Undergraduate Course: Machiavelli and His World (HIST10361)

Course Outline
School	School of History, Classics and Archaeology	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate)	Availability	Available to all students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	The Florentine writer and political theorist Nicolò Machiavelli is one of the most original and controversial figures of the Italian Renaissance. His writings offer a stimulating and highly personal introduction to the troubled history of Italy during c. 1450-c.1530 and provide an introduction to the major themes of Renaissance culture from political duplicity and friendship to gender relations and the art of war. In this course students examine a wide range of Machiavelli's readings and place them in historical context in order better to understand Machiavelli and his remarkable world.
Course description	1. Introducing Machiavelli 2. Machiavelli and Florence: The Florentine Histories 3. Machiavelli and the Prophet: Savonarola and the New Jerusalem 4. Machiavelli the Diplomat 5. Machiavelli and the Medici: The Prince 6. Machiavellian Republicanism: The Discourses 7. Film: La Mandragola 8. Machiavelli and Women 9. Machiavelli the Soldier: The Art of War 10. Machiavelli and His Critics 11. Machiavelli and the Modern World

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent. Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Secretary to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503767).

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	Visiting Students should usually have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses.

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)		Quota: 0
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 172 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 67 %, Coursework 33 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	One essay of 2,500-3,000 words (one-third of overall assessment); one two-hour examination paper (two-thirds of overall assessment)
Feedback	Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)			2:00

Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)		Quota: 0
Course Start	Semester 2
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 172 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 67 %, Coursework 33 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	One essay of 2,500-3,000 words (one-third of overall assessment); one two-hour examination paper (two-thirds of overall assessment)
Feedback	Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)			2:00

Academic year 2015/16, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)		Quota: 0
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 172 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 67 %, Coursework 33 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	One essay of 2,500-3,000 words (one-third of overall assessment); one two-hour examination paper (two-thirds of overall assessment)
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course students will: -be able to understand, and to evaluate the works of Nicolò Machiavelli, while developing critical awareness of the historical context in which they were written; -be able to study printed primary sources in translation in conjunction with core secondary reading; -be able to examine Machiavelli and Renaissance Italians through the works they produced and in doing so consider the distinctive methodological features of cultural and intellectual history and consider how abstraction can be related to people doing things in the past; -have demonstrated the above skills by way of essay, examination and participation in class seminars.

Reading List
Primary sources: N. Machiavelli, The Prince (Penguin Pbk) -- The Discourses (Penguin Pbk) -- The Florentine Histories, in The Chief Works, trans. A Gilbert -- The Art of War, in English translation of 1595 available digitally in EEBO -- The Mandrake Root / La mandragola (various editions) -- Diplomatic dispatches, in The Chief Works, trans. A. Gilbert