This course offers an introduction to Western European thought and literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Along with a consideration of our historically and culturally conditioned designations of the time period in question, we shall examine the emergence of spiritual and cultural ideals, humanism, the roles of women, constructions of the “other,” and the attempts to synthesize classical and Christian traditions. Among the authors considered are Christine de Pizan, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, and Gaspara Stampa. (Group III) (Writing Option)