Fall 2009

HIS 383C • 2-LIT EUR HIST: EARLY MOD PER

Course Description

The purpose of this seminar is to introduce students to the historical literature of early modern Europe, which covers the period from about 1450 to about 1750. We will read many of the "classics" in the field, as well as some of the more recent studies that have given new direction to historical research and writing. There will be broad coverage of topics and thematic sub-fields, including the Renaissance, the Reformation, absolutism and the state, economic and agrarian history, the Annales school, the history of gender and sexuality, popular culture, European expansion and colonization, the history of political thought, the history of science and the new cultural history. We will read this literature not only to gain a basic knowledge of the period but also to assess the contribution these works have made to early modern European historiography. We will pay special attention to the different methodologies that the authors of these works have employed. Students will be expected to draft a set of questions for discussion in two of the weekly meetings of the seminar, participate in the class discussions, and write a historiographical essay.

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