Course Syllabus

History 390: The Great European Witchcraze:  
Witchcraft, Magic, and Popular Culture in Medieval and Reformation Europe
Syllabus #1490
5 credits

 

Dr. S. Amanda Eurich
Associate Professor
Bond Hall 318 | (360) 650-3141
E-mail: Amanda.Eurich@wwu.edu

Full Course Syllabus:  HIST 390 syl 1490.doc

DEPARTMENT INFORMATION:

COURSE PREREQUISITE:

Junior Status

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

In the past twenty years, the study of witchcraft and magic in medieval and Reformation Europe has moved from the margins to the center of historical scholarship.  Europeans' belief in, and practice of, witchcraft and magic is now seen as an important key to the lives of men and women living in past centuries, whose presumptions about the natural and supernatural universe and about the quintessential nature of mankind were different from the secular and scientific world view of the twentieth century.  To most Americans, witchcraft and magic suggest a specific and isolated historical event in our history: the Salem witchcraft trials.  Yet the Salem witch hunt was merely a late-seventeenth century example of a pervasive witch-hunting craze that lasted for three centuries in Europe and ultimately caused the death of tens of thousands of people.

We are just beginning to appreciate the shape and substance of witchcraft and magical traditions in Europe.  Recent scholarship is changing and enriching standard interpretations about the general nature and course of medieval and early modern society. In this course, you will be reading recent scholarly monographs and primary source collections to analyze attitudes toward and the practice of witchcraft and magic in Europe and colonial America. 

REQUIRED READINGS:

  1. Boyer, Paul, and Stephen Nissembaum, Salem Possessed:  The Social Origins of Witchcraft (Harvard University Press, 1974)  ISBN: 978067478526
  2. Ginzburg, Carlo, The Night Battles (Penguin, 1983)  ISBN: 9780801843860
  3. Huxley, Aldous, The Devils of Loudun (1986) ISBN: 9780061724916
               OR, if The Devils of Loudun is unavailable, substitute the following:
    Rapley, Robert, A Case of Witchcraft: The Trial of Urbain Grandier (1999, McGill Queens University Press)  ISBN: 9780773517165
  4. Kieckhefer, Richard, Magic in the Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1990) ISBN: 978052178576
  5. Klaits, Joseph, Servants of Satan:  The Age of the Witch Hunts (Indiana, 1995) ISBN: 9780253204226
  6. Peters, Edward, and Alan Kors, eds., Witchcraft in Europe, 1100-1700 (University of Pennsylvania, 1995)  ISBN: 9780812217513

The textbooks may be obtained online through a price comparison website such as www.AddAll.com.  Plan on purchasing your textbooks early and always be sure you are purchasing the correct edition of the book for this syllabus.

GRADING:

My evaluation of your performance will be based upon:

a.  Two book quizzes, worth 50 points each
b.  Two document critiques (5-7 pages each), based on Malleus Maleficarum and witch trials in Kors and Peters; 150 points each
c.  Three book reviews (3-4 pages each); 100 points each
d.  Final Exam, 200 points

The final exam, which is cumulative and largely essay in format, can be worked on throughout the course of study.  Please submit the entire test when completed.

My grading will reflect a judgment both on the content as well as the grammatical style of the responses.  Points will be converted into percentages, with 90 = A, 80 = B, 70 = C, 60 = D, 59 and below = F.  Letter grades, including pluses and minuses, will be given according to the values listed in the WWU Bulletin

History majors must earn a C to count the course for their majors.  Students registered under the pass/fail option must earn a C- or better to receive a “pass.”

SUBMITTING ASSIGNMENTS:

ALWAYS make a copy of your work BEFORE submitting it.  If lessons are lost, it is far easier to resubmit a copy than to rewrite an entire assignment.  All assignments must be completed in order to receive credit for the course.  Under no circumstances may you submit all, or even most, lessons at one time.  All work must be submitted to the Western Online office.

Time Considerations (a message from the Western Online office)  -  Organize your time so that you spread the work out over 10 to 12 weeks, just like a regular academic quarter.  All assignments must be completed in order to receive credit for the course.  Treat your Self-paced course as the serious learning experience that it is.  True learning takes time:  time for reading, time for processing new information, time for reflection.  When students get into trouble in a Self-paced course it is most often when they try to rush through a large part of the work at the end of the quarter or right before their own deadline.

Remember that grading takes time and our instructors have other classes and students, other obligations.  Therefore, your instructor may not be able to grade assignments instantly, to accommodate your deadline.  Allow time for mailing to and from the Western Online office and also back and forth between our office and your instructor.

Holidays, Intersessions, and Summer Session - When the University is closed for scheduled holidays and between quarters, delay in return of assignments and examinations must be expected.  In addition, some faculty members are off campus during the summer months and delays may be unavoidable.  The Western Online office will inform students of instructor absences, but it is important for students not to wait until close to a deadline to submit work.

HELP WITH THE COURSE:

Your instructor welcomes questions and discussion.  Please feel free to call Dr. Eurich at (360) 650-3141 or e-mail her at <Amanda.Eurich@wwu.edu>.  You may check on her current office hours with the History Department at 650-3429.  If calling is not feasible, please attach a note to your assignment or write to her in care of the Western Online office. 

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Amanda Eurich has been teaching early modern European history at Western Washington University since 1986.  She received her B.A. from Portland State University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.  She has also taught history courses in conjunction with the American Heritage Association’s study abroad programs in Siena, Italy, and in Avignon and Angers, France.

She has published books and articles including The Economics of Power: The Finances of the House of Foix-Navarre-Albret During the Religious War, runner-up for the biennial book prize of Huguenot Society of America (1994).  She is currently working on a study of the relationship between Catholic and Huguenot communities in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France. 

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Course Summary:

Date Details Due