Magda Teter-Associate Professor of History Faculty Photo

Magda Teter

Associate Professor
of History

Wesleyan University

PAC 313

Middletown, CT 06459

Tel: 860.685.5356

Fax: 860.685.2078

mteter@wesleyan.edu


Office Hours: On sabbatical 2007-8


History Department

Home Full CV Jewish Studies at Wesleyan Early Modern Workshop
Jewish House Mahzor

HIST 202: Early Modern Europe

This course explores major developments in European, and western, history and culture from late Middle Ages, to the even of modernity, covering roughly three centuries from late 15th century to the end of the 18th century. The course will explore the interplay of politics and religion in the successes and failures of the religious movements of the time and transformations of states from medieval feudal monarchies to modern states. We will also discuss cultural and social transformations that ultimately helped shape modern western society, with which one typically associates religious diversity, toleration, human rights, and democracy. How did western states transform to allow a participation of Jews in the political process of their states, but continue to exclude women and slaves? And what role did women and gender play in these transformations? Were they only nuns, wives, and witches? The course will cover the continuities and change in early modern western society, and will seek to show a geographically and religiously diverse range of experiences. The course will include films.

Course Requirements            Course Readings

Syllabus

1. Th. 01/25 Introduction

 

Late 15th and Early 16th Centuries:

 

2. Tu. 01/30 Europe in the Late 15th and Early 16th Centuries:

3. Th. 02/01 Printing Revolution:

4. Tu. 02/06 GROUP I: Visit to the Special Collection at Olin Library; GROUP II: EndNOTE session *LIBRARY ASSIGNMENT ANNOUNCED*

 

5. Th. 02/08 GROUP II: Visit to the Special Collection at Olin Library; GROUP I: EndNOTE session

 

6.  Tu. 02/13 Printing and Its Impact on Society and Culture:

7. Th. 02/15 Age of European Expansion:

8. Tu. 02/20 European Arts and Culture: Renaissance and Humanism

Religious Reforms Across Europe

 

9. Th. 02/22 The Church before the Reformation

Deadline for the bibliography: Friday, Februrary 23, 2007, 4 pm

10. Tu. 02/27 Martin Luther and His Works

11. Th. 03/01 Spread of Lutheranism, and Other More Radical Religious Movements:

12. Tu. 03/06 John Calvin and Calvinism:

13. Th. 03/08 Responses to Challenge: Counter-Reformation and Catholic Reform:

SPRING BREAK MARCH 10-26, 2007

 

Catholic Reaction and Renewal

 

MONDAY 03/26:  MIDTERM EXAM ANNOUNCED VIA EMAIL


14.  Tu. 03/27 New Religious Orders and Rise of Catholic Spirituality (*Reformation Reader: 368-377; *CD-ROM Teresa of Ávila, The Book of Her Life (1562))   MIDTERM EXAM DUE

 

15.  Th. 03/29 Wars of "Religion": Victories and Losses

16. Tu 04/03 Scientific Revolution and the Beginnings of an Era of Rationalism and Skepticism

Post-Reformation Europe: Society and Culture

 

17. Th. 04/05  Education and Gender:

Religious Conflicts, Solutions and Questions of Religious Toleration and Repression:

 

18.  Tu. 04/10 Women, Gender, and Change:

 19. Th. 04/12 The Poor and Poor Relief, Crime and Punishment

 

20. Tu. 04/17 Reformation and Revolution in England:

 

 21. Th. 04/19 Religious Toleration:

 

22. Tu. 04/24 Rationalism, Enlightenment, and Toleration: 

23. Th. 04/26 Colonialism, Slavery and European impact on Africa and the Americas. 

DRAFT OF THE EXPANDED LIBARY/WIKIPEDIA ASSIGNMENT DUE

 

24. Tu. 05/01 Political Transformation:  Absolutist State and Mercantilism

25. The Enlightenment and the French Revolution

 

26.  Th. 05/08 Toward Modernity:  Reassessment.

05/09 FINAL VERSION OF THE LIBRARY/WIKIPEDIA ASSIGNMENT DUE BY 5PM

 

FINAL EXAM (TAKE HOME) ANNOUNCED ON THE FIRST DAY OF EXAMS MAY 14. DUE MAY 16, 5 pm.