This is the page that provides the reading assignments and class session dates for the spring 2007 version of J. B. Owens's upper-division undergraduate and graduate course, History 453/553, Renaissance Creativity. The sole purpose of this page and all of the pages linked to it is to provide an orientation for those students enrolled in History 453/553.

You may return to the course main page or to the J. B. Owens Main Page.

Renaissance Creativity: Readings and Class Sessions

This page lists the class sessions and reading assignments, and the due dates for project assignments and examinations for J. B. Owens's spring semester 2007 course Renaissance Creativity. The information provided on this page is TENTATIVE and may be updated throughout the course. In particular, some reading assignments will be added for topics toward the end of the course. You may return to the course syllabus.

NOTE BENE: Permission to submit late work or to be absent from class will only be granted if PRIOR notification has been given to me through the means provided below, unless such notification is impossible. Because failure to complete work will give you a ZERO for the assignment, you should not submit unexcused late work nor fail to make up any missed assignment for which an excuse has been obtained.

As class attendance is important, it is MANDATORY. Moreover, if you miss more than one (1) class session, you will FAIL THIS COURSE.

All assignments must be completed by the date indicated.

Reading Assignments

Do these with two things in mind.
  1. Look for information relating to the ten components of the course hypothesis stated on the viewpoint page and/or apply the hypothesis to the creative work you are considering for your project. Come to class prepared to provide information relevant to an evaluation of the hypothesis and/or discuss your application of the hypothesis.
  2. The programs for HISTORY MAJORS are thesis-driven in the sense that the required courses build toward History 491, "Seminar," in which each student must do an original piece of research focused on some significant historical question and present the results of the project. That means that the required courses are not tasks that you check off on your way to graduating with a History Major. Instead, they are part of a process by which you are to develop your cognitive and expressive skills. You must learn to raise important historical questions, to draw from primary and secondary sources the information you need to respond to such questions, to formulate or evaluate hypotheses in response to the questions, to use the information you obtain from your research to defend your hypotheses, and to present in coherent written form your ideas and their defense. As you read, you should engage in the activities of raising questions, obtaining information, and formulating or evaluating hypotheses. Then in class, you will have opportunities to present your ideas and defend them. Only by engaging in these processes on a regular basis will you arrive at graduation with the feeling that you have really developed during your time as a History Major.

The required book must be brought to EVERY class session. Students without their book will be considered unready to participate in the session.

9 January: Introduction and discussion of the video A World Reborn, 1300-1700

Friday, 12 January: Students select the focus of their projects.
By 2:30 p.m., each student must have mailed to Owens the names of three authors, in rank order, on whose publications he or she will concentrate for the course project.

16 January, What is the Renaissance all about?
Owens, Preface to the Rough Draft of the Owens Chapters
Owens, The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages
Cochrane, 1.3: Francesco Petrarca, Secretum (Second Dialogue).
Cochrane, 1.2: Francesco Petrarca, Letters on Familiar Matters.
Cochrane, 1.4: Giovanni Dondi dall'Orologio, Letter to Fra Guglielmo Centueri da Cremona.
Owens, The Crisis of Religious Leadership [optional]
We will discuss the project. Therefore, you MUST have read the project page and the Viewpoint Page.

Friday, 19 January: Students submit a preliminary bibliography for their projects.
By 2:30 p.m., each student must have mailed to Owens a preliminary project bibliography, which must correspond to the course style sheet.

23 January, The Prince: Machiavelli and the Medici
Owens, Renaissance Humanism and the Identity of Europe as a World Region
Cochrane, 3.8: Leonardo Bruni, On the Constitution of the Florentines.
Cochrane, 3.10: Bartolomeo Scala, Dialogue on Laws and Judgments.
Cochrane, pp. 174-176, and 3.12: Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius
30 January, War and Political Institutions
Owens, A Model of European Monarchy
Owens, War and Changing Political Institutions
Cochrane, 1.1: Bartolus of Sassoferrato, On the Tyrant.
Juan de Mariana, The King and the Education of the King (handout).
Cochrane, 3.14: Giovanni Botero, The Reason of State.

6 February, FIRST EXAM

On all readings and discussions since the beginning of the course.

6 February, The Dissenter: Jan Hus
13 February, The Impetus for Reform
Owens, The Crisis of Religious Leadership
Cochrane, 2.7: Bernardino da Siena, Sermons.
Cochrane, 5.22: Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, Letter to Henry Bullock.
20 February, The Dissenter: Martin Luther
Cochrane, 5.20: Martin Luther, Letter to Pope Leo X.
Cochrane, 5.21: The Twelve Articles, and Martin Luther, Admonition to Peace.
Owens, Christianity in Trouble
27 February, The Dissenter: The Consequences of Religious Conflict
Owens, Revival: The Catholic Reformation
Cochrane, 5.23: John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Cochrane, 5.24: Council of Trent, Bull of Convocation and Canons and Decrees.

6 March, SECOND EXAM

On all readings and discussions since the first examination.

6 March, The Scientist: The Beginnings of Modern Science
20 March, The Scientist: Galileo Galilei
Owens, Universities and the Scholastic Method
Owens, Ooze, Mystery and Machine: The Emergence of Modern Science
Handout: Collection of sources on the Natural Sciences.

The Galileo Project of Rice University provides a great deal of information about Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and the science of his time.

27 March, The Scientist: Science Triumphant
Owens, The First Global Age Emerges.
Cochrane, 4.18: Michel de Montaigne, Essays.

3 April, THIRD EXAM

On all readings and discussions since the second examination.

3 April, The Early Renaissance Artist
10 April, The Elements of High Renaissance Painting
Cochrane, 4.15: Giorgio Vasari, Life of Michelangelo.
17 April, The Late Renaissance Artist
Cochrane, 4.16: Jacopo Pontormo, Letter to Benedetto Varchi
24 April, The Artist and Society
Cochrane, 2.5: Leon Battista Alberti, On the Family.
Cochrane, 4.19: Vincenzo Galilei, Dialogue on Ancient and Modern Music.

Thursday, 26 April, PROJECT DUE

Due in my e-mailbox by 2:30 p.m. Follow carefully the preparation instructions in the project description page.

1 May, What is the Renaissance REALLY all about? Review of the course themes through a focus on Renaissance music.

8 May, Tuesday, 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. FOURTH EXAM
For the exam, we will meet in our regular classroom, Liberal Arts, 328. It will cover all of the readings and discussions since the beginning of the course.

Mail questions now. Please include your name and e-mail address in the body of your message.

You may return to the course main page or to the course syllabus. 

All contents copyright © 1996, 1998, 2004, 2007.
J. B. Owens
All rights reserved.


Revised: 7 January 2007


URL:  http://www.isu.edu/~owenjack/rencr/reading.html