Time Schedule:
Robert C. Stacey
HSTAM 535
Seattle Campus
Field course. Surveys European history from ca. 1250 to 1500, with particular attention to historiography.
Class description
This is a graduate level field course, open only to enrolled graduate students. It surveys recent secondary literature on European history between 1250 and 1550, with a focus on issues of periodization. Among the questions we will be considering in the seminar are the following: Do these centuries constitute a coherent historical period? If so, what were the principle characteristics of this period that impart to it its coherence? And how does categorizing these centuries as “the later middle ages” affect one’s view of the Renaissance and the Reformation, two alternative characterizations for some portion at least of these same centuries?
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Graduate standing in a relevant UW department (History, Romance Languages, Germanics, Scandinavian, English, Art History, Comparative Religion) with a specialization in either the medieval or the early modern period. All assigned readings will be in English language materials.
Class assignments and grading
Class Assignments and Grading Weekly seminar discussions of common assigned readings, averaging about 300 pages per week of reading; plus essay (usually historiographical, although other types of papers can be arranged) of 20-25 pages on some aspect of the period.
Required Reading J. Huizinga, The Waning (or Autumn) of the Middle Ages M. Keen, Chivalry S. Ozment, The Age of Reform M. Lambert, Medieval Heresy C. Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast M. Rubin, Corpus Christi E. Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars D. Nirenberg, Communities of Violence M. Rocke, Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence R. Karras, Common Women
Discussion 50% Papers 50%
