Course Description
The rise of the modern European state and its impact on society and culture from 1600 to 1789. Themes include kingship and state formation, popular revolt, aristocratic culture, Enlightenment social thought, and the collapse of the Old Regime.
Athena Title
Age of Absolutism
Prerequisite
Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the Age of Absolutism by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of the Age of Absolutism has shaped social and cultural identities and attitudes toward power and change, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
Topical Outline
- Introduction to the Course
- Religious Wars of the 1500s & Henri IV
- Queen Margot
- The Reign of Louis XIII
- The Thirty Years War
- Absolutist Aspirations: Stuart England
- Power & Passion: A Tale of Two Murders
- The Glory & Glare of the Sun King
- Russian Absolutism: Ivan the Dread and Peter the Great
- Prussian Absolutism: The “Sandbox of Europe”
- Austrian Absolutism: The Holy Roman Empire
- Patronage and the Scientific Revolution
- Patronage and the Scientific Revolution
- Mother Goose & Other Folk Tales
- The Early Enlightenment
- The Early Enlightenment
- Enlightenment & Early Romanticism
- Prussian Absolutism: Frederick the Great
- Continental Conflict & the Seeds of Revolution
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
