Early Modern European Nations and Empire

WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
History 5650: Readings in Central Europe, 1378-1806
Dr. James Palmitessa
Office: 44255 Friedmann Hall
Tel.: (269) 387-4640
E-mail: james.palmitessa@wmich.edu
Course Description. This readings course introduces graduate student to the history of Central
Europe from the eve of the religious reform movements (the Hussite Revolution and the
Reformation) to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. It is the second of a twopart
sequence of reading courses intended for students of medieval and early modern Europe
wishing to become better acquainted with the Holy Roman Empire and expand their geographic
knowledge of European history beyond Western Europe, and for students of modern Europe
interested in a survey course of the history of pre-modern Germany and/or neighboring lands.
Format. The course will be conducted largely as a discussion of weekly common readings and
reports on additional readings presented by individual students. We will survey major
developments in the histories of the German territories, Czech lands, Poland, and Hungary
alongside those of the Holy Roman Empire through a careful, critical reading of recent
monographs, surveys, and articles. Special attention will be devoted to understanding the impact
of modern events on twentieth-century historical scholarship and interpretations of the late
medieval and early modern past. Two films will also be shown: “Cross and Crescent” and
“Between Empire and Nation.”
Requirements. There are no pre-requisites for the course (linguistic or otherwise). Students are
expected to prepare readings in advance of class sessions and actively participate in class
discussions. Students will present two book reviews of works from the list of additional
readings, and a final review essay (details and dates to be announced). Studies will also be
required to periodically submit a journal of their notes on readings.
Objectives. This course will provide students with a foundation in late medieval and early
modern German and Central European history. It will broaden students’perspective of European
history geographically and thematically by acquainting them with diverse processes involved in
European historical development.
Grading. Students’ final grade will be computed as follows: Participation (50%), 2 book reviews
(15% each), final essay (20%).
Reading List (in alphabetical order; full citations)
Items marked with an asterix are available at the University Bookstore; others will be made
available by the instructor -
• Geoffrey Barraclough, The Origins of Modern Germany (1946)*
• Jean Bérenger, A History of the Habsburg Empire 1273-1700 (1994)
• Peter Blickle, Obedient Germans? A Rebuttal (1997)*
• Thomas A Brady, Jr., The Politics of the Reformation in Germany. Jacob Sturm (1489-1530)
of Strasbourg (1997)*
• Norman Davies, God’s Playground. A History of Poland, vol. I (1982)*
• Winfried Eberhard, “Reformation and Counterreformation in East Central Europe,” Handbook
of European History 1400-1600, eds. Thomas A. Brady et al., volume 2 (1995), pp. 551-84
• Thomas A. Fudge, The Magnificent Ride. The First Reformation in Hussite Bohemia (1998)
• Denys Hays, Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, pp. 189-262
• Randolph C. Head, Early Modern Democracy in the Grisons. Social Order and Political
Language in a Swiss Mountain Canton, 1470-1620 (1995)
• Robert A. Kann, A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526-1918 (1974), pp. 25-53
• James R. Palmitessa, “The Prague Uprising of 1611: Property, Politics, and Catholic Renewal
in the Early Years of Habsburg Rule,” Central European History, vol. 31, nr. 4 (1998): 299-328
• Geoffrey Parker, ed., The Thirty Years’ War (1984)*
• Peter F. Sugar et al., A History of Hungary (1990)*
• Larry Wolff, Inventing Eastern Europe. The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the
Enlightenment (1994)
Course Schedule
Session #1 - First Session - Personal Introductions & Introduction to Central Europe in the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries; Slide Presentation of Prague under Charles IV
Reading: Hays, Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, pp. 214-62
Session #2 - No Class - Martin Luther King Day
Session #3 - The Hussite Revolution
Reading: Fudge, The Magnificent Ride, pp. 1-92
Additional Reading: Fudge, The Magnificent Ride, pp. 93-315; Frantisek Smahel, “The Idea of
the ‘Nation’ in Hussite Bohemia,” Historica XVI (1969): 144-247 and Historica XVII (1969):
93-194; Michael Burleigh, Prussian Society and the German order: an aristocratic corporation
in crisis c. 1410-1466
Session #4 - Imperial Renewal in the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries
Reading: Barraclough, The Origins of Modern Germany, pp. 355-367; Bérenger, A History of
the Habsburg Monarchy, pp. 1-154 (focus on 123-54)
Additional Reading: Thomas A Brady, Jr., “The Common Man and the Lost Austria in the West:
A Contribution to the German Problem,” Politics and Society in Reformation Europe. Essays for
Sir Geoffrey Elton on his Sixty-Fifth Birthday, eds. E.I. Kouri & Tom Scott (1987), pp. 142-157;
Volker Press, “Holy Roman Empire in German History,” Politics and Society in Reformation
Europe, pp. 51-77; Karl Brandi, The Emperor Charles V: The Growth and Destiny of a Man and
of a World-Empire (1959); Martin Rady, The Emperor Charles V (1988)
Session #5 - Religious Reform and Politics in the German Lands
Reading: Brady, The Politics of the Reformation in Germany
Additional Reading: R. Po-chia Hsia, The German People and the Reformation (1988)
FIRST BOOK REVIEW DUE
Session #6 - The Peasants War: Failed Bourgeois Revolution?
Common Reading: Bob Scribner & G. Benecke, eds., The German Peasants’ War, 1525: New
Viewpoints (1979)
Additional Reading: Peter Blickle, The Revolution of 1525: The German Peasants’War from a
New Perspective (1981)
Session #7 - The Making of the Habsburg Empire
Reading: Bérenger, A HIstory of the Habsburg Empire, pp. 155-260
Additional Reading: R.J.W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Empire (1979)
Session #8 - Religious Reform & Politics in the Czech lands and Poland
Reading: Winfried Eberhard, “Reformation and Counterreformation in East Central Europe”;
Davies, pp. 159-255, 321-372
Sessin #9 - Politics in the Periphery: the Tension between Local, Regional & Imperial Rule in
the Swiss Confederation
Reading: Head, Early Modern Democracy in the Grisons
SECOND BOOK REVIEW DUE
Sessin #10 - Obedient Germans & Disobedient Czechs?
Reading: Blickle, Obedient Germans; Palmitessa, “The Prague Uprising of 1611”
Session #11 - Ottoman-Hungarian Encounters - Guest Discussant: Ms. Lilla Kopár, WMU Dept.
of Foreign Languages - Film: “Cross and Cresent”
Reading: Kann, A History of the Habsburg Empire; pp. 25-53; Sugar, A History of Hungary, pp.
54-100
Session #12 - The Thirty Years’ War: A Central European Catastrophe?
Reading: Geoffrey Parker, ed., The Thirty Years War ; Bérenger, A History of the Habsburg
Empire, pp. 261-88; Davies, God’s Playground, pp. 433-469
Additional Reading:
Josef Polisensky, “The Thirty Years’ War: Problems of Motive, Extent and Effect,”
Historica XIV (1967): 77-90
Theodore Rabb, The Thirty Years’ War (1972)
John C. Theibault, German Villages in Crisis. Rural Life in Hesse-Kassel and the Thirty
Years’ War, 1580-1720 (1995)
Session #13 - Politics & Society from the Peace of Westphalia (1648) to the Dissolution of the
Empire (1806) - Film: “Between Empire and Nation”
Reading: Barraclough, pp. 355-466; Bérenger, A History of the Habsburg Monarchy, pp. 261-
303; Davies, God’s Playground, pp. 492-546, Sugar, A History of Hungary, pp. 138-64
FINAL REVIEW ESSAY DUE
Session #14 - The Invention of “Eastern Europe” in the Eighteenth Century
Reading: Wolff, The Invention of Eastern Europe