HIST 343: Renaissance & Baroque Europe

Did the years between 1300 and 1715 represent the "autumn of the Middle Ages" or did they usher in the modern age? How do we make sense of an era that saw both the brilliant discoveries of the Scientific Revolution and the seemingly irrational witch trials? The persistence of small peasant communities and the expansion of vast trade networks across the globe? Topics include the Renaissance, the Reformation, the "discovery of the New World," the Scientific Revolution, absolutism, and the escalation of global trade.