Photo of Ken MacMillan

Dr. Kenneth Richard MacMillan

PhD, FRHistS, 3MNTF

Affiliations

Graduate Program Director

Faculty of Arts, Department of History

Professor

Faculty of Arts, Department of History

Contact information

Email

macmillk@ucalgary.ca

Web presence

Google Scholar

Location

Office: Social Sciences628

Background

Credentials

3M National Teaching Fellow, Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2016

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Royal Historical Society, 2007

Educational Background

PhD History, McMaster University, 2002

MA History, Queen's University, 1997

BA (Hons) History, Nipissing University, 1996

BA (Hons) English, Nipissing University, 1994

Biography

Dr. Ken MacMillan is a specialist in early modern English legal, social, and Atlantic history. Previous research includes three books and two dozen articles and chapters on the subject of English imperial and colonial activities in the English Atlantic World, circa 1575-1640. More recent research includes an edited collection of English true crime pamphlets (now in its second edition) and a textbook about early modern England, circa 1485-1690, with a focus on death and disorder. Current research explores genres of crime reporting in seventeenth-century England.

Dr. MacMillan is the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including multiple Students' Union Teaching Excellence Awards and University of Calgary Teaching Awards, the Killam Teaching Award, and the 3M National Teaching Fellowship, Canada's most prestigious postsecondary teaching recognition.

Dr. MacMillan is interested in supervising graduate students at the Master's level, but is not currently accepting Doctoral students. As the Department of History's Graduate Program Director, he is able to answer any queries about our graduate program (histgpd@ucalgary.ca).

Research

Areas of Research

Early modern England, 1450-1750, English legal history, English Atlantic World, Crime in Early Modern England

Courses

Course number Course title Semester
HTST 594/673 Topics in Legal History Fall 2026
HTST 201 History of Early Modern Europe Winter 2027

Projects

Bloody News: Tales of True Crime in Early Modern England, 1550-1700

This book offers an analysis of numerous true crimes that occurred in early modern England, as reported in contemporary news sources. These include pamphlets, ballads, and other works produced in print for a popular audience.

Awards

  • 3M National Teaching Fellow, Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 2016
  • University of Calgary Teaching Award (Educational Leadership), University of Calgary. 2015
  • University of Calgary Teaching Award (Full Time Faculty - Professor), University of Calgary. 2014
  • SSHRC Insight Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. 2013
  • Killam Teaching Award (now the McCaig-Killam Teaching Award), Killam Foundation. 2011
  • Students' Union Teaching Excellence Award, University of Calgary Students' Union. 2010
  • Distinguished Teacher Award, Faculty of Social Sciences. 2008
  • SSHRC Standard Research Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. 2007
  • Students' Union Teaching Excellence Award, University of Calgary Students' Union. 2004

Publications

  • Chapter: "The Rights of People in the English Empire." In Andrew Fitzmaurice and Rachel Hammersley, eds., The Cambridge History of Rights: 1500-1700. Ken MacMillan. Cambridge University Press. 607-30. (2026)
  • Book: Stories of True Crime in Tudor and Stuart England (second edition). Ken MacMillan (ed.). Routledge. 274 pages. (2023)
  • Bibliographies: "Ideologies of Colonization"; "Sovereignty and Law"; "Tudor and Stuart Britain in the Wider World". Ken MacMillan and Zach Bates. Oxford Bibliographies Online: Atlantic History. (2021)
  • Book: Death and Disorder: A History of Early Modern England, 1485-1690. Ken MacMillan. University of Toronto Press. 269 pages. (2020)
  • Chapter: "English Law and its Expansion." In Heikki Pihlajamaki, Marcus Dubber, and Mark Godfrey, eds., Oxford Handbook of European Legal History. Oxford University Press. 830-53. (2018)
  • Chapter: "True Crime Reporting in Early Modern England." In Nichole Rafter and Michelle Brown, eds., Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Crime, Media, and Popular Culture. Ken MacMillan. Oxford University Press. chapter 14. (2018)
  • Article: "Murder and Mutilation in Early-Stuart England: A Case Study in Crime Reporting". Ken MacMillan and Melissa Glass. Journal of the Canadian Historical Association. (2016)
  • Chapter: "The English Empire to 1707." In John MacKenzie, ed., The Encylopedia of Empire. Ken MacMillan. Wiley-Blackwell. (2016)
  • Book: Stories of True Crime in Tudor and Stuart England. Ken MacMillan (ed.). Routledge. 234 pages. (2015)
  • Chapter: "Monarchical Law." In Joseph C. Miller, ed., Princeton Companion to Atlantic History. Ken MacMillan. Princeton University Press. 287-90. (2015)
  • Chapter: "Bound by Our Regal Office: Empire, Sovereignty, and the American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century." In Stephen Foster, ed., British North American in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Ken MacMillan. Oxford University Press. 67-102. (2014)
  • Article: "To Punish and Correct: The Rise of Criminal Courts in Bermuda, 1615-22". Ken MacMillan. Atlantic Studies. 302-22. (2013)
  • Chapter: "Imperial Constitutions: Sovereignty and the Law in the Atlantic." In H.V. Bowen, E. Mancke, and J.G. Reid, eds., Britain's Oceanic Empire: Atlantic and Indian Ocean Worlds, 1550-1800. Ken MacMillan. Cambridge University Press. 69-97. (2012)
  • Chapter: "Center and Periphery in English Maps of America, 1590-1685." In Martin Bruckner, ed., Early American Cartographies. Ken MacMillan. North Carolina University Press. 67-92. (2011)
  • Book: The Atlantic Imperial Constitution: Center and Periphery in the English Atlantic World. Ken MacMillan. Palgrave. 250 pages. (2011)
  • Chapter: "Benign and Benevolent Conquest? The Ideology of Elizabeth Atlantic Expansion Revisited". Ken MacMillan. Early American Studies. 32-72. (2011)
  • Chapter: "Exploration, Trade, and Empire." In Susan Doran and Norman Jones, eds., The Elizabethan World. Ken MacMillan. Routledge. 646-62. (2010)
  • Article: "The Bermuda Company, the Privy Council, and the Wreck of the San Antonio, 1621-23". Itinerario. 45-64. (2010)
  • Article: "Knowledge and Experience in the Founding of Jamestown". Ken MacMillan. Reviews in American History. 15-23. (2008)
  • Book: Sovereignty and Possession in the English New World: The Legal Foundations of Empire, 1576-1640. Ken MacMillan. Cambridge University Press. 235 pages. (2006)
  • Book: John Dee: The Limits of the British Empire. Ken MacMillan (ed.). ABC Clio. 162 pages. (2004)
  • Article: "Disclosing a Great Error: John Dee's Answer to the Bull Inter Caetera"". (2004)
  • Article: "Common and Civil Law? Taking Possession of the English Empire in America, 1575-1630". Ken MacMillan. Canadian Journal of History. 409-24. (2003)
  • Article: "Sovereignty More Plainly Described: Early English Maps of North America, 1580-1625". Ken MacMillan. Journal of British Studies. 413-47. (2003)
  • Article: "John Dee's Brytanici Imperii Limites". Ken MacMillan. Huntington Library Quarterly. 151-59. (2001)
  • Article: "Discourse on History, Geography, and Law: John Dee and the Limits of the British Empire, 1576-80". Ken MacMillan. Canadian Journal of History. 1-25. (2001)
  • Article: "Zurich Reform and the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559". Ken MacMillan. Anglican and Episcopal History. 285-311. (1999)

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