Part I: The Waning of the Middle Ages

Week 1: (Jan. 17-21) A "Renaissance" of What?

Tuesday, Jan. 18: Dante's Medieval Cosmology
Required Reading: Dante, Inferno, Canto I (PCOPY)
Thursday, Jan. 20: The "European Crisis" of the Fourteenth Century

Required Reading: Petrarch, The Secret, pp. 45-102 ("Prologue," Dialogues 1, 2)

 

Part II: The Italian Renaissance

Week 2: (Jan. 24-28): The Beginnings of Humanism

Tuesday, Jan. 25: Religion and the Return to Antiquity
Required Reading: Petrarch, The Secret, pp. 102-148 (Dialogue 3); Petrarch, "Letters to Boccacio," in Bocaccio, The Decameron, pp. 173-84.
Thursday, Jan. 27: The New Lay Culture in Italy
Required Reading: Bocaccio, The Decameron, pp. 1-37 ("Author's Preface and Introduction," Day 1).

Week 3: (Jan. 31-Feb. 4): The Humanist Revival of Antiquity

Tuesday, Feb. 1: Pagan Learning and Secular Authority
Required Reading: Bocaccio, The Decameron, pp. 37-97 (Days 2-4)
Thursday, Feb. 3: Antiquity and the Civic Ideal in Renaissance Italy
Required Reading: Bocaccio, The Decameron, pp. 98-147 (Days 5-10, "Author's Conclusion").

Week 4: (Feb. 7-11): The Challenge of Renaissance Paganism

Tuesday, Feb. 8: Classical Learning and the New "Renaissance Man"
Required Reading: Pico Della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man; Machiavelli, "Letter to Vettori, " in Machiavelli, The Prince, pp. 126-129.
Thursday, Feb. 10:  Which Machiavelli?
Required Reading: Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince , pp. 3-88; excerpts from the Discourses on Titus Livius, in The Prince, pp. 89-94.

Week 5: (Feb. 14-18): Exporting and Importing the Italian Renaissance

Tuesday, Feb. 15:  Varieties of Renaissance Culture in Fifteenth-Century Europe
Required Reading: Paper Preparation
Thursday, Feb. 17: Humanism in Northern Europe

*** FIRST CRITICAL ESSAY DUE IN CLASS ***

 

Part III:  The Early Modern Crisis of Authority

Week 6: (Feb. 21-25):  Politics and Society in Renaissance Europe

Tuesday, Feb. 22: The "Military Revolution" and the New Monarchies
Required Reading: Baldesar Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier, pp. 31-104 107-159 (Dedicatory Letter, Book I, first part of Book II).
Thursday, Feb. 24: Civility and the Rise of Court Culture
Required Reading: Baldesar Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier, pp. 281-345 (Book IV).

Week 7: (Feb. 28-Mar. 4): Renaissance Authorites and Conflicts: Clergy, State, and Laity

Tuesday, Mar. 1: The "Printing Revolution" and the Republic of Letters
Required Reading: Erasmus, Praise of Folly, pp. 3-73.
Thursday, Mar. 3: Rome under the Renaissance Popes
Required Reading: Erasmus, Praise of Folly, pp. 73-134. (Feel free to skip the sections marked by a long, straight line in the left margin. The text can be understood without reading these sections).

Week 8: (Mar. 7-11): Cultural Authority in Renaissance Europe

Tuesday, Mar. 8: The Erasmian Ideal and its Critics
Required Reading: Exam Preparation
Thursday, Mar. 10:  Mid-Term Exam In cLass

Week 9: (Mar. 18-22): Spring Vacation

 

Part IV:  New Religions, New Worlds

Week 10: (Mar. 21-25): European Expansion

Tuesday, Mar. 22: The Colombian Encounter
Required Reading: Schwartz, Victors and Vanquished, pp. 43-126
Thursday, Mar. 24: Spanish Imperialism in the Americas

*** Class will meet in the James Ford Bell Library, 4th Floor Wilson Library ***

Required Reading: Schwartz, Victors and Vanquished, pp. 127-213.

Week 11: (Mar. 28-Apr. 1): The Christian Church Divided

Tuesday, Mar. 29: Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation/Revolution
Required Reading: Martin Luther, Christian Liberty
Thursday, Mar. 31: Protestant Expansion and its Enemies

*** Class will meet in the James Ford Bell Library, 4th Floor Wilson Library ***

Required Reading: John Calvin, from The Institutes of Christian Religion ("The Discipline of the Church" and "On Predestination"); Ignatius Loyola, from Spiritual Exercises, and the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum of 1599. (PCOPY)

Week 12: (Apr. 4-8): Heathens and Heretics: Christendom in Crisis

Tuesday, Apr. 5: The European Wars of Religion
Required Reading: Jean de Léry, Voyage to the Land of Brazil, pp. 3-14, 56-77, 112-177.
Thursday, Apr. 7: Decentering Man in Renaissance Europe

*** Class will meet in the James Ford Bell Library, 4th Floor Wilson Library ***

Required Reading: Jean de Léry, Voyage to the Land of Brazil, pp. 3-14, 56-77, 112-177.

Week 13: (Apr. 11-15):

Tuesday, Apr. 12: The European "Crisis of Authority" c. 1600
Required Reading: Paper Preparation

Thursday, Apr. 14:

*** Field Trip: Minneapolis Institute of Arts***

*** J.F. BELL CRITICAL TEXTUAL/VISUAL ANALYSIS DUE IN CLASS ***

 

Part V:  Toward a New Cultural Order in Europe

Week 14: (Apr. 18-22): The "New Science"

Tuesday, Apr. 19: Copernicus and the New Cosmology

Required Reading: Galileo, The Starry Messenger, in Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, pp. 21-58

Thursday, April 20: Galileo's Astronomy and Mechanics
Required Reading: Galileo, Letters on Sunspots and The Assayer, in Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, pp. 87-144, 231-280.

Week 15: (Apr. 25-29): Reshaping Cultural Authority circa 1600

Tuesday, Apr. 26: The Trial of Galileo

Required Reading: Galileo, Letter to Grand Duchess Christina, in Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, pp. 173-216

Thursday, Apr. 28: The Birth of the Artist

*** M.I.A. CRITICAL VISUAL ANALYSIS PAPER DUE IN CLASS ***

Required Reading to be done in class: Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, "Author's Dedication," "Introduction" (PCOPY)

Week 16: (May 2-6): Rethinking the Renaissance Cosmological Challenge

Tuesday,May 3: Lear's Choice: The Conundrum of Renaissance Society and Politics

Required Reading: William Shakespeare, King Lear, pp. 1-94 (Acts I-III)

Thursday, May 5: Madness and Reconciliation in King Lear

Required Reading: William Shakespeare, King Lear, pp. 95-145 (Acts IV-V)

 

**** FINAL EXAM ****
(Saturday, May 14, 1:30 – 3:30 PM)