Course overview
This course explores belief and deviancy in medieval Europe. After identifying religious and cultural orthodoxy, it embarks upon an analysis of dissent. Divergence from sanctioned ideology and ritual ranged from the spiritual and social challenge of medieval heresies, through popular beliefs in the magical powers of people and objects, to the witch craze of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Using a wide variety of original documents and historical interpretations, the course aims to understand and explain conflicting belief systems and the rise of intolerance in the pre-modern world.
Course learning outcomes
- Demonstrate a broad knowledge of the history of medieval heresy and witchcraft and the ways in which historians have interpreted and explained this history.
- Identify and use effectively a wide variety of secondary sources relevant to the study of medieval heresy and witchcraft, and in particular to understand and critically evaluate the arguments of historians.
- Contextualise and interpret a wide variety of primary sources, including medieval texts, images and physical artfacts.
- Construct evidence-based arguments in which students engage with the key debates about the nature of medieval heresy and witchcraft.
- Communicate their own ideas about medieval heresy and witchcraft - both orally and in writing - in a manner that is clear and persuasive.
- Access and use effectively the range of relevant primary and secondary sources on medieval heresy and witchcraft that are available on-line.
- Develop and communicate their ideas about medieval heresy and witchcraft within the scholarly conventions of the discipline of history.
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