Early Modern History

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for postgraduate taught programmes are a 2.1 Honours degree or equivalent qualification (for example, GPA 3.0 or above) in a relevant subject unless otherwise specified.

Note: a short (one paragraph) statement of interest is also required.

International students with academic qualifications below those required should contact our partner institution, Glasgow International College, who offer a range of pre-Masters courses.

Months of entry

September

Course content

This programme is for historians seeking to specialise in the study of the early modern period. Our early modern interests extend to England, Scotland, France, Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Italy and North America, and range from the late 15th to late 18th centuries. Our methodologies are drawn from social, political and cultural history. The Masters in Early Modern History provides you with thorough research training, and a wide set of transferable skills in the conception, design and execution of a research project.

Why Glasgow

• In the most recent independent review of research quality (RAE 2008), History at Glasgow was placed in the top two Scottish universities and in the top ten of the prestigious UK Russell Group.

• You will enjoy ready access to the Baillie Collection, our prized collection of printed medieval and modern sources in Scottish, Irish and English history.

• The collection also offers printed state papers, Historical Manuscript Commission publications and a select collection of modern monographs.
• Our programme has strong links with the University's Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery, giving you access to primary source material including an enormous collection of anatomical and pathological specimens, coins, books, manuscripts and ethnography.
• A regular Early Modern Research Seminar brings together staff, PhD and Masters students on an informal basis, including eminent active scholars with continuing attachments to history.

Programme Structure

Career Prospects

Our History Masters are built around a hands-on research training course, specialised courses on historical and theoretical themes, and other courses developing your technical skills and other abilities like languages and palaeography.

If you choose to study Early Modern History, there will be a guided selection of courses that will provide you with the specialised knowledge in that field. You will be taught through a series of seminars and workshops. Internationally recognised historians give guest lectures throughout the year.

In the final part of the programme, you will select a specialised topic and conduct original primary source research for your dissertation. You are supported in your research and writing up by an assigned supervisor with expertise in your field of inquiry.

Core courses

• Research resources and skills for historians
• Approaches to history.

Optional courses

Course options may include

• Politics and literature in Jacobean Scotland
• Print, public opinion and Enlightenment in 18th-century Europe
• The History of Medicine I: studies in the History of medicine before 1850
• Reformation! Europe in the age of religious wars
• Scottish popular culture.

The courses taught each year vary depending upon staff availability.

To widen your approach and develop an interdisciplinary perspective, you are also strongly encouraged to take one or two complementary courses in cognate subjects, such as

• Early modern warfare
• Climate and civilisation
• Lessons from the greats
• Decline and fall: organisational failure, ancient and modern
• The authority of the state and duties of the citizen.

Courses in Scottish literature, English literature, theology, history of art and other College of Arts subjects can also be studied, by agreement with the programme convener.

Career prospects

Apart from continuing to study a PhD, you can transfer the arts research skills and methods you learn on this programme to positions in the public and private sectors, such as heritage, policy and projects, journalism and teaching.

Positions held by recent History graduates include Editor Business & History Products, Lead Scholar/Instructor and Secretary.

Information for international students

For applicants whose first language is not English, the University sets a minimum English Language proficiency level. International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic module (not General Training): overall score 6.5; no sub-test less than 6.5. IBTOEFL: 92; no sub-test less than 22 with Speaking no less than 23

Fees and funding

• Fees and funding
• Scholarships and funding

Qualification and course duration

MLitt

Course contact details