Write an essay on Was There a General Crisis in Europe in the 17th Century.Was there a General Crisis in Seventeenth-Century Europe? Write a research essay of at least 7-10 pages on whether or not Europe experienced a crisis in the Seventeenth Century. Students should base their essays on a careful and close reading of Theodore K. Rabbs book The Struggle for Stability in Early Modern Europe (1975). Students may then choose to approach the subject by looking at the experiences of individual states in Europe: England, the Netherlands, Spain, France, to take a few examples; or by comparing the experience of two states or regions. Europe itself, of course, is too large and diverse an entity to consider as a single unit of study in this way. Alternatively, students may answer the question at hand by looking at a particular theme, such as whether crisis was evident in Seventeenth-Century European art, literature, culture, religion, music, economics or political thought. Having conducted research on a specific aspect of European history in these years, students will be in a position to answer the question: was there a General Crisis in Seventeenth-Century Europe? What is expected: – an understanding of the central events and ideas underpinning the period an acknowledgement and discussion of the vigorous historiographical debate surrounding the General Crisis an awareness of more than one historical perspective; a well-constructed and coherent argument sustained throughout the essay clarity of expression and prose: fluent and accurate use of language evidence of a close reading of at least 3 relevant, and scholarly, sources in addition to Rabbs, The Struggle for Stability. a clear and effective introduction indicating an understanding of the question and the approach which will be employed in the essay to answer it a conclusion that concludes Marks will be deducted for: vagueness; failure to use specific historical examples sweeping statements and generalisations lengthy paragraphs with material presented in no discernible order writing too much, writing too little failure to employ or engage with scholarly sources in sufficient depth; failure to employ any scholarly sources at all inadequate or infrequent referencing and bibliography too much direct quotation You must include footnotes, endnotes or parenthetical citation for works cited and a separate properly selected and formatted bibliography of material consulted. Internet sources (other than reproductions of primary documents) encyclopedias of any sort the textbook and class notes are not acceptable as scholarly sources. Essays should be submitted, via email, on or before Thursday, October 11, 2021. Points will be deducted for essays submitted late. Some starting points and further reading after reading the Rabb text: Trevor Aston (ed.), Crisis in Europe 1560 1660 (London, 1965) (this is the volume that first propelled the idea of crisis in the 1960s). John Elliott, Revolution and continuity in early modern Europe, in Past and Present, vol. 42 (1969) pp 3556 (this presents an early argument against the existence of crisis in the seventeenth century).
