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Module

HIS2312 : The Reformation World: Europe and America 1450-1650 (Inactive)

  • Inactive for Year: 2024/25
  • Module Leader(s): Dr Luc Racaut
  • Lecturer: Dr Adam Morton
  • Owning School: History, Classics and Archaeology
  • Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Semester 2 Credit Value: 20
ECTS Credits: 10.0
European Credit Transfer System

Aims

This module aims to explore the intellectual and religious developments in Europe and America from the late
Middle Ages to the end of the religious wars. The geographical scope of the module includes
Mainland Europe as well as the British kingdoms of England and Scotland and the American colonies of Spain, France and England. The module aims to provide an opportunity of investigating, in some depth, selected problems including the appraisal of selected source material and the critical examination of current historiography.

Outline Of Syllabus

Topics covered may include the following:

1: Introduction: The Global Reformation - Big Perspectives
2: The Pre-Reformation Church: Vibrant or Moribund?
3: Medieval pre-quells: The Renaissance and Humanism.
4: Martin Luther: constipated or inspired?
5: Why did the Reformation Happen? Or, why didn't Luther become another medieval heretic?
6: Sinful sausages: The Swiss Reformation.
7: Calvin and Geneva.
8: The Second Reformation: France and the Netherlands.
9: The Fun Police? The Reformation of Manners
10: Popular Protestantism? Did the Reformation succeed or fail?
11: The Scottish Reformation: building the perfect kirk.
12: The English Reformation: Politics or Religion?
13: Catholic Reformation or Counter Reformation?
14: The Council of Trent.
15: The Jesuits: shock-troops or very naughty boys?
16: Catholicism as a world religion 1: Latin America.
17: Catholicism as a world religion 2: the East.
18: Baroque Catholicism.
19: The Consequences of Reform 1: The French Wars of Religion
20: The Consequences of Reform 2: The Dutch Revolt
21: The Thirty Years War 1
22: The Thirty Years War 2
23: Revision 1
24: Revision 2

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities
Category Activity Number Length Student Hours Comment
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesLecture211:0021:00N/A
Guided Independent StudyAssessment preparation and completion661:0066:0040% of guided independent study
Guided Independent StudyDirected research and reading661:0066:0040% of guided independent study
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesSmall group teaching111:0011:00N/A
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesDrop-in/surgery41:004:00N/A
Guided Independent StudyIndependent study321:0032:0020% of guided independent study
Total200:00
Teaching Rationale And Relationship

SEMINARS encourage independent study and promote improvements in oral presentation, interpersonal communication, problem-solving skills, research skills and adaptability.

LECTURES enable students to gain a wider sense of historical argument and debate and how such debates operate, which also allows them to develop comparisons between different historiographical debates.

SURGERY TIME: Staff will make themselves available in their offices for four hours over the course of the module to see students individually on issues concerning them, although we expect this will focus on preparation for assessments.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Exams
Description Length Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Written Examination1202A60Unseen exam
Other Assessment
Description Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Essay2M402000 words (incl. footnotes but not bibliography)
Assessment Rationale And Relationship

1. Work submitted during the delivery of the module forms a means of determining the student’s progress.
2. Summative assessment tests knowledge outcomes and develops skills in research and reading.

Formative exercises may also be set for this module. They will be un-assessed, but will be discussed in the seminars and will feed into the assessed work.

All Erasmus students at Newcastle University are expected to do the same assessment as students registered for a degree.
Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending semester 1 only are required to finish their assessment while in Newcastle. This will take the form of an alternative assessment, as outlined in the formats below:

Modules assessed by Coursework and Exam:
The normal alternative form of assessment for all semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be one essay in addition to the other coursework assessment (the length of the essay should be adjusted in order to comply with the assessment tariff); to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Modules assessed by Exam only:
The normal alternative form of assessment for all semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be two 2,000 word written exercises; to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Modules assessed by Coursework only:
All semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be expected to complete the standard assessment for the module; to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending the whole academic year or semester 2 are required to complete the standard assessment as set out in the MOF under all circumstances.

Reading Lists

Timetable