Fall 2005
History 329 Mediterranean World Since 711
This course will provide an overview of the Mediterranean world from the Muslim migration across North Africa into Spain through the age of the Barbary pirates. There are two main purposes to this course: 1) to correct a misconception that Europe was cut off from its Muslim neighbors and 2) to offer students a view of the full cultural, political, and religious diversity of the Mediterranean region.
History 329
Jews, Christians, and Muslims: The Mediterranean World, 711-1600
Class Meetings - Monday, Wednesday, Friday - 50 minutes per class.
Course Requirements
1) Midterm Exam 30%
2) Essay #1 35% *
3) Final Exam 35%
*Please see end of syllabus for assignment description
Books on sale at the bookstore
Olivia Remie Constable, Medieval Iberia : A sourcebook (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997).
Frederick Mathewson Denny, An Introduction to Islam ( New York : Prentice Hall, 2005 [3 rd ed.])
Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah (Abridged) , trans. Franz Rosenthal (Bolligen, 2004).
Lucrezia Marinella, The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men , by, ed. Letizia Panizza (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999).
The additional reading material will be available on electronic reserve through the Knight Library website.
9/26 - 9/30. Religion 101
Monday Introduction to Course; Introduction to the Mediterranean
Wednesday Judaism, Christianity, and Islam 101
Friday Map quiz; "The Nature and Function of the Qur'an" and "The Hadith Literature" [Denny, 153-189]
The Martyrdom of St. Perpetua (online: www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/ perpetua.html)
10/3 - 10/7. The Rise of Islam
Monday The Growth and Spread of Islam
Wednesday The Conquest of Spain (711 AD)
Friday "Two Accounts of the Muslim Conquest"
"A Muslim-Christian Treaty"
"Christian Reaction in the North" [Constable, 27-42]
10/10 - 10/14. Retaking the
Holy Land - Medieval Crusade
Monday The First Crusade
Wednesday The Third Crusade and the Reconquista of Spain
Friday Accounts of the First Crusade: "Fulcher of Chartes" and "Ibn Al-Athar" (e-reserve)
"The Christian Conquest of Valencia " and "The Christian Conquest of Seville " [Constable, 207-222]
10/16 - 10/21. The Rise of
Trade and Growth of Towns
Monday Medieval economy and trade
Wednesday Growth of towns in Italy ; The Most Serene Republic of Venice
Friday Midterm Exam
10/24 - 10/28. Intellectual Life in the Mediterranean
Monday Culture and Al-Andalus
Wednesday How the Muslims Saved Civilization
Friday Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah , Vol. I, Chapters II & III ("Bedouin civilization" and "On dynasties and royal authority") & Vol. II, Chapter VI ("On science")
Moses Maimonides, The Code of Maimonides: the book of love (excerpts) [e-reserve]
10/31 - 11/4. An End to Convivencia
Monday 1492 - discovery of New World and the surrender of Granada
Wednesday Expulsion of the Jews from Iberia ( Morocco )
Friday "The Christian Conquest of Granada "
"The Expulsion of the Jews"
"Morisco Appeal to the Ottoman Sultan" [Constable, 352-370]
11/7 - 11/11. Ottomans and the
battle for the Mediterranean
Monday Rise of the Ottoman Empire
Wednesday Golden Age of Sulyeman
Friday Goffman, pgs. 137-188
The Turkish letters 1554-1562 , Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (e-reserve)
Essay Due - Friday
11/14 - 11/18. The Mutability of
Identity
Monday Trade networks, travel, and identity
Wednesday New town, new religion. Case study: A Man of Three Worlds
Friday Leo Africanus (e-reserve);
Luis Ysla (e-reserve)
11/21 - 11/25. Mediterranean
Women
Monday Women in the Mediterranean
Wednesday "Women Under Venetian Colonial Rule in the Early Renaissance: Observations on their Economic Activities," Sally McKee, Renaissance Quarterly , 51 (1998): 34-67. (available on-line through Knight Library)
Marinella, The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men
Friday No class - Thanksgiving Break
11/28 - 12/2. Piracy and Slavery
Monday The Age of the Corsairs
Wednesday Slave Trade on the Mediterranean
Friday The adventures of Mr TS an English Merchant, Taken Prisoner by the Turks of Argiers (1670) (e-reserve)
FINAL EXAM TUESDAY,
DECEMBER 6 10:15 AM
* Essay: Each student will hand in one typed essay. The essay will be 5-7 pgs and will provide an argument based on one or two primary sources from the syllabus of the student's choice. No other secondary or primary material may be used. The essay will be handed in at the beginning of class . No late papers, or e-mailed papers, will be accepted without official documentation. For each day the paper is late, the student will be marked down a half a letter grade.
Students who require additional time for examinations should make themselves known to the professor at the beginning of the semester with their documentation of requirements.
|
