This module introduces Masters students to the meanings of queerness in the early modern period. They will meet lesbian nuns, gender nonconforming soldiers, samurai besotted with their male beloveds, powerful eunuchs, and famous castratti. They will learn how different cultures understood gender and sexuality, and what happened when those cultures encountered each other. The course engages with a wide range of textual and visual sources, including autobiographies, illustrated satirical pamphlets, sermons, conduct books, legal and medical texts, illustrated poetry volumes and objects relevant to gender and sexuality. The course will prepare students to navigate the theoretical frameworks of queer history, and understand empirical knowledge of specific cultures and the development of research and source interpretation skills in this exciting and innovative field of historical research. All sources will be available in English translation.