This course will survey the two and a half centuries in Jewish History from around 1450 to 1700. This was a time of great changes, and we will explore how Jews were affected by more dramatic events such as the Rennaisance, the Reformation, and the Ottoman invasion of Europe ("The Last Crusade"); and by more subtle, gradual developments such as migration and the emergence of print culture. Other topics include the impact of the Spanish expulsion, the emergence of a new brand of Kabalah, the Golden Age of Polish Jewry, the establishment of Jewish Ghettos in the Italian States, the return of the Spanish and Potugese Conversos to Judaism, the world of the Court Jews, the impact of mercantilism and absolutism, and the career and legacy of Shabbetai Zvi — the infamous seventeenth century false messiah.