History Department
TRENT UNIVERSITY
HIST 2080Y SOCIAL HISTORY OF EUROPE, 1500-1800
2010 (SU) PETERBOROUGH
Time: MTWTh Lecture: 1-3
Tutorial: MTWTh 3-3:50
Location: DNA B110
Dr. K. Macfarlane
email: karenmacfarlane@trentu.ca
Office: CCH34
Phone: Ext. 7486
Office hour: T 12-1pm, or by appointment
History Department
Lady Eaton College South 101.3
Patricia Heffernan Frost
history@trentu.ca
Phone: (705) 748-1011 ext 7706
Course description:
This course surveys the history of Europe from the late Renaissance to the French Revolution.
Europeans experienced great social, economic, political, and cultural changes, and an increased
interaction with the larger world. We will examine such issues as race, ethnicity, class, and
gender in the different regions of Europe in the developing contexts of religious reformations,
warfare, urbanization, industrialization, the spread of print culture and the ‘public sphere’, the
Enlightenment, politics, and revolution. Tutorial discussions will focus on a critical analysis of
both primary and secondary texts.
Course objectives:
The objectives of the course are to impart 1) an understanding of the key issues of the subject
area, 2) the ability to identify and critically examine the arguments of historians, 3) the skills to
effectively communicate ideas verbally and in written form, and 4) the ability to evaluate and
situate primary sources and their use by historians.
Students will become familiar with the library and electronic resources available to historians,
and how to conduct research for a history essay.
Required readings:
Lectures: The course text is John Merriman, A history of Modern Europe from the Renaissance
to the French Revolution, vol. 1 (Norton). You can use any edition, but the most recent is
preferable. The readings in the syllabus refer to the third edition, and the chapters and pagination
differ in the three editions.
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Tutorials: Additional secondary readings will be available through the library e-resources.
Primary source readings will be available on the course website, through the library e-resources,
or through the internet links posted in the course document ‘Primary source readings’.
A bibliography of suggested further readings is posted on the course website.
Important dates:
24 May
20 May
27 May
31 May
3 June
14 June
Victoria Day – no class
Annotated bibliography due
In-class test
First Essay due
Last date to withdraw without academic penalty
Second Essay due
Course requirements
Tutorial participation
In-class test
Annotated bibliography
First Essay
Second Essay
Final exam
20%
10%
5%
20%
20%
25%
Annotated Bibliography: A 2-3 page critique of at least six sources for the first essay.
First Essay: Students will write a 3,000 word essay answering one of the provided essay
questions. There must be a central argument – this is not a narrative. It is due at the beginning
of lecture on 31 May.
Second Essay: Students will write a 2,500 word essay on Voltaire’s Candide. Candide is
available as an e-book through the Bata Library. The essay is due at the beginning of lecture on
14 June.
Policy on Late Assignments
In case of exceptional circumstances you must notify the instructor immediately. A doctor’s
note is absolutely necessary. No extensions will be given for other reasons. Late assignments
will be penalized three percentage points a day, seven days a week. No assignments will be
accepted five days after the due date or after 14 June.
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Academic Integrity
Academic dishonesty, which includes plagiarism and cheating, is an extremely serious academic
offence and carries penalties varying from a 0 grade on an assignment to expulsion from the
University. Definitions, penalties, and procedures for dealing with plagiarism and cheating are
set out in Trent University’s Academic Integrity Policy. You have a responsibility to educate
yourself – unfamiliarity with the policy is not an excuse. You are strongly encouraged to visit
Trent’s Academic Integrity website to learn more – www.trentu.ca/academicintegrity.
Access to Instruction
It is Trent University’s intent to create an inclusive learning environment. If a student has a
disability and/or health consideration and feels that he/she may need accommodations to succeed
in this course, the student should contact the Disability Services Office (BL Suite 109, 748-1281,
disabilityservices@trentu.ca) as soon as possible. Complete text can be found under Access to
Instruction in the Academic Calendar.
Please see the Trent University academic calendar for University Diary dates, Academic
Information and Regulations, and University and departmental degree requirements.
Course Communications
Students should communicate with the instructor in person during scheduled office hours or by
appointment. The instructor will attempt to reply to e-mails within 72 hours (excluding
weekends). However, e-mails asking for information which was discussed in lecture or which
are vague will not receive a response. Trent University e-mail accounts must be used and there
must be a subject. E-mails without a subject heading will not be opened. It is the student’s
responsibility to ensure that her/his questions/requests are addressed. If a student does
not receive a response to an e-mail it is up to her/him to seek a resolution to her/his problem by
coming during posted office hours or by contacting the History Department.
Lecture and Tutorial schedule:
10 May
Introduction
11 May
Europe and Europeans in 1500
Lecture reading: Merriman, ch. 2 The Renaissance.
12 May
Social orders
Lecture reading: Merriman, ch. 1 Medieval legacies and transforming discoveries
Tutorial: Preparing and researching a history essay.
13 May
Life, death, and disease
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Tutorial reading: Andrew B. Appleby, ‘Epidemics and famine in the little ice age,’ Journal of
Interdisciplinary History 10, no. 4 (Spring 1980): 643-63. [jstor]
Accidents and deaths in England http://www.rictornorton.co.uk/grubstreet/accident.htm
Social conditions in seventeenth-century France http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/17francesoc.html
17 May
Gender and sex
Tutorial reading: Katrina Honeyman and Jordan Goodman, ‘Women’s work, gender conflict, and
labour markets in Europe, 1500-1900,’ Economic History Review 44, no. 4 (1991): 608-614.
18 May
Reformations in religious life
Lecture reading: Merriman, ch. 3.
Tutorial: Viewing and discussion of Episode 3 of The Secret Files of the Inquisition.
19 May
Revolutions in war and religion
Lecture reading: Merriman, ch. 4.
Tutorial reading: Natalie Zemon Davis, ‘The rites of violence: religious riot in sixteenth-century
France,’ Past and Present 59, no. 1 (May 1973): 51-91.
20 May
Europe and the world in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Annotated bibliography due
Lecture reading: Merriman, pp. 165-178, 195-198.
Tutorial readings: see course website.
24 May
***Victoria Day***
25 May
Absolutism: court culture, intrigue, politics, and propaganda
Lecture reading: Merriman, ch. 7.
Tutorial readings: ‘Primary source readings’ on course website.
26 May
The Dutch golden age
Lecture reading: Merriman, pp. 198-207, 231-241.
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Jan de Vries, ‘Luxury and Calvinism/luxury and capitalism: supply and demand for luxury goods
in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic?’ The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 57 (1999):
73-85. [jstor]
27 May
In-class test (no tutorial)
31 May
England’s troubles
Essay Due (no tutorial)
Lecture reading: Merriman, pp. 179-195, 208-231.
1 June
Peasants and enlightened despots
Lecture reading: Merriman, pp. 336-346.
Tutorial readings: ‘Primary source readings’ on course website.
2 June
Eighteenth-century states and wars
Lecture reading: Merriman, ch. 11.
Tutorial readings: see course website.
3 June
Europe and the world in the eighteenth century
Tutorial readings: ‘Primary source readings’ on course website.
7 June
Luxury, consumption, and material culture
Tutorial reading: Beverly Lemire, ‘The theft of clothes and popular consumerism in early
modern England’ Journal of Social History 24, no. 2, (1990): 255-76.
8 June
Minorities in Europe
Tutorial reading: Gabriel Banat, ‘Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, man of music and gentlemanat-arms: the life and times of an eighteenth-century prodigy,’ Black music research journal 10,
no. 2 (1990): 177-212. Ignore the technical writing about music (pp. 192-3). [jstor]
9 June
Popular protest and culture
Tutorial reading: Rudolf M. Dekker, ‘Women in revolt: popular protest and its social basis in
Holland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,’ Theory and Society 16 (1987): 337-62.
10 June
Urban and rural life: poverty and proto-industrialization
Lecture reading: Merriman, ch. 10.
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Tutorial readings: ‘Primary source readings’ on course website.
14 June
The Enlightenment
Second Essay due
Lecture reading: Merriman, ch. 9.
Tutorial reading: Candide by Voltaire.
15 June
Communication and the ‘public sphere’
Lecture reading: Merriman, pp. 286-7.
Tutorial readings: ‘Primary source readings’ on course website.
16 June
Scientific revolutions
Lecture reading: Merriman, ch. 8.
Tutorial readings: ‘Primary source readings’ on course website.
17 June
The French Revolution
Lecture reading: Merriman, ch. 12.
Tutorial: Exam review
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