Goals and Approach:

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to a series of events and changes bearing on the religious, social and cultural complexion of Europe that took place chiefly in the 16th century. Collectively historians refer to these events as the Reformation. Because the Reformation took place not in one European society but many and responses to it encompassed all of Europe in one way or another, I call this course Age of Reformations. In our case this will mean a focus on the following regions/societies: Germany, Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, Britain and Italy. The plural Reformations is also a way of pointing out that the Reformation was a complex phenomenon that involved different groups of people in different ways. The Reformation for common folk was not necessarily the Reformation of kings and princes. The Reformation for Catholics was not what it was for those who became known as Protestants. Finally, this is a course in which we will also think about historians’ interpretations of these events. For just as those who participated in the Reformation had varied notions of what it was, so too have those who comment on it.

Chronologically, the course will take us from the mid-15th century into the 17th century, a span of about two centuries. We begin in what is now Germany, where the Reformation first took hold and where some of the central ideas, practices and beliefs that would lend shape to the Reformation first had their genesis. Germany is also a good place to begin because of its unique relationship to Italian society and Italian culture as well as its special relationship to the Catholic church in the 15th century. If being first is important, though, we should not assume the Reformation elsewhere was any less important. Thus, after looking at events in Germany and Switzerland between about 1450 and 1550 we will turn to Britain and the Low Countries (what are now the Netherlands and Belgium), two regions quite different from Germany and from one another. Having looked at how the Reformation came to these societies we will turn to an altogether different society, the kingdom of France. In France we will be looking at a society in which Protestantism took hold for a time, but ultimately ceded the field to the Catholic faith. Having looked at France, where Protestantism had some success, we will turn to Italy for our last regional case study. Italy was the seat of what became known as the Roman Catholic Church, so it should not be surprising that Catholicism remained the predominant faith there. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to assume that orthodox Catholicism was not challenged or that it was not renewing itself. At this point in the course we will also look at the broader context of what historians call the Catholic Reformations in Britain, the Netherlands and Spain. At the close of the course we will consider the longer term trajectory of the Reformation, the changes it wrought and some of the responses to it, which should take us through to the middle of the 17th century.

In this course you should strive to develop your own understanding of Europe’s Reformations both as contemporaries saw them and as historians and others know them now. As I place a particular emphasis both on written and oral expression, it is also my hope that you will each improve your abilities in these areas. Finally, it is my intention that each student leave this class with an understanding of the place of the Reformation in contemporary perceptions of European and North American culture.

Ideal Environment:

The heart of the class-room environment (for me) rests in respect, enthusiasm, and openness. This may sound general, so I will elaborate. Enthusiasm means a persistent willingness to tackle the problems that come up in the readings and assignments for each week. It does not mean that everyone always has to show up happy and cheerful, but readiness to make a contribution to class is a must. Respect in the classroom means valuing each person's participation, not because their ideas are the best (although you might think so), but because they are trying to make a contribution to the group. Openness lies in the freedom for people to express their thoughts and opinions, which includes scope for debate and disagreement with me or anyone else. The closer we approach this ideal environment, the more the classroom will be an effective space for clarifying, making manageable and even experimenting with the issues confronted in the course. This ideal may not always be achievable, but in my view we should always strive for it. Dramatic deviations from the ideal ought to be avoidable and I will be particularly hard on persons whose behavior makes it difficult for others to learn.

Requirements:

Course work consists of four elements: participation in discussion, informal writings, formal writings, and essay-based examinations.

Participation:

a. Preparation: In order to understand the lectures and participate in class discussions and other activities you will need to do the assigned readings. Please budget time to complete readings for the date in which they appear in the assignment and reading schedule. The readings are in three forms, which are listed below.

Textbook: Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1996)

Studies: Lyndal Roper, Oedipus & the Devil: Witchcraft, Sexuality and Religion in Early

Modern Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994)

Carlo Ginzberg, The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller, translated by John and Anne Tedeschi (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992)

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Carnival in Romans, translated by Mary Feeney (New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1979)

Sources: The Protestant Reformation, edited by Hans J. Hillerbrand (New York: Harper &

Row Publishers, Inc., 1984)

Additional source hand-outs as needed.

All of the above readings will be required for the course. Most important for an overview of the issues will be Carter Lindberg’s The European Reformations. The three monographs, the document collection edited by Hillerbrand and the in-class hand-outs will be the basis of many of our in-class discussions. The studies or monographs give snapshots of the Reformation in particular contexts while the primary sources will allow us to become familiar with processes of Reformation at first hand. I have adopted the approach of supplementing a single document collection with individual hand-outs to keep the costs of the course down for you as much as possible. Apart from the hand-outs, copies of all the required readings will be on reserve at the Clements Library.

b. Discussion: This may seem like a small thing and something unrelated to the real stuff (passing the exams and hammering out the papers). As this is an upper division course, however, I want to stress that participation in discussion will count in your grade and that active participation often improves performance in the pressure situations. In general, I will gauge participation on a daily basis with a check, check-plus, check-minus system. The only exception to this will be the day on which you are responsible for helping to lead class discussion. For this see below

c. Informal Writings: Occasionally I may assign short writing exercises to help focus our discussions. The emphasis will vary from paper to paper. Informal writing will also be graded with a check, check-plus, check-minus system and include comments.

d. Running Class Discussion: In this course I will call on each of you to take a turn at running the show for a portion of one of our meetings. On the meeting for which you sign up to do this, you and (if more than one person chooses the same day) your co-facilitators will each be responsible for writing up a critical analysis of some aspect of the secondary reading assigned for that day. This must be handed in two days before our meeting so that your classmates can have a chance to look it over. In class you will be responsible for setting up the class discussion and also for discussing your analysis of the reading for the day, including responding to any questions your fellow students might have. I will weigh in with background and context information where necessary, but otherwise this portion of each class will be your show. Your performance on this day will weigh very heavily in your participation grade.

e. Credit for Participation: Informal writing(s), class discussion and running class for one day will be worth 20% of the final grade. The single most important element in this grade will be your presentation, but daily participation on other days will also be very important.

Reaction Papers: You will have to write one primary source reaction paper (due in the fourth week of class) and two secondary source reaction papers for this course, the first one due in the sixth week and the second one due on the day of your class presentation. Each paper will account for about 10% of your total grade. Due dates for the papers are listed below. Guidelines for the papers will be provided.

Examinations: There will be one examination worth 20% of the total grade. The mid-term examination will be a mixture of essays and matching questions.

Structured Essay: In lieu of the standard end-of-term examination I will ask you to write a formal paper that addresses a question set by me. I will hand out the possible questions from which you may choose three weeks before the end of term. With my approval you may choose to address a question of your own design. As with the reaction papers, detailed guidelines will be forthcoming. The structured essay will count account for 30% of your total grade. A rough draft of it will come due in the tenth week of the term and the final draft is due on the last day of regular class meetings.

Late Papers: Late work will lose a half grade per day after the set due date. Barring a serious illness or other extenuating circumstance which can be documented, there will be no exceptions to this rule.

Incompletes: Incompletes will be granted on a case by case. Please come see me one week before the final examination is due if you think that you will need to take an incomplete. If you do not do this I will have difficulty in granting your request.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the representation of the work of another as your own. In all of the writing you do for this course you must make clear to me which ideas in a paper are your own and which come from someone else. This is especially important for any formal essays you write. In these such essays you must cite all primary and secondary sources you use in accordance with the proper conventions. I will hand out a sheet explaining the basics of citation before any formal essays come due. If for some reason you do not receive a copy of this hand-out, do not assume you will be exempt from following its guidelines. You are responsible for knowing what’s in the hand-out. The recommended penalties for plagiarism are a failing grade on the assignment for the first offense and failure of the course for a second offense. Please heed this warning.

Week 1 Introduction to the Reformation and its Historiography

Introduction: Why Study the Reformation in Today’s Society?

The Reformation and the Historians

Read: Lindberg, 1-23

Week 2 Religion and Society before the Reformation

Late Medieval Society and the Church

Read: Lindberg, 24-55, In-Class Hand-out

The Challenges of the Renaissance and Humanism

Read: Selection from Erasmus, The Praise of Folly

Week 3 Martin Luther and the First Reformation

Martin Luther’s Message and its Appeal

Read: Lindberg, 56-90

Hillerbrand, 1-29

In-Class Hand-out

The Reformation Takes Hold in Wittenberg

Read: Lindberg, 90-110

Hillerbrand, 29-42

In-Class Hand-out

The Reformation and the Poor

Read: Lindberg, 111-134

In-Class Hand-out

The German Peasants War

Read: Lindberg, 135-168

Hillerbrand, 63-87

In-Class Hand-out

The Anabaptists

Read: Lindberg, 199-220

Hillerbrand, 122-142

Week 5 The German Reformation Comes of Age

The Anabaptist Kingdom at Muenster

Read: Lindberg, 220-228

Roper, 79-103

In-Class Hand-out

Reformation of Magistrates and Princes in Germany

Read: Lindberg, 229-248

Roper, 37-78

The German Reformation and the Moral Order: The Construction of Gender

Read: Roper, 107-167

Turn-in: Secondary Source Reaction Paper

Week 6 Zwingli, Calvin and the Swiss Reformation

The Reformation Comes to Zürich

Read: Lindberg, 169-198

Hillerbrand, 108-121

John Calvin’s Geneva

Read: Lind berg, 249-274Hillerbrand, 172-221Turn In: Primary Source Reaction Paper.

Week 7 The Reformation in Northern Europe: Britain

Princely and Popular Reformation in England

Read: Lindberg, 308-322

Hillerbrand, 240-246

In-Class Hand-out

The Elizabethan Church in England and Scotland’s Presbyterian Reformation

Read: Lindberg, 323-334

Hillerbrand, 247-267

In-Class Hand-out

Week 8 The Reformation in the Low Countries: From Churches Under the Cross to the Dutch Republic’s Public Church

Take Midterm Examination

The Spanish Placards and the Churches Under the Cross

Read: Lindberg, 298-308

In-Class Hand-out

Pick up: Questions for Structured Essay

Calvinism or Arminianism?

Read: In-Class Hand-out

An Overview of the French Reformation

Read: Lindberg, 275-297

The Province of Dauphine in the early modern period

Read: Le Roy Ladurie, 1-78

The Beginnings of the Crisis in Romans (1579)

Read: Le Roy Ladurie, 79-152

Mardi Gras (1580)

Read: Le Roy Ladurie, 153-228

Civil War in Romans

Read: Le Roy Ladurie, 229-287

Turn in: Rough Draft of Structured Essay

Week 11 Italy and Popular Responses to the Catholic Reformation

An Overview of the Catholic Reformation(s)

Read: Lindberg, 335-356

Micro-history and the World of Menocchio

Read: Ginzburg, xiii-xxvi, 1-51

Pick Up: Corrected Rough Draft of Structured Essay

Week 12 The End of Menocchio and the Coming of the Second Wave of Reformation

Menocchio’s Cosmology

Read: Ginzburg, 51-86

Final Trial

Read: Ginzburg, 86-128

The Shadows of the Reformation in 17th century

Read: Lindberg, 357-374

Week 13 Witchcraft and the Confessionalization of Society

Confessionlization in Europe

Read: In-Class Hand-out

Watch: The Devils 1

Week 14 The Counter Reformation: Reaction or Evolution?

Witchcraft in 17th-Century Augsburg

Read: Roper, 199-225

Watch: The Devils 2

Society and the Devil in 17th-Century Europe

Read: Roper, 226-249

Read: In-Class Hand-out

Week 15 Interpreting the Reformation

Free-Thinkers and the End of Confessionalization

The Historian’s View of Europe’s Reformations

Review: A reading of your choice and prepare to discuss the interpretation of the Reformation offered therein.

Linking the Reformations to Contemporary Society: Open Discussion

Bring in: News items relating to religion in contemporary Western society

Turn in: Structured Essay