Module Outline

MODULE OUTLINE

Modern Liberal Arts University of Winchester Semester 2 2015-16

LA 1006 Learning from the Renaissance

Thursdays 3pm MB1 (week 6 MCT1) Derek, Nigel, Becky, Tom Module leader: Rebekah Howes

Module Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate engagement with texts and ideas relevant to the Renaissance Demonstrate reflection on experiences and the wider contexts in which they take place Communicate experiences of texts and ideas as appropriate Show knowledge and understanding of specialist terminology Demonstrate requisite research skills in gathering, summarizing and presenting evidence including proficiency in referencing and academic conventions

Introduction

There are so many aspects of the Renaissance that have shaped the ideas that we employ today, and often we simply take them for granted without really comprehending their origins. You will see over the course of the module that the Renaissance was a remarkable time, not least because it gave freedom and expression to literary and artistic cultures, to music, to political theory, and to science, perhaps not seen in Europe since the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome.

As far as Liberal Arts are concerned, the Renaissance marks something of a watershed. From Antiquity (for example, Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle), the liberal arts had gradually become codified into the trivium and quadrivium. Over the 1500 years or so, there had been a tendency to reduce the liberal arts to compendia of knowledge – a bit like having text books replace primary sources – and by the time of the Renaissance there was a growing dissatisfaction with this canon of higher education, and especially with the dialectical wrangling of the Scholastics. Against this, humanism and the fine arts mounted a serious challenge to the dominance of Aristotelianism.

We hope you enjoy learning about one of the most important and influential periods in European history.

Weekly sessions

Week 1 Florence (lecture) (RH)

References Alberti, L. B. (2004) On Painting, London: Penguin Classics. Brown, A. (1999) The Renaissance, Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Bruckner, G. A. (1983) Renaissance Florence, Berkeley: University of California Press. Burckhardt, J. (1944) The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Oxford: The Phaidon Press. Cassirer, E., Kristeller, P. O. & Randall, J. H. (eds.) (1948) The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Dante, (1984) The Divine Comedy vol. 1: Inferno, London: Penguin Classics, trans. Mark Musa. Dante, (2002) The New Life, New York: New York Review Books. Holmes, G. (1969) The Florentine Enlightenment 1400-50, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Latham, C.S. (1891) A Translation of Dante’s Eleven Letters, Houghton, Mifflin and Company; available at http://www.archive.org/details/atranslationdan02aliggoog Nauert, C. (2006) Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Week 2 Beginnings… Humanism needs ‘humanity’

(NT) Reading Jaeger, W. (1973) Paideia The Ideals of Greek Culture, vol. I, pp. xxii- xxv, 280, 286-291. J. Kraemer, (1984) ‘Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam’, pp. 135- 140. Heidegger, ‘Letter on Humanism’, in Basic Writings, pp. 224-5. Gellius Attic Nights, 13.17 Cicero, Pro Archia, 8-11 Cicero, On Duties, pp. 21-3 Dante, Monarchy, pp. 3-9, 13, 19-21 Gilson, Dante and Philosophy, pp. 162-167 Pico della Mirandola, On The Dignity of Man, pp. 4-5 Ficino, Meditations on the Soul, p. 26 Kristeller, (1961) Renaissance Thought, pp. 6-11, 20-3. Kimball, Orators and Philosophers, pp. 77-82

Wider reading Cicero, De oratore, III, xv, 56-8 Cicero, The Nature of the Gods, pp. 57-61 Bauman, Human Rights in Ancient Rome, pp. 25-7 Campana, A. (1946) ‘The Origin of the Word “Humanist”’, Journal of the Warburg and Courthold Institutes, vol. 9, pp. 60-73. Proctor, Defining the Humanities, pp. 212-214 Tubbs, Philosophy and Modern Liberal Arts Education, pp. 40-4.

Week 3 More Beginnings… Renaissance history and the Arab Golden Age (NT)

Reading Baghdad & Florence Mommsen, ‘Petrarch’s Conception of the “Dark Ages”’, pp. 237, 240- 1. Timelines Masood, Science and Islam, pp. 217-22; 175-181. McGinnis & Reisman, Classical Arabic Philosophy, pp. xvii-xix. Al-Khalili, The House of Wisdom, pp. 15-17; 33-7; 44-8; 68-73; 80- 1;124-7; 171; 201-3; 223-6; 217-21; 229-31. Lyons, The House of Wisdom, pp. 60-1; 62-4; 70-4; 77; 142-5; 156; 197-201. Saliba, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance, pp. 1-3; 16-18; 66-7; 194-9; 231-3; 250-1. Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture, pp. 1; 13; 54-60; 89; 97-8; 110- 111; 152-5. Kennedy, When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World, pp. 203-6; 253- 260. Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah, (completed in 1377) pp. vii; 371-5; 428-31. Also, ‘Visions of Islam in Renaissance Europe,’ George Saliba, http://www.columbia.edu/~gas1/project/visions/visions.html

‘The Islamic Foundation of the Renaissance,’ Hugh Bibbs http://www.medievalhistory.net/scientia.htm

Wider Reading Nicholson, A Literary History of the Arabs Starr, Lost Enlightenment. Haskins, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century Rosenthal, The classical heritage in Islam Turner, Science in medieval Islam: an illustrated introduction. Bloom, J & Blair, S. Islam: a thousand years of faith and power J. Kraemer, (1984) ‘Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 104.1. Kraemer, J.L. (1992) Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam.

Week 4 Read yourself to self-perfection (NT)

Reading Bruni, The Study of Literature (in Kallendorf, 2008). Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Europe, pp. 81-7 Proctor, Defining the Humanities, pp. 3-24, 172-5, 212-214 Petrarch, Letters, III. 18; XXII. 2; XVI. 14 Petrarch, On His Own Ignorance and that of Many Others, pp. 102-5 (in Cassirer, Kristeller & Randall Jr, 1948) Melanchthon, (1999) Orations, pp. 33-4, 44, 66, 81 Melanchthon, (1988) In Praise of the New School, pp. 60-3 Vergerio, The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth, pp. 14-25 Guarino, A Programme of Teaching and Learning, pp. 155-7 (both from Kallendorf, 2008).

Wider reading for a critique of Burckhardt’s famous view of the Renaissance discovery of the individual, see: J.J. Martin, (2002) ‘The Myth of Renaissance Individualism’ (and use his Further Reading suggestions) S. Greenblatt, (1980) Renaissance self-fashioning R. Porter, (1997) Re-writing the Self, chapter 1, pp. 17-28. JJ Martin, (2004) Myths of Renaissance Individualism.

Week 5 Petrarch, death, alienation and the turn inward (NT) Reading Proctor, Defining the Humanities, pp. 25-42 Howard, ‘Renaissance world-alienation’ (in Kinsman, 1974). Petrarch, Letters, I. 1; IV. 12; V. 5; VII. 12; VIII. 7, and p. 182 (IV.2) Petrarch, Secretum, book 1. Auerbach, Dante, Poet of the Secular World, p. 176.

Week 6 Art: Getting Perspective (RH)

Reading Brown, A. (1999) The Renaissance, Harlow, Pearson, pp. 53-61. Burckhardt, J.(1960) The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, New York: The New American Library, Inc. pp. 121-7; 321. da Vinci, L. (2008) Leonardo da Vinci, Notebooks, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 105. Gombrich, E.H. (1989) The Story of Art, Oxford: Phaidon Press Limited Vasari, G. (2008) The Lives of the Artists, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 3-6; 47-58; 277-283.

Wider reading Hegel, G.W.F. (1974) Hegel’s Aesthetics, Oxford, Oxford Clarendon Press pp872 – 882 Nahm, M. (1975) Readings in philosophy of Art and Aesthetics, London: Englewood Cliffs pp3-5 http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.geometry/unit11/unit11.h tml Kemp, M. (1990) The Science of Art, Yale University Press Edgerton, S. (2009) The Mirror, the Window, and the Telescope: How Renaissance Linear Perspective Changed Our Vision of the Universe USA: Cornell University Press Gombrich, E.H. (2000) Art and Illusion: v. 6: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation, New Jersey: Princeton University Press Kemp, M. (2006) Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man, Oxford: Oxford University Press Kemp, M. (2004) Leonardo: revised edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press Lester, T. (2011) Da Vinci's Ghost: The untold story of Vitruvian Man, London: Profile Books Ltd Mcewen, I.K. (2003) Vitruvius: Writing the Body of Architecture, USA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Vitruvius (2009) On Architecture, London: Penguin Group Vasari, G. (2008) The Lives of the Artists, Oxford, Oxford University Press

Week 7 Music (RH) Reading Boethius (1989) Fundamentals of Music, New Haven & London: Yale University Press p. 2 Dunwell, W. (1962) Music and the European Mind, London, Herbert Jenkins, pp. 101-111. Ferguson, K. (2008) Pythagoras, New York: Walker Publishing Company, Inc. pp. 64-5. Ficino, M. (1997) Meditations on the Soul, Rochester, Inner Traditions International, p. 59. James, J. (1993) The Music of the Spheres, New York: Copernicus pp 3- 4 Mellers, W. (1980) Bach and the Dance of God, London, Faber and Faber pp 3- 9. Mellers, W. (2002) Celestial Music, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press pp 26 and 28

Week 8 Machiavelli’s The Prince (TN)

Reading Machiavelli. 1961. The Prince. Penguin Books.

Wider Reading Benner, Erica. 2013. Machiavelli's Prince: A New Reading. Oxford University Press. Berlin, Isaiah. 1979. Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas. Hogarth Press. [Ch on 'The Originality of Machiavelli'] Coyle, Martin. (Ed.) 1995. Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince": New Interdisciplinary Essays. Manchester University Press. DeAlvarez, Leo Paul S. 1999. The Machiavellian Enterprise: A Commentary on The Prince. Nothern Illinois University Press. Skinner, Quentin. 2000. Machiavelli: A Very Short introduction. Oxford University Press.

Week 9 Machiavelli’s The Prince (TN)

Reading Machiavelli. 1961. The Prince. Penguin Books.

Wider Reading Benner, Erica. 2013. Machiavelli's Prince: A New Reading. Oxford University Press. Berlin, Isaiah. 1979. Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas. Hogarth Press. [Ch on 'The Originality of Machiavelli'] Coyle, Martin. (Ed.) 1995. Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince": New Interdisciplinary Essays. Manchester University Press. DeAlvarez, Leo Paul S. 1999. The Machiavellian Enterprise: A Commentary on The Prince. Nothern Illinois University Press. Skinner, Quentin. 2000. Machiavelli: A Very Short introduction. Oxford University Press.

Week 10 Sir Francis Bacon: Ensuring the future security of the State: knowledge is power (DB)

Reading selections from Novum Organum and the essays

Wider reading Bacon, F. (2013) Physical and Metaphysical Works: including the Advancement of Learning and Novum Organum London: ULAN Press Bird, A. Philosophy of Science London UCL Press Couvalis, G. (1997) The Philosophy of Science London: SAGE Eliar-Feldon, M. (1982) Realistic Utopias: the Ideal Imaginary Societies of the Renaissance Oxford: Clarendon Press. Murphy, P. (2003) Evidence, Proof, and Facts: a book of sources Oxford: Oxford University Press Peltonen, M. (1996) The Cambridge Companion to Bacon Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Price, B. (ed.) (2002) Francis Bacon's 'The New Atlantis': New Interdisciplinary Essays Manchester: Manchester University Press. Urbach, P. (1986) Francis Bacon’s Philosophy of Science: an account and a reappraisal La Salle: Open Court Vickers, B. (1968) Francis Bacon and Renaissance Prose London: Thames & Hudson

Week 11 Michel de Montaigne (DB)

Reading ‘On Cannibals’ http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/montaigne/montaigne- essays--2.html A short overview is available here http://www.enotes.com/topics/cannibals

Wider reading Corrigan, T. (2011) The Essay Film: from Montaigne, after Marker Oxford: Oxford University Press De Certeau, M. (1997) Heterologies: discourse on the other Minnesota: University of Minneapolis Press; see ‘Montaigne’s ‘Of Cannibals’: The Savage ‘I’’ Frame, D. (1958) The Complete Works of Montaigne: essays, travel journal, letters London: Hamish Hamilton Frame, D. (1965) Montaigne: a biography London: Hamish Hamilton Grady, H. (2002) Shakespeare, Machiavelli, and Montaigne: power and subjectivity from Richard II to Hamlet Oxford: Oxford University Press Kenny, A. (1993) Renaissance Thinkers Oxford: Oxford University Press Korhonen, K. (2006) Textual Friendship: the essay as impossible encounter, from Plato and Montaigne to Levinas and Derrida Anherst, N.Y.: Humanity Books Langer, U. (2005) The Cambridge Companion to Montaigne Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Rawson, C. J. (2001) God, Gulliver, and Genocide: barbarism and the European imagination, 1492-1945 Oxford: Oxford University Press Rendall, S. (1992) Distinguo: reading Montaigne differently Oxford: Clarendon Press

Assessment

Assessment 1: (50%)

Title: Using evidence from texts, describe some of the characteristics of Renaissance humanism

(1750-2000 words; deadline: (Thursday Week 7 25th February) given to Catherine in the Office by 3.30pm).

Assessment 2: (50 %)

Title: you will choose from the list of essays that develops between weeks 6-11, or you can contact a tutor if you have an idea for a title of your own

(1750-2000 words; deadline (Thursday Week 12 31st March) given to Catherine in the Office by 3.30pm).

Use Harvard Referencing

We attempt always to return work within 3 working weeks (15 days working days). References & wider reading for weeks 1-5

Al-Khalili, J. (2011) The House of Wisdom, New York: Penguin. Alberti, L. B. (2004) On Painting, London: Penguin Classics. Auerbach, E. (2007) Dante, Poet of the Secular World, New York: New York Review of Books. Bantock, G.H. (1980) Studies in the History of Educational Theory vol. 1, London: George Allen & Unwin. Bauman, R.A. (2012) Human Rights in Ancient Rome, London & New York: Routledge. Bloom, J & Blair, S. (2002) Islam: a thousand years of faith and power, Yale, Nota Bene. Brown, A. (1999) The Renaissance, Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Bruckner, G. A. (1983) Renaissance Florence, Berkeley: University of California Press. Bruni, L. (2001) History of the Florentine People volume 1, Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, ed. J Hankins. Burckhardt, J. (1944) The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Oxford: The Phaidon Press. Burke, P. (1999) The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy, Cambridge: Polity Press. Campana, A. (1946) ‘The Origin of the Word “Humanist”’, Journal of the Warburg and Courthold Institutes, vol. 9, pp. 60-73. Cassirer, E., Kristeller, P. O. & Randall, J. H. (eds.) (1948) The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cassirer, E., Kristeller, P. O. & Randall, J. H. (eds.) (1948) The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cicero, (1923) ‘Pro Archia’, in Orations, Loeb Classical Library: Harvard University Press. Cicero, (1991) On Duties, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cicero, (1998) The Nature of the Gods, Oxford: Oxford World Classics. Cicero, De Oratore, Book III http://pages.pomona.edu/~cmc24747/sources/cic_web/de_or_3.htm Copenhaver, B.P. & Schmitt, C.B. (1992) Renaissance Philosophy, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dante, (1984) The Divine Comedy vol. 1: Inferno, London: Penguin Classics, trans. Mark Musa. Dante, (1996) Monarchy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dante, (2002) The New Life, New York: New York Review Books. Dawson, C. (2010) The Crisis of Western Education, Washington: The Catholic University of America Press. De Ridder-Symoens, H. (ed) (1996) A History of the University in Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Erasmus, D. (1983) The Essential Erasmus, New York: Meridian. Ficino, M. (1997) Meditations on the Soul, Rochester: Inner Traditions. Gellius, Attic Nights http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Gellius/home.html Gilson, E. (1963) Dante and Philosophy, New York: Harper Torchbooks. Grafton, A. & Jardine, L. (1986) From Humanism to the Humanities, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Greenblatt, S. (1980) Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare, Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Gutas, D. (1998) Greek Thought, Arabic Culture, London, Routledge. Hainsworth, P. (2010) The Essential Petrarch, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. Haskins, C.H. (1927) The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, London, Harvard University Press. Heidegger, M. (1993) Basic Writings, London, Routledge. Holmes, G. (1969) The Florentine Enlightenment 1400-50, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Ibn Khaldun, (2005) The Muqaddimah, Princeton, Princeton University Press. Jaeger, W. (1973) Paideia The Ideals of Greek Culture, vol. I, Oxford: Oxford University Press Kallendorf, C.W. (2008) Humanist Educational Treatises, Harvard University Press. Kaufmann, W. (1995) The Future of the Humanities, New Brunswick & London: Transaction Publishers. Kennedy, H. (2004) When Baghdad Rules the Muslim Empire, Cambridge, DaCapo Press. Kimball, B. (1986) Orators and Philosophers, New York, Teachers College Press. Kinsman, R.S. (1974) The Darker Vision of the Renaissance, Los Angeles, University of California. J. Kraemer, (1984) ‘Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 104.1. Kraemer, J.L. (1992) Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam, Leiden, Brill. Kristeller, P. O. (1961) Renaissance Thought: The Classic, Scholastic, and Humanist Strains, New York: Harper Torchbooks. Kristeller, P.O. (1990) Renaissance Thought and the Arts, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Kristeller, P.O. (1992) Medieval Aspects of Renaissance Learning, New York: Columbia Press. Latham, C.S. (1891) A Translation of Dante’s Eleven Letters, Houghton, Mifflin and Company; available at http://www.archive.org/details/atranslationdan02aliggoog Laurie, S.S. (1969) Studies in the History of Educational Opinion from the Renaissance, New York: Augustus M Kelley Publishers. Levy, B.S. (ed) (1972) Developments in the Early Renaissance, Albany: SUNY Press. Lyons, J. (2009) The House of Wisdom, London, Bloomsbury. McGinnis, J. & Reisman, D.C. (2007) Classical Arabic Philosophy, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co. Martin, J.J. (2002) ‘The Myth of Renaissance Individualism,’ in A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance, ed. G. Ruggiero, Oxford, Blackwell. JJ Martin, (2004) Myths of Renaissance Individualism, Basingstoke, PalgraveMacmillan. Masood, E. (2009) Science and Islam, London, Icon Books. Melanchthon, P. (1988) A Melanchthon Reader, New York: Peter Lang. Melanchthon, P. (1999) Orations on Philosophy and Education, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mirandola, P. (1998) On The Dignity of Man, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co. Mommsen, T. E. (1942) ‘Petrarch’s Conception of the Dark Ages’, Speculum, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 226-242. Nauert, C. (2006) Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nicholson, R.A. (1907/2008) A literary History of the Arabs, New Delhi, Kitab Bhavan. Pater, W. (2010) Studies in the History of the Renaissance, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Petrarch, F. (2005) Letters on Familiar Matters 3 volumes, New York: Italica Press. Petrarch, F. (2010) Secretum, Richmond: One World Classics. Porter, R. (ed.) (2007) Rewriting the Self: Histories from the Renaissance to the Present, London, Routledge. Proctor, R.E. (1998) Defining the Humanities, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Robinson, J. H. (1970) Petrarch; The First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters, New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd. Rosenthal, F. (1992) The classical heritage in Islam, London, Routledge. Saliba, G. (2011) Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance, Massachusetts, MIT Press. Starr, S.F. (2013) Lost Enlightenment, Princeton, Princeton University Press. Turner, HR, (1997) Science in medieval Islam: an illustrated introduction, Austin, University of Texas Press. Vasari, G. (2008) The Lives of the Artists, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Woodward, W.H. (1906) Studies in Education during the Age of the Renaissance, 1400-1600, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Websites

PETRARCH Petrarch – by JH Robinson http://www.archive.org/stream/petrarchfirstmod00petrrich/petrarchfirstmod00petrrich_dj vu.txt also http://faculty.mdc.edu/jmcnair/Joe26pages/francesco_petrach.htm

This site has a wealth of resources of Petrarch’s writings http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/petrarch.html

Websites for Florence Dome structure http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/arch374/winter2001/sfarfa/ensayo1.htm Brancacci Chapel http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives/Italian %20Images/Montages/Firenze/Brancacci%20Chapel.htm Brunelleschi on perspective http://timelinewritingwiki.wikispaces.com/Brunelleschi-+Linear+Perspective Ghiberti’s Doors http://artistsworkbench.blogspot.com/2009/05/artistic-unpartnership-that-ushered-in.html http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/italy/florence/ghibertiparadise/ghibertiparadise.html Ideal City attributed to Alberti http://www.italia-online.co.uk/article.php/Ideal_City

Dante – Vita nuova http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Italian/TheNewLife.htm http://www.elfinspell.com/DanteNewLife1.html Dante – Convivio http://www.poetryintranslation.com/klineasconvivio.htm Dante – De vulgari eloquentia (to buy, in english) http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Dante-De-Vulgari-Eloquentia-Dante- Alighieri/9780521409230 Dante – De monarchia http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php %3Ftitle=2196&chapter=203185&layout=html&Itemid=27 all Dante texts http://www.greatdante.net/texts.html Dante’s Letters Latham - http://www.archive.org/details/atranslationdan02aliggoog Toynbee - http://www.archive.org/stream/epistolaeletters00dantuoft/epistolaeletters00dantuoft_djv u.txt (note: the slightly later version – Toynbee – does not include the letter to Guido da Polenta as actually written by Dante, though it was included in the Latham version, [and it only summarizes the letters].) Library Scene in Se7en http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbLGfJecWyE&feature=related

MODERN LIBERAL ARTS MARK SCHEME

We want you to be very clear about how we will mark your work and that means you must know with each assessment what you are expected to do. We hope that this does not mean you will feel that you have to write to a formula. We are trying to build in considerable freedom to your assessments; but as the term ‘liberal arts’ conveys, in every freedom there is a discipline, and in every discipline there is a freedom; together, we hope, they constitute the struggle of learning.

There are (often but not always) two types of essays in MLA: the first assessment title in a module will most often be set by the tutor and will be restricted to texts explored in the first weeks. The second assessment title can be tutor-led, or chosen from a list of titles, or can be negotiated individually; this varies according to the tutor and the module. This assignment can explore wider issues, employ wider reading, or explore a single issue in depth. Students will bear some responsibility for the references consulted in the second essay, increasing through years 1, 2 and 3.

Tutor-set assessments (disciplina) Student/tutor-set assessments (libertas)

1st module essay 2nd module essay

Marks for Marks for  depth of understanding specialist  depth of understanding of texts terminology  depth of understanding and application of  depth of understanding of set texts ideas/concepts  depth of understanding of ideas/concepts  evidence-based critical arguments  evidence by quotation  depth/breadth of reading (depending on  answering the question the question)  correct referencing  answering your own question  word limit  correct referencing  word limit

Note the difference between essays 1 and 2: the first one is marked only on your understanding of texts; the second one is marked on understanding, on your own reading, and your emerging critical voice. Be careful here; being critical does not mean just giving your opinions. It means making a case based on evidence from your reading, using ideas and concepts from texts. It does not mean you have to fight for one side of an argument or another… ambivalence will be treated with great respect. But for every essay, remember this: if we (and you) get the title right, then by answering the question you will be doing exactly what is required. Over years 1, 2 and 3 the levels of your work are raised by using increasingly challenging texts, ideas, concepts and writers, and by the way you are able to employ ideas, concepts and writers from other modules across the degree in increasingly sophisticated ways.

For all essays, then

Depending on the question you will need to

 Demonstrate reflection on module material and the wider contexts from across the degree which might impact upon it

 Communicate experiences of texts and ideas as appropriate

 Show knowledge and understanding of specialist terminology

 Demonstrate requisite research skills in gathering, summarizing and presenting evidence including proficiency in referencing and academic conventions.

For essay 1

Depending on the question you will need to

 Show careful reading of primary sources

 Show a knowledge of theoretical perspectives and/or works

 Show an understanding of abstract concepts and ideas within theoretical perspectives

 Show an ability to work with theorists and their concepts in various forms of assessment as appropriate

 Show evidence of engagement with texts and ideas concerned with issues raised in the module.

For essay 2 Depending on the question you will need to

 Show an ability to employ theorists critically in relation to issues

 Show an ability to use concepts as critical tools in discussing issues and questions as appropriate

 Show an ability to employ theoretical perspectives as critical tools

 Therein, to develop a critical voice informed and deepened by appropriate use of theory as critique.

 Sustain a critical relationship to ideas related to the module

It is often hard to explain in generic terms how any particular essay could have been improved. But, cautiously, we can say the following:

In general, a 3rd (40-49%) may have ignored the question, may have not given much evidence of reading, may have clumsy sentence structure, but will still have made a bona fide attempt at the work. a 2.2 (50-59%) will have provided evidence of reading, quotations where appropriate, clear sentence structure, attended to the question or title, but not related the material in ways which synthesise more developed and complex thinking. a 2.1 (60-69%) will have evidence of reading through effective selection of quotation, being able to make specific points, and to relate material together to make broader and/or deeper and more complex observations. At the higher end, it may have been able to relate material from across modules, or across the degree as a whole, to synthesise separate ideas and issues into more holistic comments, ideas and problems. The questions addressed will be getting ever more difficult and important, including those that are asked without being answered. a 1st (70-100%) will make a little go a long way. Quotations may carry implications beyond their precise content; sentences will be clear but able to refine complex ideas succinctly; most importantly, it will be able to combine the microcosm of its subject matter with the macrocosm of its place in the wider context, and these contexts will be drawn form the overall, experience of the degree, growing obviously from years 1 to 3. No inaccuracies of grammar or sentence construction, and no referencing mistakes are expected here. The voice of the essay will be in control of difficult material throughout. Above all the questions asked and addressed will be compelling in their difficulty and import.

Module evaluations (previous year)

No evaluations were forthcoming via email this year. The module however went well. Essays were good and introduced students to important concepts that are returned to in the following years. General feedback in sessions throughout the semester was good. We anticipate no major changes for the following year because it works well as it stands and as a group taught module.

Catalogue summary

This module introduces students to themes and personalities that were central to the period of Western history called the Renaissance. It will provide students with an historical overview of key events, as well as looking at the relation of the Renaissance to other historical periods. It will also look more deeply into selected ideas with a view to illustrating their significance both within the Renaissance and beyond. Central to the approach of the module will be to illustrate ways in which the Renaissance holds an ‘educational’ import both within itself and in terms of a legacy. Where appropriate, tutors will relate the material to both ancient and more modern issues and ideas. The module aims to increase student knowledge and understanding of the Renaissance but also to draw out its fundamental import for the notion of education in its widest sense. Many of the ideas introduced in this module will be returned to in years 2 and 3.