The British Isles to 1688
The current focus of this graduate area is on Britain 1400 - 1660 (often in comparative context with western Europe); and recent graduate seminars have been entitled "Royalty, Religion, and Ritual", "Britain and Its Monarchy", and "Religion and Urban Society in Europe". Students in this field often work also in the fields of Britain and Empire Commonwealth, Middle Ages, or Religion in Premodern Society; they are encouraged according to their tastes and talents to pursue optional minor fields in English literature, art history, or anthropology. The Department of English has half a dozen specialists in late medieval and Renaissance literature, and English students regularly participate in our seminars. The Early Europe (i.e. pre1800) discussion group, composed of graduate students and faculty, is also crossdisciplinary, as is the Renaissance Seminar. Students who want a substantial component of crossdisciplinary training in the medieval period can receive a Certificate from the Program for Medieval Studies.
In addition to the faculty in several departments, the University of Illinois has a number of outstanding resources for the study of premodern English history, foremost being the library, which houses some nine million volumes. Its holdings include a great majority of the printed primary sources for English history to 1660, most of the national and local history journals from the 19th century onwards, an outstanding collection of early printed books and pamphlets in the Rare Book Room, and computer access to Early English Books Online. A number of important manuscript collections on microfilm have been purchased, such as the House of Lords Braye MSS and the Lansdowne MSS; and many more are available through our membership in the Center for Research Libraries. Recent issues of all the leading journals in British history are on open shelves in the History Library; the Art and Architecture Ricker Library has a fine selection of journals, reference books and monographs relating to the material culture of the British Isles.
Students in English history benefit from the university's membership in the Newberry Library (Chicago) Consortium, which presents programs and helps fund travel to the Newberry and to events at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. The department is a member of the Institute for Historical Research at the University of London. Graduate students specializing in English history are expected to do archival research in the United Kingdom, and are encouraged to gain teaching experience in both national and comparative history. Students preparing research topics are assisted by the fact that terminals anywhere on campus provide immediate access to lists of holdings of research libraries in the United States, Europe, and around the world.
Faculty in English/British History
Caroline Hibbard (Ph.D.Yale University, 1975), TudorStuart Britain; early modern Europe; and the Catholic Reformation.
Antoinette Burton (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1990), Modern Britain; South Asian women; feminist/cultural theory; women in the British empire.
Dana Rabin - (Ph.D. University of Michigan, 1996), Early Modern Britain; legal, cultural, and gender history.Other Faculty in Medieval/Early Modern Europe
M. Megan Mclaughlin (Ph.D., Stanford, 1985), religion and society to 1200; women and gender; sexuality, gender, and politics in 11thcentury Europe; rituals for the dead in 12th century France.
Carol Symes (Ph.D., Harvard, 1999), medieval Europe, especially England and France; cultural history; premodern communication technology and media studies; history of theatre and performance
Craig Koslofsky (Ph.D., Michigan, 1994), culture and religion in late medieval and early modern Europe, especially the Holy Roman Empire; daily life in early modern Europe
John A. Lynn (Ph.D., UCLA, 1973), war and society; France, 16101815; state formation
Clare H. Crowston (Ph.D., Cornell, 1996), social and cultural history of early modern France; women and gender; and the history of work.
John Randolph (Ph.D., UC Berkeley, 1997): Imperial Russian history, 17251917; cultural and intellectual history