Early Modern and Reformation History (MLitt) 2025 entry

For more details, including weekly contact hours, teaching methods and assessment, please see the module catalogue. The modules are examples from previous academic years and may be subject to change before you start your course.

• Compulsory

  • Themes and Debates in Early Modern History 1: introduces students to a variety of key debates in early modern history through studying different scholars’ approaches to the period.

  You will then choose between one of the following:

  • Themes and Debates in Early Modern History 2: allows students to continue exploring different scholarly approaches to early modern politics, society, and culture.
  • Aspects of Reformation: explains selected themes in reformation studies and encourages students to develop a sense of the historiography of the period.

  You will also choose to take two of the following modules:

  • Early Modern Documents and Sources: provides a wide-ranging introduction to the types of source material which researchers on the early modern period may encounter.
  • Latin for Early Modern History 1: provides three tiers of Latin teaching (beginners, intermediate, and advanced) for students with earlier or no experience.
  • Material Bibliography 1: covers the use of the book as historical evidence and practical aspects of technical bibliographical description, as well as a detailed exploration of digital book history.
  • Paleography and Manuscript Studies: provides a wide-ranging introduction to reading and handling original source material of all types which researchers of the early modern period may encounter. The course will trace the development of mainstream European handwriting styles from the late 15th to the 18th centuries.

  Plus the following two modules:

  • Latin for Early Modern History 2: develops the skills students will have developed in Latin for Early Modern History 1.
  • Material Bibliography 2: covers themes and skills such as Book Illustrations, Provenance Analysis, Special Collections Cataloguing, and Material Bibliography in an Age of Digitisation.

• Optional

  Students choose one optional module.

  Students may also choose a Directed Reading topic, which is designed to encourage the development of skills of historical analysis through concentrated study. Depending upon other module choices, this may be taken across one or both semesters. The Directed Reading topics offered will vary slightly each year depending on staff availability.

  The Directed Reading topics offered will vary slightly each year depending on staff availability. Popular categories include the below, though others will be available.

  • The Renaissance in Italy and Northern Europe
  • The European Reformations, the English and Scottish Reformations
  • Gender and Politics in Early Modern Europe
  • War, State and Society in Early Modern Europe
  • Political Thought and Intellectual History

  The topic will usually provide the foundation for the work of the dissertation, which is completed over the summer.

• Dissertation

  Student dissertations will be supervised by members of the teaching staff who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process. The completed dissertation of not more than 15,000 words must be submitted by a date specified in August.

  If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for the MLitt, there is an exit award available that allows suitably qualified candidates to receive a Postgraduate Diploma. By choosing an exit award, you will finish your degree at the end of the second semester of study and receive a PGDip instead of an MLitt.