131-117 German Societies and Culture 1450-1750

Credit Points

HECS Band

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Usually 25 points of first year history, see Prerequisites.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject is a study of the society, culture and politics of German-speaking communities in Central Europe, from the establishment of Habsburg power in the later 15th century, through the upheavals of the Reformation and dislocations of the Thirty Years War, to the establishment of absolutist, bureaucratic states in the later 17th and early 18th centuries. Topics will include Reformation movements and daily life; rural-urban relationships and the Peasant War; city patriciates with their interests in patronage and commodities; the challenge of religious toleration; the treatment of minorities such as Jews; increasing surveillance over crime and sexual mores; gender and work; the courtly culture of new princely cities; and books and literacy in the formation of a burgher culture. On completion of the subject students should have an appreciation and knowledge of the social, cultural and political forces that shaped Germany during this period of history.

Assessment

Class participation and written work totalling 4000 words.

Prescribed Texts

A subject reader will be available.