Course information

Course highlights

• Students have the opportunity to explore the literature in a field of particular individual interest with an expert member of staff.
• The programme offers students the flexibility to pursue their own avenues of interest, specialising in a particular theological, geographical or methodological area, while also instilling a wide contextual awareness of all of the European Reformations.

Teaching format

The MLitt in Reformation Studies is a taught postgraduate programme run by the Reformation Studies Institute in the School of History. Over two semesters, students complete two compulsory modules and two optional modules.

Teaching methods include seminars and fortnightly tutorials. Class sizes range from individual supervision up to 12 students. The modules are assessed by coursework only; there is no final exam.

Students will spend the final three months of the course focusing on researching and writing the final assessment piece for the MLitt, a dissertation of not more than 15,000 words.

Further particulars regarding curriculum development.

Modules

The modules in this programme have varying methods of delivery and assessment. For more details of each module, including weekly contact hours, teaching methods and assessment, please see the latest module catalogue.

Compulsory module

• Aspects of Reformation (1 and 2): explains selected themes in Reformation Studies and encourages students to develop a sense of the historiography of the period.

Optional modules

Students choose two optional modules. Optional modules are subject to change each year, and attendance may be limited (see the University’s position on curriculum development).

• Religion and Identity in Early Modern Britain: explores the significance of the Reformation in reshaping the ways in which Scots and Englishmen perceived themselves as members of distinct Protestant churches and communities in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
• War, State and Society in Early Modern Europe and New Worlds: explores the transformations in the size, scale and scope of European warfare between the late fifteenth and late eighteenth centuries.
• Society and Religious Change in Sixteenth Century France: offers a detailed examination of the development and near disintegration of the new French nation state in the sixteenth century.
• The European Renaissance: compares and contrasts the Italian and Northern Renaissances, examining their mediaeval origins and exploring themes such as religion, humanism, court and urban life, in order to test this traditional interpretation.
• The Creation of an Atlantic World: introduces students to the concept of the Atlantic World, a unit of analysis used by historians to understand the changes wrought in the western hemisphere by the British, French, and Iberian discovery and settlement of the Americas, and by Europe's slave trade with Africa.
• Law, Justice and Community: Court Records and British Society, 1400-1800: introduces to the single most important source for early-modern British social history: the records of law courts, which played a far more central role in everyday life than they do now.
• Political Thought and Intellectual History: introduces the political theory and intellectual history of the early modern period.
• Directed Reading: a programme of individual study, intended for those who have already developed an interest in a particular area of Reformation history, and who wish to work on an individual basis with a particular member of staff at the Institute.

The modules listed ran in the academic year 2015-2016 and are indicative of this course. There is no guarantee that these modules will run for 2016 entry.

Take a look at the most up-to-date modules in the module catalogue.

Dissertation

Student dissertations will be supervised by members of the teaching staff who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process. The completed dissertation of not more than 15,000 words must be submitted by a date specified in August.

If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for the MLitt, there is an exit award available that allows suitably qualified candidates to receive a Postgraduate Diploma. By choosing an exit award, you will finish your degree at the end of the second semester of study and receive a PGDip instead of an MLitt.

Conferences and events

The School of History hosts the Early Modern and Modern History (EMMH) Postgraduate Forum, which provides a space for postgraduates at all stages to present ideas, discuss research issues and find out about what their fellow historians are up to. 

The Reformation Studies Institute at St Andrews hosts a seminar programme, holding numerous talks and lectures each month.

Admission to the University of St Andrews is governed by our Admissions policy.

Curriculum development

As a research intensive institution, the University ensures that its teaching references the research interests of its staff, which may change from time to time. As a result, programmes are regularly reviewed with the aim of enhancing students' learning experience. Our approach to course revision is described online. (PDF, 72 KB).

Tuition fees

The University will clarify compulsory fees and charges it requires any student to pay at the time of offer. The offer will also clarify conditions for any variation of fees. The University’s approach to fee setting is described online. (PDF, 84 KB).