Kingdoms, colonies and constitutions: Patterns of political discourse in the early modern British Atlantic

This scholarship is one of thirty to be awarded as part of the University of Hull's ‘80th Anniversary' scholarships programme.

Under the joint supervision of Professor Glenn Burgess and Dr Charles W. A. Prior, the successful applicant will undertake research in the broad field of political discourse in the British Atlantic world, c. 1600-1800. Themes include, but are not confined to:

• constitutionalist and democratic ideas
• the evolution of ‘Atlantic' republicanism
• state building
• revolutions
• the public sphere
• politics and religion

The research culture of the Department of History (graded 5 in the last RAE) is particularly strong in these areas, and benefits from the recent appointment of a number of staff with research and teaching interests in the British Atlantic world. The Wilberforce Institute and the Maritime Historical Studies Center offer additional resources, including substantial collections of microfilmed archival material.

In addition, the Brynmor Jones Library (BJL) is particularly strong in a number of areas that directly support this scholarship. The database Early English Books online contains images of over 100,000 books of all kinds published in the British Isles between 1473 and 1700. The Evans Collection of Early American Imprints is the most extensive database of works published in the Americas between 1636 and 1800. The University of Hull is currently one of two UK institutions that offer access to this resource. The BJL also subscribes to Eighteenth Century Collections Online, providing access to printed books and pamphlets from the period 1700-1800. As respects secondary sources, the Department has continued to invest in the development of the monograph collection, and benefits from the recent expansion of journal collections such as JSTOR and Project Muse.

Glenn Burgess is recognised as a leading scholar of the history of political thought in early seventeenth century Britain, and is the author of The Politics of the Ancient Constitution (1992) and Absolute Monarchy and the Stuart Constitution (1996). He has also made a substantial contribution to placing political discourse within its wider ‘British' contexts. His co-edited book on European Political Thought 1450-1700: Religion, Law and Philosophy was published by Yale at the end of 2007.

Charles W. A. Prior works on the religious aspects of early modern political thought, and is the author of Defining the Jacobean Church: The Politics of Religious Controversy (2005), and a number of articles on political thought in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He is finishing work on Britain's Holy Wars, and plans a major study of Protestant ideas of empire, law, and history in the British Atlantic world.