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Humanities II (680:022) |
Fall 2010
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Gregory Bruess |
Office Hours: |
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Seerley 334; Phone# 3-2752 |
MWF 11 – 12 & by Appt.
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E-mail: bruess@uni.edu |
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EUROPE
FROM 1300 TO 1789
The
purpose of this course is to introduce students to European history, society,
and culture with an emphasis on supplemental historical readings. It is my hope that each student will
recapture the spirit of European life as it underwent a series of dramatic
changes brought about by the transformation of a predominantly agricultural,
aristocratic, extremely religious, and provincial society in the fourteenth
century to a society in the late eighteenth century that spanned the globe and
was on the cusp of industrialization, liberalism, and increasing secularism. Throughout this transformation, social,
economic and political change was reflected in the arts of the time. In this course students will read a number of
literary texts created during this four-hundred-year period and learn to
appreciate them not only as great works of literature but as products of their
time.
This
course will consist of readings and lectures.
Students will be evaluated on the basis of their performance on the
following: 1) five quizzes (30%) and 2)
four multiple-choice examinations (70%).
There are ABSOLUTELY NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES OR EXAMS without PRIOR
NOTIFICATION of an absence. Students are
allowed a total of five absences, after which the final course grade decreases by no less than 1/3 a letter grade
dependant on the total number of absences.
Even with prior notification, however, it remains the instructor’s
discretion to allow the student to make up a quiz or exam. Students who chronically miss class or
regularly scheduled exams and/or quizzes will not be allowed to make up exams
or quizzes. Conversely, of course,
students who have an excellent attendance record will benefit.
NOTE: Examination 3 is on November 19; the Friday before Thanksgiving recess. Under no circumstances will excused absences be accepted for this date. Do not make any travel plans that require you to leave before noon on Friday, November 19! Also, regarding the final examination, the History Department does not accept requests for an earlier final examination date or time.
I
encourage you to utilize the Academic Learning Center's free assistance with
writing, math, reading, and learning strategies. UNI’s Academic Learning Center
is located in 008 ITTC. Visit the website at http://www.uni.edu/unialc/ or phone
319-273-2361 for more information.
Information
on this course is also available on the Web at http://www.uni.edu/bruess.
Finally,
if you encounter any problems during the course, please do not hesitate to see
me as soon as possible.
Have
a good semester!
Readings:
Spielvogel, Western Civilization.
Vol. B, 7th ed.
Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales.
More,
Utopia
Shakespeare,
Hamlet. Penguin
Moliere, The
Bourgeois Gentleman or (Would-be Gentleman) in The Misanthrope and Other
Plays.
Lessing,
Nathan the Wise. Bedford/St. Martins.
Course
Outline
This
course outline is tentative and subject to change. Students are responsible for recording
changes as announced in class.
Topic 1: Crisis
in the Late-Middle Ages; Spielvogel, 11.
Aug
23 Introduction
Aug
25
Aug
27 Hundred Years’ War and Political Crises
Topic 2: Disintegration
in the Late-Middle Ages; Spielvogel, 11-12.
Aug
30 Ecclesiastical Crises and Popular Belief
Sep 1
Late
Medieval Society and Culture
Sep 3
Renaissance Society
Topic
3: The Origins of the Renaissance; Spielvogel, 12.
Sep 6 Labor Day
Sep 8
Renaissance
States
Sep
10 Quiz on Canterbury Tales
(Read:
Introduction; General Prologue, Knight’s Tale, Miller’s Tale, Prioress's Tale, Nun’s Priest’s Tale, Pardoner's Tale, Wife
of Bath’s Tale, Franklin's Tale, Merchant’s Tale, and the Prologue to each tale)
Topic
4: The Age of the Renaissance; Spielvogel, 12.
Sep
13 Intellectual
Rebirth
Sep
15 Artistic
Flowering
Sep
17 The Church
Study Guide
Topic
5: The Northern Humanists and the Age of
Reformation; Spielvogel, 13.
Sep
22 Crisis
of Faith and Christian Humanism
Sep
24 Luther and Reformation
Germany
Topic
6: Reformation Europe; Spielvogel, 13.
Sep
27
Sep 29 Spread of Protestant Reformation
Oct 1
Catholic Reformation
Topic
7: The Age of Discovery and Conquest; Spielvogel, 13-14.
Oct 4
Oct 6
Religious
Conflict and State Power
Oct 8
Conquest of the New World
Topic
8: War and Culture in the Sixteenth
Century; Spielvogel, 15.
Oct
11 Thirty
Years’ War
Oct
13 Art and Culture in the
Sixteenth Century
Oct
15 Quiz on Hamlet
EXAMINATION
2 - OCTOBER 18
Topic
9: The Search for Order in the
Seventeenth Century; Spielvogel, 15.
Oct
20-22 English Civil War and
Glorious Revolution
Topic
10: Absolutism and Its Limits; Spielvogel, 15.
Oct
25 Louis
XIV and Absolutism
Oct
27 Prussia and Austria
Oct 29
Peter the Great Transforms
Russia
Topic 11: A
New World View; Spielvogel, 16.
Nov 1
Shifting Cosmologies
Nov 3
A New Method of Thinking
Nov 5
Rationalism and Politics
Topic
12: The Fruits of Rationalism; Spielvogel, 16.
Nov 8
Rationalism
and Politics
Nov 10 Baroque Culture
Nov 12
EXAMINATION
3 – NOVEMBER 19
Topics
13: The Age of the Enlightenment; Spielvogel, 17.
Nov
15-17 Reason, Reform and the
“Republic of Letters”
Topic
14: Governing in the Age of the
Enlightenment; Spielvogel, 18.
Nov
29 - Politics of the
Enlightenment
Dec
3
Topic
15: Society, War and Culture in the Eighteenth
Century; Spielvogel, 18.
Dec 6 Society, Economy and War
Dec 8
The
Arts and Popular Culture
Dec 10 Quiz on Nathan
the Wise
EXAMINATION
4
9 AM Section (4) – WEDNESDAY,
DECEMBER 15 at 10 AM
10 AM Section (6) – MONDAY, DECEMBER
13 at 10 AM