HISTORY 540:  FRANCE 1600-1815        F 2007   Professor Jeremy POPKIN

 

   333 Classroom Bldg                     Office: 1725 POT

   MWF 11                                 Phone: 257-1415

Email: Popkin@uky.edu  

Website: www.uky.edu/~popkin

Office hrs: M 9:30-10:30, W 2:30-3:30

 

Links to course handouts

 

Course Description

 

In the second half of the 1500s, France was a country torn apart by sectarian violence and civil war.  A century later, in the age of Louis XIV, it had become Europe’s dominant military power, a position it would retain until Napoleon’s defeat in 1815. France also became a center of European cultural innovation during the eighteenth century, the “age of Enlightenment.”  But when the French people tried to reform their government and society in 1789, they set off a revolutionary upheaval whose shock waves still affect us today.  Finally, the events of the Napoleonic era spread French influence as far away as Russia and the Americas.  In this course, we will study the people and events that shaped French history during these two and a half centuries.  Through lectures, discussion, readings and written assignments, students will gain a better understanding of French history and of its impact in the making of the modern world. 

 

Course Requirements

 

(1)    regular attendance and active class participation

(2)    completion of assigned readings (see below)

(3) written assignments:  three short essays of varying length, on topics to be given out (some may involve additional reading).  Essay papers must be double-spaced.

(4) exams:  two in-class mid-term exams (essay tests with some identification questions) and a final.  The final exam is comprehensive.

 

Graduate students in history will be assigned a longer paper and some additional readings.  There will be periodic meetings for the graduate students to provide for more intensive discussion of French historiography (approx. 1 extra meeting per month).

 

Grading:    Class participation 20%; essays 30%; midterms 12.5% each; final 25%  (Graduate students:  class participation 20%, essays 25%, term paper 25%, midterms 10% each, final 20%)

 

 

Comment Cards Class will be divided into three groups; each group will do one comment card per week.  Come to each class with a filled-out 5" x 8" comment card.  In addition to your name and the date, write down on the card (1) a one- or two-sentence summary of the subject and central thesis of the assigned reading and (2) at least two comments about the reading.  Comments may include points you did not understand, points that struck you as especially noteworthy, issues in these readings that relate to other course readings, etc.  Please try to keep comments on one side of card, and write legibly.  We may use cards as bases for discussion.  Completion of comment cards will be counted as part of your participation grade for the course.

 

Assigned Readings (To be purchased by all students)

 

  Textbooks (available at UK or Kennedy's bookstores)

(1)Holt The French Wars of Religion, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 0-521-54750-4)

(2)Montesquieu, Persian Letters (Penguin, 0-14-044-281-2)

(3)Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV (Yale, 0-300-05943-4)

(4)Roche, History of Everyday Things (Cambridge, 0-521-63359-1)

      (5) Popkin, Short History of the French Revolution (Prentice Hall 0-13-060032-6)

      (6) Hunt, The French Revolution and Human Rights (Bedford,0-312-10802-8)

      (7) A. France, The Gods Will Have Blood (Penguin, 0-140-44352-5)

 

 

 

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Schedule of Topics and Related Readings

 

[Dates of tests and written assignments are marked *]

 

22 Aug.: Introduction to the Course

24 Aug.: The Road to Civil War (Holt, 1-49)

 

27 Aug.: Religious War (Holt, 50-98)

29 Aug.: Rethinking the Monarchy (Holt, 99-122)

31 Aug.: The Catholic Offensive (Holt, 123-55)

 

3 Sept.: LABOR DAY HOLIDAY

5 Sept.: French baroque gardens (guest lecture)

7 Sept.: Henri IV and the Edict of Nantes (Holt, 156-77)

 

10 Sept.: Restoring stability (Holt, 178-222)

*12 Sept.: Louis XIII and Richelieu (handout)

14 Sept.: The Fronde (handout)

 

17 Sept.: Louis XIV’ reign: overview (handout)

19 Sept.: The Rising Sun King (Burke, 1-60)

21 Sept.: Representing Louis XIV (Burke, 61-123)

 

24 Sept.: Louis XIV on the decline (Burke, 124-203)

*26 Sept.: 1st MIDTERM EXAM

28 Sept.: Everyday life in early modern France (Roche, 1-30)

Schedule of Topics, cont.

 

1 Oct.: Urban society and consumption (Roche, 31-78)

3 Oct.: Housing, Lighting, Heating (Roche, 81-134)

5 Oct.: Water (Roche, 135-65)

 

8 Oct.: Furniture and objects (Roche, 166-92)

10 Oct: Clothing (Roche, 193-220)

12 Oct: Food (Roche, 221-255)

 

15 Oct.: Reign of Louis XV (handout)

17 Oct.: The French Colonial Empire (handout)

19 Oct.: The French Classical Tradition (guest lecture)

 

*22 Oct.: 2nd MIDTERM

24 Oct.: NO CLASS

26 Oct.: Montesquieu, absolutism and the role of women(Persian Letters)

 

29 Oct.: Montesquieu and the spirit of Enlightenment (Persian Letters)

31 Oct.: Reign of Louis XVI (Popkin, 1-21)

2 Nov.: TBA

 

*5 Nov.: The Collapse of the Monarchy (Popkin, 22-36) (2nd essay due)

7 Nov.: The Revolutionary Rupture (Popkin, 37-53)

9 Nov.: Debating Human Rights (Hunt, 35-79)

 

12 Nov.: The Failure of the Liberal Revolution (Popkin, 54-72)

14 Nov.: Who Deserves Rights? (Hunt, 80-118)

16 Nov.: The Rights of Women (Hunt, 119-139)

 

19 Nov.: The Radical Revolution (Popkin, 73-95)

21 Nov.: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

23 Nov.: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

 

26 Nov.: The Terror (A. France, 1-126) 

28 Nov.: The Terror, continued (A. France, 127-250)

*30 Nov.: The Directory (Popkin, 96-111) (3rd essay due)

 

3 Dec.: The Consulate (Popkin, 112-24)

5 Dec.: The Napoleonic Empire (Popkin, 125-39)

7 Dec.: Conclusion(s) (Popkin, Short History, 139-49)

 

10 Dec.: Monday, 10:30 am, FINAL EXAM (in regular classroom)

 

 

Course Policies

 

1. Late Work and Make‑Up Exams:  Late papers are not accepted and make‑up exams are not administered unless students requesting them can produce documented evidence of illness, accident or other cause beyond their control accounting for absence.  Students who will miss an exam or assignment because of a scheduled university activity must make arrangements to make up the work before the scheduled due date. 

 

2. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is defined in the UK Student Handbook.  Students submitting work which is not their own will receive an 'E' for that assignment and will not be allowed to make it up. 

 

3. Modern Technology: Recording devices are not permitted during lectures and discussions, except for students who have a valid physical reason for needing them (e.g., inability to take written notes).  Students wearing earphones during class will be invited to go be bored somewhere else.  Beepers, cellular phones and other devices which may cause a distraction must be turned off during class.  In view of the time period covered in this course, students are welcome to use quill pens, but please pluck your geese outside the classroom.

 

4. Note on textbook:  The textbook assigned for the French Revolution section of this course is one that I have written myself.  I assign it because it best suits the way I teach the course.  Since you are required to buy the book for this course, however, I would be guilty of a conflict of interest if I made a profit off your purchase of the book.  I will therefore refund to each student remaining in the course after the final day for textbook returns and showing me that they have purchased a new copy of the book, an amount equal to my royalties (approx. $1.00).  Alternatively, students may designate their royalty refund as a donation to the UK Library, to be made in the name of the class.  Please understand that I do not receive any royalties from the sale of used copies of the textbook.