Class Schedule

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Date	Topic/Readings - For response guidelines, click here
August 22	Introduction
August 24	The Middle Ages, I: Political foundations Why the Middle Ages?  A Visual Comparison The European Middle Ages, I: Fragmentation, Centralization, and the Church (Notes)
August 26	The Middle Ages, II: Economic foundations
August 29	The Middle Ages, III: Society and social order
August 31	Medieval Culture, I: Christianity Text chapter: "Religion and the Renaissance Church"  (Part I, Part II)
September 2	Medieval Culture, II: The 9th- and 12th-century renaissances
September 5	NO CLASS MEETING - LABOR DAY
September 7	“Peace” and “Isolation”: Why Italy?
September 9	Continuation
September 12	The Italian Recipe for Change, I: The rise of the city-state For the lecture notes, click here. Note: you must read this lecture prior to today's meeting, as we will not discuss this material in class.
September 14	. The Italian Recipe for Change, II: the Commercial Revolution                 For the lecture notes, click here. Note: you must read this lecture prior to today's meeting, as we will not discuss this material in class.
September 16	The Italian Recipe for Change, III: Social developments
September 19	Continuation
September 21	Discussion: Social developments: real and imagined communities (Click on the discussion title for the guide questions.) Ø Trexler, Richard.  “The Friendship of Citizens,” in Public Life in Renaissance Florence.  Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.  Pages 131- 58. (Part I, Part II) Ø Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane. "'Kin, Friends, and Neighbors': The Urban Territory of a Merchant Family in 1400," in Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1985.  Pages 68-93.  (Part I, Part II). QUIZ #1: Italian Renaissance Society
September 23	Did Women have a Renaissance?: basic structures of Renaissance gendered life  Ø Kelly-Gadol, Joan.  "Did Women Have a Renaissance?" in Bridenthal, Renate, ed.  Becoming Visible: Women in European History.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1987. (Part I, Part II) Ø Kuehn, Thomas.  "Understanding Gender Inequality in Renaissance Europe," in Journal of Women's History, v8 n2 (Summer 1996), 59-80. (Part I, Part II)
September 26	Continuation
September 28	Discussion: Did Women have a Renaissance? (Click on the discussion title for instructions.) Ø Readings to be announced. Response Paper #1 due: Women in the Renaissance
September 30	The Italian Recipe for Change, IV: A New Intellectual World Part I: The Intellectual Proto-Renaissance: Dante, Boccaccio, and the rise of the Vernacular
October 3	Part II: An Intellectual Revival: Renaissance Humanism
October 5	Discussion: Petrarch Ø Kohl and Witt, 3-9, 14-22, 35-78 Ø “The Ascent of Mount Ventoux” Ø “A Disapproval of the Unreasonable Use of Dialectic”
October 7	Civic Humanism: inception and values Ø Readings to be announced.
October 10	Discussion: Civitas, and the active vs. the contemplative life Ø Kohl and Witt, 81-118, 121-175 Response Paper #2 due: The active vs. the contemplative life
October 12	Renaissance Religion, Humanism, and the Church
October 14	Continuation
October 17	Cultural Reflections: Early Renaissance Art For the PowerPoint presentation, click here.
October 19	Exam Review For the review sheet, click here.
October 21	First Term Examination
October 24	A Shift in Character, I: From the city-state to the principality For the lecture notes, click here. Note: you must read this lecture prior to today's meeting. A Shift in Character, II: Neo-Platonism
October 26	Continuation
October 28	Discussion: Valla’s “Dialogue on Free Will” Discussion: The Neo-platonic ideal Ø Lorenzo Valla’s “Dialogue on Free Will,” selections. Ø Pico della Mirandola’s “On the Dignity of Man,” selections.
October 31	The Great Renaissance Centers, I: Florence Ø Leonardo Bruni’s Panegyric to the City of Florence, selections. Ø Further readings to be announced.
November 2	The Great Renaissance Centers, II: Venice Ø Muir, Edward. “The Myth of Venice,” in Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice.  Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1981; pages 13-61.* Ø Further readings to be announced.
November 4	The Great Renaissance Centers, III: Rome Ø Readings to be announced
November 7	Isolation, no more: The Revival of France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire:
November 9	Continuation
November 11	Continuation
November 14	Discussion: The Italian Wars and Machiavelli’s The Prince: can Italy be saved? Ø For the lecture notes, click here. Note: you must read this lecture prior to today's meeting. Ø Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Read the entire book. QUIZ # 2: The Revival of France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire
November 16	Continuation Paper #3 due: Machiavelli’s The Prince
November 18	A Shift in Character, III: The rise of the court
November 21	NO CLASS MEETING - Thanksgiving
November 23	NO CLASS MEETING – Thanksgiving
November 25	NO CLASS MEETING – Thanksgiving
November 28	Exemplary Renaissance Courts: Urbino and Milan
November 30	Discussion: The Book of the Courtier Ø Castiglione, 31-104, 281-322 Paper #4 due: Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier
December 2	The Renaissance Beyond Italy For the lecture notes, click here. Note: you must read this lecture prior to today's meeting, as we will not discuss this material in class.
December 5	Continuation
December 7	Cultural Reflections: Late Renaissance Art
December 14 (Final Exam Week)	Second Term Examination