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Academic Year 2005/2006

The Medieval City as Cultural Vector
HIST 399 SP
Crosslistings:
MDST 299

This seminar will engage in research into the development of the cultural role of the medieval city. We shall examine the city as a medium for ideas, practices and institutions from the 11th century. Special attention will be paid to four revolutionary institutions: the cathedral complex, the university, the friary, and the capital city. The role of the city in disturbing the status quo as well as cultivating it will emerge from an examination of its religious functions as pilgrimage, preaching, and penitential center, but also as a center for heretical ideas and practices, including the Reformation.

MAJOR READINGS

Tentative list:
Jacques Le Goff, YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE
Lester K. Little, POVERTY AND THE PROFIT MOTIVE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Robert Brentano, ROME BEFORE AVIGNON
Sylvia Thrupp, THE MERCHANT CLASS OF MEDIEVAL LONDON
Chaucer, THE CANTERBURY TALES
Boccaccio, THE DECAMERON
Steven Ozment, THE REFORMATION IN THE CITIES
Barbara A. Hanawalt, Kathryn L. Reyerson (editors), CITY AND SPECTACLE IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE
Louise Olga Fradenburg, CITY, MARRIAGE, TOURNAMENT: ARTS OF RULE IN LATE MEDIEVAL SCOTLAND

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Two papers; class participation

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006

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