- Thursday, 3/11 —Please note that the ID List is again up to date and there will be no further additions to it before the final exam. Also, here is the Map Quiz that we used a few weeks ago. It's a pdf file that you can download, print out, and use to prepare for the final exam. Alternatively, you can see a lower resolution .jpg file on-line.
- Monday, 3/1 — Please note the revised reading assignments and lecture schedule for Week IX. Note too the updated ID List. Now is the time to use this list to start studying for the final.
- Wednesday, 2/25 — Since a number of people will have to arrive late or leave early to take care of registration chores, let's have a sort of round robin discussion on Thursday and I will lecture on Friday instead. In the context of my remarks on 'feudalism' on Tuesday, have a good look at The Statutes of Lorris (Perspectives, p. 359), The Charter Of Liberties for St. Omer (p. 362), and especially Magna Carta (p. 383). In the same context, you might want to read this very helpful introduction to the vexed topic of Feudalism, by Richard Ables. You may also wish to read the article I mentioned in lecture by Elizabeth Brown "The Tyranny of a Construct: Feudalism and Historians of Medieval Europe" in The American Historical Review , Vol. 79, No. 4. (Oct., 1974), pp. 1063-1088. The "stable URL" link above is through JSTOR.
- Monday, 2/23 — Though I think I mentioned it in class, I forgot to announce here that I've put my copies of several books on 24 hour reserve at Lemieux Library: Christine de Pizan's Book of the City of Ladies; The Romance of the Rose, by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun; and The Letters of Abelard and Hélöise, edited and translated by Betty Radice.
- Tuesday, 2/19 — I've decided to postpone the due date of the term paper until Tuesday March 2 in order to give you one more weekend to work on it.
Please also note that the ID list has been updated. Please make sure that you have a thorough understanding of ALL the terms on this list.
Also make sure that you are prepared for tomorrow's discussion of the primary sources as outlined in this week's agenda (Week VII). Please make sure you've read the relevant material and have it, or your detailed notes with you to facilitate our discussion. Remember, this is your opportunity to pose questions, as well as offer answers.
- Monday, 2/16 — I'm sorry I missed your on-line discussion on Friday. I notice that no one took the initiative. I have posted an open-ended question to the forum that I hope might stimulate some thinking along the lines of our reading this week. And speaking of our reading for the week, please note the rather detailed agenda I've posted for Week VII.
- Monday, 2/9 — Note our agenda for this week: Week VI.
- Tuesday, 2/3 — I had hoped to be back today, but my voice is still absent. Today's class is canceled due to illness. We'll be back together on Thursday and we'll try to catch up. Be sure to check the schedule for a revised agenda for week V. I'll be posting it later today.
- Friday, 1/30 — Class is canceled today due to illness. Be sure to check the schedule on this site for a revised agenda for next week. I will post it before Monday.
- Thursday, 1/22 — I have sought the advice of the computer help desk and they tell me that everyone already has a password for use with WebCT. If you don't know what it is, you can find out by calling or stopping by the help desk.
- Wednesday, 1/21 — Note the expanded agenda for next week's reading: Week IV.
- Tuesday, 1/20 — N.B. This Friday we will be meeting at Lemieux Library. Please disregard what I said about our activities on Friday. Although I mentioned it in class, I forgot to note in the schedule that we will be meeting at Lemieux Library on Friday January 23 for a presentation introducing some of the library resources you will need for the writing assignments.
- Monday, 1/19 —I have posted some further instructions on the writing assignments. Read these with some care and bring any questions you may have to class.
- Monday, 1/19 —I've also posted some help on formulating thesis statements. We will also try some in-class exercises in thesis formulation. With respect to the "Prospectus for future research", I've posted an example of what a portion of your prospectus might look like.
- Saturday, 1/17 — Here's a stable URL for the article I mentioned in lecture yesterday Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis by Joan W. Scott. The link is for a reference in JSTOR, a very useful database that we have at Lemieux Library. This is a full-text database including articles from a number of important historical journals. This is a good place to look for older, and influential articles in a wide variety of disciplines.
- Tuesday, 1/13 — The on-line discussion forum is now available on the WebCT site. Log in directly from this link or from the WebCT home page. Please read the revised section on Class Participation below for some additional thoughts on the on-line forum and how it might be used.
- Monday, 1/12 — Preliminary instructions for the selection of paper topics have been posted. You should look ahead in the anthology Perspectives From the Past and start thinking about what sort of topic you might want to choose for the source analysis and the term paper.
- Monday, 1/12 — The ID List has been established. I will be adding items to it on a regular basis, so keep up with it. This list can serve as a very useful study guide for the final exam, but it can also serve as useful way for you to organize your own understanding of the course materials.
- Saturday, 1/10 — The due dates for the written assignments have been established. They are noted in the Schedule of Lectures & Discussions, and below in the Written Assignments section.
This syllabus is permanently under construction. This course is a work in progress. How it proceeds will be, at least in part, a function of your interests. The schedule of discussions and lectures is thus a skeleton that will be fleshed out with additional or alternative readings as needed, or as the interests of the class dictate. From time to time I may add links to on-line resources of interest. Watch this space for changes. You should check for changes or new material at least once a week, they will be clearly noted at the top.- Coffin, Stacey, Lerner, Meacham, Western Civilizations vol. 1, 14th ed. (W.W. Norton, 2002), ISBN 0-393-97771-4
- Brophy, Epstein, Robertson, Safley, Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations vol. 1, (W.W. Norton, 2002), ISBN 0393-97821-4
- To familiarize yourself with the broad strokes of the history of various western civilizations;
- To consider some of the themes which make those histories relevant to the modern world;
- By writing some history yourself, practice some of the skills of the historian: close reading and critical analysis of sources;
- Examine and question the processes by which such histories are constructed.
Twenty percent of your grade will depend on your participation in the class. Far from optional, classroom discussions will be the crux of the course. Each week we will be discussing the primary source documents assigned to date. Your ACTIVE participation is required. Contrary to Woody Allen's dictum, 90% of life is NOT just showing up: you have to get involved. Accordingly, like anyone else who attends a meeting, you will be expected to come prepared with some notes: questions, talking points, observations etc.. From time to time I will ask you to turn these notes in.
Participation does not have to be confined to talking in class. One excellent way to participate in this course would be to contribute to the on-line discussion forum for this class, available through WebCT. History is, or should be, a collaborative enterprise. This on-line forum is established to facilitate such collaboration. I will not moderate it and indeed will only look in on it occasionally. This forum is for your use and should serve your purposes. You might, for example, use it to ask your colleagues if they have a particular book checked out of the library and arrange to share it. You might use it to continue discussions that we have begun in class, or introduce new topics of discussion that we might not touch on in class at all. Such a forum can be particularly useful for sharing the fruits of your research: If you've found sources in the library or on line that you think might be particularly important or useful with respect to the paper topics or the themes of the class, you should share the fruits of your research with your colleagues.
- Primary Source Analysis / Rough Draft. This is intended to be a brief (800 words) analysis of some primary source document. It should propose some arguable thesis concerning the document document in question, and sketch out how that argument might be made. This paper, therefore, should include some bibliography indicating what additional reading might be appropriate, and how you will use it in order to make your case. Thus, this analysis can serve as a draft for your term paper, though it does not have to. This paper will be due in class Friday, February 6.
- A Term-Paper of about 2000 words (exclusive of apparatus). The term paper will be due on Tuesday, March 2.
- A prospectus for future research. This will take the form of an annotated bibliography on a subject of your choosing. The prospectus will be due on the last day of class: Friday, March 12.
- Essay Question: I will offer a choice of several questions based upon the major themes of the course. You will write an essay integrating factual material from the text, material presented in lecture and material drawn from your readings of the primary sources.
- Short Answer ID questions: For this part of the exam, you will choose several items from a list of specific events, people, circumstances and describe briefly what these things are (who, what, when, where, how and why) and, more important, what they mean. Why are these things important? We will compile this list throughout the quarter and it will be updated frequently on the web-site.
- Map Quiz: I will provide an outline map with a number of sites and geographical features marked on it and you will identify them.
- Class participation: 20%
- Analysis / Draft: 20%
- Term Paper: 20%
- Prospectus for future research: 20%
- Final Exam: 20%
Nota Bene: You must attempt and complete all four of the written assignments above in order to gain credit for the course.
- Schedule of lectures and readings,
- webCT, On-Line Discussion Forum.
- Map Quiz. – A PDF file you can download and use to study for the final exam.
- ID List. – Drawn from the lectures, the text and the primary source documents, the items on this list are those which I consider to be particularly important or illustrative of the themes of the course. The ID questions on the final exam will be drawn from this list.
- List of Suggested Subjects for the source analysis and the term paper.
- Further instructions on the writing assignments
- Help on formulating thesis statements
- An example of what a portion of your "Prospectus for Future Research" might look like
- Hymn to Inanna by Enhedu'Anna. MS 2367 of the Shøyen Collection. Have a look around at this wonderful collection. There are manuscripts pictured here from our whole period and beyond.
- Using Primary Sources on the Web
- Humbul Humanities Hub
| jjcrump at u dot washington dot edu NOTE: This is where I get all my mail. I check it several times a day. Mail sent to a seattleu.edu address will not reach me! | ||
| Office | Loyola 402. I will be sharing this office with four other instructors, so I'll not be there very often. The best thing to do, if you want to find me, is to send e-mail. | |
| Office Hour | I will keep regular office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00 – 3:00 PM, but I'll be glad to meet by appointment at agreed upon times and places. | |
| I have a mailbox at the History Department Office Casey 4W | ||
| Phone | Department Office Phone: (206) 296-5450 (leave a message) |
