This course is a general introduction to the cultural and intellectual history of England and Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth century, including the interaction between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as well as some consideration of the contemporary Mughal Empire. How did the feuding city-states of early modern Italy produce unprecedented innovation in the arts? How did Greek scholars fleeing the Ottoman Empire change the course of intellectual history? Why did authors such as Erasmus and Rabelais begin to doubt the value of philosophy? What were the origins of the Reformation? And why did it lead to a century of warfare? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, students acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural and intellectual history of early modern England and Europe, as well as some exposure to contemporary developments in the Near East and South Asia