EARLY MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY 1600-1700

The course deals with European political and economic history of the 17^th century.

One of the aims of the first part of the course, which follows the one on the 1450-1600 period, is to underline the importance the Reformation has had for the modern european history. We insist on this for the following reason: Greek students, chiefly because in Greek history such experiences are lacking, cannot easily grasp neither the pluralism of Christian confessions nor the impact this pluralism had on fundamental aspects of european civilization such as freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, relations between political power and confessions etc.

In the second part, the course deals with economic history. The aim here is to present different views on the preconditions of the Industrial Revolution.

At the end of the semester students should be familirized with scholarly debates about important issues of the period, such as the Englsh Civil War and Revolution, the French absolutism etc., and have realized their interconnectedness. They have also touched upon fundamental texts of the 17^th century such as Hobbes' Leviathan and Spinoza's Ethico-Political Treatise and some of the problems their interpretation presents.

Week 1 Introduction. Main characteristics of the period: the 17th century crisis
Ph. Benedict-M. Gutman (eds.), Early Modern Europe. From Crisis to Stability, University of Delaware Press, 2006 (Εισαγωγή)

Week 2 Thirty Years War/The European State system/ The rise of Sweden
G. Parker, The Thirty Years War, Taylor and Francis, 1997

Week 3 Civil war and Revolution in England 1642-1649

Week 4 The Commonwealth Period-The Protector 1649-1660

Week 5 Hobbes' political philosophy

Week 5 From Restauration to the Glorious Revolution
Kishlandky, A Monarchy Transformed: Britain 1603-1714, The Penguin Press, 1996

Eβδ. 6 Absolute Monarchy in France/ Louis XIV wars/ The Spanish Succession War

Week 7 The Netherlands I: Federalism-Republicanism-Military Organization-External Relations. Ηugo Grotius
Israel, The Dutch Republic, Oxford U.P., 1995 κεφ. 21, 22, 34

Week 8 The Netherlands II: Religion: Spinoza's philosophy of freedom

Week 9 Prussia: the concept of disciplinization
Gorski “The Protestant Ethic revisited. Disciplinary Revolution and State Formation in Holland and Prussia”, American Journal of Sociology 99 (1993): 265-316

Week 12 Mercantillism

Week 13 Industrious Revolution I

Week 14 Industrious Revolution II
Jan De Vries, The Industrious Revolution. Consumer Beharior and the Household Economy from 1650 to Present, Cambridge U.P, 2008

Students are required to read  the relevant chapters from the following textbooks which are availabe at the university library in sufficient number of copies:
-Merry Wiesner-Hanks,Early Modern Europe  1450-1789, gr. tr. Hel. Kalogianni, Ελ. Athens 2006
-Ε.Μ. Βurns, European History: The Western Civilization: Modern Times, gr.tr. Tassos Darveris, Salonica 2004 (4^th ed.) 2006

Additional bibliography is provided for the students' essays

The course comprises lectures and seminars during which the students' essays are discussed.

During the semester the students are required to write three essays of gradually increasing difficulty in which they have to present scholarly debates about the subjects they study. At the end of the semester the students are expected to have realized what exactly a scholarly debate and to have, in some measure, to have developed skills of critical thinking.

Final evaluation is based on the essays written during the semester.