excerpted in
The Renaissance in Europe: A Reader, ed. Keith Whitlock (Yale, 2000), 129-38.
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, no. 16 (Benvenuto Cellini)
Thurs. 10/7: Patronage and Power (E)
- Najemy, ch. 8: Dale Kent, “The Power of the Elites” (all)
(CR, 185-209) Lauro Martines, “Art: An Alliance with Power,” in Power and Imagination: City-States in
Renaissance Italy, 2nd ed. (Johns Hopkins, 1988), pp. 241-76.
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, no. 15 and 17 (Isabella d’Este and Castiglione)
Social, Domestic, and Racial Hierarchies in Renaissance Italy
Tue. 10/12: On the Margins (no reflections due)
- Najemy, ch. 7: Andrea Zorzi, “The Popolo” (pp. 145-52 and 156-62 only) and ch. 5: Diane Owen
Hughes, “Bodies, Disease, and Society” (pp.110-23 only)
(CR, 210-19) Gene Brucker, documents on the popolo minuto, in Renaissance Florence: A Documentary
Study (Harper & Row, 1971), 216-28 and 236-39.
(CR, 220-27) Dean, Towns of Italy, documents on popular uprisings, pp. 158-65 & 176-82
Thurs. 10/14: Midterm Exam (full class)
Tues. 10/19: No Class (Fall Break)
Thurs. 10/21: Marriage and the Family (F)
- Najemy, ch. 4: Julius Kirshner, “Family and Marriage” (pp. 86-89 and 91-98 only)
(CR, 228-51) Dale Kent, “Women in Renaissance Florence,” in Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo’s Ginevra
de’Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women, ed. David Alan Brown (Washington, D.C., 2001), 25-47.
Activity: An excellent overview of women in Renaissance art (with many images), originally intended
to accompany the Smithsonian’s 2002 “Virtue and Beauty” exhibit, may be found at:
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2001/virtuebeauty/vbintro.shtm
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, nos. 7 & 10 (Francesco Barbaro and Alexandra Strozzi)
Tues. 10/26: Family and Honor (A)
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(CR, 277-98) Thomas V. Cohen, “Double Murder in Cretone Castle,” in Love and Death in Renaissance
Italy (Chicago, 2004), 17-40.
(CR, 266-76) Gene Brucker, documents on vendetta in Renaissance Florence, pp. 106-20.
Thurs. 10/28: Slavery and Status in Renaissance Italy (B)
(CR, 277-98) Sally McKee, “Domestic Slavery in Renaissance Italy,” Slavery & Abolition 29 (2008):
305-26.
(CR, 299-314) Kate Lowe, “The Stereotyping of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe,” in Black
Africans in Renaissance Europe, ed. T.F. Earle and K.J.P. Lowe (Cambridge, 2005), 17-47.
Activity: For a discussion of black Africans in Renaissance art (with many images), visit the website
of the Walters Art Museum’s upcoming exhibit “Face to Face: The African Presence in Renaissance
Europe” at: http://thewalters.org/eventscalendar/eventdetails.aspx?e=1330
The Renaissance Church and Papacy
Tues. 11/2: The Renaissance Papacy (C)
- Najemy, ch. 3: David S. Peterson, “Religion and the Church” and ch. 11: Edward Muir,
“Representations of Power” (pp. 236-39 only)
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, nos. 4 & 11 (Pope Pius II and Lorenzo Valla)
Web: For a discussion (with images) of the Renaissance popes as patrons, and the rebuilding of Saint
Peter’s, see: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pope/hd_pope.htm#slideshow5
Thurs. 11/4: The Princes of the Church (D)
- Hollingsworth, The Cardinal’s Hat, ch. 1-4
Tues. 11/9: The Princes of the Church, cont. (E)
- Hollingsworth, The Cardinal’s Hat, ch. 5-8
North and South: Conflict and Cultural Exchange
Thurs. 11/11: The Struggle for Italy in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (F)
(CR, 315-21) Margaret L. King, The Renaissance in Europe (McGraw-Hill, 2003), 216-42.
(CR, 322-25) Luigi Guicciardini, Selections from the Ricordi, in The Italian Renaissance Reader, ed and
trans. Julia Conway Bondanella and Mark Musa (New York, 1987), 282-303.
(CR, 326-29) Guicciardini, “The Balance of Power in Italy,” in Portable Renaissance Reader, ed. Ross
and McLaughlin, 279-84.
**Second Formal Essay due on Friday, 11/12 by 3pm**
(See detailed explanation of the assignment handed out in class)
Tues. 11/16: Humanism in Northern Europe (A)
(CR, 330-43) Peter Burke, “The Renaissance Abroad,” in The Renaissance, 2nd ed. (Palgrave, 1997), 27-48.
(CR, 344-48) Erasmus, Letter to Henry Bullock on the New Testament, in The Portable Renaissance
Reader, ed. James Bruce Ross and Mary Martin McLaughlin (Penguin, 1953), 401-08.
(CR, 349-56) Erasmus, Paraclesis (Preface to his edition of the New Testament), in Christian Humanism
and the Reformation, ed. and tr. John C. Olin (Harper, 1965), 92-106.
Thurs. 11/18: Northern Renaissance Art and Patronage (B)
(CR, 357-72) Craig Harbison, The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context
(Prentice-Hall, 2003), 7-23 and 157-67.
(CR, 373-78) Albrecht Dürer, Letters, in Northern Renaissance Art: Sources and Documents, ed. Wolfgang
Stechow (Prentice-Hall, 1966), 86-94.
Expanding Horizons
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Tues. 11/23: The ‘New World’ and the Old (C)
(CR, 379-93) J.H. Elliott, “The Uncertain Impact,” in The Old World and the New, 1492-1650
(Cambridge, 1972), 1-27.
Thurs. 11/25: No Class (Thanksgiving Holiday)
Tues. 11/30: Renaissance Writers on the New World (pt. 1) (D)
- Grafton, New Worlds, Ancient Texts, introduction & ch. 1-3
(CR, 394-414) Herodotus, The History, trans. David Grene (Chicago, 1987), excerpts from bks. I & IV.
(CR, 415-42) Amerigo Vespucci, Letters (excerpts), ed. Clements R. Markham (Franklin, 1894).
Thurs. 12/2: Renaissance Writers on the New World, cont. (E)
- Grafton, New Worlds, Ancient Texts, ch. 4-5 & epilogue
(CR, 443-61) Michel de Montaigne, “On Cannibals,” and “On Vehicles,” from Essais, trans. J.M.
Cohen (Penguin, 1958).
Tues. 12/7: Conclusions (F)
(CR, 462-76) William J. Bouwsma, “The Renaissance and the Drama of Western History,” American
Historical Review 84 (1979): 1-15.
(CR, 477-80) Paula Findlen and Kenneth Gouwens, “Introduction: The Persistence of the
Renaissance,” American Historical Review 102 (1998): 51-54.
**Final Papers are due on Tuesday, Dec. 14th by 3pm in my office**
(see detailed explanation of the assignment handed out in class)
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