Undergraduate Course: Renaissance Italians (HIST10101)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The Italian Renaissance is a dynamic and enduringly popular historical subject and in recent years many new interpretations of established topics and new areas of historical study have opened up. As a result, there is less agreement now than there ever has been about what the Italian Renaissance actually was. This course is distinctive in focusing on the Renaissance both as a cultural 'movement' and as an historical 'period'. The social context of cultural change will be studied through the examination of patronage, changing religious sensibilities, gender, and a variety of centres, urban and courtly, which experienced cultural revival. |
| Course description |
Students should seek to understand, and to evaluate, the various historical interpretations of the Italian Renaissance as a 'movement', while developing a critical awareness of the geographical and political diversity that characterised the Italian peninsula during the period. In order to do so the course requires that you study a range of printed and visual sources in conjunction with secondary texts. This will enable you to examine Renaissance Italians through what they produced and to contextualise them in the particular centres in which they worked. In so doing, you will have the chance to consider the distinctive methodological features of cultural history and to consider how conceptual abstraction can be related to people doing things in the past. The topics which will be covered include: Humanism, Neo-Platonism, Political and Cultural Patronage, Courts (including Mantua), Cities (including Florence, Rome and Venice), and those people traditionally considered marginal to the Renaissance but now much more centrally placed in historical scholarship: women and non-elites.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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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. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge about the nature of the Italian Renaissance and the history of Italy during the period c.1300-c.1600 considered in the course;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship about the nature of the Italian Renaissance and the history of Italy during the period c.1300-c.1600;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material, both textual and non-textual, produced by Italians during the period c.1300-c.1600;
- demonstrate, by way of seminar contributions, coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
E. H. Gombrich, 'The Renaissance - Period or Movement?' In Robert Black (ed.), Renaissance Thought: a reader (2001), ch. 1
P. Findlen (ed.), The Italian Renaissance (2002), Introduction
Guido Ruggiero (ed.), Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance (2002) [includes a good summary by G. Brucker on 'The Italian Renaissance']
K. Gouwens (ed.), The Italian Renaissance: The Essential Sources (2004), ch. 8
Evelyn Welch, Art and Society in Italy, 1350-1500 (1997)
Peter Burke, The Italian Renaissance: culture and society in Italy (1986), and see earlier editions entitled: Tradition and Innovation in Renaissance Italy: a sociological approach (1972), and Culture and Society in Renaissance Italy, 1420-1540 (1972)
John Stephens, The Italian Renaissance: The origins of intellectual and artistic change before the Reformation (1990)
Richard Mackenney, Renaissances (2005)
Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy: an essay (1860) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | RenaissanceItalians |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Sarah Cockram
Tel: (0131 6)50 4582
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Claire Brown
Tel: (0131 6)50 3582
Email: |
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