This module focuses on what is often called 'the early modern period', a span of around 250 years sometimes depicted as the watershed between the 'medieval' and 'the modern'. You will find some elements of this period which has shaped our society strikingly different, while in other aspects, you will find it surprisingly familiar. The overarching questions that we will seek to answer are:
* What exactly was changing in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe – political systems, social structures, cultural horizons? – and why?
* Which individuals, social groups, or particular regions benefited most from such changes, and which were more adversely affected by them?
* To what degree did continuity as opposed to change play an important role in shaping early modern belief systems and social and political structures?
In order to answer these questions we will focus on selected early modern themes: European expansion and conquest in the Americas; religious and cultural change, including the Reformation; the issue of state-building across Europe (including the British Isles) as well as the Ottoman Empire; social order and social change, including gender and the issue of poverty; and challenges to order, including rebellion, warfare and witchcraft.
Module aims
The purpose of this module is to familiarise students with this important period of history and to give them a foundation for the study of modern history modules and other, more specialised early modern history modules that they might take in subsequent years of study. The module is also designed to train students in the key skills necessary for university study, with specific emphasis on those skills specific to the discipline of history. By taking the module you will be given the opportunity to develop the following skills:
* research and information-gathering skills
* the critical analysis of primary and secondary sources
* the construction and communication of a sequence of ideas both verbally (through seminar participation) and in writing (through writing essays)
* the ability to work in small groups
* the development of a self-reflexive approach to your learning
All these skills will help you not just as historians but also in the world of work. They are valued by employers and will be of benefit to you when applying for either temporary or permanent jobs in future.
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The purpose of this module is to encourage you to think about the many and diverse ways in which historians approach the writing of history. You may at first find the module unusual, but it will illuminate everything you study in History.
As historians, we recognise that history exists only in the present and in our heads; it is actively constructed and not simply rediscovered in the records of the past. Historical research involves a process of selection and interpretation, whereby historians examine the records of the past in order to construct an interpretation which they believe to represent the past in a meaningful way. In this process there is an active exchange between theory and evidence: historians don't simply research facts about the past, they build theories test them using the sources available.
The introductory lecture surveys the 'History of history' and the way in which history is inevitably subjective, and therefore constantly changes. Each subsequent lecture will be delivered by a different historian. They will introduce you either to an important historical concept that has shaped historical writing, such as gender or Marxism, or a particular historian or group of historians who have had a profound impact upon the way in which history is written. In every case the focus is on the way in which history has been constructed in different contexts and with different theoretical approaches. Each lecture will offer you readings and documents to reflect upon both in seminars and in your written assessments.
This is a compulsory module for all second-year students taking History degrees. Lectures and seminars are weekly throughout the autumn term. BA Humanities students who have taken and passed HR100 or HR111 in their first year may also enrol on this module.