This undergraduate second-year 15 CATS option module explores changes in the culture, theology and political engagement of Catholicism during the era of Reformations in Europe and new encounters between Europe and the wider world. It focuses on the ideas of 'globalisation' – the sixteenth century has recently been proposed as the period when Christianity became a 'global religion' – and 'Reform', the various movements, policies and practices which have traditionally been studied as the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation. Moving from Alexander VI's edict purporting to divide the New World between Spanish and Portuguese sovereignty to the Peace of Westphalia, the module will cover early Catholic/Humanist reform movements; the Protestant Reformation; the Council of Trent; new religious orders such as the Jesuits; the early modern Inquisition; missions to non-European territories; the early modern papacy.
A primarily thematic structure will be used to explore disparate regions and topic. The module will focus on the Catholic Church's engagement with external forces, whether Protestant churches and states, the Islamic Ottoman Empire, or the non-Christian societies of Asia and the Americas. The often uneasy relationship between theology and politics, spiritual and temporal rule will be examined, through the Church's relations with Catholic powers, the conjunction of mission and colonization, and attempts to ensure orthodoxy through coercion. Students will also be encouraged to explore developments in how religion was experienced by the masses of people who were or became Catholics during this period. Avoiding a dichotomy between 'popular' or 'elite' religion, the module will address the continuities and mutual influences between theology, ecclesiastical policy and widespread religious practice.
Sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile, always complicated, the relationship between Britain and Germany has been of central importance to the United Kingdom’s relations with continental Europe since the end of the nineteenth century. No other modern European state has inspired such a variety of responses – fear, admiration, envy, and revulsion – or been regarded by turns as such a valued partner or deadly enemy. Nor has any other relationship had such an enduring fascination for historians.
This 30 CATS undergraduate final year module will explore the development of Anglo-German relations between 1871 (the unification of Germany) and 1945 (the end of the Second World War) with the aim of showing why the relationship between Britain and Germany was so important to the histories of both nations. Students will use a wide range of primary sources to survey a variety of Anglo-German encounters and interactions in the political, social and cultural spheres and examine the ways in which personal contact and relationships shaped wider public attitudes and official policy. This will include an examination of travel and tourism, family ties, professional associations and cultural exchange. We will also look at the creation and perpetuation of stereotypes and the role that these played in defining national identities. In this way students will examine the complexity and ambiguity of the Anglo-German relationship as it developed over a period of dramatic political, economic and social change and be encouraged to consider the ways in which it continues to inform British attitudes towards Germany and Europe.