History 3P94 The Age of Religious Wars and Absolutism
The outline for this course will be updated and revised over the course of the semester.
Students are responsible for checking Sakai for the most recent version of this outline.
Fall 2012
Professor V. Thiessen
Office: GL 246
Email: vthiessen@brocku.ca
Office hours: Tuesdays, 13:00-14:00 (1-2 p.m.)
Lectures – Thursday 19:00-21:00 (7-9 p.m.), WH 203
Seminars:
16:00-17:00 (Anna Jocsak), room IC 121*
17:00-18:00 (Victor Thiessen) room IC 121*
*located across Glenridge (east campus)
Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries was marked by the emergence of religious division, the
violence and conflicts that arose from division, and the emergence of strong, centralized
“absolutist” states. We will examine the nature of these developments and consider whether and
to what degree the religious conflicts of that period might be linked to the rise of “absolutist”
regimes. Special attention will be paid to developments in France and in the German lands of the
Holy Roman Empire.
Students will be challenged to understand and analyze the ways in which historians have
interpreted the spread of various streams of “Reformation,” the nature of the violence of the
period, and possible relationships between religious, political and social changes in Early
Modern Europe.
Course Requirements
Seminars: Seminars are an essential component of the course. Students are expected to prepare
and participate actively in their weekly seminars. Preparation includes reading the assigned texts
for each weekly seminar. Students will also be expected to lead the discussion of one seminar
topic. Attendance is mandatory for all seminars.
Essay: Students will write a research essay of about 2000 words in length on a topic of their
choice in consultation with the instructor/seminar leader. This written assignment will be carried
out in three stages.
1. Each student must submit a statement of his/her central argument on the topic, and an
annotated bibliography. These are due in the week of November 12.
2. Students will present their research proposals on Thursday November 22. Presentations
will be no longer than 3 minutes in length.
3. The final version of the paper will be submitted by Monday, December 3, 2012. There
will be a late penalty of 5% for the first day late, and 2% for each ensuing day including
the weekend. Essays will not be accepted after Monday, December 10, 2012. Essays will
be submitted in hard copy, and a digital copy must be submitted to turnitin. The turnitin
report must be forwarded to the instructor/seminar leader.
Students may choose not to use turnitin, but then must submit their papers by November
26, along with all notes relating to the essay. This includes copies of readings where you
have made notes, underlined important passages, etc. The student must also be prepared
and available to discuss their papers with the instructor/seminar leader.
Examination: a final three (3) hour examination will be held in the regularly scheduled
examination period at the end of term.
Required Texts
Mark Konnert, Early Modern Europe: The Age of Religious War: 1559-1715.
John Arnold, History: A Very Short Introduction.
Grade Calculation
Seminar participation
Seminar leadership
Research Presentation
Research Paper
Final examination
25%
10%
5%
30%
30%
Please be aware that November 2 is the last day to withdraw from a course without academic
penalty!
Seminars
Seminar 1 (Sept. 13): Organizational Seminar
Listen to: Sunday Edition interview of Natalie Zemon Davis by Michael Enright, January 2, 2011
http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=1707832578
Read: chapter 1 (“Questions about murder and history”), in John Arnold’s History: a Very Short
Introduction, and the essay by Ian Hacking, “Making up People” (in Historical Ontology: now
available on the HIST 3P94 sakai site – under “resources,” filename “readings,” or read the copy
on reserve for this course).
Consider the categories that Hacking writes about, and the nature of “true stories” that John
Arnold says history is about. Think about the categories that we use in the present day to classify
people, events, and beliefs. What is the purpose of such categories? To what extent does the use
of categories, classification, and story- telling reflect realities; to what extent does it create them?
Seminars for leadership.
Seminar 2 (Sept 20): The Reformation
What was the Reformation? How did ideas of reform spread? Who supported it; who opposed it?
Do you see links between religious reforming ideas and violent action? If so, what issues link the
one with the other?
- Robert Scribner, “Oral Culture and the Diffusion of Reformation Ideas”, at
http://journals2.scholarsportal.info/tmp/16250613231801117256.pdf
- Mack P. Holt, ‘Wine, Community and Reformation in Sixteenth-century Burgundy’
Past and Present, no. 138 (February 1993), 58-93. Available through jstor at
http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.brocku.ca/sici?sici=00312746%281993%29%3a138%3C58%3aPast+and+Present%3E2.0.TX%3b22&origin=EBSCO&
Supplementary Reading
Natalie Zemon Davis, “Strikes and Salvation at Lyon” in Society and Culture in Early
Modern France (Stanford University Press, 1975), pp. 1-16
Nancy Roelker, “The Role of Noblewomen in the French Reformation”, Archiv fur
Reformationsgeschichte, vol 63 (1972),168--94. (Journal in Library)
Seminar 3 (Sept. 27): State/church relations in the Reformation & Counterreformation
How did the Reformation become politicized? Was Protestantism in particular prone to threaten
authority? How do rulers react to this reality? How does this politicization apply to the
established Roman Catholic church?
- Wolfgang Reinhard, “Reformation, Counter-Reformation, and the Early Modern
State: a Reassessment” in The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 75, No. 3 (Jul., 1989),
pp. 383-404, at http://www.jstor.org/stable/25023084
- James R. Farr, Confessionalization and Social Discipline in France, 1530-1685, in
Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 94 (2003), 276-293 (on reserve, electronic version
forthcoming on Sakai)
Supplementary Reading
- Peter Blickle,
Seminar 4 (Oct. 4): Political thought and Resistance
What were the political views of the Huguenots? How did they communicate these views? WAt
were the consequences of the promulgation of these views?
- Luc Racaut, “Education of the Laity and Advocacy of Violence in Print during the
French Wars of Religion” History, 2010. (Available through j-stor)
- Mark Greengrass, “ The Sainte-Union in the Provinces: The Case of Toulouse”,
Sixteenth-Century Journal, vol. 14 (1983), 467-96. (Available through j-stor)
Supplementary Reading
Seminar 5 (Oct. 11): French Wars of Religion
How would you characterize the social and religious tensions in 16 th century France? Did the St.
Bartholomew’s day massacre come “out of the blue”? Or was it “inevitable”? What is its larger
significance?
- Raymond Mentzer, “The French Wars of Religion”, in A. Pettegree, ed. The
Reformation World, pp. 323-343 (to be on reserve and sakai)
- Barbara Diefendorf, “ Prologue to a Massacre: Popular Unrest in Paris, 1557-1572",
American Historical Review, vol. 90 ( 1985), 1067-91.
Supplementary Readings
Seminar 6 (Oct. 18): Simplicius Simplicissimus: Witness to the 30 Years’ War(?)
What does the fictional story about a fictional simpleton tell us about the 30 Years War? Do you
think it is an effective source? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Would the views of the
protagonist reflect those of his contemporaries? How did they see the 30 Years War?
- Grimmmelshausen, Simplicius Simplicissimus, at
http://rbsche.people.wm.edu/teaching/grimmelshausen/
- G. Mortimer, “Did Contemporaries Recognize a “Thirty Years War?” English
Historical Review, February 2001 pp. 124-136.
http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org.proxy.library.brocku.ca/content/116/465/124.full.pdf+ht
ml
Supplementary reading
Seminar 7 (Oct. 25): Rulers, Peace and Tolerance
Henri IV faced huge challenges as he took the throne at the end of the the 16 th century. What
were these challenges, and how did he attempt to overcome them? What did he do to establish
lasting peace in France? Other countries also faced the problem of religious wars and strife; what
did they do to overcome these problems? What similarities do these documents show? What
differences? Can the word “tolerance” be used to describe their efforts? If so, what does this
tolerance look like?
- Konnert, Early Modern History, pp. 171-183
- Gregory Champeaud, “The Edict of Poitier and the Treaty of Nerac, or two steps
toward the Edict of Nantes,” in The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 32, No. 2
(Summer, 2001), pp. 319-334 available through j-stor
Primary sources
- Peace of Augsburg (1555)
- http://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/Reformations441/441PeaceofAugsburg1555.htm
- Union of Utrecht (1579)
- Edict of Nantes
- http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/nantes.html
- Treaty of Westphalia
- http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/westphal.asp
Supplementary reading
Seminar 8 (Nov. 1): Absolutism
What is absolutism? How is it portrayed by contemporaries of Louis? What are the important
features of the system of governance under Louis XIV? To what extent does the system work,
and what aspects of the system allow it to function effectively? Some scholars have referred to
absolutism as a ‘post-confessional’ theory of government: is this accurate? How might religious
minorities fare under absolutist government? Can we still use the term ‘absolutism’ in light of
what we know now? Where does it fall short?
- Roger Mettam, ch. 1, “Historians and ‘Absolutism’; the Illusion and the Reality, in
Power and Faction in Louis XIV’s France, pp. 13-44 (on reserve, electronic version
forthcoming on Sakai)
Primary sources
- Jean Domat on Louis XIV and absolutism at
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1687domat.asp
- Revocation of the edict of Nantes at
http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/revo_nantes.html
-
Duc de St. Simon (criticism of Louis and his state) at
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/17stsimon.asp; and at
http://www.thenagain.info/Classes/Sources/St.Simon.html
Supplementary reading
Seminar 9: (Nov. 8): Absolutism beyond France
How did Germans view monarchy? What were the roles of ideas such as territorial monarchy,
association, etc.? Do German ideas of monarchy relate to those put forth in France? How did
nobles in Germany see their role in society in the 17th century? Does the idea of Divine Right
Monarchy play a role in their understanding of state-making?
- Robert von Friedeburg, “The Making of Patriots: Love of Fatherland and Negotiating
Monarchy in Seventeenth-Century Germany” Journal of Modern History, 77
(December 2005): 881-916. (Available on-line.)
- Konnert, Early Modern Europe, pp. 275-296.
Supplementary reading
Seminar 10 (Nov. 15): Witchcraft Trials
Why did witchcraft become such a huge concern in the late 16 th and 17th centuries? Why were
women most often accused of witchcraft? Who were the instigators of these trials? How was
guilt established? Does absolutism play a role?
- Konnert, pp. 52-57
- William Bradford Smith, “Friedrich Förner, the Catholic Reformation and WitchHunting in Bamberg,” in Sixteenth Century Journal vol. 36, no. 1,(2005), pp. 115-128
(at http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.brocku.ca/stable/pdfplus/20477245.pdf)
Trials
- http://history.hanover.edu/texts/bamberg.html
- http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trier.html
- http://history.hanover.edu/texts/wurz.html
Supplementary reading
** Seminar 11 (Nov. 22): Presentations
Lecture, but no seminar Nov 29.