Assignment:
Essay 1
During the past month, we have begun to concern ourselves with the enormous transformations that occurred in Europe in the beginning of the early modern period. In a thoughtful and carefully crafted essay, please discuss that transformation. In your essay, please focus on:
1. How did the increased contact with non-Europeans, be it in Western Asia or in the Americas, help undermine the medieval mind's firm understanding of nature, religion, and government?
2. How did the renaissance, northern and southern, help lay the groundwork for the reformations of the sixteenth century?
3. In a thoughtful conclusion, please try to explain the connections between increased contact with non-Europeans, the renaissance, and the reformations.
Essay 2
Since the first essay was due, we have concerned ourselves with the development of the French absolute monarchy. We have discussed the development of the modern state and army, of baroque art and architecture, but also of the scientific revolution and the early Enlightenment.
In a well-organized essay, explain how the early modern absolute monarchy, the baroque style, and the scientific revolution were responses to the turmoil of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
A. How are these three developments similar to one another; how are they different?
B. In what ways do they build on one another?
C. In your reflective conclusion, explain the relationship between absolute monarchy and the scientific revolution. How did they benefit one another; how did they threaten one another?
Readings:
The making of the west-Peoples and cultures
By Lynn Hunt and Thomas R. Martin