Fall 2004

HIS 344M • Everyday Life in Early Mod Eur

Course Description

By a huge majority, most people who lived in early modern Europe were neither royalty, nor aristocrats, nor famous writer, painters, or musicians. So who were these people and how did they lives their lives?

This course will explore the daily lives of working European families between the Black Death (1348-1353) and the French Revolution in 1789. The many issues we will address include the following: What did men and women do for a living in those centuries? How did they support their families? How were men’s experiences different from women’s? How did they raise their children and take care of their elderly? Why did they believe in witches? How did they learn to shop? What did they think about politics?

Texts

Assigned texts may include: Natalie Davis, THE RETURN OF MARTIN GUERRE David Noble Cook and Alexandra Cook, GOOD FAITH AND TRUTHFUL IGNORANCE: A CASE OF TRANSATLANTIC BIGAMY David Seaver, WALLINGTON’S WORLD: AN ARTISAN IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON Steven Ozment, ThE BURGERMEISTER’S DAUGHTER: SCANDAL IN A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN TOWN Plus a packet of articles

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