The History of the Later Middle Ages:



The History of the Later Middle Ages:

Europe and the Mediterranean, 1100-1500

HIST 127 - Bowman - Spring 2009

Seitz House 11, bowmanj@kenyon.edu, 427 - 5322

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This course surveys the history of the later Middle Ages in Europe and the Mediterranean. Relying mainly on primary sources, the course covers the renaissance of the twelfth century, controversies surrounding the nature of political order, the Crusades, mendicant and monastic spiritualities, scholasticism, the rise of universities, the devastation of the Black Death, and the Hundred Years’ War.

Required Texts

• Crisis of Church and State, ed. Brian Tierney

• Galbert of Bruges, The Murder of Charles the Good

• The Letters of Abelard and Heloise

• Joinville and Villehardouin, Chronicles of the Crusades

• Boccaccio, The Decameron

• The Trial of Joan of Arc, trans. Daniel Hobbins

• Robert Bartlett, The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization, and Cultural Change

• Joseph Strayer, On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State

Course Requirements

There are a total of 1000 possible points to earn in this class. Everyone must complete the first two components of coursework listed below. Together these are worth up to 400 points. You must also choose two components from the list of six assignments from the list that follows. For more information about semester grades, see the final page of the syllabus.

|Provinhas |Over the course of the semester, there will be five short, unannounced quizzes. I will |200 points |

| |use the four highest of your five scores to figure this portion of your final grade. |(4 x 50) |

| |There will be no retakes, no excuses, and no discussions about retakes or excuses. If you| |

| |miss a quiz because you are not in class, you will receive a zero for that quiz. | |

|Participation and |In order to participate in class, you must attend class and you must complete assigned |200 points |

|Professionalism |readings by class time. You must be prepared to discuss assigned questions and to think | |

| |about connections between any given day’s reading assignment and everything that has come | |

| |before. If you hope to earn a high grade, you must participate regularly, energetically, | |

| |and thoughtfully. If you miss more than three class periods, your grade will drop swiftly| |

| |and irrevocably. | |

Below is a list of six assignments, each worth up to 300 points. Select two of these to complete. Think about your schedule and about the kind of work that you would most like to accomplish in the course. In class on January 20, you will indicate which assignments you will complete and when. You must submit all assignments by May 5 at 3:00 pm.

|Response Papers |Write four 2-page response papers related to the reading. You will choose due dates but |300 points |

| |there are a few guidelines you must follow: (1) submit each response paper by 9:00 PM the |(4 x 75) |

| |day before the class on which we discuss the reading, (2) identify your submission dates in | |

| |advance, (3) submit no more than one response paper during any given week of class and (4) | |

| |submit two of the four response papers by February 26. | |

|Short Papers |Write two 4-5 page papers on one of several possible assigned topics. You will choose |300 points |

| |submission dates for each, but at least one must be submitted by March 17. |(2 x 150) |

|Research Paper |Over the course of the semester, write a 12-page research paper focused on a topic formulated|300 points |

| |in consultation with me. If you choose this option, you will meet with me early in the | |

| |semester (by January 26), so that I can approve the topic and give you some guidance about | |

| |how to proceed. You are strongly encouraged to check in with me regularly about your | |

| |progress. | |

|Source Study |Choose a single primary source from one of the on-line sources or from Crisis of Church and |300 points |

| |Stateand answer a series of questions about the source and how we might use it as historical | |

| |evidence. | |

|Presentation |Individually or in a group of up to three students, give a 15- minute presentation on a topic|300 points |

| |of your choosing. | |

|Final Exam |A two-hour final exam covering the entire semester. May 7, 8:30 am. Seniors may not take |300 points |

| |the final exam. | |

Readings

|Week 1 |Preliminaries |

|January 13 |Introduction: The Middle Ages |

| | |

|January 15 |Holy War and the Expansion of Europe |

| |Fulk of Chartres, Urban II at Clermont, |

| | |

| |Population in Medieval Europe, |

| | |

| |Bartlett, Making of Europe, 1-23 |

| |What inspires Urban II’s speech at Clermont? What does he instruct his listeners to do? |

| | |

|Week 2 |Violence in Jerusalem and Bruges |

|January 20 |The Conquest of Jerusalem |

| |Fulk of Chartres, Capture of Jerusalem (1099), |

| |Solomon bar Samson, Mainz (1096), |

| | |

| |Anna Comnena, Crusaders in Constantinople, |

| |Bartlett, Making of Europe, 24-105 |

| |Which of these accounts of the First Crusade is most trustworthy? |

| | |

|January 22 |Law, Order, and Chaos |

| |The Murder of Charles the Good, chapters 1-19 |

| |What is a count? How does one become a count? What powers and responsibilities do counts have? |

| | |

|Week 3 |Obligations and Authorities |

|January 27 |Personal and Political Obligations |

| |The Murder of Charles the Good, chapters 20-122 |

| |Fulbert on Feudal Obligations, |

| | |

| |What role do oaths play in social and political life during the Middle Ages? What institutions or ideas contribute to |

| |political cohesion or fragmentation? |

| | |

|January 29 |Varieties of Power |

| |Crisis of Church and State, 29-95 |

| |Where do these writers disagree about the foundation of political order? |

| | |

|Week 4 |Racy Intellectuals |

|February 3 |New Uses of the Past |

| |Letters of Abelard and Heloise, Introduction and Historia calamitatum |

| |Peter Abelard, Sic et Non, |

| | |

| |What relation, if any, do you see between the Sic et Non and the Historia calamitatum? |

| | |

|February 5 |New Schools |

| |Letters of Abelard and Heloise, Letters 2 and 4 |

| |Anselm on God’s Existence, |

| | |

| |Life of Students at Paris, |

| | |

| |Compare student life in medieval Paris with that in modern Gambier. |

| | |

|Week 5 |Management (Monastic and Military) |

|February 10 |Portrait of a Monastery |

| |Jocelin of Brakelond, Chronicle of Bury St. Edmunds |

| | |

| |Start reading Villehardouin, Conquest of Constantinople. |

| |Describe the relationship between monks and the people who live near monasteries. |

| | |

|February 12 |Facing East: Crusade and Pilgrimage |

| |Villehardouin, Conquest of Constantinople, at least to 107 |

| |What does Villehardouin tell us about the organization of the crusading army? |

| | |

|Week 6 |Kings |

|February 17 |Kings and Conquests |

| |Finish Villehardouin, Conquest of Constantinople |

| |Joinville, Life of Saint Louis, 163-200 |

| |What happens after the conquest of Constantinople? |

| | |

|February 19 |Kings and Laws |

| |Joinville, The Life of St. Louis, 201-353 |

| |Arab Account of Louis’ Crusade, |

| |Do the Muslim and Christian accounts of Louis’ Crusade agree? |

| | |

|Week 7 |Tyrants and Popes |

|February 24 |Boundary Disputes |

| |John of Salisbury’s Policraticus |

| | |

| |Crisis of Church and State, 97-149 |

| |What is the relationship between law and kingship in Joinville and John of Salisbury? Point to two or three differences|

| |in the understanding of papal power. |

| | |

|February 26 |New Orders |

| |Magna Carta |

| | |

| |Canons of the Fourth Lateran Council |

| |Joseph Strayer, On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State |

| |What components of the modern state were developed during the Middle Ages? What links, if any, do you see between |

| |Strayer’s argument sources we’ve read? |

| |*** Spring Break *** |

| | |

|Week 8 |Mendicants and Money-Men |

|March 17 |Brother Sun and the Hounds of God |

| |Thomas of Celano, Life of Francis |

| | |

| |Barbara Rosenwein and Lester Little, “Social Meaning in the Monastic and Mendicant Spiritualities,” Past & Present 63 |

| |(1974): 4-32 (JSTOR) |

| |What is the difference between a monk and a mendicant? |

| | |

|March 19 |Trade, Prosperity, Time |

| |Accounts of Medieval Fairs and Markets |

| |The Village of Wharram Percy, |

| | |

| |Steven Epstein, “Business Cycles and the Sense of Time in Medieval Genoa,” Business History Review 62 (1988): 238-60. |

| |(JSTOR) |

| |Bartlett, Making of Europe, 106-96 |

| |How (if at all) does Epstein’s argument complement Bartlett’s? |

| | |

|Week 9 |From Philosophy to Disease |

|March 24 |The Eternity of the World |

| |Ibn Rushd, Intro, 1st and 2nd problems |

| | |

| |Thomas Aquinas on the Eternity of the world |

| |Joseph Buijs, “Religion and Philosophy in Maimonides, Averroes, and Aquinas,” Medieval Encounters 8 (2002): 160-183. |

| |(EJC) |

| |What do Ibn Rushd and Thomas Aquinas have in common? |

| | |

|March 26 |The Frailty of the Flesh |

| |The Famine of 1315 |

| | |

| |The Jacquerie |

| | |

| |Peasant Uprising of 1381 |

| | |

| |Crisis of Church and State, 159-192 |

| |Boccaccio, Decameron, Prologue; I: intro. |

| |What are the causes of political unrest in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries? Are they the same as those in, for |

| |example, twelfth-century Bruges? |

| | |

|Week 10 |History and Literature |

|March 31 |Italian Cities |

| |Boccaccio, Decameron, I: 1-10, conclusion; II: intro, 1-5, conclusion. |

| |Sergio Tognetti, “The development of the Florentine silk industry: a positive response to the crisis of the fourteenth |

| |century,” Journal of Medieval History 31 (2005): 55-69 (EJC) |

| |What are Boccaccio’s chief interests and concerns in the Decameron? |

| | |

|April 2 |No Class |

| | |

|Week 11 |History and Literature (II) |

|April 7 |And Art |

| |Boccaccio, Decameron, III: intro, 1, 2, 4, 8, 10, conclusion; IV: intro, 1, 2, 4, 9, conclusion; V: intro, 9; VI, |

| |intro, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, conclusion. |

| |Quentin Skinner, “Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Buon Governo Frescoes: Two Old Questions, Two New Answers,” Journal of the |

| |Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 62 (1999): 1-28 (JSTOR) |

| | |

|April 9 |Boccaccio Concluded |

| |Boccaccio, Decameron, VII: intro, 1, 2, 4, conclsuion; VIII: intro, 1, 4, 5, 8, conclusion; IX: intro, 1, 2, 6, |

| |conclusion; X: intro, 1, 9, conclusion. |

| |Of all the stories we have read in the Decameron, identity two that you think teach us something significant about the |

| |history of medieval Europe. Be prepared to describe what we can learn from them. |

| | |

|Week 12 |Hundred Years’ War |

|April 14 |Joan of Arc |

| |The Trial of Joan of Arc, 1-117. |

| |What are the strengths and weaknesses of trial transcripts as historical evidence? |

| | |

|April 16 |Gender Trouble |

| |The Trial of Joan of Arc, 118-213 |

| |Book of Margery Kempe, |

| | |

| |Gratian on Marriage |

| | |

| |The Bible on marriage |

| | |

| |What does Margery’s Book tell us about private and social life in this period? Do these three primary sources (Margery |

| |Kempe, Gratian, and the Bible) offer a coherent view of marriage in premodern Europe? |

| | |

|Week 13 |Margins? |

|April 21 |Jews in Medieval Europe |

| |Grant of Privileges to Jews |

| | |

| |Siete Partidas |

| | |

| |Business Partnership between a Christian and a Jew |

| | |

| |S. D. Goitein, “The Documents of the Cairo Geniza as a Source for Mediterranean Social History,” Journal of the American|

| |Oriental Society 80 (1960): 91-100. (JSTOR) |

| |What factors condition relations between Christians and Jews in the Middle Ages? |

| | |

|April 23 |Nature and Deviance |

| |Peter Damian on sins against nature |

| | |

| |Alan of Lille, the Plaint of Nature |

| | |

| |Cross-Dressing Prostitute |

| | |

| |Homoerotic texts |

| | |

| |Thomas Aquinas on unnatural Sex |

| | |

| |What do Peter Damian, Alan of Lille, and Thomas Aquinas mean when they refer to “nature”? |

| | |

|Week 14 |New Worlds |

|April 28 |Atlantic Expansion |

| |Bartlett, Making of Europe, Bartlett, Making of Europe, 197-314. |

| |Explain the title of Robert Bartlett’s book. |

| | |

|April 30 |Critics and Controversies |

| |Christopher Columbus, Extracts from Journal |

| | |

| |Christopher Columbus, Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella |

| | |

| |Vasco da Gama, Round Africa to India |

| | |

| |Las Casas Short Account, read three chapters and conclusion, |

| | |

| |How would Columbus and da Gama respond to Las Casas? |

Formulating Semester Grades

There are 1000 possible points to be earned in this course. During the semester, all assignments will be given numerical grades. The only letter grade you will receive in History 127 will be the final semester grade. In class, I will discuss in greater detail the grading criteria for each assignment. The point values assigned to assignments should allow you to monitor your progress. The system is designed to let you know exactly what you must do to achieve a particular grade in this course. If you have questions during the semester, come talk to me.

|TOTAL POINTS |SEMESTER GRADE |TOTAL POINTS |SEMESTER GRADE |

|990-1000 |A+ |790-819 |B- |

|930-989 |A |770-819 |C+ |

|890-929 |A- |720-769 |C |

|880-889 |B+ |690-719 |C- |

|820-879 |B |590-689 |D |

| | |Below 690 |F |

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