Spring 2020:
Holden Hall 255, Tuesday 7:00- 9:30
(virtual meetings after semester break)
John Howe,
Professor of
History, Advisor,
Medieval and Renaissance Studies Center,
TTU
Office: 143 Holden Hall
Office Hours: Regular office hours have been cancelled by unnivesity edict.
Email me for appointmenst, which will necessaril be ocntingent upon chnaghing
university policies and upon health issues
Telephone: 834‑7544
E‑Mail: john.howe @ttu.edu
Fax 806 742-1060
Web:
http://myweb.ttu.edu/jhowe
(the best way to access this
syllabus)
PURPOSES OF THE COURSE
To acquire a general
knowledge of the history of medieval "Italy."
To introduce the evidence upon which this history has been constructed,
particularly chronicles, letters, and archival documents.
To introduce major related historiographical problems and debates. To use
Italy as a case study to examine major trends and developments in the medieval
West.
REQUIREMENTS
Required Texts
Jansen, Katherine Ludwig. Peace and Penance in Late Medieval Italy.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018. ISBN 987-0691177748
Jansen, Katherine L., Joanna Drell, and Frances Andrews, eds. Medieval Italy:
Texts in Translation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
2009. ISBN 978-0-8122-4164-8.
Thompson, Augustine. Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes,
1125-1325. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University
Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-271-02909-2.
Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society,
400-1000. 1981, rpt. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor
Paperbacks, 1989. ISBN 978-0472080991
Additional documents to be downloaded from the Web.
Required
This graduate topics class is
primarily a reading class. There will be specific assignments for each class,
either from the required books or from reading lists. The "
Book Reviews:
Each student will write ten book reviews from books on topical bibliographical lists attached to this syllabus (permission to write on books not listed from the pre-approved lists must be sought from the instructor) Each review review should not be much longer than two double-spaced typed pages. Students should be prepared to report in class on their readings.
To conform to the changes required by Texas Tech, the reviews produced after semester break must be submitted electronically TO THE ENTIRE CLASS no later that 7:00pm on the class day they are due. Students should comment on each others' reviews and send their comments to the class not later than the Sunnday following the due date. Each comment should 1) ask an intelligent question about the book; and 2) describe how this book does or does not relate to the book you read from the same list. Then by 7:00pm on the following Tuesday (i.e. other the next two days), each reviewer should send to the class answers to the questions the other students have submitted.
One exception to the asynchronous feedback process described above will be Tuesday evening, April 28, where students should have computer access at the scheduled class starting time (Tusesdays at 7:00pm). For this class each student will have read and submitted a erport on Katherine Ludwig Jansen, Peace and Penance in Late Medieval Italy, and be prepared to paerticipate in an email discussion about this book, and abiout teh soiurcebook assignments for this date.
Research Proposal:
Each student will, over the
course of the semester, prepare a two to four page summary description (about
600-1200 words) of a historical research project that might help illuminate some
aspect of medieval Italian history. This description should indicate a problem
that deserves investigation, a thesis relating to it which requires testing, and
a procedure for testing it (noting the type of sources to be used and where they
would be sought). The aim of this assignment is not necessarily to produce a
formal thesis or dissertation proposal but simply to encourage you to think
about how one might conduct historical research on medieval Italy. This proposal
must be received no later than Tuesday, April 28, but it can be submitted
earlier at any time. Early
submission is strongly encouraged, since revised proposals can be resubmitted up
through April 28.
Examination Essays:
There will be no regularly
scheduled examinations. However, in lieu of a final examination, students,
utilizing the readings completed for the course, will write two essays (about
1500 words each), due on Tuesday, May 12, addressing any two of the following
questions:
1. Can one legitimately speak of
"Italy" in the Middle Ages? That is, was Italy really no more than a
"geographical expression"? Or did the peoples of the Italian peninsula actually
possess some sort of common economic, political, or cultural identity?
2. Was "Italy" peripheral to or
central to medieval Latin civilization during the High Middle Ages?
3. Were the people of Italy
"Christianized" by the end of the Middle Ages?
4. Did the Italian peninsula ever
have any effective medieval kings?
5. Did Italian communes develop
similarly or differently? To answer
this question, compare and contrast any three major ones.
These essays will be easy to
write if students, when completing their regular reading assignments and
reviewing their class notes, enter relevant points into separate files devoted
to each question. Then the essays are simply a matter of organizing and
analyzing the data collected.
Class Attendance:
Successful completion of the
course requires regular attendance. Students who will need to miss more than
three classes should not be enrolled because they will not be able to do their
best work and fully demonstrate their knowledge.
GRADING
The course grade will be computed as follows: 50% of the grade will be based
upon ten book reviews (5% from each); 15% on the research proposal; 25% on the
final essays (12.5% each) and 10% on class
participation.
READING
Wickham ix-xvii and 1-27;
[Tu
Jan 21
Last Day to add a course]
Tu Jan 28 Post-Roman
Gothic & Byzantine Italy: "Romania"?
[F Jan 31
Last day to drop a course and get a full refund.]
Wickham 28-47;
Paul the Deacon, History of the Lombards
Tu Feb 4
The Lombards / Rural Italy
MI Texts 1-6, Map; Gregory I Pastoral Care ; Gregory I Letters ; Gregory I Estates. Reading List #2: Gregory I and the Post-Roman Church
Tu Feb 11
The Italian Church and the Roman Tradition
W Feb 12
Last Day to withdraw from the university and receive a partial refund]
Wickham 47-145;
Donation of
Constantine; Katherine Fischer Drew, "The Carolingian Military Frontier in
Italy," Traditio 20 (1964): 437-47
Tu Feb 18 Carolingian
and Post Carolingian Kingdom of Italy
Wickham 146-93; MI Texts
225-33, John Howe on Tenth-Century Italy;
;John
Howe on "Encastellation";
Tu Feb 25
Encastellamento & Empire
MI Texts 37-41, 506-07, 271-73,
337-50. Reading List #3:
Church Reform
Tu Mar 3 Church
Reform in Italy
MI Texts
77-86
Gregory I:
Manumission;
Reading List #4:
Rural and Commercial Italy
Tu Mar 10 Rise
of Trade and Commerce
[Spring Vacation, March 14-22]
MI Texts 51-54, 241-48. Read
Thompson's
Cities of God
Tu Mar 24 Class Cancelled by University Mandate
Read
the reviews your classmates have written on Cities of
God , and re-write your original review, producing a second version
enriched and challenged by the insights of your fellow students.
That second review should be submitted to the list by 7:00pm on Tuesday, March
31. MI Texts 81-86, 390-410;
Reading List #5:
Communes and Confraternities
Tu Mar 31
Communes, Confraternities and Guilds
MI Texts 421-80.
Reading
List #6: History of Women and Families
Tu Apr 7
Family History
MI Texts 111-202.
Reading List #7: Military
History
Tu Apr 14 Italian
Military History
MI Texts 335-89.
Reading List #8: Italian Hagiography
Tu Apr 21 Hagiography
[W Apr 22
Last day to declare pass fail. drop a course or withdraw from the
university]
MI Texts
87-109, 326-27. Read Jansen's Peace &
Penance 1-221. .
Tu Apr 28 LMA
Economic Crises
MI Texts 20-23, 514-25, 532-38.
Tu May 5
Renaissance?
[W May 6 Individual
Study Day]
Finish Final Essays.
Tu May 12 7:30 pm Essays and Proposals will be due at 7:30 pm (the final exam slot scheduled dfor this class)
