History 304: Renaissance Europe
Fall 2012: Monday & Wednesday 2:00 - 3:20pm (Wyatt 204)
Instructor: Katherine Smith
Email: kasmith2@pugetsound.edu
Phone: 879-3906 (ext. 3906)
Office hours: Wyatt 142 / Tues. 11-1 and Fri. 12-1 (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 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 the Course Reader) on 2-hour reserve in Collins Library.
 Gene Brucker, Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence, 2nd ed. (University of
California, 2004) ISBN: 0520244955
 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
 History 304 Course Reader (Readings designated ‘CR’ in syllabus)
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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
do a final project (≈8-10 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.
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 ask you to develop original arguments based
on analysis of primary sources and modern works of scholarship that we will read as a group. Each
essay is to be ≈6 typed, double-spaced pages. 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 allow 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 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 submit a final project 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
one or more of the most important historical developments related to the Renaissance in Europe. 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 ≈8-10 typed, double-spaced pages.
Grading Breakdown: Participation – 16%
Formal Essays – 16% and 18%, for 34%
Three Reflection Pieces – 4% each, for 12%
Midterm – 18%
Final Paper – 20%
______
100%
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).
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Other Policies:
Attendance: Regular attendance is essential to your success in this course, and you will find that
I take attendance at every meeting. I understand that illness and emergencies do occur in the course of a
fourteen-week semester, and will not penalize you for missing up to two classes. If, however, you miss
more than this generous allotment, be advised that I will deduct ½ letter grade from your participation
grade for each additional absence. If you become gravely ill or have a family emergency that will take
you out of class for several days, please provide me with documentation (or have the Office of Advising
contact all your professors) so I can excuse these absences. Please be advised that I reserve the right to withdraw
any student from the class for excessive unexcused absences, normally defined as more than 5 absences over the course of the
semester. The last day to withdraw from class with an automatic ‘W’ is Monday, Oct. 8th; students who
withdraw after this date will normally receive a ‘WF.’
Academic Honesty: All students in this course are expected to abide by the guidelines
concerning academic honesty outlined in the Logger (at http://www.pugetsound.edu/studentlife/student-resources/student-handbook/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/. There is a link on the university home
page. Familiarize yourself with hall exit doors and the designated gathering area for your class and
laboratory 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 a university
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.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
(NB: readings are listed below the date on which they are due, and in the recommended order)
Defining the Renaissance
How did historians living in the age we call the Renaissance define their own time, in terms of its accomplishments and its
relationship to the Classical and medieval past? How do the assessments of modern historians like Burckhardt and
Gombrich compare? What is at stake in modern arguments that locate the origins of modernity and modern individualism
in Renaissance Europe?
Mon. 8/27: Introduction: The Renaissance in Time, Space, and Imagination
Wed. 8/29: Historical Evaluations of the Renaissance, c. 1400-2000 (A)
- History 304 Syllabus
(CR, 1-12) E.H. Gombrich, excerpts from “The Renaissance – Period or Movement?” orig. pub. in
A.G. Dickens et al., Background to the English Renaissance: Introductory Lectures (London, 1974), 9-30; repr.
in Renaissance Thought, ed. Robert Black (Routledge, 2001), 23-46.
(CR, 13-21) Selections from Jacob Burkhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (orig. pub. 1860),
ed. Zachary Schiffman, Humanism and the Renaissance (New York, 2002), 11-26.
(CR, 22-26) 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.
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Mon. 9/3 – No Class (Labor Day)
The Setting: The City-States of Late Medieval Italy
What kinds of political structures flourished in late medieval Italy, and why? How might the political instability of
Northern Italy have spurred innovation in politics, intellectual life, and the arts? To what extent was the Renaissance
made possible by the concentration of wealth and the rise of consumer culture in Northern Italy?
Wed. 9/5: A Tumultuous Age (B)
- Najemy, Introduction (all) and ch. 9: John Najemy, “Governments and Governance” (pp. 184-92
and 195-203 only)
(CR, 27-35) Civic Life in the Age of Communes, from Trevor Dean, ed., The Towns of Late Medieval
Italy: Select Sources (Manchester, 2000), 11-16, 39-41, 50-53, 58-60.
(CR, 36-41) Giovanni Villani, selections from his Chronicle, ed. Kenneth R. Bartlett, The Civilization
of the Italian Renaissance: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed. (Toronto, 2011), 41-46.
(CR, 42) “A Podestà Swears to Do His Duty, 1313,” in Major Problems in the History of the Italian
Renaissance, ed. and trans. Benjami G. Kohl and Alison Andrews Smith (D.C. Heath, 1995), 165-66.
Mon. 9/10: The Wealth of Italy: Trade and Banking (C)
- Najemy, ch. 6: Franco Franceschi, “The Economy” (pp. 140-44 only)
(CR, 43-64) Lisa Jardine, “The Price of Magnificence,” in Worldly Goods: A New History of the
Renaissance (W.W. Norton & Co., 1996), 93-132.
(CR, 65-67) Documents on guild activities, and Benedetto Dei, “Letter to a Venetian,” both ed.
Bartlett, Civilization of the Italian Renaissance, 59-60 and 61-62.
(CR, 68-70) “An Aristocratic Home in Verona, 1568” and “Sumptuary Legislation in Venice, 13601512,” both in Major Problems in the History of the Italian Renaissance, ed. Kohl and Smith, 375-79.
Humanism and the Classical Revival
Was the humanist movement a straightforward revival of the Classical past, as scholars like Petrarch claimed, or
something new and different? How did humanism develop and change over the course of the Renaissance, and how did
humanists critique established models of history, political thought, religious belief, and social mores? Should we see
humanists like Laura Cereta, Pico della Mirandola, and Machiavelli as radicals, and, if so, why?
Wed. 9/12: The Early Humanist Program (D)
- Najemy, ch. 1: Robert Black, “Education ” (pp. 18-24 and 33-36 only) & 2: Carole Everhart Quillan,
“Humanism” (all)
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, nos. 2-3 (Petrarch and Leonardo Bruni)
Mon. 9/17: Later Humanists (E)
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, nos. 11 & 12 (Lorenzo Valla, Marsilio Ficino)
(CR, 71-91) 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)
Wed. 9/19: Humanism as Social Commentary (F)
(CR, 92-105) Lisa Jardine,“Isotta Nogarola: Women Humanists--Education for What?" History of
Education 12 (1983), 12:231-244.
(CR, 106-113) Isotta Nogarola and Ludovico Foscarini, “Of the Equal or Unequal Sin of Adam and
Eve,” ed. Kenneth Atchity, The Renaissance Reader (Harper Perennial, 52-59.
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, no. 6, 9, & 13 (tales from the Decameron, Laura Cereta)
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Mon. 9/24: Humanism and Political Theory (A)
- Najemy, ch. 12: Alison Brown, “Rethinking the Renaissance” (all)
- Gouwens, Sources, no. 5 & 8 (Machiavelli, selections from The Prince and Letters)
Art and Patronage
The flourishing of the visual arts – especially painting, sculpture, and architecture – has long been considered a central
achievement of the Renaissance. How, and how much, did ideas about artists and the creative process change in this
period? Was there a disparity between how artists saw themselves and their own work and how wealthy patrons
perceived them? How was art intertwined with political power and social status in Renaissance Italy?
Wed. 9/26: New Conceptions of Art and Artists (B)
(CR, 114-46) Peter Burke, “Artists and Writers,” in The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy
(Princeton, 1986), 43-87.
(CR, 147-80) 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
**First Formal Essay due on Friday, 9/28 by 3pm in my office**
(See the detailed explanation of the assignment handed out in class)
Mon. 10/1: New Conceptions of Art and Artists, cont. (C)
(CR, 181-86) 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)
Wed. 10/3: Patronage and Power (D)
- Najemy, ch. 8: Dale Kent, “The Power of the Elites” (all)
(CR, 187-211) 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)
The Ordering of Society
In what ways were the lives of Renaissance men and women shaped by their socio-economic background, gender
identity, and skin color? Surveying the experience of marginal groups (e.g., the popolo minuto, slaves), does it seem
that these people took part in what we call the Renaissance? Can we reconcile the paramount importance of kinship in
this society with historians’ claims that this was the first age of individualism?
Mon. 10/8: Family and Honor (no reflections due)
(CR, 212-24) Thomas V. Cohen, “Double Murder in Cretone Castle,” in Love and Death in Renaissance
Italy (Chicago, 2004), 17-40.
(CR, 225-28) Giovan Francesco Straparola, “A Tale of Love and Deceit in Padua,” in Major Problems
in the History of the Italian Renaissance, ed. and trans. Kohl and Smith, 344-49.
Wed. 10/10: Midterm Exam (full class)
Mon. 10/15: No Class (Fall Break)
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Wed. 10/17: Marriage, Gender and Kinship (E)
- Najemy, ch. 4: Julius Kirshner, “Family and Marriage” (pp. 86-89 and 91-99 only)
- Brucker, Giovanni and Lusanna, ch. 1-3 (skim pp.39-62)
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, no. 7 (Francesco Barbaro)
Mon. 10/22: Marriage, Gender and Kinship, cont. (F)
- Brucker, Giovanni and Lusanna, ch. 4-5
(CR, 229-51) 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, no. 10 (Alexandra Strozzi)
(CR, 252-55) The Marriages and Children of Gregorio Dati, and Cases of Illegitimacy and Broken
Marriage, both in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance, ed. Bartlett, 133-34, 138-40.
Wed. 10/24: On the Margins (A)
- Najemy, ch. 7: Andrea Zorzi, “The Popolo” (pp. 145-52 and 156-62 only)
(CR, 256-70) Diane Owen Hughes, “Earrings for Circumcision: Distinction and Purification in the
Italian Renaissance City,” in Persons in Groups: Social Behavior as Identity Formation in Medieval and
Renaissance Europe, ed. Richard Trexler (Binghampton, 1985), 155-177.
(CR, 271-76) Gene Brucker, documents on the poor, and the Demands of the Ciompi, in Renaissance
Florence: A Documentary Study (Harper & Row, 1971), 216-22 and 236-39.
(CR, 277) Documents on Jews in Italian cities, ed. Merry Wiesner-Hanks in The Renaissance and
Reformation: A History in Documents (Oxford, 2012), 76-78.
Mon. 10/29: Slavery and Status in Renaissance Italy (B)
(CR, 278-99) Sally McKee, “Domestic Slavery in Renaissance Italy,” Slavery & Abolition 29 (2008):
305-26.
(CR, 300-15) 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.
(CR, 316-19) Gene Brucker, documents on slavery, in Renaissance Florence: A Documentary Study
(Harper & Row, 1971), 223-28.
Activity: For a discussion of black Africans in Renaissance art (with many images), visit the website
of the Walters Art Museum’s 2011-12 exhibit “Face to Face: The African Presence in Renaissance
Europe” at: http://thewalters.org/exhibitions/african-presence/about.aspx
The Renaissance Church and Papacy
Was the papacy’s political role as a major power in Renaissance Italy as (or more) important as its spiritual role
within Catholic Europe? To what extent did the papacy and the papal court at Rome participate in the cultural
aspects of the Renaissance? How did the lives of princes of the Church like Ippolito d’Este compare with those of
secular elites?
Wed. 10/31: The Renaissance Papacy (C)
- Najemy, ch. 3: David S. Peterson, “Religion and the Church” (all) and ch. 11: Edward Muir,
“Representations of Power” (pp. 236-39 only)
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, no. 4 (Pope Pius II)
(CR, 320-27) Pope Pius II, “The Election of a Pope,” from his Commentaries, in The Renaissance Reader,
ed. Ross and McLaughlin, 630-44.
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
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Mon. 11/5: The Princes of the Church (D)
- Hollingsworth, The Cardinal’s Hat, ch. 1-4
(CR, 328-30) Lorenzo de’Medici, Paternal Advice to a Cardinal, trans. Merrick Whitcombe, at the
Internet Medieval Sourcebook
(CR, 331-32) Gregorio Dati, Selections from the Ricordanze, ed. Bartlett, Civilization of the Italian
Renaissance, 228-29.
(CR, 333) Girolamo Savonarola, “Advent Sermon,” ed. Kenneth J. Atchity, The Renaisance Reader
(Harper Perennial, 1996), 75-76.
Wed. 11/7: The Princes of the Church, cont. (E)
- Hollingsworth, The Cardinal’s Hat, ch. 5-8
(CR, 334-43) Johannes Burchardus, selections from Pope Alexander VI and His Court, ed. Bartlett,
Civilization of the Italian Renaissance, 211-20.
North and South: Conflict and Cultural Exchange
What was the political and cultural impact of the Italian Wars on Italy and the Renaissance? In what ways did the
concerns of Northern European humanists overlap with – and diverge from – those of their Italian counterparts? To
what extent was Northern Renaissance art inspired by the painting and sculpture of Italy?
Mon. 11/12: The Struggle for Italy in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (F)
(CR, 344-50) Margaret L. King, The Renaissance in Europe (McGraw-Hill, 2003), 216-42.
(CR, 351-54) Luigi Guicciardini, “The Balance of Power in Italy,” in Portable Renaissance Reader, ed.
Ross and McLaughlin, 279-84.
- Gouwens, Renaissance Sources, no. 18 (Pierio Valeriano)
Wed. 11/14: Humanism in Northern Europe (A)
(CR, 355-68) Peter Burke, “The Renaissance Abroad,” in The Renaissance, 2nd ed. (Palgrave, 1997), 27-48.
(CR, 369-73) 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, 374-81) 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.
**Second Formal Essay due on Friday, 11/16 by 3pm**
(See detailed explanation of the assignment handed out in class)
Mon. 11/19: Northern Renaissance Art and Patronage (B)
(CR, 382-97) Craig Harbison, The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context
(Prentice-Hall, 2003), 7-23 and 157-67.
(CR, 398-403) Albrecht Dürer, Letters, in Northern Renaissance Art: Sources and Documents, ed. Wolfgang
Stechow (Prentice-Hall, 1966), 86-94.
Wed. 11/21: No Class (Thanksgiving Holiday)
Expanding Horizons
How did Renaissance humanism and related attitudes towards history, civilization, and humanity shape Europeans’
initial encounter with what they called the ‘New World’ and its peoples? What role did the Classical past serve in
European attempts to come to terms with their suddenly enlarged – and suddenly largely unknown – world?
Mon. 11/26: The ‘New World’ and the Old (C)
(CR, 404-18) J.H. Elliott, “The Uncertain Impact,” in The Old World and the New, 1492-1650
(Cambridge, 1972), 1-27.
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Wed. 11/28: Renaissance Writers on the New World (pt. 1) (D)
- Grafton, New Worlds, Ancient Texts, introduction & ch. 1-3
(CR, 419-46) Amerigo Vespucci, Letters (excerpts), ed. Clements R. Markham (Franklin, 1894).
Mon. 12/3: Renaissance Writers on the New World, cont. (E)
- Grafton, New Worlds, Ancient Texts, ch. 4-5 & epilogue
(CR, 447-65) Michel de Montaigne, “On Cannibals,” and “On Vehicles,” from Essays, trans. J.M.
Cohen (Penguin, 1958).
Wed. 12/5: Conclusions (F)
(CR, 466-80) William J. Bouwsma, “The Renaissance and the Drama of Western History,” American
Historical Review 84 (1979): 1-15.
(CR, 481-84) 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. 11th by 3pm in my office
(see detailed explanation of the assignment handed out in class)
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