The Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies| provides a focus for research in this area at Birmingham, with strong links with Keele and Warwick. The Centre has over twenty academic staff, drawn from English, Modern Languages, History of Art and the Shakespeare Institute, as well as History. Its leading members have a high international research profile, making this one of Britain’s largest clusters of expertise in this area. The Centre has a regular seminar series, including an annual lecture (past speakers have included Diarmaid MacCulloch, Peter Lake, Mark Greengrass, Andrew Pettegree and Susan Brigden) and an ongoing programme of conferences including the Reformation Studies Colloquium in April 2004, which attracted around a hundred visitors from Britain and overseas.

Birmingham’s central location, within easy reach of archives and seminars in London and Oxford, makes it ideal as the base for early modern studies. The West Midlands and Birmingham are rich in associations with the history of the early modern period. The regional cathedrals (Lichfield, Gloucester and Worcester) and parish churches still reflect many of the religious changes of the period; the country houses and castles (such as Kenilworth and Warwick) offer fascinating insights into its material culture; and nearby Warwick and Stratford Upon Avon contain wonderful examples of early modern domestic and religious architecture. The Centre for Early Modern Studies also has particularly close links with the Shakespeare Institute| in Stratford Upon Avon which provides a focus for a full range of seminars, conferences and research activities related to the study of the literary history of Elizabethan and Jacobean England.

 

Resources

Birmingham has excellent resources for this programme. The library is particularly strong in local history material and the university’s Special Collections contain a wide range of early printed books, especially sixteenth and seventeenth century sermon material. The microfilm resources include a large collection of early Reformation ‘flugschriften’ and Early English Books are available on line. Students also have use of the Shakespeare Institute’s excellent research library in Stratford Upon Avon, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust library and Record Office, and the on-campus resources of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

Module information for our postgraduate degree course Renaissance, Reformation and Early Modern Studies MA|.

 

Religious Reformations in Early Modern Britain and Europe

This offers a broad introduction to the religious developments in the early modern period, followed by more specialized study which focuses on the cultural, social, literary and political histories of the Reformations. You will have the opportunity to explore the ferment of religious ideas and the ways in which these shaped many areas of early modern life, ranging from the role of women and the rise of the persecution of witches, to the layout of churches and the material culture of clothing. Some of these aspects may be explored further in a field trip.

 

 

Research Methods and Skills

This provides training in research skills relating to studying sixteenth and seventeenth century history. Training is available in research, languages, IT, palaeography (reading early modern handwriting) and the use of a wide variety of types of early modern document relating to English local history. This will be provided at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Record Office in Stratford Upon Avon, and students will have the chance to work on the original documents.

 

 

Special Subject

You choose one Special Subject from a selection, subject to availability. Examples include:

• The English Church The Reign of Henry VIII , which offers the opportunity to study in detail the processes of change in Henrician England and the early growth and impact of Protestantism
• Saints and Stormtroopers Catholicism in Early Modern Europe, which looks at the ways in which the Catholic church adjusted to the transformations of the period, especially in Mediterranean countries and the Holy Roman Empire
• The English Civil War and Local Society this explores political and religious changes in early Stuart England and the effects these had on local societies during and after the English Civil War.

 

 

Dissertation

You will complete a 12,000 word dissertation on an agreed topic which relates to the history of any of the areas covered by the course. This will give you the chance to follow up topics which have particularly interested you.

Disclaimer

Modules and courses are constantly updated and under review. As with most academic programmes, please remember that it is possible that a module may not be offered in any particular year, for instance because a member of staff is on study leave or too few students opt for it. The University of Birmingham reserves the right to vary or withdraw any course or module.