Masters Degrees (Early Modern)

Visit our website for more information on fees, scholarships, postgraduate loans and other funding options to study Early Modern History at Swansea University - 'Welsh University of the Year 2017' (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017).

The MA in Early Modern History offers the study of the period of history that runs from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and encompasses the Renaissance, Reformation and Counter Reformation, and Enlightenment.

Key Features of MA in Early Modern History

The wide-ranging expertise of Swansea University's early modern historians allows students to study British, European, American or Asian History. The MA in Early Modern History explores the history of art and culture, empire, gender, politics, religion, sexuality and science.

Swansea University has excellent research resources for postgraduate study in the area of Early Modern History. In addition to the general holdings in the University library, the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth is within travelling distance. The University works closely with the National Galleries and Museums of Wales. There are a postgraduate common room and an electronic resources room available in the James Callaghan Building for students enrolled in the MA in Early Modern History programme.

The College of Arts and Humanities has a Graduate Centre. The Graduate Centre fosters and supports individual and collaborative research activity of international excellence and offers a vibrant and supportive environment for students pursuing postgraduate research and taught masters study. The Centre provides postgraduate training to enhance academic and professional development and facilitates participation in seminar programmes, workshops and international conferences.

The full-time Early Modern History course structure is split across the year with three modules taken in each academic semester (a total of six modules) and then a dissertation over the summer.

Students study three compulsory modules and three optional modules. The dissertation is written on a specialist research topic of the student's choosing.

Part-time study is available.

Who should Apply?

Students interested in early modern history from a history or related background. Students interested in preparation for postgraduate research, MPhil or PhD, or who wish to develop skills and knowledge related to early modern history.

Modules

Modules on the Early Modern History course typically include:

• Historical Methods and Approaches

• New Departures in the Writing of History

• Gender & Humour in Medieval Europe

• From Princely Possessions to Public Museums: A History of Collecting and Display

• Venice and the Sea

• Medieval Manuscripts

• Directed Reading in History

MA in Early Modern History Programme Aims

- To acquire advanced knowledge and understanding of a range of topics related to early modern history.

- To develop theoretical and methodological skills relevant to all aspects of the study of early modern history.

- To lay a solid foundation of knowledge and analytical and presentational skills for further research work in the field.

Research Interests

All staff in the Department of History and Classics are research active and publish books and articles in their areas of expertise. Our researchers are involved with the Arts and Humanities research centres: the Callaghan Centre for the Study of Conflict, Power and Empire, the Richard Burton Centre for the Study of Wales and the Research Groups: MEMO: the Centre for Medieval and Early modern Research and GENCAS: the Centre for Research into Gender in Culture and Society. Regular research seminars and lectures are run through these groups and also through the Research Institute for Arts and Humanities (RIAH) which students are encouraged to attend.

Careers

Career expectations are excellent for Early Modern History graduates. MA degree holders may move on to doctoral study or enter employment in such areas as museums, heritage and tourism; marketing, sales and advertising; business, art, design and culture; media and PR; social and welfare professions; humanitarian organisations; the civil service, and education.

Student Quotes

“I graduated with a First-Class Honours BA History degree and an MA in Early Modern History from Swansea University. My four years of study here were truly the most enjoyable of my life so far! The lecturers, tutors and all members of the History department were also incredibly friendly and always willing to help. The MA was fully funded by a University Alumni bursary. The range of modules available to MA students is exceptional and the facilities here are fantastic. With a designated Arts and Humanities Postgraduate computer room and common-room area, as well as the University’s very own archives, Swansea is a great place to study History.”

Cath Horler, Early Modern History, MA

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The Early Modern Studies MA offers an innovative blend of skills training (palaeography and historical bibliography), object-based learning and museum visits. The core modules cover a wide range of disciplines, giving you a broad understanding of the early modern period. You can then tailor your programme to suit your interests, with over forty optional modules, covering the culture, history and society of the early modern.

Degree information

The MA will teach you critical reading skills, the ability to assess and weigh evidence, and construct persuasive arguments. It combines training in book history, bibliography, and paleography with a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of the early modern period.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.

The programme consists of two core modules (30 credits), between two and four optional modules (60 credits) and a dissertation (90 credits).

Core modules
-Early Modern Exchanges: Methods, Histories, Cultures A
-Early Modern Exchanges: Methods, Histories and Cultures B

Optional modules (indicative list) - up to 60 credits from a list which varies each year. An up-to-date list is available on our website. Below is an indicative list, showing modules that have been offered previously.
-Shakespeare in his Time
-Sex and the Body in Early Modern Europe
-From Renaissance to Republic: The Netherlands: 1555-1609
-Early Modern Science
-The Self and the World: Theoretical Approaches to Travel Writing
-Aztec Archaeology: Codices and Ethnohistory
-Early Modern Books and Their Readers: Historical Bibliography for Researchers
-I.T. for Graduate Research
-Paradoxes of Enlightenment: German Thought from Leibniz to Humboldt
-Political Thought in Renaissance Europe
-The Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe
-Trade, Money and Institutions in the Ottoman Mediterranean 1600-1914
-Early Modern Handwriting and Manuscript Culture for Researchers
-Giordano Bruno
-The Public Sphere in Britain, 1476-1800: Print Culture, Censorship and Propaganda
-Men on the Moon: Cosmic Voyages in the Early Modern Period
-Thinking with Women: Gender as an Early Modern Category
-Web 0.1: Early Modern Information Culture, c.1450-c.1750
-The Conquest of Mexico
-Witches in History, Fiction and Scholarship

Dissertation/report
All students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a dissertation of 18,000 words.

Teaching and learning
The programme is delivered through a combination of tutorials, seminars, workshops, presentations, class discussions and library, archive, museum and gallery visits. Assessment is through essays, annotated bibliography and the dissertation.

Careers

Many of our students have been accepted to undertake further study as research students both at UCL and elsewhere, including the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, York and Swansea. In addition our students have been successful in obtaining funding and prizes including the Bryce-Jebb and Dorris Russell Scholarships and the prestigious John Edward Kerry Prize awarded by the Malone Society. Graduates may also find careers in the heritage or cultural industries.

Employability
This MA will give you a very specific skill set, including manuscript handling and archival research. Depending on the optional modules you select you may also develop language skills and knowledge in information technologies and database use. These skills will make you very employable within the heritage or cultural sectors, as well as library work, the arts, and other roles which require information management.

Why study this degree at UCL?

A bespoke programme of study, unique to your interests; there are over forty optional modules, all taught by leading scholars, in a wide range of subjects including art, history, law, literature, politics and science.

Practical, hands-on modules, with ‘traditional’ skills such as palaeography and textual bibliography taught alongside the latest techniques in databases and XML. The programme includes fieldtrips to museums, archives and galleries.

Privileged access to a wide range of world-class museums, rare-books libraries and archives in central London. Located in Bloomsbury, it is a short walk to the exceptional resources of the British Library and the British Museum.

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Introduction

This programme explores religious, social, economic, political and cultural developments in the early modern world (c.1450-c.1800).

Early modern history is a core strength of the the Warwick University History Department. Approximately one-third of the Department's academic staff are scholars of the early modern period, from Britain and Europe to the Americas and China.

Course Structure

The first term core module Themes in Early Modern History provides a critical perspective on key themes and introduces you to a range of expertise at Warwick. This runs alongside a module taken by all MA students exploring theories, skills and methods. In the second term you have a choice of two taught modules - each one taking a different topic and exploring it across time and space. These will help you place your early modern interests in religion, gender, empire, consumption or medicine in a comparative framework as well as deepen your acquaintance with relevant ideas and approaches from outside early modern scholarship. These modules enable you to focus on your early modern interests (you can write all your assessed work on early modern themes) whilst situating them in a wider context that will enrich your studies. The final key element is the dissertation - here you have a large amount of freedom to develop a project of your own choice with help and guidance from your supervisor.

MA students are encouraged to engage with the lively early modern research culture at Warwick - you can find out more about the programme of lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences hosted by the department, and about the research projects being undertaken, in the right hand column.

The programme will also help you to acquire the conceptual and practical skills needed to conduct PhD research in Early Modern history.

All our MA courses can be followed on a part-time basis over two years. For further information, please contact the MA Director, Dr Sarah Hodges or the director of the early modern course, Prof. Mark Knights.

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This degree in Early Modern English Literature is taught with the British Library and provides a unique opportunity to study early modern literary works, including Shakespeare, in the light of recent critical approaches and as print and manuscript material artefacts.

The required module taught at the British Library is specifically designed to teach students how to search collections of early modern manuscripts and rare books held in major research libraries worldwide and how to identify the agents involved in their production, transmission and preservation in libraries and private collections.

Ideal foundation for doctoral work and careers in the arts, education, curatorship and broadcasting.

Key Benefits

• A strong tradition of Shakespeare and early modern literary studies at King's.
• Unique access to unparalleled collections at the British Library and to the expertise of world-class curators, who will teach the core module and supervise some dissertations.
• Close links with the London Shakespeare Seminar, the London Renaissance Seminar, and with the Institute of English Studies.
• Located in the heart of literary London.

Description

Our Early Modern English Literature MA is an innovative and exciting partnership between the Department of English at King’s and the British Library. 

The course focuses on the transmission of key early modern literary texts, meaning both the circulation of literary texts in manuscript and print as well as the way they were received. The specific process through which a literary text reaches its readers or its audience is central to its interpretation. 

You will learn to read early modern handwriting, to transcribe neglected literary manuscripts and rare printed texts, and to edit them for the modern reader. In focusing on transmission, the course explores the impact of the materiality of the text and of the material conditions of its (re) production on the way it is interpreted.

The Material Legacy of Early Modern Literary Texts module, which is taught at the British Library, is specifically designed to teach you how to search collections of early modern manuscripts and rare books held in major research libraries worldwide, and how to identify the factors and people involved in their production, transmission and preservation in libraries and private collections.

Course purpose

Early Modern English Literature is taught with the British Library and provides a unique opportunity to study early modern literary works, including Shakespeare, in the light of recent critical approaches and as print and manuscript material artefacts. Ideal foundation for doctoral work and careers in the arts, education, curatorship and broadcasting.

Course format and assessment

Teaching

If you are a full-time student, we will provide you with four to six hours of teaching each week through lectures and seminars. We will expect you to undertake 26 hours of independent study.

If you are a part-time student, we will provide you with two to four hours of teaching each week through lectures and seminars. We will expect you to undertake 13 hours of independent study.

Assessment

We assess all of our modules through coursework, normally with a 4,000-word essay. For your dissertation module, you will write a 4,000-word critical survey and a 15,000-word dissertation.

Regulating body

King’s College London is regulated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

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The MA is a distinctive programme designed for applicants whose interests lie in the study of early modern history, and who feel that they have much more to discover. The course provides both a thorough research training and an opportunity to explore new approaches to the history of early modern Britain, Europe and their overseas empires. Students are introduced to a wide range of sources and approaches drawn from the entire span of the early modern period, and thereby gain an unusual breadth of vision which transcends more conventional boundaries, not only between British and European history but also between Europe and the differing cultures encountered on Europe's frontiers and overseas.

The MA is run by the Department of History and students are encouraged to participate in the lively scholarly community of the department's active graduate school through attendance at relevant MA seminars, research training sessions and the weekly departmental research seminar. Students also have full access to the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies which provides an active programme of academic seminars, small conferences and reading groups involving both the academic staff and graduate students.

Programme of study

The programme consists of four taught modules (20 credits each), a 20,000 word dissertation (90 credits), and a Research Training module (10 credits). These make up the 180 credits that are normal for an MA in the UK higher education system. For students registered for full-time study, the programme is as follows:

Autumn Term (October-December)
-Core Module: Approaches to Early Modern History
-Option Module 1
-Research Training (taught content)

All students take the core module Approaches to Early Modern History. The module, taught by weekly seminar, introduces students to the key concepts, methods and practices which contribute to the diversity of early modern history; and to the study of particular topics, such as new approaches to the Reformation, early modern globalisation, women in early modern Europe, and the scientific revolution. Additionally, all students take an Option Module chosen from a list approved by the Course Convenor or the Core Module of the interdisciplinary MA in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, which counts as an Option Module for Early Modern MA students. All students follow a research training module across both terms.

Spring Term (January-March)
-Option Module 2
-Option Module 3
-Research Training (independent writing of dissertation proposal)

Students choose two optional modules which should include at least one related to their pathway. With the approval of the Course Convenor and the Module Tutor they may also choose a module from other MA programmes (e.g. English or History of Art).

Summer Term and Summer Vacation (April-September)
-Research Dissertation

During the Summer Term and over the Vacation, all students will write a research dissertation of up to 20,000 words on a subject of their own choosing and under the supervision of a member of staff, and submitted at the end of the academic year.

Students receive advice about research topics and instruction in bibliography, plus additional specialist advice and guidance from a supervisor. Because of the range of expertise of staff members and the wealth of source material available in York, it is possible to provide supervision on a wide range of topics, both chronologically and geographically.

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Durham's MA in Early Modern History is a broad-ranging Master's programme which seeks to equip students with historical research techniques and approaches, advanced skills in critical analysis and independent study, as well as strong and effective communication skills. The MA programme is designed to enable students with different career ambitions to succeed in their chosen area, and it caters for students of different backgrounds, previous training, and areas of specialisation. The breadth of research interests of the early modernists at Durham allows the department to offer supervision in topics about the early modern world from the mid-fifteenth century through to the early nineteenth. The programme seeks to enable students to build an awareness of the contemporary boundaries of early modern scholarship, to master advanced understanding of historical concepts and methods, and ultimately to make their own contributions to the field.

Durham's History Department is an international centre for the study of the Early Modern period, and is situated in the historic setting of the World Heritage Site, which includes Durham Cathedral, Durham Castle, and the surrounding area. Students of early modern history at Durham benefit from the rich archival and manuscript resources in the collections of the University (at Palace Green Library and at Ushaw College) and in the Cathedral Library, while the wider regional resources for study of the period are also highly significant: these include the landscape of industrial revolution, of vernacular architecture and of early modern globalisation. Early Modern History at Durham is comprehensive and international in its reach, with specialists in the History of Medicine, consumer culture, print and information, court culture, ecclesiastical and intellectual history, and political thought. Area specialisms include the British Isles, Continental Europe, North America, China and the Steppe regions.

Course Structure

The MA in Early Modern History is a one-year full-time programme (or two-years part-time). All students are allocated a supervisor at the beginning of the first term, and s/he guides each student through the year. The programme is structured as follows:

Michaelmas Term (October-December)

Archives and Sources (15 credits)
Issues in Early Modern History (30 credits)
*Skill module (30 credits) - taken over Michaelmas and Epiphany Terms

Epiphany Term (January-March)

Critical Practice (15 credits)
Option module (30 credits)

Easter Term (April-June)

Dissertation (90 credits, or 60 credits if taking a *Skill module)

The formal requirements and structure of the programme can be found at: https://www.dur.ac.uk/courses/info/?id=9199&title=Early+Modern+History&code=V1K607&type=MA&year=2016#essentials; a full list of optional modules is available at: https://www.dur.ac.uk/history/postgraduate/ma_degrees/optionalmodules/

The MA can be taken part-time, over two years. In the first year the module combination consists of Archives and Sources, Critical Practice, Issues and in addition a Skills module OR Optional module. In the second year your work will consist of either a 90 credit, 20,000 word dissertation (if you took an Optional module in the first year) OR a 60 credit, 15,000 word dissertation, AND an Optional module (if you took a Skills module in the first year).

Additional courses can be taken on an audit-basis (not for credit), and can include language modules as well as optional modules. You will need to ask and receive the permission of the module leader before auditing a class. If the class is outside the department you will also need to inform the Director of Taught Postgraduates.

Learning and Teaching

The programme is delivered primarily through small group seminar teaching with some larger classes, and lecture-style sessions. Termly division of contact hours between terms depends on student choice. Issues in Early Modern History has 16 contact hours, all classroom-based; this module is team-taught and exposes students to a wide variety of staff support and expertise. Archives and Sources has 8 contact hours, split between lectures, classes and seminars. Skills modules are taught through seminars or classes and are usually more contact-hour-intensive. Optional modules are taught in seminars and provide a total of 16 contact hours. Critical Practice involves lectures, a drama workshop, and oral presentation to a group (at a 'mini-conference'). Dissertation supervision involves 8 hours of directed supervision, individually with a dedicated supervisor.

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The Masters in Medieval and Early Modern English Literature and Culture is a flexible, interdisciplinary programme taught by Glasgow’s internationally renowned team of experts. It offers students the practical, historical, and theoretical skills needed for advanced study in this area. The programme’s flexibility means that you can tailor your study according to your own research interests. Students are also able to draw on Glasgow’s exceptional holdings of medieval and early modern manuscript and printed materials.

Why this programme

● This Masters is taught by an internationally renowned team of experts in medieval and early modern studies.
Students are able to draw on the superb medieval and early modern holdings in the University Library Special Collections and the Hunterian.

● The major research libraries in Glasgow and Edinburgh are easily accessible and you will be part of a vibrant community of academics and students working in the field.

● You will be part of MEMNET (the Medieval and Early Modern Network) at Glasgow and have the opportunity to hear distinguished guest speakers and to participate in events and conferences.

● The programme offers the option of studying languages, which may include medieval Latin, Old English, Old Icelandic, Old Irish and Old French as well as a range of modern languages.

● You can tailor the programme to your own interests and requirements, while gaining an excellent grounding in the technical skills required for advanced study in this field.

Programme Structure

Core courses:

• From Medieval to Early Modern
• Current Issues in Medieval and Early Modern Literary Studies
• Research Methods

Optional courses:

• Gender and Religion in Medieval English Literature
• Alternative Continuities: Scottish Literature, 1425-1625
• Early Modern Mythmaking
• Seventeenth-Century Women Writers
• Humour, Opposition, and Literature in Early Modern England
• Introduction to English Medieval Manuscripts
• Medieval Palaeography
• Early Modern Palaeography
• Independent study option (in consultation with Course Convener and member of staff)

Resources and Facilities

• Special Collections, University of Glasgow Library
• Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery
• Proximity to the major research libraries in Glasgow and Edinburgh, including the National Library of Scotland

Please refer to our website to look at the [[Research Environment ]]http://www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/medievalandearlymodernenglishliteratureandculture/#/whythisprogramme,programmestructure,researchenvironment

Please refer to our website to look at

Career Prospects

http://www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/medievalandearlymodernenglishliteratureandculture/#/careerprospects

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We are interested in hearing from students with research proposals covering all aspects of medieval and early modern history, life and culture.

Academic staff interests include: early modern material culture; late medieval art history; medieval and early modern religious history; Anglo-Saxon archaeology and liturgy; early modern politics; medieval and early modern drama; and textual editing.

At present, research topics include: the Reformation; visual and manuscript culture; community; the plays of John Lyly; medieval ecclesiastical architecture; female sexuality and transexuality; priory management; deviant and vernacular language; and kingship. You will be part of a vibrant and varied community of researchers from different disciplines.

Visit the website https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/152/medieval-and-early-modern-studies

The Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS)

We are an interdisciplinary centre for the study of Medieval and Early Modern periods. Our 28 teaching staff are drawn from English, History, Architecture, Classical & Archaeological Studies, History & Philosophy of Art, and the Canterbury Archaeological Trust.

MEMS offers a successful, interdisciplinary MA programme, which attracts students from across the world. A thriving community of enterprising, supportive graduate students study for research degrees and benefit from the Centre’s involvement in the prestigious EU-funded Erasmus Mundus doctoral programme, Text and Event in Early Modern Europe (TEEME). We have close relationships with Canterbury Cathedral and the Archaeological Trust, which allow our students access to a wide range of unique historical, literary and material evidence.

Study support

- Postgraduate resources

Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library have unparalleled holdings of manuscripts and early printed books. Kent’s Templeman Library holds a good stock of facsimiles, scholarly editions, monographs and journals, and we are within easy reach of the British Library, The National Archives, and other London research libraries. There are good online computing facilities across campus and, in addition, our students have special access to postgraduate computer terminals and the postgraduate student room provided by the School of History.

The Centre runs a weekly research seminar, and special termly, public lectures to which we welcome distinguished speakers. These events are at the heart of the Centre’s activities. We also run a full programme of conferences and colloquia.

- Dynamic publishing culture

Staff publish regularly and widely in journals, conference proceedings and books. Among others, they have recently contributed to: Historical Research; English Historical Review; Renaissance Studies; Medium Aevum; Transactions of the Royal Historical Society; and Studies in the Age of Chaucer.

- Researcher Development Programme

Kent's Graduate School co-ordinates the Researcher Development Programme (http://www.kent.ac.uk/graduateschool/skills/programmes/tstindex.html) for research students, which includes workshops focused on research, specialist and transferable skills. The programme is mapped to the national Researcher Development Framework and covers a diverse range of topics, including subjectspecific research skills, research management, personal effectiveness, communication skills, networking and teamworking, and career management skills.

Research areas

The research interests of our staff cover areas as broad as: religion, ideas, material culture, theatre and performance culture, gender, economy, food and drink, legal history, war, visual culture, politics, architecture, history of books and manuscripts, environment and travel, art history, and literature.

Careers

The transferable skills gained from this postgraduate programme are enhanced by the University of Kent’s employability initiative and careers advice service. Many of our recent graduates have gone on to careers in heritage, museum or archivist work. Some go on to pursue research in the area, many continuing with PhDs at Kent or other higher education institutions.

Find out how to apply here - https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/apply/

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The M.Phil course in Early Modern History offers well-qualified graduates in History, the Humanities and the Social Sciences an introduction to research in the political, social, cultural and religious history of Ireland, Britain and Europe across the early modern period. This one-year course (or two years part-time) is designed to introduce students to a wide range of issues in, and approaches to, early modern history. It also provides students with training in research methods and skills. The course is built around Trinity College Library's unparalleled resources for the period from the Reformation to the French Revolution. The course may also serve as an introduction to graduate study for students intending to pursue doctoral studies.

The core module for this course is From Reform to Revolution: Cultural Change and Political Conflict in Early Modern Europe. Students also choose two major of study, one in each term. Availability of modules alters from year to year. Subjects recently offered include: Religious Tolerance and Intolerance in Early Modern Europe; War and Society in Early Modern Ireland and Europe; The War of Ideas in the English Revolution; Gender, Identity and Authority in Eighteenth-Century France; Renaissance Kingship. In addition, students take modules focussed on research training and skills. These are designed to introduce the diverse resources and methodologies that historians encounter in their research while also equipping students with the practical skills that are required for the study of early modern history. The Research Seminar in Early Modern History provides an opportunity for invited early modernists from Ireland and elsewhere to discuss their work with graduate students. The capstone of the course is the independent dissertation project. Students complete dissertations of between 15,000 and 20,000 words based on their own primary research. Each student is assigned a supervisor who provides individual academic guidance on their research project.

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This course focuses on the history of Britain, Europe and the wider world between c.1500–1800, highlighting themes of political, cultural, religious and social history. The course is taught by experts in the histories of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, gender, the material world of the Renaissance, race and racism, and on Britain, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and the Iberian world, offering you the opportunity to choose from a wide range of modules.

Leads to further research or careers in museums, journalism, finance and the cultural sector.

Key benefits

• One of the best history departments in the world, ranked 5th in the UK for Research Quality (REF 2014) and in the Top 10 departments of History in Europe (QS World University Rankings 2016).
• King's graduates enjoy one of the best employment rates and starting salaries in the UK. Kings is ranked in the top 6 in the UK for graduate employment (Times and Sunday Times Good Universities Guide 2016).
• A wide set of optional modules all taught by established experts in the field
• A rigorous core course that trains students in historical research in archives, manuscripts, print and objects
• Central London location and staff expertise offers students unrivalled access to world-class museums, collections, archives and libraries as well as easy access to resources in Europe.
• Vibrant research culture of seminars, workshops and conferences in the department and at the Institute of Historical Research, in which students are encouraged to participate.

Description

Our Early Modern History MA bridges the division between British and European history that exists on many courses, focusing on ways in which cultural, political and social themes stretch across the period c.1500–1800.

The course is taught by experts in the histories of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, gender, the material world of the Renaissance, race and racism, and on Britain, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and the Iberian world. Their research connects the political and the social, the cultural and the religious dimensions of the early modern world, and our course will give you interdisciplinary perspectives on early modern history.

You will write a dissertation at the end of your course, but you will begin by testing concepts such as identity, mentality, religion; by challenging models of change including modernization, state-building, the civilising process, reformation, enlightenment and revolution; and by trying out different methodologies such as cultural history, gender, thinking with material objects, global history, using digital data.

Our optional modules offer you different perspectives on religion, society, politics and culture, by examining primary sources of all kinds alongside the most recent historiographical interpretations. We will also develop your practical skills through modules such as advanced historical skills, including palaeography, Latin from beginner to advanced levels, and offer the chance to learn a European language. The flexibility of the course means that you can also take relevant modules from other departments in, for example, early modern English or French literature, the Iberian world and Digital Humanities. You can also attend relevant undergraduate lecture series such as Power, Culture and Belief in Europe 1500–1800 and Early Modern Britain 1500–1750.

You will have access to an excellent range of library resources. Our long-standing expertise in the early modern period means our library has an extensive collection of journals and books in this field. You can also use the British Library, Senate House Library (University of London) and the Institute of Historical Research. We provide access to the most significant online collections of primary printed material, Early English Books Online and the Eighteenth Century Online and to JSTOR and other online resources for secondary material.

Course purpose

The MA Early Modern History course offers a rigorous introduction to the advanced study of early modern history, providing training in the historiographical and technical skills necessary for doctoral study, but is also designed for those who want to deepen their knowledge of the period.

Course format and assessment

Teaching Style

We teach our modules through small seminar groups where we will debate and discuss ideas based on extensive reading.

If you are a full-time student, we will provide you with six to nine hours of teaching each week, and we will expect you to undertake 32 to 34 hours of independent study.

If you are a part-time student, we will provide you with two to six hours of teaching each week, and we will expect you to undertake 14 to 18 hours of independent study.

For your dissertation we will provide you with six hours of one-to-one supervision and we will expect you to undertake 574 hours of independent study.

Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.

Assessment

We will assess your performance through coursework and occasionally exams. The majority of the history modules are assessed by coursework essay; other optional modules may differ.

Regulating body

King’s College is regulated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

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The MA in Medieval and Early Modern Studies is a wide-ranging and thoroughly interdisciplinary programme. Students can specialise in periods from 700-1700 and in disciplines from archaeology to history to literary studies to theology. At the same time, students learn to situate these specialisms within an interdisciplinary perspective, understanding how the materials they study can be complemented by those usually within the purview of a different discipline. While focusing on the ‘medieval’ and the ‘early modern’, the programme also shows students how to subject those terms to appropriate and searching critical scrutiny.

Durham University offers outstanding resources to students on the MA in Medieval and Early Modern Studies. The University’s Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies brings together scholars and students from departments including Archaeology, Classics, English, History, Modern Languages, Physics, and Theology. With some fifty researchers, the IMEMS is one of the largest gatherings of scholars in this area in the world. It is a vibrant research community which holds regular seminars and workshops, and has a large and extremely active postgraduate community, whose Medieval and Early Modern Student Association organise regular seminars and conferences. Durham has excellent libraries and archives, at both the University and Cathedral.

Core modules

In 2015, these included:

Research Skills for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (30 credits)
Issues in Medieval and Early Modern Studies (30 credits)
15,000-word dissertation (60 credits).
Optional modules
Students also choose two optional modules from a wide variety available. In the past topics have included:

Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Norman
Christian Northumbria humanism
Literature in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish
Palaeography and codicology
The Reformation; religion and worship.

Scholarships and Funding

https://www.dur.ac.uk/postgraduate/finance/

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This unique interdisciplinary programme provides the opportunity for intensive historical, literary and art-historical study.

The MA provides a thorough grounding in the skills required for advanced study in the medieval and early modern periods. It challenges you to engage with the evidence and methods of different disciplines in order to equip you with the wide range of research techniques crucial for studying the period.

The Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS)

We are an interdisciplinary centre for the study of Medieval and Early Modern periods. Our 28 teaching staff are drawn from English, History, Architecture, Classical & Archaeological Studies, History & Philosophy of Art, and the Canterbury Archaeological Trust.

MEMS offers a successful, interdisciplinary MA programme, which attracts students from across the world. A thriving community of enterprising, supportive graduate students study for research degrees and benefit from the Centre’s involvement in the prestigious EU-funded Erasmus Mundus doctoral programme, Text and Event in Early Modern Europe (TEEME). We have close relationships with Canterbury Cathedral and the Archaeological Trust, which allow our students access to a wide range of unique historical, literary and material evidence.

National ratings

School of English -

In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, research by the School of English was ranked 10th for research intensity and 15th for research power in the UK.

An impressive 100% of our research-active staff submitted to the REF and 95% of our research was judged to be of international quality. The School’s environment was judged to be conducive to supporting the development of world-leading research.

School of History -

In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, research by the School of History was ranked 8th for research intensity and in the top 20 in the UK for research power.

An impressive 100% of our research-active staff submitted to the REF and 99% of our research was judged to be of international quality. The School’s environment was judged to be conducive to supporting the development of world-leading research.

Course structure

As well as a compulsory module in disciplinary methods and an exciting and varied range of optional modules. In addition, you produce a final dissertation of 12-15,000 words, for which you receive one-to-one supervision.

Modules

The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This list is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation. Most programmes will require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also have the option to take modules from other programmes so that you may customise your programme and explore other subject areas that interest you.

MT864 - Reading the Medieval Town: Canterbury, an International City (30 credits) - https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/modules/module/MT864
HI874 - Religion and Society in Seventeenth-Century England (30 credits) - http://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/modules/module/HI874
MT859 - Word and Image in Tudor England (30 credits) - https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/modules/module/MT859

Assessment

Assessment is by coursework and dissertation. The skills modules are assessed by a combination of coursework and examination.

Programme aims

This programme aims to:

- provide you with a thorough grounding in the techniques and approaches necessary for advanced research in the medieval and early modern periods
- introduce you to a wide range of literary and historical sources and to encourage you to identify and develop your own interests and expertise in the medieval and early modern periods
- enable you to undertake interdisciplinary work
- enable you to understand and use a variety of concepts, approaches and research methods to develop an understanding of the differing and contested aspects between and within the relevant disciplines
- develop your capacities to think critically and to argue a point of view with clarity and cogency, both orally and in written form
- develop your abilities to assimilate and organise a mass of diverse information
- offer you the experience of a variety of teaching, research and study skills
- develop your independent critical thinking and judgement
- promote a curriculum supported by scholarship, staff development and a research culture that provides breadth and depth of intellectual inquiry and debate
- assist you to develop cognitive and transferable skills relevant to your vocational and personal development
- offer you learning opportunities that are enjoyable, involve realistic workloads, are pedagogically based within a research-led framework and offer appropriate support for students from a diverse range of backgrounds.

Careers

The transferable skills gained from this postgraduate programme are enhanced by the University of Kent’s employability initiative and careers advice service. Many of our recent graduates have gone on to careers in heritage, museum or archivist work. Some go on to pursue research in the area, many continuing with PhDs at Kent or other higher education institutions.

Learn more about Kent

Visit us - https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/visit/openday/pgevents.htmlhttps://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/visit/openday/pgevents.html

International Students - https://www.kent.ac.uk/internationalstudent/

Why study at Kent? - https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/why/

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Your programme of study

This is an interdisciplinary programme which allows you to connect our contemporary world with the past. You can study a great range in terms of courses that make up your programme and you have the ability to really understand ancient kingdoms and civilisations from the past. You may want to study further after this programme or you may be able to advise within heritage tourism, museums and tourist sites. You may also like to get involved in writing and publishing or a wide range of other careers. Aberdeen provides you with a great teaching experience in an even greater setting which is medieval in origin.

The campus and university were initiated in 1495 so there are plenty of architectural wonders and history to interest you whilst you study in 'Old Aberdeen.'  The architecture is truly stunning and totally unexpected as you enter the university from the centre of Aberdeen. As you would expect in a university of this age and rich heritage there are also special collections hosting a variety of cultural artefacts. If you haven't visited University of Aberdeen it is well worth a tour to understand just how much history you get whilst you study. There are obvious connections from the university with many of the periods of medieval and early modern eras you study. 

The courses reflect research interests drawn from various disciplines including History, Church History and Divinity, Celtic, English, French, History of Art, Law, Philosophy and Scottish and Irish Studies and is supported by highly specialised teaching and research staff. The MLitt provides ample opportunity to use the large depository of late medieval and early modern materials in the University's Special Collection, which has new state of the art rooms in the new Library.

Courses listed for the programme

Introduction

You must acquire 180 credits (105 courses, 75 dissertation)

Optional Potential areas for study:

• The Enlightenment in Comparison: Scotland, Ireland and Central Europe 
• The Scottish Wars of Independence
• The Three Kingdoms of The Seventeenth Century
• Crime and Society in Early Modern England and Scotland
• Back in the Viking Homelands
• Jacobites: War, Exile and Politics of Succession in Britain
• Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Manuscript Studies
• Introduction to Old English Language
• Controversy and Drama: Marlowe to Revenge Tragedy
• Art and Society in Eighteenth-Century England
• Seventeenth-Century Netherlandish Art
• Medieval Manuscripts: Illustration of Medieval Thought
• Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
• Scottish Legal history, 14th - 18th century

Optional Courses

• Special Subject
• Engaging with Historiography
• Old Norse1: Language, Literature and Culture
• Palaeography
• Latin 1

Find out more detail by visiting the programme web page

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/degree-programmes/183/medieval-and-early-modern-studies/

Why study at Aberdeen?

• You develop a strong understanding of culture and history within the UK and Scotland joining a lively research environment
• You are taught by experts in their specialist areas of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, if you specialise in renaissance and early modern periods you can attend seminars from the Centre of Early Modern Studies

Where you study

• University of Aberdeen
• Full Time or Part Time
• 12 Months or 24 Months
• September

International Student Fees 2017/2018

Find out about fees:

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/international/tuition-fees-and-living-costs-287.php

*Please be advised that some programmes have different tuition fees from those listed above and that some programmes also have additional costs.

Scholarships

View all funding options on our funding database via the programme page

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/finance-funding-1599.php

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/funding/

Living in Aberdeen

Find out more about:

•            Your Accommodation

•            Campus Facilities

•            Aberdeen City

•            Student Support

•            Clubs and Societies

Find out more about living in Aberdeen:

https://abdn.ac.uk/study/student-life

Living costs

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/international/finance.php

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This programme is for historians seeking to specialise in the study of the early modern period. Our early modern interests extend to England, Scotland, France, Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Italy and North America, and range from the late 15th to late 18th centuries. Our methodologies are drawn from social, political and cultural history. The Masters in Early Modern History provides you with thorough research training, and a wide set of transferable skills in the conception, design and execution of a research project.

Why this programme

◾Our links with The Hunterian, the University’s own museum and art gallery, provide access to primary source material including an enormous collection of anatomical and pathological specimens, coins, books, manuscripts and ethnography.
◾You will enjoy ready access to the Baillie Collection, our prized collection of printed medieval and modern sources in Scottish, Irish and English history.
◾The collection also offers printed state papers, Historical Manuscript Commission publications and a select collection of modern monographs.
◾A regular Early Modern Research Seminar brings together staff, PhD and Masters students on an informal basis, including eminent active scholars with continuing attachments to history.

Programme structure

Our History Masters are built around a hands-on research training course, specialised courses on historical and theoretical themes, and other courses developing your technical skills and other abilities like languages and palaeography.

If you choose to study Early Modern History, there will be a guided selection of courses that will provide you with the specialised knowledge in that field. You will be taught through a series of seminars and workshops. Internationally recognised historians give guest lectures throughout the year.

In the final part of the programme, you will select a specialised topic and conduct original primary source research for your dissertation. You are supported in your research and writing up by an assigned supervisor with expertise in your field of inquiry.

Core courses
◾Research resources and skills for historians
◾Approaches to history.

Optional courses

Course options may include
◾Politics and literature in Jacobean Scotland
◾Print, public opinion and Enlightenment in 18th-century Europe
◾The History of Medicine I: studies in the History of medicine before 1850
◾Reformation! Europe in the age of religious wars
◾Scottish popular culture.

The courses taught each year vary depending upon staff availability.

To widen your approach and develop an interdisciplinary perspective, you are also strongly encouraged to take one or two complementary courses in cognate subjects, such as
◾Early modern warfare
◾Climate and civilisation
◾Lessons from the greats
◾Decline and fall: organisational failure, ancient and modern
◾The authority of the state and duties of the citizen.

Courses in Scottish literature, English literature, theology, history of art and other College of Arts subjects can also be studied, by agreement with the programme convener.

Career prospects

Apart from continuing to study a PhD, you can transfer the arts research skills and methods you learn on this programme to positions in the public and private sectors, such as heritage, policy and projects, journalism and teaching.

Positions held by recent History graduates include Editor Business & History Products, Lead Scholar/Instructor and Secretary.

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This programme is divided into a 60 credit taught part and a Dissertation of 120 credits amounting to up to 30,000 words in total. It enables students to study Early modern literature from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century.

Course Overview

This Programme enables students to study at an advanced level literature in English from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including a selection of the period’s major works, such as The Faerie Queene, Hamlet, King Lear, and Paradise Lost, and some of its major writers, including Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton, as well as non-canonical and non-literary works by lesser-known authors.

Critical attention is given to a range of kinds of early modern text from diverse disciplines such as medicine, psychology, theology, and ethics. The programme focuses upon key areas of literature and aspects of the study of culture in the early modern period, including the development of the genre of epic, allegory, and romance, and the representation of bodily, mental, and ethical disorder. The programme is underpinned by the development of advanced research methods and the scholarly examination of early printed books in the Roderic Bowen Library and Archives. Within this framework of study, students will then be able to develop their own research interests as part of their dissertation work. The MRes programme is designed to appeal to those students who wish to pursue their own independent research to a further extent than in an MA.

The University has a well-established record of research and teaching in English. Unusually for the sector, its provision at all levels has enabled students to study Medieval and Early Modern Literature drawing on specialist staff expertise and resources, particularly the holdings of the Roderic Bowen Library: a unique resource which houses the Special Collections of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, including over 35,000 printed works, 8 medieval manuscripts, around 100 post medieval manuscripts, and 69 incunabula.

Modules

Students will choose three modules. Below is an illustrative list of modules available:
-Research Methods
-Comparative Critical Approaches
-Epic, Religion, Philosophy
-Bodily Distempers

All modules in the programme seek to lead students to a coherent and fuller or more accurate understanding of the literature, of its various contexts and relationships, of threshold concepts that facilitate the interpretation of related texts and contexts, and of critical, scholarly, and theoretical orientations. The taught part of the programme thereby prepares students to undertake a dissertation on a topic of their choosing, continuing where appropriate to make use of the special collections in the Roderic Bowen Library and Archives and/or e-resources such as Early English Books Online (EEBO).

Key Features

The MRes in Early Modern Literature is taught on-campus and as a distance-learning programme. When delivered on the University’s campus in Lampeter, the modules are taught through seminars, small workshops and individual tutorials and supervision that enable detailed and personalised feedback. For campus-based students, access to a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) enables additional learning. Moodle, our VLE, is a live forum through which students and staff can interact, whereby students are better able to revise and explore topics and access electronic resources. It is the primary learning interface for distance-learning students.

Assessment

The MRes in Early Modern Literature involves a wide range of assessment methods. Assessment is through a mixture of assignment and presentation supported by tasks designed to enhance research skills. In addition to traditional essays, you will be assessed through bibliographical exercises, creation of research project proposals, editorial exercises, and the dissertation. This variety of assessment inculcates the development of skills in presenting academic and scholarly material in a clear, professional manner. For the majority of assignments students choose their own topic on which to be assessed in relation to each module, always in consultation with the module tutor. The dissertation allows students to undertake to a greater extent than on an MA a sustained research project on a topic of their choice under expert individual supervision.

Career Opportunities

-Professional Writers
-Editors
-Publishers
-Marketing
-Librarianship and archives management (with further professional qualifications)
-Bookselling
-Law (with further professional qualifications
-Human resources
-Social work
-Public sector administration, civil service

With its 120-credit Dissertation, the Masters by Research programme provides a firm foundation for postgraduate research, by laying particular emphasis on the methodologies and research tools needed for independent advanced study, and providing greater opportunity for students to pursue their own research interest, thus acting as training for students who intend to undertake an MPhil or PhD.

The course also provides a qualification that is useful for teachers or others seeking Continuing Professional Development.

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