HIS-10045 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

This module introduces you to a time of dramatic change: of unremitting hardship and struggle for many people, of new technological and cultural developments, and of new and often shocking encounters between people from different parts of an increasingly globalised world: those of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Europeans established overseas colonial empires, native populations responded to this expansion, the transatlantic slave trade was established, and the Dutch became the first global economic superpower. Rulers tried to strengthen their authority, provoking internal resistance and revolt. The fragmentation of West European religious unity as the Protestant Reformation spread began a long period of religious conflict within communities and between states. As well as looking at these events from the perspective of monarchs and governments, you will examine the lives of ordinary people, and those regarded as `outcasts¿, from the poor to those branded as witches. The module will begin to develop your skills as a historian through analysing original sources and assessing debates between historians, providing a gateway to more specialised study in the second and third years of your degree.
No previous knowledge of early modern Europe is assumed and the module will appeal to all students interested in how historical developments can cast light on current problems and dilemmas, as well as being a vital module for students taking principal history.
Students may find the following works helpful as introductions to the period and themes of the module, and throughout the study of this module:
Merry Wiesner Hanks, Early Modern Europe (Cambridge, 2005; 2013)
B. Kümin, The European World, 1500-1800 (London, 2018)
Richard Bonney, The European Dynastic States, 1494-1660, (Oxford, 1991)
Euan Cameron, ed, Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2001).

This module introduces first-year students from any discipline to the study of the most significant developments in early modern history from the late fifteenth century to the late seventeenth century (i.e. from about the 1490s, when Columbus first landed in the New World, to the end of the seventeenth century, when Isaac Newton was publishing his ideas about gravity). It covers political, economic, religious and social themes, and considers Europe within a global context. It aims to advance students' historical knowledge and understanding by enabling participants on the module to comprehend sympathetically a society and culture very different to today, because people's ideas and motivations were based on beliefs and knowledge that might seem quite alien to us in the twenty-first century.

Intended Learning Outcomes

recognise and explain the most significant political, economic, social and religious developments in European history of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, and to discuss sympathetically a society and culture distinct from their own: 1,2
assess critically different historical explanations: 1,2
develop and demonstrate general skills in time-management, reading effectively, note-taking from lectures and reading material, oral presentation and debate, essay writing and exam revision: 1,2
assess the balance between change and continuity in early modern European history, and to relate detailed evidence and case studies to more general issues: 1,2

Study hours

12 one-hour lectures; 12 one-hour whole-cohort workshops; 12 one-hour seminar classes; 38 hours seminar preparation; 38 hours essay preparation; 38 hours exam revision and completion.

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment