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Department of History The University of Chicago
Autumn 2002
What is civilization? Is it a singular ideal towards which all human communities are
(or should be) tending, or is it rather more fragmentary and contingent, i.e.
dependent on developments specific to particular places and times? If the former (as Voltaire thought), has it
ever been realized, and if so, when and where?
If the latter, is there such a thing as a human community that is not
civilized, or is “civilization” simply a term that we use to describe large and
more or less independent systems of human thought and behavior? Can there be such a thing as a “clash of
civilizations” or borrowing from one civilization to another? What relationship do colonial settlements
bear to their parent civilizations? The purpose of this course is to help students begin
to answer some of these questions by situating them within the study of one
such civilization (or civilizational system)—not coincidentally, the same
civilization in which the concept of “civilization” was itself developed. The course begins in the period more usually
associated with an absence of civilization in the European past—the so-called
“Dark” or “early Middle Ages”—and continues through that period in which
Europeans declared themselves now “enlightened” and so free of that same
past. Along the way—and it is important
for there to be a way, a path through space and time, and not simply a series
of themes—the course will consider both the ways in which Europeans defined
themselves (socially, intellectually, politically, and spiritually) and the
effects that these definitions had on their interactions with each other and
those outside of Europe with whom they came into contact. From this perspective, the goal of the
course is not so much to discover what is or has been unique in human history
to the development of European civilization (such a project would require a
more comparative approach), but rather, assuming that civilizations are
multiple and therefore at least conceptually distinct, to make clear the
historical contingency of that very uniqueness. REQUIRED BOOKS
Readings in Medieval History: The Later Middle Ages, ed. Patrick Geary, 2nd ed.
(Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 1998) [on reserve in full volume Readings in Medieval History, 2nd ed. (1997)
D113.R422 1998] = Geary Beowulf,
trans. Michael
Alexander (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1973, 2001) [PR1583.A3] Joinville and Villehardouin,
Chronicles of the Crusades, trans.
M.R.B. Shaw (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963) [D151.S53] Marco
Polo, Travels, trans. Ronald Latham
(Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1958) [G370.P7 1992] Dante Alighieri, The
Divine Comedy: Vol. II Purgatory,
trans. Mark Musa (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1981) Bernal Díaz, The Conquest of New Spain, trans. J. M.
Cohen (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1963) [F1230.D544] Martin Luther, Christian Liberty, trans. W.A. Lambert
and Harold J. Grimm (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1957) [BR332.D554 1967] John Locke, A Letter
Concerning Toleration, with Introduction by Patrick Romanell (Indianapolis:
Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1955, 1975) [BR1610.L8 1975] Additional
Books on reserve Introduction to Contemporary
Civilization in the West: A Source Book Prepared by the Contemporary
Civilization Staff of Columbia College, Columbia University, 3rd ed., volume 1 (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1960) [CB58 .C73 1960 v.1] = ICCW Readings in Western
Civilization 4: Medieval Europe, eds. Julius Kirshner and Karl F. Morrison
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986) [CB245. U640 1986 vol. 4] =RWC4 Readings in Western Civilization 5: The Renaissance, eds. Eric Cochrane and
Julius Kirshner (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986) [CB245.U640 1986
vol. 5] = RWC5 Readings in Western Civilization 6: Early Modern Europe,
eds. Eric Cochrane, Charles M. Gray and Mark A. Kishlansky (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1986) [CB245.U640 1986 vol. 6] = RWC6 Readings in Western Civilization 7: The Old Regime and the French
Revolution, ed. Keith Michael Baker (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1986) [CB245.U640 1986 vol. 7] = RWC7 Medieval Women Writers, ed. Katharina M. Wilson
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984) [PN667.M51] Francis
Bacon, The New Organon,
ed. Fulton H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan, 1985) [B1168.E5A5] William H. McNeill, The
Shape of European History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974) [D21.3.M19] Course Requirements 1.
Careful
study of the assigned readings. As one
of the main purposes of this course is to enable you to read different kinds of
texts from different historical periods and to develop your confidence in
approaching unfamiliar texts in the future, it is very important that you read
each of the assigned selections as carefully as possible before coming to class
each day. As you read, keep in mind not
only our larger questions about the nature and development of European
civilization, but also what makes the particular text you are reading
distinct. It will help if you ask
yourself the following questions: what does the author tell us about why he or
she was writing? Why was the author’s
subject so important that he or she considered it worth writing
about? What does the author’s interest
in the subject tell us about the historical circumstances in which he or she
was writing?
2.
Participation
in class discussion and comments on the texts discussed (30% of your final
grade). To help you prepare for the
discussions and to give me some indication of how you are reading, you will be
required over the course of the quarter to type and turn in eight comments. These comments should address questions that occurred to you
in the course of your reading (e.g. about the problems you had understanding
the text, about things that surprised you in the text, about issues or
particulars about which you would like to know more having read the text), as
well as answers to the general questions posed above concerning the author’s
purpose and interest. I will also at
times suggest further questions specific to particular assignments depending on
how our discussion is going. These
typed comments should be no more than a page each and will be due at the beginning of class on the day on
which we discuss the assigned texts. 3.
Textual
analysis (30% of your final grade).
This piece (4-5 pages, or 1500 words ±150) will be due in class on November 5. It will consist of a formal analysis of one of the texts (or sets
of texts) that we will have read by that date.
4.
Final
exam (40% of your final grade). This
exam will cover the material that we have read throughout the course and will
consist of a take-home essay of 6-8 pages (2300 words ±300). I will post the questions on the last day of
class (December 5), and your papers
will be due in my office (HM-E 686) on December
12 by 5 pm. Reading and Discussion Assignments October 1
Introduction October 3
Augustine of Hippo, Enchiridion,
chaps. 9, 25-27, 30-32, 45, 50, 56, 65, 71, 98-99, 117, 121; and City of
God, bk. 1, preface and chaps. 1-4; bk. 4, chaps. 3-4, 34; bk. 5,
chaps. 1, 9; bk. 11, chaps. 1-2, 4-5; bk. 12, chaps. 5-8, 21-24; bk. 13, chaps.
12-14; bk. 14, chaps. 1-6; bk. 19, chaps. 1, 12-14, 24-28 (ICCW, pp. 118-74) October 8 Beowulf (trans. Alexander, pp. 3-113) October 10 Galbert of Bruges, The Murder of Charles
the Good (Geary, pp. 63-75) Guibert of Nogent, Memoirs (Geary, pp.
31-55) October 15
Moses Maimonides, Epistle
to Yemen (ICCW, pp. 102-117) Solomon Bar Simson, Chronicle (Geary,
pp. 87-93) October 17
Otto of Freising, The Deeds of Frederick
Barbarossa (Geary, pp. 289-98); with continuation by Rahewin
(ICCW, pp. 274-85) October 22
The Canonization Process of St. Dominic (Geary, pp. 145-56) Thomas of Cantimpré, Defense of the
Mendicants (Geary, pp. 157-59) October 24 Jean de Joinville, Life of St. Louis
(trans. Shaw, pp. 163-205, 240-76, 330-53) Enquêts of King Louis (Geary, pp. 354-64) October 29
Marco Polo, Travels (trans. Latham,
pp. 33-45, 113-62, 213-29) The Manor of Alwalton (1279) (RWC4, pp.
82-84) October 31
Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio (trans.
Musa, pp. TBA) November 5
Marsilius of Padua, Discourses (Geary,
pp. 210-30) Louis the Bavarian, Appeal to a General
Council (RWC4, pp. 393-402) November 7
Catherine of Siena, Letters to Gregory XI and
Urban VI (RWC4, pp. 424-29); Letters
to Three Italian Cardinals and to Giovanna of Anjou (trans. Joseph
Berrigan, in Wilson, Medieval Women Writers, pp. 259-67) ________, Dialogues (Geary, pp.
448-56) November 12 Trial of Joan of Arc (Geary, pp. 389-403) November 14 Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on the
First Ten Books of Titus Livius (RWC5, pp. 185-210) ________, Letters nos. 124, 135, and 140
(RWC5, pp. 174-85) November 19 Bernal Díaz, Conquest of New Spain
(trans. Cohen, pp. 14-15, 85-87, 216-41, 268-307, 353-57, 378-413) November 21
Martin Luther, Christian Liberty
(trans. Lambert, pp. 6-40) Bartolomé de las Casas, Apologetic
History of the Indies (ICCW, pp. 530-39) November 26 Jean Bodin, Six Books of a Commonweale
(RWC6, pp. 222-67) November 28
Thanksgiving
Holiday December 3
John Locke, Letter Concerning Toleration
(ed. Romanell, pp. 12-62) December 5 (Optional) Francis Bacon, “The Great
Instauration” and “Catalogue
of Particular Histories by Title” (ed. Anderson, The New Organon,
pp. 3-29, 285-92) Denis Diderot, “Definition of an
Encyclopedia” (RWC7, pp. 71-89) Return to Homepage |