Religious Violence (spring 2024)

Dr. Nathan Michalewicz

Michalewiczn@queens.edu

Class Meetings Mon. / Wed. / Fri. 9:20 AM - 10:30 AM McEwen 105

Student Hours Tues. / Thur. 11 am - 2 pm Watkins 207

Overview

This course will explore what led to and resolved religious violence in different contexts in the European and Mediterranean worlds from the late 11th century to the 16th century. The class will explore four experiences: the crusades between Christian armies of Europe and Muslim states in the Holy Lands, the inquisition against the Cathars in 13th and 14th century France, popular violence during the French Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century, and the Christian-Muslim Mediterranean frontier of the sixteenth century. The class will focus on what qualifies for religious violence, the sorts of conditions that produced it, and how the violence was resolved.

Learning Objectives

By engaging fully in all aspects of this course, you will be able to

• Understand different types of religious violence in premodern European and Mediterranean societies.
• Critically analyze sources related to religious violence from the 11th century to the 16th century.
• Articulate arguments on the causes, experience, and resolution of religious violence.
• Support your arguments with primary and secondary sources in a reasoned and logical order following standard writing conventions.

Required Reading

All readings, podcasts, and videos for this course will be available on Zotero. Students will not need to purchase any materials for this course. Everything will be available through Zotero or through the university library.

Some of the readings are in .epub format (the format for ebooks), so you will need an ebook reader. I recommend Calibre, Freda, or SumatraPDF (which reads many formats beyond PDFs).

Assignments

1. Engagement (15%)
   • This class is predicated on discussion, so attendance and participation are mandatory. You are expected to do the readings BEFORE class and come prepared with a question about the reading. Attendance will be taken by submitting the question to the class’s Nearpod (learn more about this on day 1).
2. Test Question Submission (5%)
   • Each Friday of the four units (not including the first two weeks), students will submit a multiple-choice test question, including the answer (but wrong answers are not necessary) to canvas on the proper assignment page. These questions will be graded complete or incomplete. Certain types of questions are unacceptable, such as questions about dates or needlessly specific questions. Questions should be general in scope and focus on general main points from the readings discussed during the week. In other words, the questions for the Friday of week 4 can be over Monday’s, Wednesday’s, or Friday’s reading for week 4, but not any readings from week 3. The test will come primarily from these questions unless too few of them are acceptable.
3. In-Class Quizzes (20% total)
   • There will be open-note, open-source quizzes on the readings throughout the course–likely around one quiz a week. The quiz will be done at the beginning of the allotted day and submitted to Canvas. The quiz will have an open-ended prompt to which each student will respond in 3-5 sentences. A successful response will make an argument in the first sentence and support it with evidence in the following sentences. An “A” response will make an argument responding to the question directly and use substantive evidence to support it. A “B” response will make an argument but will not support it with substantive evidence. A “C” response will not make a clear argument or will provide little, if any, evidence. A “D” response will not meet any of the above criteria. These quizzes are graded quickly and simply: A = 95; B = 85; C = 75; D = 65; F = 55.
4. 4 Tests (5% each, 20% total)
   • Each student will take four online, open-note, multiple-choice tests. The test questions will come from the readings, and students will produce them. At the end of class each Friday, each student will submit a question from one of the three readings with a corresponding answer. The test questions will come from these submissions (along with questions submitted by students at the beginning of each class if those from Friday submissions do not meet the necessary criteria).
5. 2 Essays (20% each, 40% total)
   • Each student will write two essays (1000-word minimum) responding to a prompt that you can find at the end of this syllabus. Each essay should make an argument (thesis statement) that you will prove throughout the essay. Essays should use evidence from the readings, podcasts, and discussions and cite any direct quotations or paraphrases from these sources in a footnote. If you have any questions about citations (or any other questions about writing essays), see my document on writing guidance available here. To receive full credit, essays should reference materials only from this class (class discussions, readings, podcasts, etc.), and each essay should cite at least four (4) sources from the class, and one should be a primary source. Students can submit a revised essay for essay 1 to improve their grade, responding to the comments on the first submission. Revisions are due two weeks after the essay is graded. Due to timing, revisions will NOT be accepted for essay 2.

Extra Credit

If two of a student’s test questions from the test question submission (see assignments above) end up on the test, that student will receive one extra point on their final grade. Each unit provides three opportunities to submit a test question, so two of the three submissions must end up on the test to receive the extra point. Partial credit will NOT be granted for one complete submission, and extra points will not be granted if all three are accepted. Also, if two students submit the same general question, I will only accept one from the student whose submission and answer are best worded. In other words, there is little incentive for sharing the same question with another student.

Grading

Queens uses a plus/minus grade scale: B- receives less than 3 points, for instance. Grades in this class will follow the same pattern with one exception. Here are the numeric grades associated with each letter grade:

A = 90-100 B+ = 89-87 B = 86-83 B- = 82-80

C+ = 79-77 C = 76-73 C- = 72-70

D+ = 69-67 D = 66-60 F = 59-0

Notice a couple inconsistencies. One, I do not give an A-. In my experience, if you get an A, you deserved it without qualification. Also, there is not a D-. This difference is because Queens does not include a D-.

The Writing Center

• To make an appointment with a writing tutor, log on to www.queens.edu/tutoring to register or contact The Writing Center at writingcenter@queens.edu.

The Writing Center (part of the Center for Student Success) is a place for students at Queens University to receive peer feedback on their writing assignments. Writing Consultants in The Writing Center are your peers who come from a wide range of backgrounds and majors. They are trained to work across the disciplines to support student writing no matter where you are in the process.

There are three options for appointments:

1. Face to Face – Monday to Thursday, 8 to 6 sessions are in the Michael Murphy Learning Studio (Knight-Crane Hall); Sundays and after 6 Monday to Thursday – sessions are in Everett Library (main floor)
2. Face-to-Face Virtual (Synchronous)
   • On RingCentral (link is in the tutor’s bio on WC Online)
   • These options are best for brainstorming, idea development, understanding the assignment or when you are in the early stages of your writing project.
3. Written Feedback (Asynchronous): submit your project for written feedback where the writing consultant gives you marginal responses to specific questions or concerns
   • Feedback will be sent within 24 hours of submission of the text.
   • This option is great for organizing, citation questions, and the polishing stage or your project.

Honor Code

The Honor Code, which permeates all phases of university life, is based on three fundamental principles. It assumes that Queens students: a) are truthful at all times, b) respect the property of others, and c) are honest in tests, examinations, term papers, and all other academic assignments. Please contact the Instructor if you believe a violation of the Honor Code has occurred. It is a violation of the Honor Code for a student to be untruthful concerning the reason for a class absence. See The Honor Code Book for more information on the process in the event of a suspected violation.

Every student is expected to produce their own work based on their own ideas and cite anyone else’s ideas or words appropriately. Certain material that an average person would consider common knowledge does not need to be cited. Such information would include that Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492 or that the American Revolution began in 1776. Other information, however, needs to be cited if it did not originate in your mind. See the Queens Library’s page on plagiarism: https://library.queens.edu/plagiarism/.

Queens AI Policy

The use of AI Tools is prohibited for coursework unless explicitly communicated by the course instructor.

If the instructor has given explicit direction(s) that AI Tools may be used (such as but not limited to ChatGPT, QuillBot, DALL-E, or Bard), the material produced must be acknowledged with a citation by the student for any assignment for which it was used. Their use should be limited so that they do not interfere with the student learning objectives for the assignment and the course.

Student Accessibility Services

Queens University of Charlotte is committed to making reasonable accommodations to assist students with disabilities. If you have a disability which may impact your performance, attendance or grades in this course and require accommodations, you must first contact Student Accessibility Services at sashelp@queens.edu. The steps for receiving accommodations must be completed before accommodations can be given. The steps are available on the Student Accessibility Homepage. SAS is responsible for coordinating classroom accommodations and other services for students with disabilities. Please note that students are responsible for sharing their letter of accommodation with their instructors to receive classroom accommodations.

Student Complaint Process

Queens University of Charlotte is committed to providing an educational climate that is conducive to the personal and professional development of each individual. To ensure that commitment, the university has developed procedures for students to pursue grievances within the university community should such action become necessary. A student who has an unresolved disagreement or dissatisfaction with a faculty or staff member, another student, a student group, or an administrator has the right to file a written complaint without prejudicing his or her status with the university. For more information, please visit the Student Complaint Process page. For information regarding the online student complaint process, please visit the online student complaint process page.

QAlert

QAlert is the emergency notification system Queens uses to notify the campus community of an emergency, inclement weather, or class cancellations. It sends messages about the status of a given situation, as well as other details the campus needs to know. Students, faculty, and staff are automatically registered for QAlert through the university’s enterprise resource.

Religious Holidays

If any assignments or due dates interfere with your personal religious observation, I will be happy to make accommodations. Remember, within the first two weeks of the semester, the student must let me know the dates of major religious holidays on which the student will be absent or unavailable due to religious observances. Please, see the Queens Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion religious holiday calendar:

E-mail Communication

When writing emails to me, be sure to include a subject line, address me properly by my title and last name, and sign off with your name. Proper email formatting skills are required in post-university life.

Each student is issued a University e-mail address (username@queens.edu) upon admittance. The University uses this e-mail address for official communication with students. Students are expected to read e-mails sent to this account on a regular basis. Failure to read and react to University communications in a timely manner does not absolve the student from knowing and complying with the content of the communications.

Week Outline

Introduction to Religious Violence (weeks 1-2)

Unit 1: The Crusades (weeks 3-5)

Test #1 Due Feb. 11 @ 11:59pm

Unit 2: The Albegensian Crusade (weeks 6-8)** - Week 9: No Class—Spring Break

Essay #1 & Test #2 Due Mar. 10 @ 11:59 pm

Unit 3: The French Wars of Religion (weeks 10-12)

Test #3 Due Mar. 31 @ 11:59pm

Unit 4: The Mediterranean Frontier (weeks 13-15)

Wednesday, April 24: Essay #2 Due & Test #4 due @ 11:59pm