21H.141
Renaissance to Revolution: Europe, 1300-1800
Provides an introduction to major political, social, cultural and intellectual changes in Europe from the beginnings of the Renaissance in Italy around 1300 to the outbreak of the French Revolution at the end of the 1700s. Focuses on the porous boundaries between categories of theology, magic and science. Examines how developments in these areas altered European political institutions, social structures, and cultural practices. Studies men and women, nobles and commoners, as well as Europeans and some non-Europeans with whom they came into contact.
Spring 2015
Topics
- Introduction
- The Discarded Image
- Italian Humanism Before 1500
- Catholic Renewal
- In-Class Writing Workshop
- Protestant Revolution
- The Radical Reformation
- Menocchio’s Reading Strategies
- Skepticism, The Occult, and Science in the Late Sixteenth Century
- The Cartesian Method
- Overview of the English Civil War and Interregnum, 1640–1660
- The Varieties of Religion in Seventeenth-Century England
- Seventeenth-Century English Natural Philosophy
- Print Culture and Millenarianism in Seventeenth-Century England
- Newton and Newtonianism
- Debate I
- Debate II
- The Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert: Content
- The Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert: Diffusion and Debate
- Natural Philosophy and the French Revolution: The Case of the Meter
- Conclusion
Readings
- Hunt, Lynn, Thomas R. Martin, et al. The Making of the West: Peoples and Culture–A Concise History, Vol. I: To 1740 . 3rd ed. Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2010. ISBN: 9780312554590.
- [C] = Cochrane, Eric, Charles K. Gray, and Mark Kishlansky, eds. University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization. Vol. 6: Early Modern Europe: Crisis of Authority . University of Chicago Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780226069487.
- [E] = Eramus, Desiderius. The Julius Exclusus of Erasmus. Translated by Paul Pascal. Introduction and notes by J. Kelley Sowards. Indiana University Press, 1968. ISBN: 9780253997333.
- [H] = Hill, Christopher. Puritanism and Revolution: Studies in Interpretation of the English Revolution of the 17 th Century . Palgrave Macmillan, 1997. ISBN: 9780312174347.
- [J] = Jacob, Margaret C., ed. The Scientific Revolution: A Brief History with Documents . Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2009. ISBN: 9780312653491.
- [R] = Ross, James Bruce, and Mary Martin McLaughlin, eds. The Portable Renaissance Reader . Penguin Books, 1977. ISBN: 9780140150612.
- [S] = Seaver, Paul S. Wallington’s World: A Puritan Artisan in Seventeenth-Century London . Stanford University Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780416405309.
- SES #: 1 · TOPICS: Introduction · READINGS: No readings assigned
- [V] Excerpts from “Lorenzo Valla on the Forged and Mendacious Donation of Constantine .”
- Clanchy, Michael T. “Looking Back from the Invention of Printing.” Chapter 2 in Literacy in Historical Perspective . Edited by Daniel Phillip Resnick. For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O, 1983. ISBN: 9780844404103.
- Grafton, Anthony. “The Humanist as Reader.” Chapter 7 in A History of Reading in the West . Edited by Guglielmo Cavallo and Roger Chartier. University of Massachusetts Press, 2003. ISBN: 9781558494114.
- SES #: 5 · TOPICS: Making Books · READINGS: No readings assigned
- Erasmus. “The Paraclesis.” Chapter 4 in Christian Humanism and the Reformation: Selected Writings of Erasmus . Edited by John C. Olin. Fordham University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780823211920.
- Hillerbrand, H. J. “Radical Reform Movements.” Chapter 5 in The Reformation in its Own Words . SCM Press, 1964. ASIN: B000CM7P8.
- de Montaigne, Michel. “On Cannibals.” Chapter 31 in Essays . Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN: 9780140178975.
- Grafton, Anthony. “The Astrologer’s Practice.” Chapter 2 in Cardano’s Cosmos: The Worlds and Works of a Renaissance Astrologer . Harvard University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780674006706.
- [C] Chapter 21: An Agreement of the People.
- [C] Chapter 22: The Putney Debates.
- [S] Chapter 1: The Examined Life.
- [S] Chapter 6: Politics and Prayer.
- [H] Chapter 11: The Mad Hatter.
- Jacob, Margaret C. “Science in the Crucible of the English Revolution.” Chapter 3 in Scientific Culture and the Making of the Industrial West . Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780195082203.
- [J] Bacon, Francis. Chapter 2: The Advancement of Learning.
- [J] Boyle, Robert. Chapter 7: New Experiments in Physico-mechanical.
- [H] Chapter 12: John Mason and the End of the World.
- Raymond, Joad, ed. “The Hanged Woman Miraculously Revived: Birth, Life, Sickness, Death, Providence and the Inexplicable.” In Making the News: An Anthology of the Newsbooks of Revolutionary England, 1641–1660 . Weidenfeld Nicolson Illustrated, 1993. ISBN: 9780900075537.
- [J] Newton, Isaac. Chapter 11: Selections from Principia.
- Dobbs, Betty Jo Teeter, and Margaret C. Jacob. Newton and the Culture of Newtonianism . Humanity Books, 1995, pp. 20–46, and 61–95. ISBN: 9781573925457.
- 21 · The Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert: Content
- 22 · The Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert: Diffusion and Debate
- 23 · Natural Philosophy and the French Revolution: The Case of the Meter · Alder, Ken. “A Revolution to Measure: The Political Economy of the Metric System in France.” Chapter 2 in The Values of Precision . Edited by M. Norton Wise. Princeton University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780691016016.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: Not offered Acad Year 2028-2029: U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2015
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.