Social Sciences 234

Books to be Purchased:
Norman Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages
Jeffrey Richards, Sex, Dissidence and Damnation: Minori!y Groups in the Middle Ages
Edward Peters (ed.), Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe
Brian Levack, The Witchhunt in Early Modern Europe
Alan Kors and Edward Peters (eds.) Witchcraft in European History, 1100-1700

Description: The goal of this course is to introduce students to the history of the treatment of marginal social and religious groups in the European past. In medieval Europe social and moral conformity was not simply perceived as a good thing, it was perceived as necessary for the survival of the community. Groups that deviated or sought to deviate from identified norms were persecuted. This persecution progressively became more systematic and institutionalized until it gave birth to the Inquisition. The Inquisition in turn provided an intellectual rationale for the witch craze, a century long period of hysteria when thousands of humans were burned in an effort to save the world from Satan. Eventually, however, there emerged an intellectual position which questioned the dangers perceived in diversity and insisted that toleration of difference was ultimately less harmful to a community than the various apparati used to repress deviant groups. In the context of a survey of the various forms of religious heresy which appeared after 1000 AD and of the persecution of individuals identified as witches during the witch craze of the 16th and 17th centuries, the course discusses the escalation of repression and the eventual triumph of intellectual skepticism and social toleration.

Core readings for the course consist of two collections of documents (Peters and Kors and Peters) dealing respectively with heresy and witchcraft. These collections shall be complemented by interpretations of the cultural motivations behind the repression of heresy and social deviancy, (Cohin and Richards) and the repression of witchcraft (Klaits). Weekly sessions will usually begin with a lecture, which will be followed by detailed analysis and discussion of the assigned texts and documents, The expectation is that the student will come to class with a working familiarity with the assigned reading.

Work and Grading: Work for the course shall consist of four 4-6 page essays on assigned topics. Topics will be chosen from issues which emerge from class discussion. There is no expectation that students read outside materials in preparation for writing the essays. Topics will be handed out in class two weeks before essays are due. Essays shall be due by 4 pm at the History Office on the days listed below. Late essays shall be penalized five points a day up to a total of 25 points. Each essay shall be worth 25 percent of the final grade. In addition, at the professor's discretion, up to five bonus points shall be added to a student's final average for class participation.

	Reading Assignments
Tuesday, August 26th	No Assignment
Tuesday, September 2nd	Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium, Introduction and chaps. 1-3; Richards, Sex, Dissidence and Damnation, chaps 1-2.
Tuesday, September 9th	Cohn, chaps. 4-6; Richards, chaps. 34; Peters, Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, part 1.
Tuesday, September 16th	Cohn, chaps. 7-9; Richards, chaps. 5-6; Peters, part II.
Tuesday, September 23rd	Cohn, chaps. 10-13; Richards, chaps. 7-8; Peters, part IV. First Essay Due
Tuesday, September 30th	Peters, parts III and V.
Tuesday, October 7th	Peters, parts VI and IX.
Tuesday, October 14th	Peters, parts VII, VIII and X.
Tuesday, October 21st	Levack, The Witchhunt in Early Modern Europe, chap. 1; Kors and Peters, Witchcraft in Europe, "Introduction." Second essay due
Tuesday, October 28th	Levack, chap.2; Kors and Peters, parts I and 11.
Tuesday November 4th:	Levack, chap. 3; Kors and Peters, part 111.
Tuesday, November llth	Veteran's Day. No Class.
Tuesday, November 18th	Levack, chaps. 4-5; Kors and Peters, part IV. Third essay due
Tuesday, November 25th	Levack, chaps. 6; Kors and Peters, part V.
Tuesday, December 2nd	Levack, chaps. 7; Kors and Peters, part VI.
Tuesday, December 9th	Levack, chaps. 8; Kors and Peters, part VII.
	Fourth essay due Monday, December 15th

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