Good Lectures, Bad Lectures

Today was absolutism in early modern France. It didn't go too badly. This after a not fabulous lecture on the French Wars of Religion (during which one my best students this quarter raised his hand, and with a look of total bewilderment said, "Um...how many Henrys are there again?").

Why did it go well? I'm still such a novice at this. I think in part because it combined two elements: a) a conceptual theme, specifically, the rise of early modern absolutism and b) a concrete narrative, in this case the development of absolutist kingship under Henry IV and Louis XIV. I think it also helped that I started out with quick refresher on feudalism and the powerful noble houses it deposited into countries like England and France in the sixteenth century. Which, ideally, grounded them in previous material and then linked that material to the lecture.

Or maybe it was just the chocolate no-bake cookie I had right before class started.

And why am I randomly linking some history topics to Wikipedia (bane of many scholars, but also free), and not others? No bleeping idea...