HIS 100/142 - Crime, Punishment, and Justice in Europe, 1000-1700 (Core/First-Year Seminar)

Three or Four Credits
Periodically or As Needed

Thieves, murderers, bigamists, witches, con artists, prostitutes, counterfeiters, and assassins don’t tend to show up much in the glossy pages of your average European history textbook - but you can tell a lot about a society by looking at its deviants, outcasts, and villains. This course explores how concepts of criminality, justice, and punishment emerged and evolved in medieval and Renaissance Europe. Along the way, we’ll examine when and why juries replaced trial by combat, the reasoning behind public executions, beliefs in witchcraft and demon possession, and how authorities used criminal prosecutions to stifle dissent and enforce strict social and religious hierarchies.

Prerequisite(s)/Restriction(s): HIS 142 is a First-Year Seminar and open to First-Year Students only.
General Education Attribute(s): When offered as HIS 100, for 3-credits, fulfills the History Cornerstone Requirement.

When offered as HIS 142, for 4-credits, fulfills the First-Year Seminar and History Cornerstone Requirements.
Note: Considered a European History.

Course does not count towards Elementary Education licensure.