EARLY MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY 1450-1600

The course deals with western and central European history from 1450 to 1600 and is divided into three units: (a) religious history, (b) political history and (c) history of the overseas European voyages.

Οne of the main aims of the course is to help students capture the general characters of the period under study. By describing this period not as the end of the middle ages and the beginning of modern times but as the passage from Christianity to Europe, the course underlines (a) the importance of the religious factor and (b) its relation to the  political history. The third unit deals with contacts between on one hand Europeans and on the other Asian and American cultures and the impact these contacts had had on the economy, the political organization and the European culture.

Week. 1 Introduction  Main characteristics of the period 1450-1660: From Christianity to Europe

Week 2  Reformation:  Luther's doctrine

Luther, “Preface to the Letter of St Paul to the Romans”, Engl.tr. Αndrew   Thornton, in M. Luther, Die gantze Heilige Schrift Deutch 1545 aufs neu zuerictht, επ. H. Volz και H. Blanke, Roger & Samp, Μοναχο 1972, 2ος    τόμος: 2254-2268

Week 3  Reformation in Germany

Fusbrook, A concise history of Germany, Cambrigde U.P., Cambridge 1991: 40-50

Week 4  The French kingdom and the Reformation

Nikolaidis, Images of Machiavelli, Hestia, Athens,  2003: 22-59*

On the notion of order: Yiannopoulos, Cittadini: the snob of the     Venetian Periphery, Papazissis, Athens, 2011: 20-31*

Week 5  Religious Wars in France

Week 6  Reformation from above: England and Sweden

Week 7  The Netherlands: from the Revolt to the United Provinces

Israel,The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, Greatness and Fall 1477-1, Oxford U.P.,   Oξφόρδη, 1995: chs. 3, 6 , 9  and 11

Week 8  Spain: from the union of Castille and Aragon to the reign of Philip II

 Elliot, Imperial Spain 1469-1716 (1963) London, 1970 ch. 6 Race and    Religion

Week 9  Italian peninsula I: Humanism

O. Kristeller “Humanism” in Schmitt-Qu. Skinner -E. Kessler (eds.), The Cambridge History of R/nce Philosophy, Cambridge U.P., Cambridge (1988)   2008:113-137

Week 10 Italian peninsula II: The Italian Wars and their consequences

Pagratis, History of Italy: from the treaty of Lodi to the Unification: chs. 2 and 4 .  (www.kallipos.gr )

Week 11 The kingdom of Poland: counter example of centralization

Week 12  Overseas voyages I: the Portuguese: from the Reconquista to  the Indian Ocean

Week 13 Overseas voyages II: America: slave trada - Columbian exchange

Week.14  The Europeans' perception of the “others”: Michel de Montaigne, “On cannibals” Montaigne, “On Cannibals” in Essays,  gr.tr. Ph. Dracontaeidis,   Hestia, Athens 1983:  272-287

Students are required to read  the following textbooks:

-Merry Wiesner-Hanks,Early Modern Europe  1450-1789, gr. tr. Hel. Kalogianni, Ελ. Athens 2006 , chs. 1-5 and 7

-Ε.Μ. Βurns, European History: The Western Civilization: Modern Times, gr.tr. Tassos Darveris, Salonica 2004 (4^th ed.) 2006, chs. 2 and 3.

The textbooks are available at the university library. More study material is posted on the course's page in the Edmodo platform.

Additional bibliography for those who are interested in, is provided under the heading of each lecture.

The course comprises lectures and seminars during which the tests taken weekly by the students are commented on.

At the end of the semester, the students are expected to be able (a) to draw the main lines of the period under study and (b) to grasp a number of concepts such as Humanism, order (estate) vs social class, Confessionalization, Reformation and Counter Reformation, central vs peripheral power, European state system, antisemitism vs racism and identity formation.

Evaluation is based on oral exams. The students who take the course for the first time are invited to participate in weekly tests. Their performances are taken into account for their final evaluation.