Durham University
Programme and Module Handbook

Postgraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2007-2008 (archived)

Module HIST50030: Renaissance Germany, 1440-1520

Department: History

HIST50030: Renaissance Germany, 1440-1520

Type Open Level 4 Credits 30 Availability Available in 2007/08

Prerequisites

  • None

Corequisites

  • None

Excluded Combination of Modules

  • None

Aims

  • To enable students to gain specialist knowledge and understanding of an aspect of the cultural and intellectual developments taking place in Germany in the decades immediately preceding the Lutheran Reformation, and a grasp of its social, religious and political contexts.

Content

  • The content and preoccupations of German 'humanism', its social and cultural foundations, and the reasons for its development in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
  • The complex relationships between German renaissance culture and, on the one hand, Italian cultural developments and, on the other, older German traditions and perspectives.
  • The development of the visual arts in Germany at this time, and their foundations in German social, economic and religious life.
  • The cities, particularly those of southern Germany, as settings for the development of new cultural and intellectual currents.
  • The importance of patronage, the identity, motivations and background of the patrons, and their relationship with artists, craftsmen and scholars in Germany at the end of the Middle Ages.
  • The ways in which scholarship and the arts interacted with the main currents and developments in German religious life at this time.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:
    Subject-specific Skills:
      Key Skills:

        Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

        • Individual tutorials

        Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

        Activity Number Frequency Duration Total/Hours
        Tutorials 9 Weekly 1 hour 9
        Preparation and Reading 291
        Total 300

        Summative Assessment

        Component: Essay Component Weighting: 100%
        Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
        Essay 5000 words 100%

        Formative Assessment:

        There is no seperate formative assessment, but at least one initial draft of the summative essay will be handed in for comment. The tutor will provide regular oral feedback on work in progress.


        Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University