M.A. IN CULTURAL & INTELLECTUAL HISTORY 1300–1650
Term 1 - Term 2 - Language Classes - Paleography Classes

TERM 1

CORE COURSES

RHETORIC AND DIALECTIC (Professor Mack)

An interest and training in rhetoric was one of the defining characteristics of the Renaissance. Most forms of writing, including historiography, art-criticism and scientific controversy, were influenced by rhetorical principles. Rhetoric was central to the ways in which Renaissance people read texts and analysed events. Renaissance rhetoric depended very heavily on classical rhetoric, but it also developed several new preoccupations, prompted by new textual discoveries, knowledge of Greek texts,  changes in occasions for writing, and the humanist understanding of logic as a way of analysing and improving argument in practical situations. This module will aim to provide an understanding of the main doctrines of rhetoric, to study the ideas and parts of the writings of several major renaissance rhetoricians, and to give students practice in using rhetorical ideas to analyse texts, documents and/or objects.  In each week of the course students will be required to read short extracts from texts in Latin, longer extracts in translation, and some secondary reading.

ICONOLOGY (Dr Taylor)

This course studies renaissance imagery, mainly but not exclusively in Italy, from the point of view of iconology; that is, it is concerned with the figures, themes and narratives which were depicted in paintings, sculptures, prints and other visual media, and what these choices of subjects can tell us about social, political, cultural and religious attitudes in the period. The first three classes will be devoted to religious art, and will discuss the lives of the saints, the cult of the saints, and imagery based on the Bible; the remainder of the term will be given over to secular art, with classes on portraiture, mythology, allegory, history and literature. Classes will be given at an introductory level, assuming no prior knowledge of iconology or art history.

RELIGION AND SOCIETY IN ITALY   (Dr Scafi)

The aim of this course is to explore the religious context and underpinnings of the cultural, political and social history of Italy from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance.  In recent years, the study of material culture has greatly advanced the historical understanding of past events and belief systems.  Any history of late medieval and Renaissance Italy must also, however, take into account the development of the religious beliefs and practices that have not only left their traces in material artefacts but that were also powerful motivating factors in contemporary policy-making, contributing to the formation of political identity and thought.  In Italy between 1300 and 1650, politics and religion were inextricably bound together, and the Church was intimately involved in temporal matters.  The concept of an ordered human society, in both its religious and secular aspects, as an expression of a divinely structured universe, was central to all forms of social and cultural expression.  Religion was expressed both in rituals – liturgies, performances, pilgrimages – and in texts and works of art, thus forming a significant dimension of Italian culture and scholarship.  The course takes the religious history of Italy as the point of departure for an in-depth investigation of the significant social and political changes that took place between 1300 and 1600.  The focus is on the primary sources (hagiographical, legal, literary, architectural and cartographical) which provide evidence for the reconstruction of religious customs and habits of mind and for the understanding of political events.

 

TERM 2

CORE COURSE

RENAISSANCE PHILOSOPHY (Dr Giglioni)

The course will focus on specific themes characteristic of Renaissance philosophy: the notion of the infinite, the formation of new approaches to the knowledge of nature, the centrality of language in shaping human experience, the cognitive function of images, the emphasis on practical activity as the defining character of human nature, the definition of an autonomous domain for politics, the discovery of the historical dimension, and the emergence of individual consciousness in religious experience.  Each week passages from a seminal text will be introduced, read, interpreted and discussed, together with the classical sources and links to debates at the time.

OPTIONAL SUBJECTS: two to be chosen from a list including:

SIN AND SANCTITY IN THE REFORMATION (Professor Hamilton)

This course is intended as an introduction to some of the main issues which came to the fore at the time of the Reformation in Protestant and Catholic Europe.  The survey will range from the Middle Ages to the early seventeenth century, and the emphasis will be on the standard teaching on sin and salvation before the advent of Protestantism, humanist ideals of human perfection, Protestant views of the justified sinner, heretical adaptations of such views in Southern Europe, and the Catholic reaction.

DANTE AND THE MEDIEVAL TRANSMISSION OF THE CLASSICAL TRADITION  (Dr Scafi)

The aim of this course is to introduce the thought and poetry of Dante Alighieri to students by examining the way in which he interpreted and made use of the classical tradition.  This will be carried out by investigating eight themes which are central to Dante’s major work: theDivine Comedy.  Although the course will focus on this text, its aim will not be to consider literary issues concerning the meaning of individual lines, but rather to establish the background to Dante’s work and to explore his position regarding a certain topic by comparing it with the views advanced by both his predecessors and his contemporaries.  This will be achieved by focusing upon relevant passages from those sources which Dante either drew upon directly or knew indirectly through intermediaries.  In the final class students will give a seminar presentation in which they will choose and discuss any aspect of Dante’s use of the classical tradition.

EITHER
RENAISSANCE MATERIAL CULTURE (Dr Duits and Dr Quiviger)

At the heart of this course will be the allegories of the five senses executed by Rubens, Brueghel and Francken (Madrid, Prado).  These images constitute a rich encyclopaedia of the material world of the late Renaissance and provide suitable starting points for each class.  The first class focuses on the pictures themselves, the remaining eight on aspects of Renaissance material culture.  Among the themes to be discussed will be perception of the material world, Renaissance technology, Renaissance aesthetics, value and values, functions and banqueting.

OR
ART AND DEVOTION IN THE RENAISSANCE (Dr Duits and Dr Quiviger)

The course is divided into three parts.  The first focuses on the definition and training of the mind underlying lay and monastic piety.  The second part approaches Renaissance devotional practices from the angle of material culture.  The third examines the ways in which the Reformation and Counter Reformation affected the conception of religious art which the Renaissance inherited from the Middle Ages.  The course concludes with a revision in the context of the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum.  The visual and textual material discussed during the classes will be made available to students on a CD-Rom.

SIXTEENTH-CENTURY EUROPEAN LITERATURE (Professor Mack)

The literatures of renaissance Europe were very closely related, in part through the Latin educational tradition which underpinned all of them. The aim of this module is to explore the interconnections between a group of Latin, French, Italian and English texts written in the sixteenth century. The course will cover different genres of renaissance literature, including mock encomium, epic, essay and tragedy and will explore how different writers used the resources provided by classical literature and learned from writers in other vernaculars. The course will provide a comparative approach to renaissance literature and will consider the ways in which literature confronted major issues in sixteenth-century social life. Since some of the texts are rather long, students will read the whole text in translation but will be assigned passages of several pages for each week in the original languages.

ISLAMIC AUTHORITIES AND ARABIC ELEMENTS IN THE RENAISSANCE (Professor Burnett)

Starting from selected Renaissance texts, this course will explore, on the one hand, the continuing importance of the texts in Arabic philosophy, science and magic translated into Latin in the Middle Ages, and, on the other hand, the beginnings of the study of Arabic itself and the production of new translations. Topics will include the problem of translating from Arabic, attitudes towards Islam, the Arabic contributions to philosophy, mathematics and medicine, and the ‘Antarabism’ of the humanists. No knowledge of Arabic is required.

EARLY MODERN SCEPTICISM: TRENDS, DISSEMINATION, CRITICISM (Dr Cao)

This course will take an interdisciplinary approach to early modern scepticism, focusing on both philosophical and non-philosophical sources. It will examine the influence of sceptical sources from antiquity on the emergence of new patterns of uncertainty and doubt, while also addressing a number of historical and methodological issues. Students will gain familiarity with a wide range of arguments, sources and genres connected to early modern scepticism; and they will study the interplay among various disciplines (philosophy, law, medicine, historiography and textual criticism) by exploring the ways in which notions such as doubt, uncertainty and conjecture took on a different meaning depending on the intellectual context, doctrinal constraints, philosophical criticism and intended audience. Among the topics to be discussed are: religious controversies and the New World; the rise of toleration and Montaigne’s account of scepticism as a way of life; Descartes and scepticism as a method; Protestant and Catholic reactions to unbelief, atheism and free-thinking; literary responses to scepticism; the problem of certainty in historiography and philology (e.g., forgery and conjecture); proof, evidence, and probability in medicine and science; legal relativism and the concept of ‘beyond any reasonable doubt’; casuistry and moral scruple.

 

LANGUAGE CLASSES

LATIN READING (Dr Giglioni)

The aim of this course is to acquaint students with the vocabulary and style of Renaissance Latin, to increase their skills in translating fluently and accurately, and to prepare them for translating the Latin passages in the MA examination.  Passages are prepared in advance every week and translated in class.  Problems of grammar and syntax are discussed in class as they arise.  The class will be divided to take account of  students with different levels of proficiency.

ITALIAN READING (Dr Oates)

Extracts from a wide variety of early modern Italian texts are provided for translation and discussion of grammatical difficulties.  Texts will be distributed weekly for advance preparation, and selected according to the abilities and needs of the students attending the class.

READING RENAISSANCE FRENCH (Dr Oates)

This course is intended to take students with a reasonable reading knowledge of French through a variety of Renaissance texts.

PALAEOGRAPHY CLASSES

LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY (Professor Burnett)

The classes provide experience in reading and transcribing Latin documents written between 1300 and 1650.  Since the texts are also translated, they supplement the Latin Reading class.

June 2011