(HIST
3371/5371)
updated 11/28/2006
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Description:
This course will cover the history of the British Isles with emphasis on England . We will begin our study with the first peoples on the island and work our way through the Celts, the Roman invasion, the Saxon takeover, the Norman conquest, and on up to the Tudors. England and the English people and culture are fascinating. Having originally settled our local Augusta , it will be like looking at our own past. Perhaps several of you have a British, Scottish, or Irish ancestor and don't even know it. The stuff of kings and queens, peasants and craftsmen, the basis for Renaissance fairs today, as well as much of the fantasy literature available, the early history of England plays on the imagination of many. Enjoy, but don't sit back, leap into the readings, sources, and history.
Study Abroad Option:
There is an optional study abroad component to this course (like a really big field-trip)!!! We will be traveling to London and staying in a small town in Cornwall . We will have a local guide and a bus. Our tentative schedule is: Day 1—Arrive, Dunster Castle ; Day 2— Tintagel Castle , St. Michael's Mount; Day 3— Bath , Comston Village; Day 4— Cardiff Castle , Caerphilly Castle , Chepstow Castle ; Day 6— London , the White Tower , St. Albans; Day 7—more London, travel Home.
Those going with will give an oral report on site (about 10 mins.) at one of our locations about English history in an English, Welsh or Cornish location. Check with me for financial assistance or with the study abroad office.
In-class Option:
Those not going on our big field trip will add a second in class oral report on an aspect of Irish or Scottish Celtic culture that survives until today. These will not be long report, only about 10 mins.
If with any of these assignments you have difficulty speaking in public (to the point of illness) please see me and we will devise another way for you to get credit.
Books:
Clayton Roberts, David Roberts, & Douglas R. Bisson. A History of England . vol I. Prehistory to 1714. 4th edition. Prentice Hall, 2002. ISBN: 0-13-206475-8
Eleanor Shipley Duckett. Alfred the Great: The King and His England . Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 1956. ISBN: 0-226-16779-8
Amy Kelly. Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings. Cambridge , Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 1950. ISBN: 0-674-24254-8
David Crouch. William Marshal: Knighthood, War and Chivalry, 1147-1219. London : Longman, 2002. ISBN: 0-582-77222-2
Anne Somerset. Elizabeth I. Anchor Books, 2003. ISBN: 0-385-72157-9
Grading:
20% Midterm #1: Pre-Conquest England
20% Midterm #2: The Early and High Medieval Periods
20% Midterm #3 (Final): Late Medieval & Early Modern England
10% Oral Report # 1
10% Oral Report Abroad or #2 in class
20% Research Paper
Please note: At the end of the second week, a formal proposal of your paper topic is due. If you have not ever written a proposal, let me know and I will explain. One of the oral reports you give will be on the material you have been researching for the paper. The comments and questions from your fellow classmates and your instructor should help you with your finished product.
Schedule of Assignments, Exams, and Lectures:
Unit I: Antiquity to the Conquest of England
Week 1
August 17: Introductory Lecture: “The Island of Britannia”
Read Roberts, pp. 1-18
August 19: Lecture: “Roman Invasion and Legacy”
Read Roberts, pp. 19-33
Week 2
August 24: Lecture: “Celtic Christianity, Arthurian Legends and other Celtic-Roman Syncretism”
Read Roberts, pp. 34-41
August 26: Lecture: “The Angels, the Saxons, the Jutes, and the Vikings”
Read Roberts, pp. 41-66
Research paper proposal due (1-2 pages typed, w/bib)
Week 3
August 31: *** Discussion : Alfred the Great: The King and His England
September 2: Lecture: “The Norman Conquest”
Read Roberts, pp. 67-87
Week 4
September 7: Lecture: “Norman England”
Read Roberts, pp. 87-91
September 9: <<Midterm I: Antiquity to the Conquest of England>>
Unit II: Later Medieval England
Week 5
September 14: Lecture: “The Angevins and English Law”
Read Roberts, pp. 93-115
September 16: No Class
Week 6
September 21: *** Discussion : Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings
September 23: Lecture: “Richard, John, the Crusades and Robin Hood”
Read Roberts, pp. 116-120
Week 7
September 28: *** Discussion : The Magna Carta and English Law & Politics
handout
September 30: Lecture: “Manorialism: Peasant Life”
Read Roberts, pp. 122-131
Week 8
October 5: Lecture: “Shires, Villages, Towns, & Cities”
Read Roberts, pp. 132-146
October 7: Lecture: “The Unstable Thirteenth Century”
Read Roberts, pp. 146-159
Week 9
October 12: *** Discussion : William Marshal: Knighthood, War and Chivalry, 1147-1219
October 14: Lecture: “The 14 th century: Famine, the Black Death, & the Peasant Revolt”
Read Roberts, pp. 160-190
Week 10
October 19: Lecture: “The Wars of the Roses & the Hundred Years War”
Read Roberts, pp. 191-215
October 21: <<Midterm II: Later Medieval England>>
Unit III: Early Modern England
Week 11
October 26: Lecture: “Henry Tudor: A dreamer”
Read Roberts, pp. 216-238
October 28: Lecture: “Henry VIII & the English Reformation”
Read Roberts, pp. 239-268
Week 12
November 2: Lecture: “Edward VI, Mary, and other challengers to the throne”
Read Roberts, pp. 269-286
November 4: ***Discussion: Elizabeth I
Week 13
November 9: Lecture: “Elizabethan England”
Read Roberts, pp. 287-325
November 11: Lecture: “Scottish Rulers in England: the Stuarts”
Read Roberts, pp. 326-349
Week 14
November 16: Lecture: “High Lord Protector & the Return to Monarchy”
Read Roberts, pp. 350-379
November 18: Lecture: “The Glorious Revolution”
Read Roberts, pp. 380-439
Week 15
November 23: <<Midterm III: Early Modern England>>
Thanksgiving: No class—holiday
Week 16
November 30: No class—finish finals and papers in other classes
December 2: No class—finish finals and papers in other classes
Final oral report in England
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