HIST42630: Courts and Power in Early-Modern Europe

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• To gain an advanced understanding of aspects of the relationship between power and politics in early modern Britain and Europe (c. 1500-1700)

• This module is taught comparatively and with an emphasis on Britain and Continental Europe. The range of topics studied will include: Monarchical government; Nobilities; Empire; Political culture and the Public Sphere; Elite culture and patronage; International diplomacy. Students will be able to focus on one of these topics in their written work, but will be expected to engage with the full range through oral presentations and discussion.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Understanding of early modern European court history
• Understanding of how different courts related to each other and how princely and elite identities were created and explored

Subject-specific Skills:

• Ability to interpret different types of primary historical sources (e.g. written, visual)
• Facility with theories, themes, and methods relevant to the study of early modern court history
• Ability to use primary sources to make a targeted intervention in a scholarly discourse

Key Skills:

• Independent research skills appropriate to historical research at Level 4.
• Ability to synthesise complex evidence from a range of primary sources.
• Ability to synthesise complex information from a range of perspectives in secondary studies.
• Ability to formulate an historical question for essay work.
• Ability to formulate cogent historical argument in essay form.
• Effective oral and written communication, appropriate to Level 4.
• Ability to reflect on reading and answer questions arising in seminars.
• Ability to present scholarly references and bibliography.

• Student learning is facilitated by a range of teaching methods.
• Seminars require students to reflect on and discuss: their prior knowledge and experience; set reading of secondary and, where appropriate, primary readings; information provided during the session. They provide a forum in which to assess and comment critically on the findings of others, defend their conclusions in a reasoned setting, and advance their knowledge and understanding of the political history of this period.
• Structured reading requires students to focus on set materials integral to the knowledge and understanding of the module. It specifically enables the acquisition of detailed knowledge and skills which will be discussed in other areas of the teaching and learning experience.
• Assessment is by means of a 5000 word essay which requires the acquisition and application of advanced knowledge and understanding of an aspect of the political history of the early modern world (Britain and Europe). Essays require a sustained and coherent argument in defence of a hypothesis, and must be presented in a clearly written and structured form, and with appropriate apparatus.

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