Spring 2003

Prof. Sommerville
Office: 218 Keene-Flint (hours MWF 9:30-10:30, M 11:30-12:30 and by appointment)
e-mail: jsommerv@history.ufl.edu

EUH 2001 is especially for those who have little background in European history. But those who have been over this period will find that the lectures sometimes contradict what you have learned in high school, which means that you should be here for all lectures and not depend on someone's sketchy notes.  Our focus will be on the development of society and culture and on the growth of political systems. We will not have time for a detailed chronicle of political events.

Attendance Policy:
Please drop this course now if you will be unable to attend regularly.  Others want to add it.  Past experience shows that if you miss 4 times you cannot get an A, miss 8 times you cannot get a B, etc.  Don't test these odds.  This course exists in the lectures more than in the  textbook because of the way textbooks are written.  That is why you need to be here every day.  Someone else's notes will remind them of what I said; they won't remind you of anything.

Food and open newspapers are not welcome in class.  Cellphones should be turned off.

Books to buy: (Text only available at Goerings at Bageland, 1717 NW 1st Ave.)
Kishlansky, et al., Civilization in the West, volume B: From 1350 to 1815 (Make sure you get volume B and not volume 2)
Strauss, Nuremberg in the Sixteenth Century (This is in a copypack available only at TIS, next to Leonardo's, formerly UBS)

Grading:
10% on the first short-answer quiz, Friday, Jan. 24 (covering chapters 11 and 12 in the text)
20% on the first hour exam, Monday, Feb. 10
10% on the second short-answer quiz, Friday, Feb. 28 (covering chapters 13 and 14 in the text)
20% on the second hour exam, Friday, March 21
20% on a 2000-word paper on an aspect of Strauss's book, due Monday, April 21.  These papers must be submitted in hard copy, not as e-mail attachments.  Guidelines for this assignment will be provided later.
20% on a final exam, Wednesday, April 30, 3 p.m., in our classroom

Hour exams will be essay type, with some choice of questions.  We will discuss how to prepare for and take essay exams a week ahead of time.

Make-ups are ONLY allowed BEFORE the regularly scheduled times.  Even doctor's notes do not change this.

The class adheres to the UF honesty policy regarding cheating and the use of copyrighted materials.

Students needing accommodation for disabilities must register with the Dean of Studetns Office to receive the documentation to bring to the instructor when requesting accommodation.

Course objectives:

• To help students place themselves in their historical context, socially, politically, and intellectually.
• To familiarize students with the concepts that historians use in interpreting this period of Europe's history, and the general outline of events.
• To help students read and write more discriminatingly.

Topics:
The essence of medieval history
The separation of power and ideology
Aristocratic culture
Medieval intellectual life
Revival of town life
Medieval decline
National monarchies
Political autonomy
Why did the Renaissance happen when it did?
Humanism and the good society
Luther's new departure
Sectarian radicalism
Spanish resurgence
French civil wars
Religious wars
English constitutionalism
France's Golden Age
Theory of political contract
Science as anti-intellectualism
Ancients versus Moderns
Enlightenment
England tries to stabilize
Eastern Europe and Enlightened despotism
Rousseau
Causes of the French Revolution
Do all revolutions go sour?