Supplemental Reading Texts


Readings Up to the Midterm

Commerce, Politics, and World Events:
Niccolo Machiavelli, excerpt from The Prince
Joan of Arc, Letter to the King of England, 1429

The Human World:
Leonardo da Vinci, Writings
Pico Della Mirandola, Oration On the Dignity Of Man
Angelo Poliziano, Lament on the Death of Lorenzo de Medici, 1492
Giorgio Vasari, excerpt on Michelangelo from Lives

Readings Up to the Final

Religious Views:
John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, "Election and Predestination"
Council of Trent, Canons on the Eucharist
Martin Luther, 95 Theses, "The Penalty for Sin Must Continue"
Saint Francis Xavier, Letters, Letter from Japan to the Society of Jesus in Europe, 1552
Saint Teresa of Avila, Life, Chapter 20: Description of Rapture

Popular Culture:
Francois Rabelais, The Histories of Gargantua and Pantagruel, "How Panurge was in love with a lady of Paris"
The Duchess of Orlean, Versailles Etiquette, 1704
William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, Act V Scene V

Science and Philosophy:
Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method, "The First Principle of Philosophy"
Isaac Newton, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

 

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