Module Code - Title:
HI4207
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THE FIRST GLOBAL EMPIRE: THE SPANISH MONARCH, EUROPE AND AMERICA 1479 - 1598
Year Last Offered:
2023/4
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
This module is intended as a research-based elective module for final-year undergraduate students. It will build on the success of previously offered elective modules on early modern history by giving students a thematic and chronological overview of the history of Spain and America that is specific to the late medieval period and the sixteenth century. As such, it responds to the very positive student feedback that was received for the old HI4062 module on Court Politics and Culture in Early Modern Spain, 1561-1665.
Syllabus:
The dynastic union of Castile and Aragon; the inheritance of Charles V; strengths and weaknesses of a composite monarchy; conquest and colonisation of an empire in America; Francisco de Vitoria and the School of Salamanca; the Habsburg-Valois wars in Italy; the establishment of professional conciliar government; the emergence of Madrid as a capital city from 1561; El Greco and the urban decline of Toledo; the conflict against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean; development of an Atlantic economy based on Seville; Church, Inquisition and popular spirituality; construction of the Escorial; faction, court ceremony and the politics of access to the ruler; the religious wars of the later sixteenth century; Alonso Sánchez Coello and Spanish court portraiture; Philip II as Prudent King and secular right arm of the Counter-Reformation, 1559-98.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
* Define the key factors influencing the sudden emergence of Spain as a great power during the sixteenth century;
* Explain the role of the court in the cultural and political development of late medieval and early Habsburg Spain;
* Analyse the contribution of the privileged orders to the development of Spanish society in the sixteenth century;
* Evaluate the inter-relationship between culture and politics during the early modern period;
* Define the key themes of the social, political and cultural history of Spain in the sixteenth century;
* Understand the role of theology within the mindsets of sixteenth-century people;
* Perfect a discursive and analytical approach to History writing
* Enhance their ability to work independently within a structured and supervised environment.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
On completion of this first-year module students will demonstrate an appreciation of the importance of an especially formative period in European cultural and political history.
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
Upon completion of the module students will have developed knowledge of the past and skills of analysis which will serve them in a variety of professional, cultural and social contexts.
The module will provide a basis for future research at postgraduate level, because students will have been introduced to on-line and hard-copy primary resources, and will have been taught the approach to correct History writing at university level.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Elliott, J. H. (1963)
Imperial Spain, 1469-1713
, Harmondsworth: Penguin
Lynch, John (1991)
Spain, 1516-1598: From Nation State to World Empire
, Oxford: Blackwell
Maltby, William (2002)
The Reign of Charles V,
, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave.
Maltby, William (2009)
The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire
, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave.
Elliott, J. H. (1970)
The Old World and the New
, Cambridge
Williams, Patrick (2001)
Philip II
, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave
Mulcahy, Rosemarie (2004)
Philip II of Spain: Patron of the Arts
, Dublin: Four Courts
Cowans, Jon, ed. (2003)
Early Modern Spain: A Documentary History
, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press
McAlister, Lyle N. (1989)
Spain & Portugal in the New World, 1492-1700
, Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press
Elliott, J. H. (2007)
Empires of the Atlantic World
, New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Other Relevant Texts:
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
BAARTSUEA - ARTS (EVENING)
BAENHIUFA - English and History
BAHPSSUFA - History, Politics, Sociology and Social Studies
Semester - Year to be First Offered:
Module Leader:
Alistair.Malcolm@ul.ie