THE
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT
Historical
Studies Program
HST 3319 501 Fall 2004 W
Call 13873 Jo 3.908
Professor Gerald Soliday Office: Jonsson
5.406
Hours: M 3-3:30, T and W 6-7:00, and by appointment: 972-883-2760
E-mail:
soliday@utdallas.edu Internet:
http://www.utdallas.edu/~soliday
Please note that all e-mail correspondence related to the course must
now occur through a UTD e-mail address.
Teaching Assistant: Ms. Pia Jakobsson Office:
Jonsson 5.206
Hours: W
6:00-7:00 and by appointment 972-883-2095
E-mail: pkj010100@utdallas.edu
HIST 3319: EARLY
MODERN
Historical Studies 3319 is an introduction to general
themes and issues in early modern European history, roughly from the Italian
renaissance of the fifteenth century to the enlightenment of the
eighteenth. Its major theme is the
gradual infusion of so-called "modern" elements into traditional
European societies already before the industrial revolution. Topics for special consideration
include: the structure of preindustrial
economies and societies; kingship and aristocratic politics; the European
renaissance; the Protestant and Catholic reformations as well as the nature of
popular religion; the notion of a seventeenth-century "crisis"; the
English revolution and limited monarchy; continental absolutism and the rise of
centralized states; as well as the scientific revolution and the early
enlightenment.
The course has two general aims. First, as stated above, it acquaints students
with major issues of historical interpretation in the early modern period. This survey is not a narrative of the events
themselves but an exploration of the structure or makeup of a society. The goal is an understanding of the interrelationships
among its economy, social structure, political organization, and culture. The second aim is to introduce students to
several of the methods and approaches being used today to study early modern
Europe. The questions historians ask and
the evidence they use to gain plausible answers are stressed in lectures and,
even more, in discussions of readings that exemplify recent developments in
historical scholarship.
Each week, then, there will usually be a lecture and a
discussion of assigned readings. Course
requirements include participation in the discussions (25%) as well as three
short, five- to seven-page essays (each 25%) on a selection of topics covered
in the lectures and readings.
Please note that I can not
accept writing assignments late, unless very unusual circumstances arise or my permission is sought and granted in
advance of the due date. Note also that you must submit all
assignments in order to pass the
course.
All written work and class discussions for
this course are in gender-neutral, nonsexist language and rhetorical
constructions. Such practice is part of
a classroom situation according full respect and opportunity to all
participants by all others.
Written
work is submitted in paper copy, without cover pages or special folders. Simply put your name and course
identification at the top of the first page and staple the upper left
corner. Papers are always paginated (at
the bottom and center of each page after the first), double-spaced, and
presented in clear 10- to 12-point type.
Parenthetical
annotation is now strongly recommended, though any form of annotation (foot- or
endnotes) and bibliography is acceptable for this course, provided that you use
it correctly and consistently. Probably
most appropriate for your work in the arts and humanities are standard guides
like Joseph Gibaldi’s MLA Handbook
for Writers of Research Papers (6th ed.; NY, 2003) or Kate L.
Turabian’s Manual for Writers of Term
Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (6th ed.; Chicago, 1996).
At
the same time, Diana Hacker's Rules for
Writers (5th ed.; Boston and NY, 2004) summarizes MLA stylistic
conventions, outlines current grammatical practices and mechanical
presentation, and offers helpful guidelines for researching and writing
papers. You may find it and/or Hacker's
Web site (www.dianahacker.com)
especially useful for your work in the course this semester. Any student who has not already read William
Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements
of Style (4th ed.; Boston, 2000), should do so immediately.
I
should also mention that the eleventh edition of Merriam-Webster’s
Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield, MA, 2003) is now the standard for
everyday university work.
Most required readings as well as some recommended items for the course
are on reserve in the McDermott Library.
Paperback books used extensively are also for sale, if you wish to
purchase them, both in the University Bookstore and at Off-Campus Books. Rather than being on the library’s reserve
shelf, however, shorter readings marked with an asterisk (*) are available
online through the copy of this syllabus on my Internet Web site. Please note that those materials are under
copyright, you must always cite them properly, and you must have a password to
gain access to them. I will give you the
password in class.
Please also note that,
although I do not anticipate them, there may be some changes in the following schedule. If they
occur, I will announce them in class and post them on the syllabus at my Web
site on the Internet.
IMPORTANT NOTICES: all course correspondence by e-mail must now occur through the
student’s UTD e-mail address. UT-Dallas provides each student with a free e-mail account
that is to be used in all communication with university personnel. This allows
the university to maintain a high degree of confidence in the identity of all
individuals corresponding and the security of the transmitted information. The Department of
Information Resources at UTD provides a method for students to forward email
from other accounts to their UTD address and have their UTD mail sent on to
other accounts. Students may go to the following URL to establish or maintain
their official UTD computer account: http://netid.utdallas.edu/.
Every effort is made to
accommodate students with disabilities. The full range of resources available through
and procedures concerning Disability Services can be found at www.utdallas.edu/student/slife/hcsvc.html.
Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: cheating,
plagiarism. collusion, and falsifying academic records. Please familiarize yourself with the
university's policies concerning scholastic dishonesty at www.utdallas.edu/student/slife/dishonesty.html.
SCHEDULE OF
CLASS MEETINGS &
ASSIGNMENTS
Introduction
25 Aug Early
Modern European History: Themes &
Organization of the Course
[ See Handout
1]
The
Setting: Regions & Regionalism in
European History
Traditional European Societies
1 Sep Population & Economic Developments: The
Cycles in Preindustrial
Malthusian
Cycles & Demographic Crises
Discussion
of *E.A. Wrigley, Population and History,
62-106; and Keith Wrightson, English
Society 1580-1680, 121-148
Recommended: Pierre Goubert, "The French Peasantry of
the Seventeenth Century," Crisis in
Europe,
ed.
T. Aston (N.Y., 1963): 141-165
8 Sep Agrarian Regimes & the Village Community [See Handout 4]
Social
Relations: The Community & the
Family
Discussion
of Wrightson, English Society, 39-118
Recommended: Susan Amussen, An Ordered Society: Gender and
Class in Early Modern
Raffaella
Sarti, Europe at Home: Family and
Material Culture 1500-1800
15 Sep Labor in
Preindustrial Societies
Traditional
Social Hierarchies & Social Order [See Handout 5]
Discussion
of Wrightson, 17-38, 149-182, and *J.H. Hexter, "The Myth of the Middle
Class in
Tudor
England," European Social Class,
ed. B. & E. Barber (N.Y.,1965), 34-52
22 Sep First Essay Due
An
Aristocratic World: The Elites (Clergy, Nobility, Bourgeoisie)
The Formation of Early Modern
"New
Monarchies"? Kingship &
Aristocratic Politics
Reading: *J.R. Major, "The Crown and the
Aristocracy in Renaissance France," American
Historical Review 69 (1963-64): 631-645
29 Sep The
Notion of a European "Renaissance"
Renaissance
Thought & Art: The
Discussion
of Charles Nauert, Humanism and the
Culture of RenaissanceEurope, 1-94
6 Oct Diffusion of the Renaissance Movement to the
North
Continued
discussion of Nauert, 95-215
Recommended:
Peter Burke, The
Renaissance (2nd ed.)
Joan Kelley, “Did Women Have a
Renaissance?” Women, History, and Theory,
19-50
The
Politics of Reformation
13 Oct The Politics
of Reformation (cont.)
Religious
Reformations [See Handout 6]
Discussion
of *Steven Ozment, The Age of Reform 1250-1550, 223-244, and Robert Scribner,
The German Reformation (2nd ed.)
20 Oct Religion
and the People
Discussion
of *Keith Thomas, Religion and the
Decline of Magic, 3-112, 151-166, 253-279,
283-292,
332-357 [1-Environment] [2-Magic] [3-Religion] [4-Religion] [5-Astrology]
Recommended: Geoffrey Parker, “Success and Failure During
the First Century of the Reformation,”
Past
& Present 136 (1992): 43-82
Religious
Conflict & the Changing Temper of Politics [See Handouts Hnd7,
Hnd8, and Hnd9]
Recommended: J.H.M. Salmon, French Society and Government in the Religious Wars
P. K.
Monod, The Power of Kings: Monarchy and Religion in Europe
1589-1715
27 Oct Second Essay Due
"Crisis" &
the Quest for Stability
The Notion of a
European “Crisis” in the Seventeenth Century
Reading:
*Theodore K. Rabb, The Struggle for
Stability in Early Modern Europe
Recommended: Jeremy Black, A Military Revolution? Military
Change and
European Society 1550-1800
The Classic Response
on the Continent: From Henri IV to Louis
XIV
3 Nov From Henri IV to Louis XIV (cont.)
3 Nov French Absolutism under the Sun King
Discussion
of William Beik, Louis XIV and Absolutism
Recommended: Marc Raeff, “The Well Ordered Police State
and the Development of Modernity
in
Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Europe,” American Historical Review 80 (1975): 1221-1243
10 Nov Crisis
in
Brief
discussion of the instructor’s *outline of Lawrence Stone,
The Causes of the English
Revolution, 47-147
Its Resolution: Civil Wars & Limited Monarchy [See Handout 10]
Cultural
Crisis: The Witchcraft Phenomenon
Discussion
of *Thomas, Religion and the Decline of
Magic, 435-468, 493-583, 631-668
17 Nov Intellectual
Crisis & A New Kind of Knowledge
Discussion of Peter Dear, Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledgeand Its
Ambitions, 1500-1700,
1-79
24 Nov Continued
discussion of Dear, 80-170
The
Enlightenment
Discussion
of Roy Porter, The Enlightenment (2nd
ed.)
1 Dec Third
Essay Due[Topics]. Please attach a stamped self-addressed
envelope,
if
you wish me to return this third essay with comments and to indicate your marks
for
the course.
Course
Evaluation