Outlline of Course and Weekly Topics

Outline of Course Schedule and Weekly Topics

Week 1: What is Europe?

This week will explore the defining characteristics of European history. This will include information about the geographic, social, political, and religious features that constitute European history and Western Civilization more broadly. It will also explore the defining characteristics of particular European time periods.

Week 2: What is a European?

This week will explore the different political, religious, and social systems that have existed throughout European history and how they relate to the European as an individual. A particular emphasis will be placed on roles of individuals that existed throughout the Middle Ages under feudal Christian societies

Week 3:   What is the Holy Roman Empire?

This week will explore the defining characteristics of the Holy Roman Empire and its historical importance to the development of European history. Particular emphasis will be placed on examining the historical significance of the Holy Crusades.

Week 4: What is Feudal Christendom?

This week will continue our analysis of the Holy Roman Empire and investigate how it under particular events and leaders it was bound to rise and fall.

First Exam

Week 5: What Muslims in Europe?

This week will explore the role Islam has had in European history, particularly with respect to the Iberian Peninsula and the Balkans. It will also include discussion on the role Islam played in shaping European history alongside Christianity and Judaism.

Week 6: What is a European Monarch?

This week examine the particular role played by European monarchs and what effect they have had on shaping European history.

Week 7: What is the Great Famine? What is the Black Death?

This week will explore the causes, reactions, and various points of view surrounding the Great Famine and the Black Death.

Week 8: What is the Great Schism?

This week will explore the division that occurred within the Western and Eastern Christian Churches, and the larger ramifications it had for the developments of Western and Orthodox Civilizations.

Second Exam

Week 9: What is the High Middle Ages?

This week will explore the defining characteristics of the High Middle Ages; its leaders, technological and scientific discoveries, and the beginnings of Europe’s return to reason.

Week 10: What is Europe doing in the Americas?

This week will discuss European interaction and particular discoveries in the New World. We will examine the commercial, religious, and political motivations that led to the Age of Discovery.

Week 11: What is the Renascence?

This week will explore the defining characteristics of the Renascence Period of European History. Particular emphasis will be placed the artistic, social, and intellectual achievements of this period.

Week 12: What is Europe today?

Our final week will explore contemporary European society, the rise of nation states, and how it was shaped and what connections it has to the events and periods that we have covered throughout the semester. 

Final Exam