University of Tasmania, Australia

The Making of Tudor England

This project will consider developments in fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century England that feed into broader changes associated with the Tudor period. The candidate will select and explore one of a number of possible themes — economic, social, political, religious or cultural — and pursue a case-study across the traditional ‘medieval/modern’ divide. A focus on the role of social and information networks (before and after the ‘print revolution’) in continuity and change will be especially encouraged. Candidates will gain the palaeographical and technical skills necessary to use a range of primary sources, unpublished as well as published, and in most cases will undertake some research in British archives and libraries. The key sources to be used included collections of wills, the state papers, and Early English Books Online, all available or accessible locally.