Renaissance and Reformation

HUMANITIES 203--RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION EUROPE:

TOPICS IN INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY, 1400-1600

SPRING 1999

Dr. George Dameron

Department of History

Library 306 Phone 654-2318/e-mail: gdameron@smcvt.edu

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 11-12; Tuesday, 1-2; and by appointment

Webpage: http://academics.smcvt.edu/gdameron/

". . . when I consider and weigh in my mind all these commonwealths . . . I can perceive nothing but a certain conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodities . . ." Thomas More, Utopia (1516)

GOALS OF THE COURSE:

The purposes of this interdisciplinary course are nine: (1) to introduce students to some of the principal issues in European intellectual and cultural history from 1400 to 1600; (2) to assist the student to develop and improve critical and analytical skills in reading, writing, and speaking; (3) to explore key issues of on-going social importance (the role of class and gender in human society, western attitudes and approaches to non-westerners, the formation of gender identities, the pursuit of truth and the possibility of certainty, the meaning and purpose of life, conceptions of human nature, divergences between Protestant and Catholic Christianity); (4) to inculcate in the student an abiding interest in the history of ideas and culture; (5) to introduce the student to and encourage appreciation of some of the seminallly important texts (books, essays, paintings) in the Early Modern Period; (6) to acknowledge the contributions of women to European culture; (7) to explore the importance of these two centuries to the formation of the modern world; (8) to fulfill a Culture and Civilization Requirement of the LSR (general education requirements); and (9) help the student learn to use online historical resources.

COURSE FORMAT:

The course will focus on discussion of the assigned texts. Most of the reading will be in the books required for purchase, but some will also be online. There will be no formal lectures, although I will occasionally provide brief and informal lectures associated with the texts when deemed relevant. At times the class will divide into small discussion groups to discuss specific issues that can later be brought to the class as a whole. There will be one debate in which the entire class will participate.

I am available to meet with students individually or in groups during my regularly scheduled office hours or by special appointment. Students can also correspond with me via email.

All online readings are hyperlinked to the online syllabus posted at my webpage (http://academics.smcvt.edu/gdameron/). I have taken them from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook and the Internet Modern History Sourcebook, both of which are excellent online resources for the study of Early Modern Europe.

There will be one guest lecture during the semester who will speak on a topic associated with the material covered in the course. The date and time will be announced. Attendance is required, and a question on the final exam will be taken from the lecture.

REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE:

1) A mid-term hourly examination (short-answer objective questions) on February 8 (10% of grade).

2) An 7-9 page paper due March 18 (20% of grade). Late papers will be docked five points (half a letter grade) for every day they are late. Students will write on a topic related to Bernal Diaz' account of the conquest of the Aztecs. Please note the due date is not a day the class meets. Students will submit their papers to me at my office.

3) Class participation (20% of grade). Includes attendance, degree of involvement in discussions, familiarity with readings on days of discussion, performance on in- and out of class writing assignments, amount of effort brought to the course. I encourage students to come to my office during office hours (or by appointment) to discuss issues raised in the course or discuss their academic performance in the course.

4) A final examination (objective questions and essay) (30% of final grade, date tba), cumulative for the material covered since the mid-term hourly.

5) A position paper (1-2 pages) written in association with the debate on free will (10% of final grade). Students will turn in the paper at the beginning of the debate on March 1. I encourage students to collaborate during the preparation for the debate.

6) Five (5) very brief five-question quizzes on class assignments (10%). The quizzes are five minutes long, and I will administer them at the beginning of the class hour on the dates mentioned below. I will drop the lowest score of the five quizzes. For those students who visit the exhibit of the prints of Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the Middlebury College Museum of Art (open 10-5 Tu-Fri, 12-5 Sat. and Sun.; located on Vermont 30), I will exempt them from quizz #3 and give them a perfect score.

Students with documented learning disabilities should feel free to talk with me about making special arrangements associated with written assignments or note-taking.

ATTENDANCE

I expect students to attend every class. As a courtesy, students should inform me in advance of any anticipated absence. Please arrange all travel arrangements so as not to miss any scheduled classes, exams, or films.

THE PAPER

The paper is due on March 18 at my office. For your own protection, all students should make a copy of the paper they will submit to me. All students using word processors should use a back-up disk. There will be a half a letter grade penalty (5 points) for every day the paper is late. Papers submitted after the deadline because of computer problems (lost file, printer breakdowns, etc.) will be treated just like other late submissions. I have posted guidelines for the paper assignment at my website.

All papers will address one of two issues, based on a close reading of Bernal Diaz' The Conquest of New Spain: 1) how did the Spanish justify the destruction of Aztec society? or 2) how was a small band of Spanish soldiers able to conquer a mighty empire in the central Mexican valley?

The paper must follow the required methods of citing primary and secondary sources, and it must also include a formal bibliography. I require students to use footnotes or endnotes in the proper format. Inter-textual citations (notes within parentheses inside the text) are unacceptable.

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense. According to the Academic Integrity Policy (St. Michael’s College Responsibilities, Rights and Rules), plagiarism is the presentation of "another person's ideas as your own, by directly quoting or indirectly paraphrasing, without properly citing the original source." The penalties for plagiarism in this course can range from receiving a failing grade for the plagiarized assignment to receiving a failing grade in the course. In some cases plagiarism can result in suspension or expulsion from the college. If a student is in doubt whether a source should or should not be cited, (s)he should play it safe and cite the source. For more information on plagiarism, see the Student Handbook. I routinely spot-check papers for evidence of plagiarism.

REQUIRED TEXTS FOR PURCHASE:

Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The Conquest of New Spain (Harmondsworth, U. K.: Penguin, 1963)

Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther, Discourse on Free Will (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1961).

Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (Harmondsworth, U. K.: Viking Penguin, 1995).

Marguerite of Navarre, The Heptameron (New York: Viking Penguin).

Thomas More, Utopia (Harlan Davidson: Crofts Classics).

Michel de Montaigne, Essays. Trans. J. M. Cohen (Harmondsworth, U. K.: Penguin, 1958).

Petrarch, Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works, trans. with an introduction and notes by Mark Musa (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1985).

William Shakespeare, The Tempest (New York: Viking Penguin).

ON RESERVE:

Italian Feminist Poems from the Middle Ages to the Present (New York: Feminist Press, 1986).

SYLLABUS

Introduction Jan. 11

The Italian Renaissance and Northern Humanism

Petrarch (d. 1374), Introduction

and "The Letter to Posterity";

Maps: Europe, 1360 (online) and

Northern and Central Italy During the Renaissance (online) Jan. 13

Petrarch, "The Ascent of Mount Ventoux" Jan. 15 (Quizz #1)

Petrarch, Canzoniere, Part 1 Jan. 18