HISTORY 146 - Bread and Wine:A Cultural History of France from the Middle Ages to the 18th Century

Institution:

Bard College

Subject:

Description:

French Studies An exploration of early practices of making bread, breaking bread, breadwinning, drinking wine, quaffing ale, and sipping coffee, tea, and chocolate. The class reads of medieval and early modern land cultivation (grape and grain); of eating and not eating in medieval women's religious culture; of new seasonings brought to French culture by returning merchants and explorers; from Rabelais on the gargantuan devouring of liberal education; of massacre and spiritual renewal in the Protestant and Catholic reformations with Montaigne's retort in his essay "OnCannibals"; and of a transfigurative, divine-right kingship under Louis XIV that made into gods men of royal lineage. The course concludes in the 18th century with the rise of the café as a space in which elites met and critiqued politics and culture, and with taverns and bread riots as sites in which the poor met and critiqued elites.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.bard.edu

Phone Number:

(845) 758-6822

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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