THE COURSE
| Books to be purchased: | Jackson W. Spielvogel, Western
Civilization, 5th ed., Vol. I, Antiquity to 1715
(Thompson Wadsworth)
Introduction to Contemporary
Civilization in the West, Vol. I (Columbia University
Press; denoted as ICCW below) (Amazon) Merry E. Wiesner et al., Discovering the Western Past: A Look at the Evidence, 5th ed. (Houghton-Mifflin) A packet of supplementary readings, available through Pequod at the U-Store |
Lectures take place on Monday and Wednesday at 11:00 AM in [location to be determined]. Late arrivals are distracting to your fellow students, so please be punctual.
Precepts will meet at times and places given on the lists posted here and outside the History Department Office, 129 Dickinson Hall. They form an integral part of the course, and regular attendance and participation are essential to its successful completion.
Essays will be due at 3:00 on the Monday of Weeks 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, and the first week of Reading Period. Papers should be placed in your preceptor's box in the History Department Office. Details of each assignment will appear on the course web page as it comes up. The essays are subject to Academic Regulations, not the Honor Code. Hence, they require your signature under the statement, "This paper represents my own work in accordance with University regulations." In signing that statement you attest that you have read and that you understand the provisions set forth in Academic Integrity at Princeton.
There will be two Examinations,
a Midterm and a Final. These are subject to the Honor Code.
LECTURES AND ASSIGNMENTS
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 |
Week I (15 September) The Beginnings
| 1.
The Frontier 2. Christianization |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 7 St. Augustine, The City of God, ICCW, 129-74 [complete text online] |
Week II (22 September) Church and Empire
| 3. The
vestiges of Empire: Charlemagne and his successors 4. The Church of Rome |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 8 (190-202; 209-214) and Chap. 10 (255-63) Rule of St. Benedict ICCW, 176-89 (full text) Church and State, ICCW, 265-301 |
| FIRST ESSAY: Reading a Historical Document |
Week III (29 September) Feudalism
| 5. Mill
and Manor 6. Feudalism |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 8 (203-9), Chap. 9 (218-224), Chap. 10 (244-54) The Manor, ICCW, 341-348 Wiesner et al, Chap. 6 Magna carta, ICCW, 416-27 Packet: Joseph R. Strayer, Feudalism (selections) |
Week IV (6 October) Other People
| 7. Islam:
the Crusades 8. The Far East: The Mongol Missions |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 10 (264-71) Wiesner et al., Chap. 8 The Crusades, ICCW, 385-399 Packet: Philip K. Hitti (trans.), An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades: Memoirs of Usâmah ibn Munqidh and John of Plano Carpini, History of the Mongols (selections) |
| SECOND ESSAY: Town and Gown in the Middle Ages |
Week V (13 October) The World of Aristotle
| 9. The
Gothic Cathedral 10. Scholasticism and the University |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 9 (225-41) Wiesner et al, Chaps. 7, 9 The Town, ICCW, 349-361, 376-378 |
Week VI (20 October) The Waning of the Middle Ages
| 11. Death
and Disintegration 12. MIDTERM EXAMINATION |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 11 |
| THIRD ESSAY: Understanding Columbus Historically |
Week VII (3 November) New Worlds
| 13.
Antiquity: the Renaissance 14. America: voyages of discovery |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 12, Chap. 14 (pp.368-90) Wiesner et al, Chap. 10 Petrarch, ICCW, 557-64 Machiavelli, ICCW, 459-479 Columbus, ICCW, 515-22 The New World (Sepulveda, de las Casas), ICCW, 523-543 |
Week VIII (10 November) The Crisis of Authority
| 15.
Reformation and Counterreformation 16. The New World of the Heavens: Copernicus and Galileo |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 13 Wiesner et al, Chap. 12 Luther, ICCW, 699-730 Loyola, ICCW, 767-69 Packet: Copernicus, Preface to On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres Galileo, ICCW, 791-98 |
| FOURTH ESSAY: The Basis of Authority |
Week IX (17 November) The Nation State
| 17. The
Estate of the King and the State of the Realm 18. Scepticism and its cures |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 13 (pp. 359-66), Chap. 14 (pp. 391-98) King vs. Constitution, ICCW, 923-61 Bacon, ICCW, 779-85 Descartes, ICCW, 812-35 |
Week X (24 November) The Clockwork Universe
| 19.
Machines and Metaphysics 20. "Fleas, lice, and themselves": The Microscopic Cosmos |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 16 Robert Hooke, Micrographia, Dedication and Preface Newton, ICCW, 836-52 |
Week XI (1 December) The Balance of Forces
| 21.
Political Settlements 22. Commerce and industry |
Spielvogel,
Chap. 15 Wiesner, et al., Chap. 14 Elaboration of the Sovereign State, ICCW, 867-95 |
| FIFTH ESSAY: The Nature of Law |
Week XII (8 December) Modern Europe
| 23. Paris,
London and St. Petersburg 24. "The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" |
Hobbes,
Harrington, and Locke, ICCW, 961-1053 Packet: Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, 1776 |
Reading Period
| SIXTH ESSAY |
Tuesday, 20 January 2004, 1:30 PM - Frick Chem Lab 324