European intellectual culture profoundly changed during the three centuries between the devastation of the Black Death and the disruptions of the Reformation. The most important “agent of change” during this period was the printing press. Perfected in the 1440s, the printing press secured the intellectual developments that began in the late Middle Ages: renewed interest in the works of pagan antiquity, criticism of scholasticism, interest in vernacular writing, and empirical research. Our course will study these developments through books, manuscript and printed, from c.1300-1600. Books are key cultural artifacts that have much to tell us about the culture in which they were created and preserved. Our class will focus both on the form and the content of these books.
We'll work with manuscript and early printed books at Rauner Special Collections Library, prints at the Hood Museum, and online facsimiles as keys into each theme or topic. We will also work hands-on with parchment, paper, and the handpress at the Book Arts Studio to understand the physical processes involved in manuscript and book production.
Our course readings will be taken from ancient, medieval, and early modern writers. Readings are in English; manuscripts and books in Latin, Greek, French, Italian, German, and English. Some materials and themes will be chosen based on students’ interests.