Fall 2022 | Yale University
Conceptions of the supernatural changed drastically in the sixteenth century. This course will analyze the nature and scope of this change, with a focus on two interrelated subjects:
1. How conceptions of the supernatural relate to cultural, social, and political structures;
2. How historians approach past manifestations of the supernatural.
General
Readings
Key:
1 or 2 without asterisk = Required reading
* = Recommended reading
** = Suggested reading
Week 1 Aug 31: Introductory meeting
Required reading:
[\c] 1. Robert Bartlett, The Natural and the Supernatural in the Middle Ages
Week 2 Sep 7
Required reading:
[\c] 1. The Book of Margery Kempe (Yale e-book)
Recommended reading:
[\o] 2. "The Unbelieved and Historians, Part I: A Challenge," History Compass, Dec. 2016
[\c] *3. Carolyn Walker Bynum, Christian Materiality: An Essay on Religion in Late Medieval Europe
[\a] *4. William Christian, Jr., Apparitions in Late Medieval and Renaissance Spain
[\c] *5. C. S. Watkins, History and the Supernatural in Medieval England
[\c] *6. Derek Wilson, A Magical World
[\c] *7. André Vauchez, Saints, prophètes et visionnaires: le pouvoir surnaturel au Moyen Age
Week 3 Sep 14
Required reading:
[\o] 1. Erasmus of Rotterdam, “The Shipwreck”
[\a] 1. Erasmus of Rotterdam, “A Pilgrimage for the Sake of Religion”
[\o] 1. Erasmus of Rotterdam, “An Exorcism, or Apparition”
[\c] 2. Andrew Karlstadt, “On the Removal of Images”
[\c] 2. John Eck, “On Not Removing Images of Christ and the Saints”
[\o] 3. “The Unbelieved and Historians, Part II: Proposals and Solutions,” History Compass, Jan. 2017
Recommended reading:
[\c] *3. Craig Harline, Miracles at the Jesus Oak
[\c] *4. Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, chapters 1–5
[\c] *5. Susan Karant-Nunn, The Reformation of Ritual
Suggested reading:
[\c] **6. Carlos Eire, War Against the Idols, chapters 1–4
Week 4 Sep 21
Required reading:
[\o] 2. John Calvin, Institutes, I.1–14, IV.17–19
[\o] 3. “The Unbelieved and Historians, Part III: Responses and Elaborations,” History Compass, Dec. 2017
Recommended reading:
[\c] *3. Christopher Elwood, The Body Broken: The Calvinist Doctrine of the Eucharist and the Symbolization of Power in Sixteenth-Century France
[\c] *4. Philip Soergel, Miracles and the Protestant Imagination
[\a] *5. Robert Scribner, "Incombustible Luther," Past and Present 110 (1986): 38–68
[\a] *5. Lyndal Roper, “Luther Relics” in Religion, the Supernatural, and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe, 330–353
Suggested reading:
[\o] **6. Carlos Eire, War Against the Idols, chapters 4–8
week 5 Sep 28
Required reading:
[\o] 1. Teresa of Avila, Life of Teresa of Jesus, chapters 1–2, 7–14, 20–22, 28–40
[\c] 2. Carlos Eire, The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila: A Biography, preface & chapters 1–3
Recommended reading:
[\a] *3. Andrew Keitt, Inventing the Sacred
[\a] *4. Alison Weber, Teresa of Avila and the Rhetoric of Femininity
[\c] *5. Marilyn Fedewa, Maria of Agreda, Mystical Lady in Blue
[\c] *6. Richard Kagan, Lucrecia’s Dreams
Week 6 Oct 5
Required reading:
[\o] 1. Pedro Ciruelo, A Treatise Reproving All Superstitions
Recommended reading:
[\o] *2. Stuart Clarke, Thinking With Demons, chapters 1–22
[\c] *3. Kathryn Edwards (ed.), Werewolves, Witches, and Wandering Spirits: Traditional Belief & Folklore in Early Modern Europe (10 essays)
[\c] *4. Robin Briggs, Witches and Neighbours
[\c] *5. Verena Thiele and Andrew McCarthy (eds.), Staging the Superstitions of Early Modern Europe (10 essays)
[\c] *6. Fernando Cervantes & Andrew Redden (eds.), Angels, Demons and the New World (9 essays)
Week 7 Oct 12
Required reading:
[\o] 1. Urbain Grandier, History of the Devils of Loudun
Recommended reading:
[\c] *2. Robert Rapley, A Case of Witchcraft: The Trial of Urbain Grandier
[\o] *3. Aldous Huxley, The Devils of Loudun
[\c] *4. Moshe Sluhovsky, Believe Not Every Spirit: Possession, Mysticism and Discernment in Early Modern Catholicism
[\o] *5. Kathryn Edwards (ed. & trans.), “Leonarde’s Ghost”
Suggested reading
[\c] **6. Michel de Certeau, The Possession at Loudun
Week 9 Oct 26
Required reading:
[\c] 1. Carlo Ginzburg, The Night Battles
[\c] 2. King James I, Demonology
Recommended reading:
[\o] *3. Stuart Clarke, Thinking With Demons, chapters 22–44
[\a] *4. Lyndal Roper, Witch Craze
[\a] *5. Orna Alyagon Darr, Marks of an Absolute Witch: Evidentiary Dilemmas in Early Modern England
[\a] *6. Francis Young, English Catholics and the Supernatural
Week 10 Nov 2
Required reading:
[\c] 1. Angelo Pastrovicchi, Life of Saint Joseph of Copertino
Recommended reading:
[\o] *2. Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, chapters 1–12
[\o] *3. L. Daston & K. Park, Wonders and the Order of Nature, chapters 1–4
[\c] *4. Paolo Parigi, The Rationalization of Miracles
[\c] *5. Bradford Bouley, Pious Postmortems: Anatomy, Sanctity, and the Catholic Church in Early Modern Europe
Suggested reading:
[\c] **6. Carlos Eire, “The Good, the Bad, and the Airborne,” in Ideas and Cultural Margins in Early Modern Germany, 301–324
Week 11 Nov 9
Required reading:
[\c] 1. Jane Shaw, Miracles in Enlightenment England
[\a] 2. Alexandra Walsham, “The Pope’s Relics and the Jesuits’ Trumpery,” in Religion, the Supernatural, and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe, 379–410
Recommended reading:
[\o] *3. David Hume, Of Miracles
[\o] *4. Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, chapters 13–22
[\o] *5. L. Daston & K. Park, Wonders and the Order of Nature, chapters 5–9
[\c] *6. Julie Crawford, Marvelous Protestantism: Monstrous Births in Post-Reformation England
[\o] *7. Robert Burns, The Great Debate on Miracles: from Joseph Glanvill to David Hume
Week 12 Nov 16
Required reading:
[\c] 1. H. C. Erik Midelfort, Exorcism and Enlightenment
Recommended reading:
[\c] *2. The science of rational devotion From the writings of the learned and Celebrated Lodovico Muratori
[\c] *3. Raymond Jonas, France and the Cult of the Sacred Heart
[\a] *4. Francis Young, English Catholics and the Supernatural, 1553–1829
[\c] *5. Michael Printy, The Enlightenment and the Creation of German Catholicism
Week 14 Nov 30
Required reading:
[\c] 1. Euan Cameron, Enchanted Europe
Recommended reading:
[\a] **2. Carlos Eire, “Incombustible Weber: How the Protestant Reformation Really Disenchanted the World.”