Prompt for History Essay on Middle Ages:
Middle Ages Essay - due in 1st Hour on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019
Directions:
Values:
Please check with me if you would like to use a value that is not listed here.
Documents/Authors:
Come to office hours to share ideas, a rough draft, a paragraph, a thesis. Every Tuesday from 2:45 – 4:45.
Directions:
- Choose two documents from this unit. Both documents should address a medieval value. Examples are listed below.
- Examine how the writers interpret or apply that value.
- Write an approximately three-page essay that compares and contrasts the two interpretations or applications of the value. (Longer essays are welcome.)
Values:
Please check with me if you would like to use a value that is not listed here.
- A strong, close-knit community is necessary for a good life.
- Community decisions should incorporate the voices of all members.
- Mutual dependence is preferable to individual freedom.
- Obedience to a superior or to a community is necessary for a good life.
- Wealth undermines community and/or personal bonds.
- Wealth undermines spiritual well-being.
- Church and state should be a team: one focused on this world and the other focused on the next.
- The highest priority of both secular rulers and religious rulers should be the spiritual well-being of their subjects.
- Questioning—even doubting--of religious doctrines is acceptable if it leads to greater faith.
- Personal bonds of loyalty are necessary for a good life.
- Women are deficient in logic/reasoning and should always be subject to male authorities
- Conflicting values: Extremes are preferable to moderation. Moderation is always best.
Documents/Authors:
- Letters or capitularies of Charlemagne
- Rule of Saint Benedict
- Guild Documents
- Rule of Saint Francis or excerpts from The Life of St. Francis
- Peter Abelard (questioning church & scripture)
- Maimonides (Aristotle/piety/faith and golden mean)
- Ibn Rushd (Aristotle and faith)
- Aquinas (Aristotle and faith; wealth; women)
- Magna Carta (loyalty owed a greedy king; status of church)
- Dante (church-state conflicts; questioning church)
- de Pisan (women; virtue; education; questioning)
- Homage (“Formula of Commendation”) WT1 pp. 236 – 237 (performed in lecture)
Come to office hours to share ideas, a rough draft, a paragraph, a thesis. Every Tuesday from 2:45 – 4:45.
Middle Ages Essay Prompt (Word File)
middle_ages_essay_2019.doc | |
File Size: | 39 kb |
File Type: | doc |
History Readings (Sept. - Dec. 2019)
Code of Hammurabi
Thucydides, The Funeral Oration of Pericles
Plutarch, from Life of Lykurgus
Plato, The Crito and from The Republic
Aristotle, from The Politics
Epictetus, from The Discourses
Epicurus, from Golden Maxims
Polybius, from The Roman Constitution
Cicero, from On the Commonwealth and from The Laws
Plutarch, from Life of Tiberius Gracchus
Octavian, Deeds of the Divine Augustus
Marcus Aurelius, from Thoughts
Seneca, from On Providence
“Roman Empire & Han Empire” in Humanistic Tradition, Volume 1
St. Augustine, from The City of God
Readings on Islam from Humanistic Tradition, Volume 2
Charlemagne, Letters (capitularies)
Rule of Saint Benedict
Gild Document
Magna Charta
Unam Sanctum
Rule of Saint Francis
Thomas of Celano, from The Life of St. Francis
Peter Abelard, from Sic et Non
Maimonides, from Why Man Must Choose the Golden Mean
Ibn Roshd (Averröes), selection proving existence of God
Thomas Aquinas, On the Existence of God & On Women from Summa Theologica
Dante Alighieri, from De Monarchia
Christine de Pisan, from The Book of the City of Ladies
Pico della Mirandola, from On the Dignity of Man
Castiglione, from The Courtier
Alberti, from On the Family
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
Thucydides, The Funeral Oration of Pericles
Plutarch, from Life of Lykurgus
Plato, The Crito and from The Republic
Aristotle, from The Politics
Epictetus, from The Discourses
Epicurus, from Golden Maxims
Polybius, from The Roman Constitution
Cicero, from On the Commonwealth and from The Laws
Plutarch, from Life of Tiberius Gracchus
Octavian, Deeds of the Divine Augustus
Marcus Aurelius, from Thoughts
Seneca, from On Providence
“Roman Empire & Han Empire” in Humanistic Tradition, Volume 1
St. Augustine, from The City of God
Readings on Islam from Humanistic Tradition, Volume 2
Charlemagne, Letters (capitularies)
Rule of Saint Benedict
Gild Document
Magna Charta
Unam Sanctum
Rule of Saint Francis
Thomas of Celano, from The Life of St. Francis
Peter Abelard, from Sic et Non
Maimonides, from Why Man Must Choose the Golden Mean
Ibn Roshd (Averröes), selection proving existence of God
Thomas Aquinas, On the Existence of God & On Women from Summa Theologica
Dante Alighieri, from De Monarchia
Christine de Pisan, from The Book of the City of Ladies
Pico della Mirandola, from On the Dignity of Man
Castiglione, from The Courtier
Alberti, from On the Family
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince