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HIST262
Sophomore Seminar: The Customs of Europe
HIST262 FA
Crosslistings: MDST265
Not Currently Offered
This sophomore seminar aims to introduce students to the
basics of reading and writing history through the
examination of a large and controversial historical
subject. We shall examine the structures of belief and
practice through which Europeans from 500 till 1700 imagined
their relationship to natural and supernatural forces.
We shall focus on the ways in which magic, religion, and
rationality were intertwined and transformed each other.
Within this framework, we shall examine the powers of
non-Christian magic and witchcraft, the role of saints in
life and death, the miraculous and bureaucratic magic of
medieval Catholicism, the divine mystique of political and
judicial institutions, and the significance of rationality,
literacy, and the Reformation in transforming these issues.
The thematic approach of the course is intended to raise
large-scale issues of cultural continuities, the meaning of
historical innovation and conceptual revolutions, and the
ways that historians invoke concepts such as magic, the
supernatural, and religion to shape their arguments.
MAJOR READINGS
R. Kieckhefer, MAGIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES
E. Duffy, THE STRIPPING OF THE ALTARS
V. Flint, THE RISE OF MAGIC IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
S. Tambiah, MAGIC, SCIENCE, RELIGION AND THE SCOPE OF
RATIONALITY
P. Brown, THE CULT OF THE SAINTS
C. Ginzburg, ECSTASIES
K. Thomas, RELIGION AND THE DECLINE OF MAGIC
M. Bloch, THE ROYAL TOUCH
P. Geary, LIVING WITH THE DEAD IN THE MIDDLE AGES
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Class participation in
discussions; four essays.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS
As a sophomore
seminar the course will teach students to evaluate the
relation of historical documents and evidence to historical
arguments, partly by regularly reading documents used by the
authors to make their points. In addition, the writing of
four papers will have as its major aim the teaching of the
technical requirements of good historical research,
argument, and writing. This will be an intense course,
which provides sophomores with the tools and opportunity for
thinking about how history is made, and will particularly
prepare students who are considering taking further history
courses.
Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting
or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the
first class, they will be dropped from the class list.
NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form
to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level: UG Credit: 1.00
Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS HIST
Prerequisites:
None
Last Updated on MAR-22-1999
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Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459