Chapters

  1. History’s Story
  2. Wanderers and Settlers: The Ancient Middle East to 400 B.C.
  3. The Chosen People: Hebrews and Jews, 2000 B.C. to A.D. 135
  4. Trial of the Hellenes: The Ancient Greeks, 1200 B.C. to A.D. 146
  5. Imperium Romanum: The Romans, 753 B.C. to A.D. 300
  6. The Revolutionary Rabbi: Christianity, the Roman Empire, and Islam, 4 B.C. to A.D. 1453
  7. From Old Rome to the New West: The Early Middle Ages, A.D. 500 to 1000
  8. The Medieval Mêlée: The High and Later Middle Ages, 1000 to 1500
  9. Making the Modern World: The Renaissance and Reformation, 1400 to 1648
  10. Liberation of Mind and Body: Early Modern Europe, 1543 to 1815
  11. Mastery of the Machine: The Industrial Revolution, 1764 to 1914
  12. The Westerner’s Burden: Imperialism and Nationalism, 1810 to 1918
  13. Rejections of Democracy: The InterWar Years and World War II, 1917 to 1945
  14. A World Divided: The Cold War, 1945 to 1993
  15. Into the Future: The Contemporary Era, 1991 to the Present
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Primary Sources for Chapter 9
Making the Modern World: The Renaissance and Reformation,
1400 to 1648

Study Guide | Art History | Links

The Purse of Princes

Trial of Joan of Arc, selection:  Inquisitors examine the heroine of the Hundred Years War.
Content Question: What specific actions and events turned a simple peasant girl into a leader of armies?
Analysis Question: How is Christian faith entangled in this trial?
Evaluative Questions: How are we to evalate the role of miracles and the divine in the events of Joan’s life and death?


Man as the Measure

Machiavelli’s Prince, Chapter 18:  an opinion about the political utility of lying.
Content Question: What does Machiavelli say about moral qualities princes should have and under what circumstances?
Analysis Question: How do his metaphors help to explain his point?
Evaluative Questions: How much does this reflect the basic principle that “sometimes politicians do the exact opposite of what they say they are doing?”

For the full text of The Prince, see here, or here.

 

Lorenzo Valla on the Donation of Constantine: an example of critical reading of texts. This essay highlights the key criticisms.

The Gutenberg Bible.

 

Heaven Knows

Luther against the Peasants:  The leader of the Reformation tries to stop rebellion.
Content Question: What Luther’s three criticisms of the peasants?
Analysis Question: How would this tract affect Luther’s standing among various groups in society?
Evaluative Questions: How reasonable is Luther’s prediction of what would happen if the peasant's won?

Other Sources:

Precursors to the Reformation Five centuries of reformist dissent within the Roman Catholic Church: collection of images with detailed explanations of their influence on the Reformation.

 

Fatal Beliefs

Pope Pius V’s Bull against Elizabeth, 1570:  The pope undermines the Queen of England.
Content Question: What are the pope’s criticisms of the Elizabeth?
Analysis Question: How good Catholics supposed to act?
Evaluative Questions: What alternatives did Elizabeth and the English have to deal with this bull?

 

God, Greed, and Glory

Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies by Bartoleme de Las Casas, 1542 (via Wayback Machine):  The first Spanish priest ordained in the New World describes the affects his compatriots had on the natives.
Content Question: What specific actions does the author describe the Spanish as doing?
Analysis Question: How does the author frame proper Christianity in this process?
Evaluative Questions: How much is Christianity implicated in the devastation?

For more go to http://lascasas.org/index.htm.

Other Sources:

Synopsis of Official Spanish Correspondence Pertaining to Relations with the Uchiz Indians, 1771-1783: letters as described.

 

Primary Source Project Links

9. Witch Hunter versus Confessor about Belief in Witches

9. Witch Hunter versus Montaigne

9b. Martin Luther versus Peasants about Good Order

9c. Columbus versus Bartolemé de Las Casas about the New World

 

Last Updated:2023 June 2