HIST 635A Reform & Society in the long sixteenth century
Assigned readings touch on four general themes: reform among the laity; Luther and the politics of reformation - urban and territorial; Calvinism and the Reformed tradition; and French humanism in an era of religious war.
The common readings will combine a few primary sources (from the Devotio moderna, Luther, Calvin, and Montaigne) with "classics" of Reformation historiography in these four areas (likely examples include Steven Ozment, The Reformation in the Cities; Natalie Zemon Davis, Society and Culture in Early Modern France; Bernd Moeller, Imperial Cities and the Reformation; William J. Bouwsma, John Calvin).
Students will write four short essays on assigned readings. A longer exercise on a negotiated topic suggested by the assigned reading, but adding more recent titles, will include a preliminary oral presentation on that topic, and an essay due at the end of the term.