In 2007 - 2008, I teach three winter courses.  Please click on the course that interests you:

HIST 260: Europe, 410 - 1303 (formerly Europe, 818 - 1303)

HIST 304 / RS 325: Heresy and Religious Crises in the Later Middle Ages (formerly Medieval Church History)

HIST 402A & B: Medieval Europe aka Law, Love, and Lies: Approaches to Late Medieval Social History

HIST 260: Europe, 410 - 1303
Tuesday lecture 9:30 - 11:30; Thursday tutorial 9:30 - 10:30
STJ 2011

Course Description

Students in HIST 260 will study of the evolution of European society, circa 410 to 1303. Against a background of the decline of Roman imperial power and the establishment of the barbarian kingdoms, the course traces the growth of medieval economic, social, political, religious and judicial institutions. It focuses on the nature of kingship and the law, so-called “feudal” institutions, the growth of the papacy and the evolution of monasticism, the birth of universities, and such social institutions as marriage and the family.  The course ends with the fourteenth-century crisis.

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Course Materials

1. Peters, Edward. Europe and the Middle Ages. Fourth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2004.

2. HIST 260 Course Package

Peters is the standard university textbook for survey courses on the Middle Ages. The book is available new from the university bookstore and retails for about eighty dollars. Used copies, however, are also widely available. Students should note that the fourth edition, which is mandatory reading for the course, is considerably different from the previous versions.

The course package is a bound set of legally photocopied readings is available at the UW Bookstore. The price is dictated in large part by the constraints imposed by the Canada Copyright Act.

In addition to the textbook and course kit, the instructor will provide URLs to online primary sources throughout the term.

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Grade Breakdown

Participation                  10 %
Midterm Exam               15 %
Document Analysis        15 %
Final Exam                    30 %
Final Essay                   30 %

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Expectations and Goals

Attendance in HIST 260 is mandatory.  The instructor takes attendance each class.  Students should note that participation counts for ten per cent of the final grade. The participation grade is derived from:

1. Weekly class attendance
2. Attendance at the two mandatory seminars which are part of the UW Medieval Studies lecture series. The instructor will post the dates for these seminars during the term.

History 260 is a survey course.  It covers a lengthy and significant period in Western development.  This period spans many different regions and cultures, and reflects the deeds and thoughts of many individuals.  In short, the course is as heavy on data as it is on theory.  The course moves quickly to touch upon all this material.  Students who do not participate in weekly lectures, or who fall behind on weekly readings, will find it a challenge to catch up.  The best way to avoid this difficulty is to keep up to date with the workload.  This means, each week, reading carefully and making meticulous notes.  Students should come to class armed with questions or opinions and be prepared to voice them. 

Some students find it helpful to read more extensively on the material covered in the course.  The best reference source for quick facts about medieval topics is the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, which is available in the reference departments of both the Porter Library and the St. Jerome's Library at call number D114.D5 1982.  The best online academic site for medieval primary sources is Fordham University’s Medieval Sourcebook.

Each week’s class focuses on a given theme or topic.  The two-hour lecture is followed, later in the week, by a discussion period with exercises.  During this time, students will explore a series of questions pertaining to the facts of medieval history and to the study of primary and secondary sources.

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Written Assignments

Students must complete two independent writing assignments as part of their coursework in HIST 260: a documentary analysis and a final essay. Both assignments must conform to the following parameters:

All written work must be typed using Times New Roman (or something comparable) at a character pitch of 12. Margins must be 1” on all sides and the assignment must not have a cover page. Students must use footnotes as opposed to endnotes or parenthetical references. They should consult the Chicago Manual of Style for further formatting details.

Style counts when writing! The instructor awards points for smooth prose and deducts them for awkward, or incorrect, use of the English language. Students at every level are encouraged to make use of the University of Waterloo’s Writing Centre (http://elpp.uwaterloo.ca/writingcentre.html).

Documentary analysis:

All students in HIST 260 must write a 1 200 word documentary analysis based on one of several pre-selected primary sources provided by the instructor (see below). The purpose of the assignment is to train students to interpret edited and translated medieval documents. As part of the assignment, students will submit a bibliography comprising four scholarly secondary sources.

Click here to download a copy of a the instruction sheet for the documentary analysis assignment in PDF format (requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Click here to download a copy of a marking rubric for the documentary analysis that the instructor used in past years.  The file is in PDF format (requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader).  The marking rubric may change slightly from year to year.

In the Winter 2008 term, students must elect to work on one of the following two packages.  The first contains a selection of passages from the twelfth-century chronicler Gerald of Wales.  The second package contains selections from three different sources, all of which point to anti-Semitism in the twelfth century.

Click here to download the first package.

Click here to download the second package.

Final essay:

Students in HIST 260 must also write a 1 500 word essay, due at the end of the semester. The essay topic(s) will be assigned during the semester.

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Academic Honesty

All students should read, and be familiar with the University of Waterloo’s Policy 71 (Student Academic Discipline Policy. The History Department at St. Jerome’s will take all appropriate measures to deal with students who commit academic offences. Recent penalties have included failure in the course, suspension from the University, and withholding or rescinding of degrees from the Univesity of Wateloo. Except in cases where the instructor specifies otherwise, cheating during in-class or take-home examinations, collaborating on written assignments, failing to use quotation marks and citations when using or paraphrasing the printed or electronically-transmitted work of others, submitting work purchased from, or writ-ten by, someone else, reproducing work submitted in another course, aiding or abetting academic misconduct, and violating any other part of the Policy on Academic Honesty will result in penalties. For further information, see:

http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm

In addition, the University also provides a concise guideline and checklist for students at:

http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/students/studentmisconduct.htm

Students who require help to learn how to avoid offences such as plagiarism, cheating, and double submission, or who need clarification on aspects of the discipline policy should ask the instructor for guidance.  All students may also consult their academic advisor, the appropriate St. Jerome’s departmental chair, and, ultimately, the Appeals Officer (currently the Associate Dean) for St. Jerome’s University. Further information on “How to Avoid Plagiarism and Other Written Offences: A Guide for Students and Instructors” can be found at: 

http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts/ugrad/academic_responsibility.html

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Grading Scale

Courses in the Faculty of Arts are graded according to the following scale:

According to this system, a grade of C-, C, or C+ indicates that the evaluated work meets the basic requirements of the assignment.  In order to achieve a mark above C+, the assignment must demonstrate superior characteristics such as a sophisticated understanding of the topic, an awareness or ability to use more advanced methodologies, a creative approach, etc.

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Deadlines:

The instructor imposes a five per cent late penalty for each day after the due date on all assignments.  This includes week-ends and holidays.  Some important dates to keep in mind are:

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Illness and Missed Tests:

The University of Waterloo Examination Regulations are available online at

http://www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/exams/ExamRegs.pdf .

If a student has a test/examination deferred due to acceptable medical evidence, he/she normally will write the test/examination at a mutually convenient time, to be determined by the course instructor.

The regulations stipulate that a medical certificate presented in support of an official petition for relief from normal academic requirements must provide all of the information requested on the “University of Waterloo Verification of Illness” form or it will not be accepted. This form can be obtained from Health Services or by clicking here:

 http://www.healthservices.uwaterloo.ca/Health_Services/VERIFICATION%20OF%20ILLNESS.html

In cases of illness resulting in a missed examination, moreover, students who obtain a University of Wa-terloo Verification of Illness form from Health Services, in accordance with Examination Regulations from the Registrar’s office, must note:

The instructor only accepts UW Verification of Illness forms that indicate a Severe illness. Students who obtain Verification of Illness forms that indicate Moderate, Slight, or Negligible illness will under no circumstances be permitted to write a make-up examination and will receive a grade of zero for that examination.

Student travel plans are not acceptable grounds for granting an alternative final examination period.

The University acknowledges that, due to the pluralistic nature of the University community, some students may, on religious grounds, require alternative times to write tests and examinations.

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Special Needs:

Students with documented or suspected disabilities (i.e., physical, learning, or sensory disabilities or chronic medical conditions) are encouraged to contact the Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD) to determine eligibility for their services. OPD is located in Needles Hall 1132, 888-4567 ext. 5082.

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HIST 304 / RS 325: Heresy and Religious Crises in the Later Middle Ages
Lecture: Tuesdas from 2:30 to 4:20
Tutorial: Thursday from 2:30 to 3:30

Location: STJ 2011

The basic requirement for participation is attendance and, in HIST 304, attendance is mandatory. The instructor and tutorial leader take attendance each class. Students who do not attend 80% of the classes have not adequately participated in the course and may, consequently, be denied the credit.

Students, moreover, must fulfill all the course requirements in order to receive credit for HIST 304. This not only includes attendance at lectures and tutorials but also all written assignments and examinations.

History 304 is not a survey course. It presupposes a basic familiarity with the major names, dates, and events of the European Middle Ages. While there is no prerequisite for the course, students may find it advantageous to first take HIST 260, or to take that course concurrently with HIST 304. Students who have not previously studied the details of medieval history may find it useful to “brush up” independently on their medieval history.

There are several tools available to help students familiarize themselves with the Middle Ages. The best reference source for quick facts about medieval topics is the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, which is available in the reference department at both the St. Jerome and Porter Libraries. The best online aca-demic site for medieval primary sources is Fordham University’s Medieval Sourcebook. The standard textbook used in survey courses on the Middle Ages is Edward Peters’ Europe and the Middle Ages.

Each week’s classes focus on a given theme or topic. The weekly two-hour lecture is supported by a discussion period with required exercises. During this time, students will explore a series of questions pertaining to the facts of medieval history and to the study of primary and secondary sources.

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Written assignments:

Students must complete two written assignments as part of their coursework in HIST 304: a shorter analytical essay and a longer final essay.  Both assignments must conform to the following parameters:

All written work must be typed using Times New Roman (or something comparable) at a character pitch of 12.  Margins must be 1” on all sides and the assignment must not have a cover page.  Students must use footnotes as opposed to endnotes or parenthetical references.  They should consult the Chicago Manual of Style for further formatting details.

Style counts when writing!  The instructor awards points for smooth prose and deducts them for awkward, or incorrect, use of the English language.  Students at every level are encouraged to make use of the University of Waterloo’s Writing Centre (http://elpp.uwaterloo.ca/writingcentre.html). 

Analytical essay:

Click here to download instructions for this assignment, which is due on 12 Feburuary 2008.

Research essay:

Instruction for this assignment will be posted here once they are made available to students.

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Academic Honesty:

All students should read, and be familiar with, the University of Waterloo’s Policy 71 (Student Academic Discipline Policy.  The History Department at St. Jerome’s will take all appropriate measures to deal with students who commit academic offences.  Recent penalties have included failure in the course, suspension from the University, and withholding or rescinding of degrees from the Univesity of Wateloo.  Except in cases where the instructor specifies otherwise, cheating during in-class or take-home examinations, collaborating on written assignments, failing to use quotation marks and citations when using or paraphrasing the printed or electronically-transmitted work of others, submitting work purchased from, or written by, someone else, reproducing work submitted in another course, aiding or abetting academic misconduct, and violating any other part of the Policy on Academic Honesty will result in penalties.  For further information, see:

http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm

In addition, the University also provides a concise guideline and checklist for students at:

http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/students/studentmisconduct.htm

Students who require help to learn how to avoid offences such as plagiarism, cheating, and double submission, or who need clarification on aspects of the discipline policy should ask the instructor for guidance.  All students may also consult their academic advisor, the appropriate St. Jerome’s departmental chair, and, ultimately, the Appeals Officer (currently the Associate Dean) for St. Jerome’s University. Further information on “How to Avoid Plagiarism and Other Written Offences: A Guide for Students and Instructors” can be found at:

http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts/ugrad/academic_responsibility.html

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Grading Scale
Courses in the Faculty of Arts are graded according to the following scale:

According to this system, a grade of C-, C, or C+ indicates that the evaluated work meets the basic requirements of the assignment.  In order to achieve a mark above C+, the assignment must demonstrate superior characteristics such as a sophisticated understanding of the topic, an awareness or ability to use more advanced methodologies, a creative approach, etc.

click here to return to the top

Deadlines:

The instructor imposes a five per cent late penalty for each day after the due date on all assignments.  This includes week-ends and holidays.

click here to return to the top

Illness and Missed Tests:

The University of Waterloo Examination Regulations are available online at

http://www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/exams/ExamRegs.pdf .

If a student has a test/examination deferred due to acceptable medical evidence, he/she normally will write the test/examination at a mutually convenient time, to be determined by the course instructor.

The regulations stipulate that a medical certificate presented in support of an official petition for relief from normal academic requirements must provide all of the information requested on the “University of Waterloo Verification of Illness” form or it will not be accepted. This form can be obtained from Health Services or by clicking here:

 http://www.healthservices.uwaterloo.ca/Health_Services/VERIFICATION%20OF%20ILLNESS.html

In cases of illness resulting in a missed examination, moreover, students who obtain a University of Wa-terloo Verification of Illness form from Health Services, in accordance with Examination Regulations from the Registrar’s office, must note:

The instructor only accepts UW Verification of Illness forms that indicate a Severe illness. Students who obtain Verification of Illness forms that indicate Moderate, Slight, or Negligible illness will under no circumstances be permitted to write a make-up examination and will receive a grade of zero for that examination.

Student travel plans are not acceptable grounds for granting an alternative final examination period.

The University acknowledges that, due to the pluralistic nature of the University community, some students may, on religious grounds, require alternative times to write tests and examinations.

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Special Needs:

Students with documented or suspected disabilities (i.e., physical, learning, or sensory disabilities or chronic medical conditions) are encouraged to contact the Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD) to determine eligibility for their services. OPD is located in Needles Hall 1132, 888-4567 ext. 5082.

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Tentative Curriculum (subject to revision)

1. First Class: Studying Heresy
   
   
2. Early Heresies
   
   
3. High Medieval Heresies and the Formation of the Inquisition Against Heresies
   
   
4. The Cathars, the Albigensian Crusade, and Montaillou
   
   
5. The Trial of the Knights Templar
   
   
6. The Avignon Papacy & the Great Schism
   
   
7. Elite Magic
   
   
8. Hundred Years War
   
   
9. The Trial of Joan of Arc
   
   
10. English Peasants’ Revolt
    
    
11. The Black Death and Religious Crisis
    
    
12. Last Class: Conclusions

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HIST 402 A & B: Medieval Europe aka Law, Love, and Lies: Approaches to Late Medieval Social History
HIST 402A: Tuesdays 2:30 - 4:20 in STJ 3013
HIST 402B: Tuesdays 12:30 - 2:20 in STJ 3013

Course Description

This course examines different forms of social and cultural power at play in Europe during the later Middle Ages and asks how historians relate to them.

Medieval courts penetrated, and attempted to regulate, all realms of human existence whether expressly public or intimately private. Privately, they were implicated in struggles involving family, adultery, sex, wife assault, love, and marriage, to name but a few. They, however, also sought to regulate religious practices, the human body, human identity, material possessions, and inter-governmental conflicts. Yet courts were not autonomous beings. Rather, they were controlled, directed, and exploited by different social agents, each with their own unique set of priorities and strategies. As these agents pursued their ends, the chords of power clashed and resonated. Their echoes resound still today.

Students in HIST 402 read a range of primary sources in English translation to help them explore notions of social and cultural power struggles. In order to compliment the evidence gathered by studying courtly activity, they will also consult some non-legal primary documents.

Finally, students in HIST 402 look at how historians interpret the past. As they read about historians’ representations of past social struggles, students will consider the lenses through which we view past people and events. Biases, approaches, methodologies, and ideologies all colour our sense of the distant past. Students will, therefore, become better aware of scholarly schools of thought and different ways of interpreting evidence.

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Course Materials

Each week, the instructor will provide a list of readings for the following class based on a certain theme.  Most of the weekly thematic readings are available on reserve at the St. Jerome’s library.  In addition, there are two books which must be purchased from the University of Waterloo bookstore.  These are:

Gene Brucker, Giovanni & Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence (Berkeley: U of California P, 1988).

Natalie Zemon-Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre (Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1983).

Finally, students must also purchase a third book which is unavailable at the University of Waterloo bookstore:

Emanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error, trans. Barbara Bray (New York: George Braziller, 1978.

In 2006, the copyright on this third book reverted to the author and the publisher, therefore, lost the rights to print it.  Luckily, the book is still widely available in used and new bookstores.  Students should consult www.abebooks.com , www.alibris.com , and the Zshops section of www.amazon.com to obtain a reasonably priced edition.
 

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Grade Breakdown

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Expectations and Goals

History 402 is a fourth-year undergraduate seminar. It assumes a good knowledge of the basic events, names, and dates of the European Middle Ages (c.500 – 1500 AD). It is not, therefore, equipped to teach such information and students are fully expected to “brush up” independently on their medieval history, if need be.

The best reference source for quick facts about medieval topics is the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, which is available in Porter Library’s reference department at D114.D5 1982. The best online academic site for medieval primary sources is Fordham University’s Medieval Sourcebook. The standard textbook used in survey courses on the Middle Ages is Edward Peters’ Europe and the Middle Ages.

The good news:

Fourth-year seminars do not comprise a regular lecture schedule, nor do they culminate in a final examination!

The bad news:

The seminar group meets weekly to discuss a given theme. The course director assigns readings and it is expected that everyone who attends the class will have mastered them. Mastery of academic literature requires not only delicate reading but also careful note-taking. Since a good seminar depends upon a lively discussion, students are expected to appear in class armed with ideas, questions, and notes based on the readings. They must be prepared to voice opinions and to challenge instructor and peer alike! Students who attend class ill-prepared, or who miss class, will suffer a reduction in their participation grade. They may also become intimately familiar with the intricacies of medieval torture.

Students must select a research topic which they will explore throughout the term. Students who take HIST 402B after completing HIST 402A will continue to research the same topic. The course director must approve all topics. Topics must draw from any area of society, so long as it demonstrates a mature understanding of social or cultural power. Students should consult and exploit the course director’s vast expertise and wisdom, especially in the early stages of their research.

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Assignments

Students in HIST 402A complete two sets of reading logs and one historiographical essay.  Students in HIST 402B must compile one comprehensive bibliography and write one research essay.  Students in 402B must also complete a non-written assignment in the form of a one-hour seminar on their selected research topic.

All written assignments must be submitted double-spaced, using the Times New Roman font at a character pitch of 12.  Margins must be 1” on all sides.  Footnotes should be used instead of endnotes.  If in doubt about format for references, please consult the Chicago Manual of Style.

Style counts when writing.  The course director awards points for smooth prose and deducts them for awkward or incorrect use of the English language.

Here is detailed information on each of writing assignments:

• Weekly Reading Logs:

Each week, in addition to the assigned readings, students are expected to read items pertaining to their research topics.  This reading can comprise an additional chapter or more of a book, one or more journal articles, annotated bibliographies, etc.  If students wish to use the same book for more than one reading log, they must obtain the instructor’s consent.

Students are required to keep a journal or log as they read to indicate the nature of what they have read and their thoughts on it.  This log will develop into a “stream of research” and will serve as the basis for subsequent assignments.  It should reflect an awareness of how the independent readings relate to one another.  It should also contain critical remarks on what students thought of their authors’ material and how it might be exploited within the framework of their own developing research.  Other points to address in keeping reading logs are:

1. The place of writing / of the author, his or her nationality, and institutional affiliation.
2. The nature of the research: is it archival, synthetic, or conceptual?
3. Peer review: was it reviewed by other scholars?
4. Does the writer belong to an intellectual school?  Has he or she a mentor?
5. Was the scholarship financed?
6. Is the author a senior or junior scholar?
7. Does the piece fit into a specific, prominent, and ongoing debate?
8. Is the piece revolutionary in character or does it add to an existing understanding and approach?
9. The degree of impact it made on the reader.

Moreover: 

10. The reading log should indicate any additional references which were extracted from the piece (other books, articles, etc.).

Weekly reading logs should be compact, synthetic, intellectual commentaries.  Students may write informally, but should observe the standards of an academic researcher (i.e. clear references, proper grammar, spelling, etc.).  Each submission should be about 300 typed words and they should be collected in a duo-tang folder.

Click here to download a sample reading log (the Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view the file).

Or, click the Get Adobe Reader icon if you first need to download and install the program:

• Historiographical Essay:

At the end of HIST 402A, students must write an historiographical essay that surveys the major works related to their topic.  This essay should begin by presenting the context of their study including:

a.)     The definition and justification for the spatial parameters of the topic

b.)     The definition and justification for the temporal parameters of the topic

c.)     The definition and justification for the methodological parameters of the topic

d.)     A detailed survey of the major authors and their words pertaining to this topic

 The historiographical essays must be no longer than 3,000 words (about ten pages, excluding bibliography).  Please see the Writing Format section below for other specifications.

• Comprehensive Bibliography:

For students in HIST 402B, the previous term’s reading logs and historiographical essay, along with their independent research, serve as the basis for accumulating a specialized bibliography on the selected topic.  The bibliography must contain no less than 30 distinct scholarly references.  Please note that this is not an annotated bibliography.

• Research Seminar

Students in HIST 402B must present a forty-five minute seminar on their selected research topic.  Seminars are presented at the end of term, prior to submitting the final research essay, and are intended to allow students to voice their arguments, theories, and discoveries.  Students may fill the forty-five minutes however they like, but a portion of the seminar should be interactive.  To that end, students must assign readings to the class on their topic.  These readings must be assigned by no later than the week prior to their presentation.  Presentations should also make use of some form of visual aide and should include a hand-out.  Dynamic and thought-provoking presentations will be rewarded with better grades than dull and dreary ones!

• Research Essay:

Essays represent the culmination of a university education.  In HIST 402B, they also represent the culmination of a term’s worth of guided research.  They should reveal the extent to which students have mastered the art of structuring an argument.  Since this is an honours History course, essays must also demonstrate an understanding of solid historical methodology and approach.  Students must submit essays by the established deadline.  The course director deducts marks for lateness (see below). 

Essays must be approximately 4,500 words (15 typed pages, excluding bibliography).

• Participation

The instructor awards up to three participation points per class.  Students automatically earn one point for attending the entire class.  They may earn a second point for speaking up in class, and, potentially, a third for making a comment that reveals genuine insight.  At the end of the term, the instructor adds up all the points and derives a percentage that is then used for the student’s participation score.

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