Europe 1500-1800: Power and Culture

This module explores the political and cultural history of Europe during the early modern period. It analyses the efforts of reformers to revive their churches and societies during the sixteenth century. It then examines the legacy of these reform movements and considers how cultural divisions as well as competition for power led to prolonged periods of conflict within states and between states during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This module then charts the emergence during the eighteenth century of new ways of thinking about private life and popular culture and of new ideas about science, society and the self of the Enlightenment. Finally, it explores how these ideas contributed to political crisis following the French Revolution.

Lecturers: Dr Graeme Murdock; Dr Joseph Clarke.