Renaissance and Reformation Studies
The Renaissance and Reformation were two of the most dramatic, fascinating and exciting movements in European history, ushering in new ways of thinking and acting which would transform the world. Our own times are scarcely imaginable without the extraordinary outpourings of literature and art which took place during the Renaissance, or the religious divisions and wars in Europe ushered in by the Reformation. But other important developments happened in Renaissance and Reformation Europe: the invention of printing, the European discovery and colonisation of the America and some remarkable advances in science and technology. By studying these aspects of early modern history, you will be learning about an exciting episode of fundamental importance in the formation of the modern world.
You will be taught by an enthusiastic and established team of experts led by Dr Mark Bryant who pride themselves on using a wide range of evidence and approaches in their teaching, combining lectures with seminars and small-group work, and utilising materials such as paintings, sculpture and film.
We range extremely widely across the whole of the Renaissance and Reformation period, from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and cover not only developments in England from the Reformation to the Civil War, but also those in Italy, France and Europe as a whole. At the early stages of your degree you can study general modules in this area such as ‘Renaissance and Reformation Europe’, ‘Torture to Terror ’ and ‘Enlightenment Europe’. More specialised modules for more advanced students include ‘Frande to Fluery’, ‘Vice to Virture ’ and ‘Religion and Society in England, 1570-1640’.