Reading and composition courses based upon primary historical documents and secondary historical scholarship. These courses provide an introduction to core issues in the interpretation of historical texts and introduce students to the distinctive ways of reading primary and secondary sources. Courses focus on specific historical topics but address general issues of how historians read and write. Satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement.

In the 1230’s, Pope Gregory IX used his authority as head of the Church to initiate an “inquisition into heretical depravity.” He took this step in response to a major outbreak of heresy in Southern France. Quickly spreading beyond this limited mission, inquisition as a way of combatting unorthodox religious beliefs and customs would become part of many European societies for centuries afterward. However, despite inquisition’s fearsome reputation, in its most basic sense it was simply a form of conducting criminal investigations and trials. In this course, we will study how a variety of agents used this procedure to identify, prosecute and punish heretics, along with other religious or social deviants, during the Middle Ages and beyond. The first part of the course includes a discussion of basic ideas about heresy and orthodoxy, followed by a close look at the selection and use of inquisition as a means of combating religious dissent. Next, it turns to how inquisition was also used to identify saints, not just sinners, yet at the same time it played a key role in facing, and sometimes simply imagining, new “threats” to Christian society. Finally, it moves past the Middle Ages to look at the Spanish Inquisition, and the enduring influence of inquisition into the modern era. In addition to the historical content, this course is also writing intensive. You will complete a number of assignments over the course of the semester to practice both general writing conventions and more specific historical skills. Instructor bio: Robert Iafolla is a historian of the politics and political culture of late medieval Europe, focusing on the Kingdom of Castile and the Iberian Peninsula. In his recently completed dissertation, Castile serves as a case study for examining how political power possessed, or wielded, by rulers, nobles and other actors was defined amid disputes in the consolidating, yet contested, monarchies of late medieval Europe. While completing his graduate studies at UCLA, he enjoyed sharing the appreciation for the Middle Ages which underlies his research with students in the classroom.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills