Winter, 1998 HISTORY 442/542,
Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Europe
Professor David Luebke

Course Description
Requirements and Evaluation
Course Texts
Tentative Course Outline

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course investigates problems of historical source-analysis and interpretation through studies of crime, that "moment when a culture fails in its own terms," in European past. Taking Michel Foucault's seminal book, Discipline and Punish, as its point of departure, readings will address the changing relationship between transformations in dominant social norms and resulting (re)definitions of deviance from the "formation of a persecuting society" in the Middle Ages, through the early modern "Theater of Terror" to Cesare Beccaria's "enlightened" and Bentham's utilitarian assaults on ancien régime criminology. Special attention will be devoted both to changing understandings of the body as a source of criminality and an object of criminal discipline, and to transformations in criminality resulting from urbanization and the tendency of early modern society to rigidify and marginalize.

REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION

Typically, our meetings will alternate between lectures on Tuesdays and discussion of the readings on Thursdays, so it is imperative that you come to class prepared to ask questions, respond to them, and to discuss the assigned readings in common. Needless to say, attendance is required, and will constitute part of your final grade. For those of you taking History 442, the requirements are as follows: (1) There will be a mid-term and a comprehensive final examination. (2) Written work will consist of a short interpretive essay (4-5 pages) due at mid-term, on an assigned topic, and a longer research paper (6-8 pages) due at our final session on March 12. The topic for this second is open; however, I will expect you to use at least two outside sources—books or articles—that are not included in the course readings. Students taking the course as History 542 are expected to produce a book review of 3-5 pages in length by mid-term and a research paper or literature review at the end of term, 18-20 pages in length.

The overall breakdown of evaluation is this:

Attendance & Classroom Discussion 10%

Mid-Term Examination 20%

Final Examination 30%

Written Work 40%

Note well that the mid-term and final examinations will cover all assigned readings and lectures to date. All work submitted in this course must be your own and produced exclusively for this course. The use of sources (ideas, quotations, and paraphrases) must be properly acknowledged and documented. For the consequences of academic dishonesty, refer to the Schedule of Classes published quarterly. Violations will be taken seriously and are noted on student disciplinary records. If you are in doubt regarding the requirements for this course, please do not hesitate to consult me. Finally, all written work must be submitted on time; late work will be accepted only with documented medical justification.

If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please make arrangements with me soon. Also, please ask the Counselor for Students with Disabilities to send me a letter verifying your disability

COURSE TEXTS

There is no textbook for this course, mainly because two of the course texts serve the purpose adequately between them; these are R.I. Moore, Formation of a Persecuting Society, and Robert Jütte, Poverty and Deviance in Early Modern Europe. The rest are either theoretical assertions (Foucault), case studies (Hsia, Ruggiero) or primary sources (Beccaria); the same mix will be found in the Readings Packet.

1. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) On Crimes and Punishments, translated by Henry Paolucci (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1963).
2. Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (New York: Vintage, 1979).
3. R. Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475: Stories of a Ritual Murder Trial (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992).
4. Robert Jütte, Poverty and Deviance in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
5. R.I. Moore. The Formation of the Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in Western Europe, 950-1250 (New York: Blackwell, 1987).
6. Guido Ruggiero, The Boundaries of Eros: Sex Crime and Sexuality in Renaissance Venice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985).
7. A Course Readings Packet.

Copies of all of these books (including the readings packet) are available on reserve in Knight Library.

TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Introduction: Foucault’s Phenomenology of Punishments

Week 2: The Formation of a Persecuting Society

Week 3: Producing Outsiders

Week 4: Roman Law and the Transformation of Criminal Procedure

Week 5: The Crime of Poverty

Week 6

Week 7: Gender, Sex Crime, and the Production of Status

Week 8: Crime, Social Protest, and Social Control

Week 9: Enlightenment, Crime, and Legal Reform

Week 10: The Formation of a 'Carceral Society'?

Thursday, March 12: Final Review Session