Syllabus
1 / General cultural and sociocenomic features of the Early Modern Age.2 / Religious Reformation in the German Language and its Social Consequences.3 / Calvinism and religious wars in France.4 / Catholic Reform, Counter-Reformation, Council of Trent5 / The Spanish Monarchy on the way to European Hegemony.6 / The Netherlands and England in the 16th century.7 / The Crown Lands Czech and Central Europe in the era of the birth of the Habsburg Monarchy.8 / The Thirty Years' War and the establishment of a confessional map of Europe and the Bohemian lands.9 / Habsburg-Bourbon rivalry in the 17th and 18th centuries - causes, course and consequences.10 / France Louis XIV. as the model state of European absolutism and its neighbors.11 / Spiritual currents, learning about society, economic thinking.12 / Europe and Ottomans 1526 - 1718.
Annotation
The lecture-based course introduces the students to general features of the social, economic, political, and spiritual development within the European civilization, with special attention to Central Europe and Bohemian Lands from 1526 to 1740. Early Modern Era is in the focus as the period when elementary processes precipitating the modern times took shape.
On the other hand, the Reformation of religion in contrast with Absolutism in governance – especially in the provinces of German and French language, respectively – is stressed as well, just like the phenomena surrounding the Renaissance, the Mannerism, and the Baroque. The course further delves into comparison of evolution processes within great empires (of the Spain and Austrian Habsburgs, the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire) and regional powers of the time (such as France, Holland, and Sweden), as well as revolution processes in the Netherlands and England.