Year 1

In the first year, you will take three modules from History and three from Classics. You must choose at least one History module which is either Medieval or Early Modern; and one which is Modern. The modules on offer reflect the research interests of staff, and we cannot guarantee that a particular module will be running in 2016/17.

History modules have previously included:

• Britain as an Economic Superpower 1750-1914
• Tensions of Empire
• The Birth of Western Society, 300-1050
• New Haven, New Earth: Latin Christendom and the World, 1000-1300.

In Ancient History, all students take two interdisciplinary modules that serve to give everyone a grounding in the central periods of Greek and Roman culture.

Modules have previously included:

• Remembering Athens
• Monuments and Memory in the Age of Augustus

The third module is a matter of choice. Modules have previously included:

• Intermediate Latin and Greek for those with an A level or equivalent 
• Greek Art and Architecture
• Early Greek Philosophy
• The Craft of the Ancient Historian.

Year 2

In the second year, you will take three modules from History and three from Classics. Second-year History modules tend to focus more on particular periods and events, and there are fewer survey courses. One of the History modules taken must be ‘Conversations with History’. This is a seminar-driven, student-led module, which encourages students to think about the way in which history is written. You will choose one from a range of possible strands in this module, each of which focuses on a particular historical debate or phenomenon. You must choose one History module which is either Medieval or Early Modern; and one which is Modern (the Conversations strand will count as one of these choices). There is no other restriction on choice.

Modules have previously included:

• Conversations Strands: the Usable Past; the Built Environment
• History and Guilt
• Power and Peoples
• Inventing the Middle Ages
• Monarchy
• Empire, Liberty, and Governance.

Other modules have previously included:

• Hard Times: British Society c. 1800-1901
• Modern China’s Transformations
• The American Half-century: the United States since 1945
• The King’s Two Bodies: Rulership in Late Medieval Europe
• The Ottoman World, 1400-1700.

In Ancient History, second-year historical offerings have previously included:

• Archaic Greece
• The Hellenistic World
• Crisis of The Roman Republic
• Roman Buildings and their Decorations.

Year 3

In the third year, you may take the equivalent of three modules in each department, or you may take the equivalent of four modules in one and two in the other.

In History, you may choose a triple-module Special Subject, taught entirely through seminars, which involves close study of primary sources. You will work in a small group with a specialist in the field, with a three-hour seminar every week. Or you may choose to do supervised independent research leading to the writing of an extended Dissertation. Given this emphasis on focused study and independence, there is no requirement for students to study a range of periods this year.

Third-year single modules are all strongly reflexive in character, encouraging students to think about the ways in which historical knowledge is produced. Third-year History modules are all specialized, research-led topics.

Modules in History have previously included:

Special subjects:

• A World Turned Upside Down: Radicalism in the English Revolution
• The Disappearance of Claudine Rouge: Murder, Mystery, and Microhistory in Early Modern France
• Light Beyond the Limes: the Christianization of Pagan Europe, 300-1000
• From War to Cold War: US Foreign Policy, c. 1944-1948.

Single modules:

• Anglo-Saxon Invasion? The Search for English
• Origins Revolution and History
• Interpreting Conflict in Post-Colonial Africa
• History of American Capitalism.

In Ancient History, have previously included:

• Law and Society in Classical Athens
• Roman Syria
• The Later Roman Empire
• Greeks and Persians
• Urbs Roma
• Writing Alexander.

We review course structures and core content (in light of e.g. external and student feedback) every year and will publish finalized core requirements for 2019 entry from September 2018.

Study Abroad

History

The Department participates in the University-wide overseas exchanges with:

• Boston College (USA),
• the University of British Columbia (Canada),
• the University of Hong Kong (China) 
• the National University of Singapore (Singapore).

Students can apply to spend an additional year of study abroad. This is normally taken between the second and third years of the degree program. If you study on the four-year Joint Honours Modern European Languages and History degree, you will spend your third year abroad at a European university or a work placement as part of the University’s ERASMUS exchanges.

Classics and Ancient History

Single Honours courses include an optional European Studies element as part of the ERASMUS scheme, whereby students may spend the third year of a four-year course studying at a European university. We currently have ERASMUS exchange links with universities in Belgium (Liege), France (Bordeaux), Germany (Tubingen, Munich), Greece (Athens), Italy (Bologna, Rome, Milan, Vercelli), the Netherlands (Free University, Amsterdam, Groningen), Spain (Seville) and Switzerland (Fribourg), with further to come. Students interested in studying abroad should apply to transfer to the European Studies course after their first year of study.