Early Modern History

Extraordinary developments in religion and politics, discoveries in the natural world and unprecedented urban growth characterised the 15th to 18th centuries. These changes in turn gave rise to dramatic innovations in architecture and the visual arts.

Within this rich field, our expertise particularly lies in the histories of religion and beliefs with their social and cultural impacts, in the histories of crime, terrorism, magic and witch-hunts, and in the histories of science, art, architecture and the urban environment. Current research topics include the impact of the Reformation on church architecture and migration, blasphemy, magical treasure-hunting, cleanliness in early modern Italian ports and the construction of status in early modern portraiture.

For research students, this range of staff specialisms offers exciting opportunities for interdisciplinary research in early modern history, for example into religious art or architecture or into cultural, social or artistic aspects of early modern cities.