Required Post: “Queen Elizabeth’s ‘Golden Speech’” (1601)

What qualities are evident in Elizabeth’s speech that would endear her to her listeners? How was her popularity connected to the events of the late 16th century? Would the members of Parliament have responded differently to a king? Why and/or why not? (p. 375)

Calvinist Social Control: Required Post

“The Role of Discipline in the ‘Most Perfect School of Christ on Earth’”: Based on the examples given here, what kinds of activities did the Calvinist Consistory of Geneva seek to root out and prevent? Why was Calvinism so determined to survey and control the personal lives of citizens? How do you think the development of such Protestant agencies of social discipline and social control made way for the development of modern institutions of order such as the police? (p.363)

Catherine Zell: A Protestant Woman (Optional)

In this letter to Ludwig Rabus, what ideas did Catherine Zell bring to the Reformation? Was she being criticized because she was a woman or because of her ideas, regardless of gender? Would her ideas have been more acceptable if put forth by a man? Why, or why not? Why were the Anabaptists unpopular and why did people and governments react strongly against them? (page 364)

Required Post: Erasmus

"Erasmus: In Praise of Folly": What do you think Erasmus hoped to achieve with his satirical attack on monastic practices? How do you think the mass circulation of his attacks would have affected popular attitudes towards the Catholic Church and its institutions?