This course is concerned with the development of state institutions, culture, and society in Central Europe from the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 to the end of the Napoleonic Wars. It. deals with the social and cultural bases of power and with shiftinq forms of rule. It considers absolutism as a political system and looks at cultures of the Baroque and Enlightenment as new discourses about power and hierarchy. Of central concern are forms of bureaucratic intervention and the practices of the "well-ordered police state." The course will examine recent dis- cussions concerning the transition of the social and political order from a society of orders to a "civil" society. It will deal with ways of representing the family, sexuality, and the body, with the cultures of the popular classes, BOrgertum, the aristocracy, and princely courts. It will examine the role of religion in everyday life.
Exams will contain only essay questions and will be based on the lectures and required reading. There will be a midterm (40% of the grade) and a final (60%). There will be no make-up midterm.
Books on the syllabus can be purchased in the bookstore and are on reserve in Towell Library.
Section 1: Germany in the Age of Baroque
Introduction
September 28
Assignment: Simplicissimus, first 1/2
Week 1
October 3 and 5
Assignment: Simplicissimus, second 1/2
Week 2
October 10 and 12
Assignment: Sabean, Power in the Blood, chaps. 1-3
Week 3
October 17 and 19
Assignment: Sabean, Power in the Blood, chaps. 4-6
Week 4
October 24 and 26
October 24: Midterm Examination
Section II: Rurual and Urban Society in the Holy Roman Empire
Assignment: October 26: Sabean, Property, pages to be assigned
Week 5
October 31 and November 2
Assignment: Sabean, Property, pages to be assigned
Week 6
November 7 and 9
November 7: Assignment, Sabean, Property, pages to be
assigned
November, Glukl, Memoirs
Week 7
November 14 and 16
November 14: Assignment: Gluckl, Memoirs
Section III: Germany in the Age of
Enlightenment
November 16: Assignment: Lessing, Theological
Writings, pp. 51-106
Week 8
November 21
Assignment: Lessing, continued
Week 9
November 28 and 30
Assignment: Kant, Essays, pages to be assigned
Week 10
Assignment, Kant, Essays, pages to be assigned.