Introduction
OVERVIEW
This week is about introductions and orientations.
The lecture answers some basic questions about the module, such as
- what is the name of the module?
- what is the module about?
- what are the ideas or principles behind the module?
- who is teaching the module?
- what are the e-platform(s) for the module?
- where and when are the lectures?
- what are the lectures for?
- what are the seminars for?
- how should I prepare for seminars?
- what are the assessments and when are they due?
- how can I give feedback on the module?
- should I use Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI for short) for the work on this module?
SEMINAR TASKS
The seminar builds on the lecture. Please do the following before the seminar (this should take 3-4 hours altogether):
- familiarise yourself with the module website
- attend the lecture and think of some questions about it
- locate the e-book edited by Beat Kümin (see 'essential reading' below) by using the Warwick University library catalogue (see tips on this page, below)
- note that URLs to essential reading will be supplied after reading week but not before
- read the 20-odd pages from the e-book mentioned below and make brief notes about your reading
- look through the Past and Present abstracts noted below and count the number of articles that are on 'early modern' topics
-
pick one early-modern abstract that you find most interesting and think about why you find it interesting
ESSENTIAL READING
Butters, Humfrey, ‘Europe in 1500’, and Gerritsen, Anne and Anthony McFarlane, ‘Beyond Europe c. 1500’, in Beat Kümin (ed.), The European World, 4th edn, (2022), pp. 50-61, 247-258.
Abstracts from the journal Past and Present from the issues published in 2026, noting that:
you only need to look at the 'early modern' articles (however you wish to define that term)
you don't need to read the articles, just the abstracts of the articles
you don't need to read the texts in the 'viewpoint' section of the journal, only the 'article' section
please do look at the abstracts in the 'supplement', as well as the February, May and August issues
RECOMMENDED READING
Cameron, Euan, ‘Editor's Introduction’, in his Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 1999)
Scribner, R. W., ‘Understanding Early Modern Europe’, Historical Journal 30 (1987) [review article]
Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E., Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789 (Cambridge, 2006), chap. 1, ‘Europe in the World of 1450’, pp. 15-42
FURTHER READING (AND GENERAL REFERENCE WORKS FOR THE MODULE):
Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815 (2008) - ebook
Brady Jr, H. Oberman & J. Tracy (eds.), Handbook of European History, 1400-1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation(2 vols, 1994-5) [available as an e-book]
J.B. Collins & K. Taylor (eds.), Early modern Europe: issues and interpretations (2004) [a reader of key texts, available as an e-book]
Cook, The Longman Handbook of Early Modern Europe(2001)
Cook & P. Broadhead, The Routledge Companion to Early Modern Europe 1453-1763(London, 2006)
Darwin, After Tamerlane: the Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000 (London, 2007), chaps. 1, 2, 3 and 4
Dewald (ed.),Europe 1450 to1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World (London, 2004) [available as an e-book]
Fletcher, The Longman Companion to Renaissance Europe, 1330-1590(1999)
Greengrass, Christendom Destroyed: Europe 1517-1648 (2014)
R. Hale, Renaissance Europe 1480-1520(1971)
G. Koenigsberger, Early Modern Europe, 1500-1789 (1987)
Koenigsberger & G. Mosse, Europe in the Sixteenth Century(new edn, 1989)
Konnert, Early Modern Europe(2006)
Peter Linehan and Janet Nelson eds., The Medieval World (2003)
MacKenney, Sixteenth-Century Europe(1993)
Merriman, A History of Modern Europe, Vol. 1: from the Renaissance to the Age of Napoleon (2nd edn, 2004) SLC
Nicholas,The Transformation of Europe, 1300-1600 (1999) SLC
Pettegree, Europe in the Sixteenth Century(2002)
Pettegree, 'Introduction'to The Reformation World(London, 2000) (ebook)
Porter & M. Teich (eds), The Renaissance in National Context(1992)
Sangha and J. Willis, Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources (London: Routledge, 2016) [available as an e-book]
Merry Wiesner-Hanks, Early Modern Europe (3rd edition, 2023) - ebook
Some introductory maps of early modern Europe:
The latter two maps are from Kümin, The European World, 3rd edition.
Tips for searching the library catalogue:
- combine a word from the author's name (eg. 'Kümin') with a word from the title (eg. 'European')
- searching for book titles (eg. The European World) is often easier than searching by chapter (eg. 'Europe in 1500')
- note that historians usually put book (and journal) titles in italics and chapter (and article) titles in quote-marks
- check the edition, eg. the page numbers are different in the 4th edition of Kümin's book than in the 3rd edition