The period from c.1450 to c.1700 witnessed the emergence of a range of remarkable and remarkably sophisticated creations in many genres (both visual and textual). Traditionally, this has been given the label of ’The Renaissance’ and regarded as the origin of ‘modernity’ in its various guises: such as the emergence of individualism, of religious scepticism, realpolitik and of the science of history itself. However, in this module such teleological narratives are eschewed in favour of less crudely evolutionary accounts that give due emphasis to what thinkers, writers and artists actually thought they were trying to achieve (as far, of course, as the evidence allows). This core module, taught each year by a selection of colleagues from several of the constituent departments of the faculty of arts and humanities, which include: Archaeology, English, History, History of Art, Music, Philosophy, Politics, and Theatre, Film and Television, offers a distinctive, exciting and exacting multi-disciplinary exploration of Renaissance and Early Modern Culture. Seminars draw upon and develop problems and ideas that fascinated writers, artists, and thinkers of the period, and are again at the cutting edge of research today.
On this module, students gain experience in working with diverse sources ranging from music manuscripts to paintings and from political theory to travel narratives. Students taking the course become familiar with a wide range of scholarly and methodological perspectives, and examine the strengths, weaknesses and possibilities of different ways of reading, interpreting and analysing texts and other sources from the period.
In the process, students develop their skills in source analysis and evaluation of secondary literature relevant to this broad range of material and gain an appreciation of the possibilities of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary analyses of the period, which will enrich future study and dissertation work.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Autumn Term 2021-22 |
Students who take this module will:
Students who complete this module successfully should:
Teaching Programme:
Students will attend eight weekly two-hour seminars in weeks 2-9.
The seminar programme may include the following themes (but not necessarily in this exact order):
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework 4,000 word essay |
N/A | 100 |
None
Students will complete a 2,000 word essay for formative assessment, due in week 6, for which they will receive an individual tutorial.
Students taking the module as a core module will submit a 4,000 word assessed essay in week 10 of the autumn term. For those taking the module as an option module, a 4,000 word assessed essay will be due in week 2 of the spring term.
For further details about assessed work, students should refer to the Statement of Assessment for Taught Postgraduate Programmes.
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework 4,000 word essay |
N/A | 100 |
Following their formative assessment task, students will receive written feedback consisting of comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission. They will also receive verbal feedback at an individual tutorial. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 20 working days of the submission deadline. Supervisors are available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment for Taught Postgraduate Programmes.
Before arriving at York you might like to look at two or more of the following:
EITHER: Pettegree, Andrew. The Book in the Renaissance. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010
OR: McKitterick, D. Print, manuscript and the search for order. Cambridge University Press, 2005 pbk
Grafton, Anthony. Bring out your dead: the past as revelation. Havard University Press, 2004 pbk.
Grafton, Anthony & Glenn Most eds. The Classical Tradition. Havard University Press, 2013 pbk.
Marshall, Peter ed. The Oxford Illustrated history of the Reformation. Oxford University Press, 2017 pbk.
Gerritsen, Anne. & Giorgio Riello eds. Writing Material Culture history. Bloomsbury, 2015 pbk.
Greene, Roland. Five words: critical semantics in the age of Shakespeare and Cervantes. Chicago University Press, 2013.
And not just for fun: read, watch or refresh your memories of any historical novel/film or TV serial based on the early modern period