HI 111-04 WESTERN CIVILIZATION TO 1715                   [111SYF96]
BRIDGEWATER STATE COLLEGE                        FALL SEMESTER 1996
MWF 10:00-10:50 A.M., HARRINGTON 34

Instructor: Dr. Luci Fortunato De Lisle
Office: Tillinghast 219; hours MW 11:00 a.m.-noon and by app't.
Telephone: (508) 697-1388, ext. 2412
e-mail: lfortunato@bridgew.edu

Required texts: 
McKay, John P. et al., A History of Western Society vol. 1 From
     Antiquity to the Enlightenment 5th ed. Boston: Houghton 
     Mifflin, 1995.
Wiesner, Merry E.  Discovering the Western Past: A Look at the
     Evidence vol. 1 to 1789 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
     1993.

CLASS/DUE DATE  TOPICS                        . . . ASSIGNMENTS DUE
W 9/4   Studying History and the Quest for Origins

F 9/6  The Neolithic Revolution . . . McKay 3-11 and Wiesner 
       chapter 1

M 9/9  Mesopotamian Civilization . . . McKay 11-21 & 34

W 9/11  Egypt . . . McKay 21-28, 38

F 9/13 The Hebrews . . . McKay 39-47 & 60

M 9/16  Early Hellas . . . McKay 63-68, 71-75

W 9/18  The Polis: Governments and War . . . McKay 68-71, 75-83 &
        100

F 9/20  Real and Ideal in Greek Culture . . . Wiesner Chapter 2
 
M 9/23  Greek Culture and Society . . . McKay 83-98

W 9/25  Hellenistic Diffusion . . . McKay 103-128

F 9/27  The Etruscans and Early Rome . . . McKay 134-151 & 158

M 9/30  The Roman Republic . . . McKay 151-156, 162-169

W 10/2  The Principate . . . Wiesner Chapter 3
       
F 10/4 Imperial Rome: Politics, Culture and Conquest . . . McKay
       174-185 & 194; DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ESSAY # 1 DUE.  CHOOSE 
       FROM AMONG WIESNER CHAPTERS 1,2,3

M 10/7 Early Christianity and Mystery Religions in the Later Roman
       Empire . . . McKay 169-174, 185-192; Wiesner Chapter 4 

W 10/9 EXAMINATION

F 10/11 Towards the Middle Ages: Transition, Conflict, Assimilation
       and Diffusion . . . McKay 198-214

M 10/14 NO CLASS--COLUMBUS DAY

W 10/16 Germanic and Anglo-Saxon Society . . . McKay 214-222 & 236

F 10/18 Byzantium . . . McKay 222-227

M 10/21 The Arabs and Islam . . . McKay 227-234 

W 10/23 From Long-Haired Kings to Carolingian Renaissance . . .
        McKay 240-255 

F 10/25 The real "Dark Ages"?: Vikings, Magyars, and Kievan Russia
        . . . McKay 258-263, 269-272 
 
M 10/28 Revival, Recovery and Reform . . . McKay 269-281

W 10/30 Feudalism and the Crusades . . . McKay 281-286 & 288,
        306-314 & 324

F 11/1 The Majority: The Peasantry in the Middle Ages . . . McKay
       291-306; Wiesner chapter 5 

M 11/4 The Medieval Church: The Institution, Popular Piety and  
       Heresy . . . McKay 314-321, 363-364; Wiesner chapter 10
      
W 11/6 The Growth of Feudal Monarchy . . . McKay 327-342; Wiesner
       chapter 6

F 11/8 Medieval Towns . . . McKay 342-351; Wiesner chapters 8 & 9
       
M 11/11 Medieval Universities and Gothic Art . . . McKay 351-363;
        Wiesner chapter 7; DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ESSAY #2 DUE--your
        choice of one chapter from 4-10. 

W 11/13 The Calamitous Fourteenth Century?: Plague and War . . .
        McKay 371-383, 386-394

F 11/15  EXAMINATION

M 11/18  The Early Renaissance  . . .  McKay 394-397, 403-408

W 11/20  Italy and Humanism . . . McKay 408-411, 416-423; Weisner
         chapter 11  

F 11/22 Art and the Renaissance Throughout Europe . . . McKay 423
        -433

M 11/25 The Encounter . . . McKay 477-489 & 518 and Wiesner 
        chapter 12  


W 11/27 Strengths and Problems in the Church from the Babylonian
       Captivity to Christian Humanism . . . McKay 383-386, 440-443

F 11/29 NO CLASS--THANKSGIVING BREAK

M 12/2 Martin Luther and the Reformation . . . McKay 443-456 & 474
       Wiesner ch. 13  

W 12/4 The Spread of Protestantism . . . McKay 456-465

F 12/6  The Catholic/Counter Reformation . . . McKay 465-472 and
        DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ESSAY #3 DUE

M 12/9  Religious Wars  . . . McKay 489-504

W 12/11 The Rise of Science,A Changing Mentalite and the World We
        Have Lost . . . McKay 504-516

FINAL EXAM AS SCHEDULED BY THE COLLEGE

ATTENDANCE POLICY: Class attendance is required if you are to
participate fully in and benefit from the course.  MORE THAN THREE
UNEXCUSED ABSENCES WILL LOWER YOUR FINAL GRADE AVERAGE AND POSSIBLY
RESULT IN A FAILING GRADE FOR THE COURSE.  Conversely, good
participation in discussions and good attendance may enhance your
grade average.  Make-up examinations for any scheduled exams missed
will only be allowed for documented/excused absences.  Make-up
examination schedules are set by the Department of History on
Friday afternoons at intervals during the semester.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
TEXT READINGS: You should come to class prepared for each session. 
This means that you should have read the textbook and document
assignments carefully and taken reading notes in advance.  Class
lectures and discussion intersect with and build upon the text
readings; they do not necessarily repeat or address all of the
topics touched upon in the text.  Please feel free to raise
questions in class about any of the readings.

EXAMINATIONS: There will be three examinations--two one-hour exams
during the semester and a two-hour final exam; this last exam will
include a document analysis essay question.  
EXAMINATION DATES:
EXAM #1--WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 9 =20%
EXAM #2--FRIDAY NOVEMBER 15  =20%
FINAL EXAM--AS SCHEDULED BY THE COLLEGE=30%
The format of examinations will be largely a matter of
identificaitons and essays.  Here are some suggestions for studying
for and writing this kind of a History exam:
     1.  IDENTIFICATIONS.  Answers should be written in full
sentences.  For full credit the information in the answer should
respond to the questions: WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? WHY? AND HOW? 
Importantly, answers should also include a point about the
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OR IMPORTANCE of the person, place, event
or term identified specifically within ghe context of the time
period being studied presently in the course.
     2. ESSAYS.  
  A. An open-ended essay requires you to think through the range of
characteristics of a period, movement or civilization.  I suggest
the acronym SPIRE as a device to serve as an organizing principle
for your thoughts as you think through the question.  Ask yourself:
     --What was the SOCIETY like?  Consider issues of social class,
gender, age, rural/urban aspects, etc.
     -What were the POLITICS? What kind of government was there? 
What political theory lay behind it?  Who had public power, who
didn't and qhy?  What was the political/military history? etc.
     --What was the INTELLECTUAL expression of the culture?  Here
remember both the "big" tradition of literate "intellectuals" and
the mentality of the popular or "little" tradition of a
civilization.  What values, ideas, styles were conveyed by the
literature, folklore, art and architecture, music, philosophy,
scientific and mathematical theories in a given period of time?
   --What were the RELIGIOUS beliefs, practices and issues of a
given civilization? 
   --What was the ECONOMIC system?  How did people make a living?
What were the theories about/behind economic practice in any
given period?
REMEMBER: These SPIRE categories overlap and intersect; this is
merely a paradigm by which you can begin to ensure a broad-based
understanding and approach both in your studies and in
organization for essay writing.
  B.  Directed essay questions on the other hand, might ask you
to compare and contrast, trace, or analyse specific topics or
limited themes.  BE SURE TO READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY TO
DETERMINE WHAT IS BEING ASKED.  If there are two or three points
the question asks you to address, circle or underline them so
that you can compose a paragraph or two on each aspect of the
question in your answer.  Be careful, also to see if there are
any directives in the question that can guide you in terms of the
temporal or geographical focus.  IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT
ANY OF THE WRITING COMPONENTS OF THE COURSE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO
MEET WITH ME DURING OFFICE HOURS.
****IF YOU HAVE ANY PARTICULAR, DOCUMENTED LEARNING CHALLENGES--
eg. if you are an ESL student, or have a documented learning
disability which might require special arrangements for your
success in this course, please see me at your earliest possibile
convenience after the start of the course so that we might make
any necessary arrangements for your completing the assignments
successfully.

DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ESSAYS.  FOUR IN TOTAL [three during the
semester and one as part of the final exam] of approximately
THREE PAGES each in length, WORDPROCESSED, DOUBLE SPACED.  These
assignments are indicated in the syllabus and all derive from
chapters in the Wiesner primary source reader.   For the chapters
assigned--or for which there are choices--simply select the
central question for the chapter or one which required that you
attend to a majority of the documents in the chapter.  PLACE THE
QUESTION CLEARLY AS THE HEADING ON YOUR ESSAY.  Then proceed to
answer the question in essay form utilizing and referring to the
documents as evidence.  I shall be looking especially to see if
your answer to the question poses a clear THESIS in direct
response to the question; that you incorporate the documents as
EVIDENCE to support that thesis; and finally that there is
evidence of thoughtful ANALYSIS in your treatment of the
documents as you answer the question.  The approaches offered in
the Wiesner text approximate the various skills real historians
use as they deal with documents--so here YOU get to be the
historian!!!
3 DOCUMENT ESSAYS AT 10% EACH=30%
[THE FOURTH DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ESSAY WILL COUNT FOR 10% AS PART OF
THE 30% OF THE FINAL EXAMINATION AND WILL BE WRITTEN ON THE EXAM
DAY]