Pre-Modern European History

3 credits · Graduate credit

This course explores the ways that the recent turn toward global perspectives in historical research and pedagogy have changed the way we think of "pre-modern European" history. In the past few decades, the conventional narratives that long served to connect the broader strands of medieval and Early Modern European history-- "dark ages," "feudalism," "rise of the Western Church," overseas expansion," "Renaissance" and "Reformation"-- have come under sustained criticism. In the process, Europe's place in world history has evolved, and many historians no longer think of Europe as the cradle of a universal history, but rather as one global region among others. What do these developments mean for how we teach pre-modern European history? Should we look for new narratives to replace those that no longer seem as relevant? How does a more nuanced vision of pre-modern of Europe's complicated past change what we think of Europe and the challenges that it faces in the present? Readings will explore key moments in the evolution of these historiographical debates, ranging broadly over fundamental works of medieval and Early Modern European history written since the end of WW2 to the present.