Early Modern East-Central Europe
Level:
Master's CEU credits:
2 ECTS credits:
3 Academic year:
2009/2010 Academic year:
2011/2012 Semester:
Winter Start and end dates:
9 Jan 2012 - 30 Mar 2012 Co-hosting Unit(s) [if applicable]:
Academic Program:
CEU Instructor(s):
György Szőnyi Additional information:
Topics to be covered:
1/ Comparative history: the rise and fall of empires; 2/ The cultural achievement, myths and identities: international humanism and national literature/art; 3/ Cultural communication: South–North; West–East and vice versa; 4/ Schools, universities, peregrinations; 5/ Experiencing Europe: travel and travellers; 6/ Religion: Reformation and Counter-Reformation; 7/ Centers of Culture: Vienna and Buda, Cracow and Prague; 8/ Social psychology: hierarchy, rank and gender.
The goal of the course is to make students aware of the unity of the European Renaissance focusing on a territory which is usually neglected, or very schematically treated in Western handbooks of that period. While looking at ECE in a wide geographical context, it will also be possible to highlight the special features with which the cultural achievement of this region has contributed to the heterogeneity and multiple nature of the so called "Renaissance". Learning Outcomes:
The learning outcome should consist of 1/ an accumulation of historical knowledge about the connections of political and social history and premodern/early modern ideology, education, and art in East-central Europe; 2/ A better understanding of the complexity of Europe in the given period; 3/ And a better understanding of the complexity and interconnectedness of culture, representations and institutions in general. 4/ Based on the readings and assignments, students should develop their ability of processing scholarly ideas and argumentation and expressing themselves in an argumentative and scholarly way. Assessment :
–Participation in classes (10%)
–Weekly journal of your readings (8 items, 16-24 pages – 40%)
–Oral exam (50%) Full description:
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
1 Context: the Renaissance in Italy and in Europe
Topics: Definitions of the Renaissance; The rise of the Italian cities; Humanism and educational revolution; New horizons: art, science, discoveries; Political powers: Emperor, Pope, national states; Religious schisms; From the birth of the individual to the birth of the modern state.
Focus/Reference: Burke, The European Renaissance; Voegelin, Renaissance and Reformation.
2 Comparative History: the Rise and Fall of Empires – the 15th Century
Topics: 15th century panorama in ECE; the Holy Roman Empire and ECE; Poland; Bohemia; Hungary; Dalmatia; the Turkish advance.
Focus/Reference: The beginnig or end of individual nation states? Hungary, Bohemia, Poland (Davies, God's Playground; Kontler, A History of Hungary; Sedlar, East Central Europe in the Middle Ages).
3 Comparative History: the Rise and Fall of Empires – the 16th and 17th Centuries
Topics: the rise of the Habsburg Empire; Renaissance splendor in Poland; the disappearence of Bohemia; tripartite Hungary; Ottoman ECE. The rearrangement of power in the early 17th century; the 30 years' war.
Focus/Reference: The Hasburgs in the 17th century (Davies, Europe, Davies, God's Playground; Evans, Making of the Habsburg Empire; Kontler, History of Hungary, Wheatcroft, The Habsburgs).
4 Cultural Communication: South–north; West–east and Vice Versa
Topics: The spreading of the Renaissance from Italy. Hungary, Germany, Poland. Diplomatic and dynastic connections; cultural influence. Early Renaissance art in ECE.
Focus/Reference: Italian artists in Esztergom (Bakócz chapel) and in Cracow (the Wawel) (Feuer-Tóth, Art and Humanism in Hungary; Kaufmann, Court, Cloister, City).
5 Cultural Communication: South–North; West–East and Vice Versa
Topics: Western influence in ECE: relations with the Holy Roman Empire, with France, Spain and England. The role of the Low Countries, their economic power and cultural influences. Eastern and Ottoman influences in (Western) Europe.
Focus/Reference: European connections (Davies, Europe); The Ottoman "Other" (Jardin, Global Interests; Kafadar, Construction of the Ottoman State; Meserve, Empires of Islam).
6 Schools, Universities, Peregrinations
Topics: The development of the school system in ECE. The universities of the region. Peregrination. Religious motivations in choosing destinations.
Focus/Reference: Famous ECE scholars, humanists: Copernicus, Sambucus, Jessenius, Comenius (Rabil, Renaissance Humanism).
7 Experiencing Europe: Travel and Travellers
Topics: Europe becomes small. The increase of travel and the rise of travel literature. Other means of communication: humanist correpondence.
Focus/Reference: Some case studies: Olbracht Laski in England; John Dee in ECE; Captain John Smith in Transylvania; Márton Szepsi Csombor; Miklós Bethlen; Evlyja Celebi (Bracewell, Under Eastern Eyes; Bracewell, Orientations; Stagl, A History of Curiosity; Szönyi, John Dee's Occultism).
8 Religion: Reformation
Topics: the spreading of the Reformation in ECE. Lutheranism, Calvinism, Antitrinitarism, Sabbatarianism, Czech Brethren. Religious tolerance in Hungary and Poland. Religious life under the Ottoman occupation. The art of the Reformation in ECE.
Focus/Reference: The case of Antitrinitarism: the Sozzinis, Biandrata, Palaeologus, Ferenc Dávid, the Raków circle. (Király, Tolerance; McCullogh, Reformation)
9 Religion: the Counter-Reformation
Topics: late 16th and 17th-century Counter-Reformation. The role of the Habsburgs. The Jesuits. Religious aspects of the Thirty Years' War. The art of the Counter-Reformation in ECE.
Focus/Reference: Johannes Kepler at the crossroad of religion and science (Boorstin, The Discoverers; Kaufmann, Mastery of Nature; Koestler, The Watershed; Louthan, The Quest for Compromise; Wright, The Counter-Reformation).
10 Centers of Culture: Vienna and Buda
Topics: Vienna in the 15th and 16th centuries. Buda under King Matthias. The Corvinian Renaissance. [Possible field trip to the Budapest History Museum.]
Focus/Reference: Feuer-Tóth, Art and Humanism; Birnbaum, The Orb and the Pen.
11 Centers of Culture: Cracow and Prague
Topics: Medieval and Renaissance Cracow. The fortunes of Prague from Charles IV to Rudolf II.
Focus/Reference: Case study: Rudolf II's Prague (Evans, Rudolf II).
12 Social Psychology: Hierarchy, Rank and Gender
Topics: Social layers in the Renaissance. Aristocracy, administration, middle class, peasants. Women in ECE.
Focus/Reference: Case studies: Bona Sforza; the Uskok pirates in Dalmatia (Bogucka, Bona Sforza; Fairchilds, Women in Early Modern Europe; Praga, History of Dalmatia).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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[György E. Szőnyi, "The Emergence of Major Trends and Themes in Hungarian Literature".]
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