Discovering the Western Past: A Look at the Evidence : To 1789

Contents Note: Each chapter begins with "The Problem," and "Sources and Methods," and concludes with "Questions to Consider" and "Epilogue." VOLUME I: To 1789 1. The Need for Water in Ancient Societies The Evidence: Aerial photograph of pre-Roman city in Italy. Major ancient levees identifiable in LANDSAT imagery. Water-lifting devices. Hammurabi on irrigation. Vetruvius on the Roman aqueduct system. Suetonius's description of Emperor Claudius's water projects. Frontius on Rome's water system. Proclamation of Emperor Theodosius. 2. The Ideal and the Reality of Classical Athens The Evidence: Pericles' funeral speech. The Melian debate. Aristotle's Politics. An unknown author's view of Athenian democracy. Xenophon's Economist. Plato's Republic. Floor plan of a house from Olynthus. Map of the Athenian agora. 3. The Achievements of Augustus The Evidence: Decree issued by Emperor Augustus. Inscription from the city of Narbonne. Horace's Odes. Suetonius's Life of Augustus. Roman History by Dio Cassius. Tacitus's Annals. Augustus's Res Gestae Divi Augusti. Roman coins. Photograph of the arch of Augustus at Rimini. Maps of Roman roads. 4. Philosophy and Faith: The Problem of Ancient Suicide The Evidence: Plato's The Phaedo. Epicurus on death. Epictetus's Discourses. The death of Abimelech. The death of Samson. The deaths of Saul and his armor-bearer. The death of Ahithopel. The death of Zimri. The death of Judas. Josephus on mass suicide at Masada. Saint Augustine's The City of God. 5. Slave Law in Roman and Germanic Society The Evidence: Theodosian Code. Digest of Justinian's Code. The Burgundian Code. Salic law. Lombard laws. Laws of the Alamans. Laws of Anglo-Saxon kings. 6. The Development of the Medieval State The Evidence: Ordericus Vitalis's Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy. Photographs and a ground plan of medieval castles. Map of locations of castles built during the reign of William the Conqueror. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Assize of Clarendon. Constitutions of Clarendon. Descriptions of the coronations of Frederick Barbarossa and Richard the Lionhearted. Portrait of Emperor Otto III. Bayeux tapestry showing Harold seated on the throne of England. Photograph of a tomb sculpture of Duke Henry of Brunswick and his wife, Matilda. 7. Life at a Medieval University The Evidence: Royal privileges granted to the University of Paris by the king of France, 1200. Statutes for the University of Paris issued by Robert CourÇon in 1215 and by Pope Gregory XI in 1231. Robert de Sorbon's regulations for his college. Introduction to Peter Abelard's Sic et Non. St. Amselm's Monologium. Odofredus's announcement of his law lectures at Bologna, ca 1255. Emperor Justinian's Digest. Extracts from the letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Anonymous account of a student riot at Oxford in the 13th century. Jacques de Vitry's description of student life at Paris ca 1225. An Oxford student's plea to his father for money and a father's letter to his son at Orleans. Three anonymous student poems, 12th century. 8. Capitalism and Conflict in the Medieval Cloth Trade The Evidence: Laws regulating the wool trade issued by territorial rulers. Regulations regarding cloth production workers issued by merchants' guilds and city councils. Legal records of cases involving disputes in the cloth trade. Apprenticeship and insurance contracts for the cloth trade. Guild records of the amount of cloth produced in Florence and Ypres. Customs records of the export of raw wool and wool cloth from England. 9. Lay Piety and Heresy in the Late Middle Ages The Evidence: Sermon stories about the Virgin Mary and relics, 13th century. The Golden Legend, the life of St. Nicholas. Two visions of Bridget of Sweden, 1370s. The autobiography of Margery Kempe. Six testimonies from the Bishop of Pamiers' inquisition. From a Norwich heresy trial, 1428-1431. Photographs of German religious carvings from the 14th and 15th centuries. 10. The Renaissance Man and Woman The Evidence: Illustrations of Albrecht DÜrer, 1500. Botticelli's Simonetta, ca 1444-1510, and Andrea del Verrocchio's sculpture of Gen. Bartolommeo Colleoni, ca 1435-1488. Letters on the content of a liberal education from Peter Paul Vergerius and Leonardo Bruni. Baldassare Castiglione's The Courtier. Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. Leon Battista Alberti's Autobiography. Description of Henry VII of England from Polydore Vergil's Anglia Historia. 11. Pagans, Muslims, and Christians in the Mental World of Columbus The Evidence: Prologue to the Journal of Christopher Columbus. Letter from Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella. Selection from biography of Christopher Columbus by his son Ferdinand. Ptolemy's Geography. Pliny's Natural History. Abu Abdallah Mohammed Idrisi, Geography. Ibn Fadl Allah al'Umari, Masalik al-Absar. Letter of John of Monte Corvino. Marco Polo's Travels. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Pierre d'Ailly's Imago Mundi. Letter to Columbus from Paolo del Pozzo Toscanelli. Map of the World. Sailor's Chart of the Atlantic Islands. Letter from Columbus. 12. The Spread of the Reformation The Evidence: Martin Luther's sermon in Erfurt, Germany, 1521. Three 16th-century hymns. Illustrations by Matthias Gerung, 1546. Woodcuts by Lucas Cranach and an unknown artist of religious pamphlets. Anonymous German pamphlet, 1523. 13. Peasant Violence: Rebellion and Riot in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1789 The Evidence: Records and descriptions of peasant revolts and rebellions throughout Europe, including chronicles, interrogations, and statements by peasants. 14. Staging Absolutism The Evidence: Jean Bodin, The Six Books of the Republic, 1576. Jacques BÉnigne Bossuet, Politics Drawn from the Very Words of the Holy Scriptures, 1678. The Duke of Saint-Simon on the Reign of Louis XIV. Royal portraits. Photograph of mask of Apollo. Engravings of Louis XIV as 'Roman Emperor' in Carousel of 1662. Illustrations of Versailles and Marly. VOLUME II: SINCE 1500 1. Peasant Violence: Rebellion and Riot in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1789 The Evidence: Records and descriptions of peasant revolts and rebellions throughout Europe. including chronicles, interrogations, and statements by peasants. 2. Staging Absolutism The Evidence: Jean Bodin, The Six Books of the Republic, 1576. Jacques BÉnigne Bossuet, Politics Drawn from the Very Words of the Holy Scriptures, 1678. The Duke of Saint-Simon on the Reign of Louis XIV. Royal portraits. Photograph of mask of Apollo. Engravings of Louis XIV as 'Roman Emperor' in Carousel of 1662. Illustrations of Versailles and Marly. 3.The Mind of an Age: Science and Religion Confront Eighteenth-Century Natural Disaster The Evidence: Gabriel Malagrida and John Wesley on the cause of the Lisbon earthquake. Voltaire on Newtonian physics, 1733. Alexander Pope's An Essay on Man, 1734. Observation, from Denis Diderot's Encyclopedia, ca 1765. Natural History, General and Specific, by George-Louis Leclerc. Poem on the LisbonWilliam Bruce Wheeler is the author of 'Discovering the Western Past: A Look at the Evidence : To 1789' with ISBN 9780395976135 and ISBN 0395976138.