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Home , English Civil War

CHOICES IN BRITISH HISTORY

1) MEDIEVAL OPTIONS (BRITISH HISTORY PAPERS I, 11 AND III)

British History I, c.500-1087, beginning with the Conversion of the English to in the Seventh Century, covering the Anglo-Saxon political, social, economic and ecclesiastical institutions; the impact of the Viking invasions; relations with the Celtic neighbours of the English; the development of and administration; and the emergence after Alfred the Great of a in the tenth century, ending with the in the eleventh century.

British History II, 1042-1330, dealing with the details and consequences of the Norman Conquest; the Anglo-Norman-; the challenge to tradition by church reform; the development of a distinctive political culture and legal system in the thirteenth century based on social and economic changes; contrasts and relations with other British kingdoms and regions; ending with the creation of effective methods of royal government, national consensual taxation and law-making through, for example, the forum of the English .

British History III, 1330-1550, opening with the commitment to the Hundred Years War and covering the changes in relations between crown, nobility and political nation; the impact of Plague; the changes in economic circumstance and social status of the landlords and peasantry; the Peasants’ Revolt; elaboration of a cult of monarchy under Richard II and Henry V; the rise of English as a vernacular and of literacy; the breakdown of royal authority and the ; the challenges to the established church by Lollards and later common lawyers and Protestants; the variety of later medieval systems of piety and learning, in schools and universities; the establishment of the Tudors and the question of new methods of government and administration in the context of a wider political nation.

These are well suited as introductory papers as much of the work is concerned with interpretation of primary sources easily available to undergraduates ( eg. Bede or or Henry V’s propaganda; art, architecture, or literature from Beowulf to Malory). Within these wide chronological periods there is no set syllabus. Undergraduates are encouraged to pursue their own historical interests. The tutorial system works best if focused on the tastes of students as much as the requirements of the course. The two will coincide. To prepare for the first term’s work, some introductory reading is ESSENTIAL, not least to enable you to make up your mind on which topics are congenial. The following highly selective bibliographies are designed to assist this preparation. YOU ARE NOT EXPECTED TO READ ALL OF THE SUGGESTED READING; THE BOOKS BELOW MERELY INDICATE THE RANGE OF WHAT IS AVAILABLE; SELECT ANY THAT LOOK INTERESTING.

BRITISH HISTORY I

J.Campbell, The Anglo-Saxons (the best of its kind) D.J.V.Fisher, The Anglo-Saxon Age (sound) J.Blair, The Anglo-Saxons (a very short introduction) F.M.Stenton, Anglo-Saxon (an aged classic) D.Whitelock, The Beginnings of H.Loyn, The Governance of Anglo-Saxon England R.Hodges, The Anglo-Saxon Achievement R.Hodges, Dark Age Economics D.M.Wilson, The Anglo-Saxons For ) P.Wormald, The Making of English Law For sources look at Bede’s Ecclesiastical History ( trans. better than the Penguin); Alfred the Great, ed. Keynes and Lapidge (Penguin Classic) or English Historical Documents (gen ed D.C.Douglas), vol.1

BRITISH HISTORY II

H.Loyn, Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest P., Unification and Conquest (on pre-1066 background) R.Frame, The Political Development of the ( a long view) B.Golding, Conquest and Colonisation M.Clanchy, England and its Rulers 1066-1272 (lots of good ideas) R.Bartlett, England under the Angevin and Norman Kings (an often confusing mine) J.Hudson, The Formation of the English Common Law (usefully clear) R.R.Davies, The First English Empire (fizzing) R.R.Davies, The Age of Conquest: 1063-1415 A.Duncan, : The Making of a Kingdom J.L., The Medieval English Economy E.Miller and J.Hatcher, Medieval England: Rural Society and Social Change R.Britnell, The Commercialisation of English Society 1000-1500 (stimulating) M.Clanchy, From Memory to Written Record (brilliant insights) The Yale ‘English Monarchs’ series has excellent medieval volumes of biographies For sources, English Historiocal Documents vols. II & III are essential and more fun than they at first seem

BRITISH HISTORY III

M.Keen, England in the later Middle Ages (still a good analytical narrative) M.Keen, English Society in the Later Middle Ages (usefully clear) K.B.MacFarlane, The Nobility of Late Medieval England (a classic; very influential) R.Horrox ed. The Black Death S.K.Cohn, The Black Death Transformed (stimulating revisionism; wide horizons) W.M.Ormrod, The Reign of Edward III N.Saul, Richard II G.Harriss, Henry V: the Practice of Kingship J.Watts, Henry VI and the of Kingship C.Carpenter, The Wars of the Roses J.A.Guy, Tudor England C.Dyer, Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages S.H.Rigby, English Society in the Later Middle Ages R.Britnell, The Commercialisation of English Society 1000-1500 R.B.Dobson, The Peasants’ Revolt C.Harper-Bill, The Pre- Church in England 1400-1530 E.Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars R.Rex, The Lollards (flawed revisionism) A.Grant, Independence and Nationhood: Scotland 1306-1469 M.Keen, Chivalry For sources, see English Historical Documents vol IV.

There are many other works, including catalogues of exhibitions on Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Art. Go and look at some medieval remains; churches, castles, houses, street plans, place names etc. as well as artefacts in museums and galleries. Many of you will live in places mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book; try finding out in your Public Library (in the J.Morris translation or the new Penguin translation) what the survey said about your area.

2) THE EARLY MODERN OPTION:

BRITISH HISTORY IV: 1500-1700 This period covers the “classic age of the Tudor Monarchy, the English , and “Glorious ”. It focuses on key political, social and cultural issues across the period: the Henrician Reformation followed by the various religious upheavals of the mid-16th century, and the apparent settlement of the later sixteenth century, which was radically disrupted by the early Stuarts and the Civil War. The course examines British History, and events in and Scotland also feature largely, and no less the transformation of economic and social relations as population growth fed urbanization, led to a polarization of resources and bred social tensions across society.

Introductory Texts: C.S. L. Davies, Peace, Print and , 1440-1558. P. Williams, The Tudor Regime. J. Guy, Tudor England. S. Brigden, New Worlds, Lost Worlds. The Rule of the Tudors. J. Wormald, Court, and Community in Scotland, 1470-1625. S. Ellis, Ireland in the Age of the Tudors, 1477-1603. M. Kishlansky, A Monarchy Transformed. Britain 1603-1714. J. Scott, England’s Troubles. Seventeenth Century English Political Instability in European Context.

More Specific Studies: Politics: H. Miller, Henry VIII and the English Nobility. D. Starkey (ed.) The English Court From the Wars of the Roses to the Civil Wars. J. Guy (ed.), The Reign of . Court and Culture in the last decade. G. Burgess, and the Stuart . L. Levy-Peck (ed.), The Mental World of the Jacobean Court. H. Trevor-Roper, Catholics, Anglicans and . C. Russell, The Causes of the English Civil War. J. Morrill, The Revolt of the Provinces. Conservatives and Radicals in the English Civil War, 1630-1650. M. Kishlansky, The Rise of the . B. Worden, The R. Hutton, The Restoration. A Political and Religious and Wales, 1658-1667.

Religion: E. Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars. Traditional , 1400-1580. C. Haigh, English . Religion, Politics and Society under the Tudors. J. Scarisbrick, The Reformation and the . S. Brigden, and the Reformation. P. Collinson, The Religion of Protestants. The Church in English Society, 1559- 1625. N. Tyacke, Anti-Calvinists. The Rise of English , c. 1590-1640. K. Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic.

Society and Culture: F. Heal, C. Holmes, The in England and Wales, 1500-1700. K. Wrightson, English Society, 1580-1680. J. Sharpe, Early Modern England. A Social History, 1550-1760. R. Houlbroooke, The English Family, 1450-1700. J. Sharpe, Crime in Early Modern England. R. Strong, The English Icon. M. Smuts, Culture and Power in England, 1585-1685. K. Sharpe, P. Lake (eds.) Culture and Politics in Early Stuart England.

3) THE MODERN BRITISH OPTIONS:

(Please do not choose either of these if you have studied modern British History at A- level. We would prefer students to start on something unfamiliar in this first term in Oxford, which will make it easier to overcome A-level assumptions about the work expected of you. But if you have studied medieval or early modern history at A-level, feel free to choose BH VI or BH VII)

BRITISH HISTORY VI: 1830-1924 This course examines Britain’s imperial role in the wider world and the politics underpinning an age of greatness, but is no less concerned with questions of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century society, broadly defined through an understanding of social structures and interrelationships, and through economic and cultural perspectives on the period.

B.W.E. Alford, Britain in the world economy since 1880 (1996) T.M. Devine, The Scottish nation 1700-2000 (1999) E.J. Evans, The forging of the modern : early industrial Britain 1783-1870 (3rd edn., 2000) R. Foster, Modern Ireland 1600-1972 (1988) N. Gash, and people 1815-1865 (1979) S. Glynn & A. Booth, Modern Britain: an economic and social history (1996) A. Hardy, Health and medicine in Britain since 1860 (2000) J. Harris, Private lives, public spirit: Britain 1870-1914 (1994) T.O. Lloyd, Empire, welfare state, Europe: English history 1906-1992 (4th edn., 1993) P. Mathias, The first industrial nation: an economic history of Britain 1700-1914 (2nd edn., 1983) J. Parry, The rise and fall of liberal government in Victorian Britain (1993) H. Perkin, The rise of professional society: England since 1880 (1989) B. Porter, The lion’s share: a short history of British Imperialism 1850-1995 (3rd edn., 1996) F.M.L. Thompson, The rise of respectable society: a social history of Victorian Britain 1830-1890 (1988).

BRITISH HISTORY VII (SINCE 1900) This course takes English political history through the two world wars, the retreat from Empire and into Thatcherism and the politics of the 1980’s and 1990’s. It is also concerned with major social and economic issues from the Great Depression through the evolution of the Welfare State. Britain in the wider world also figures as part of this course, as does the study of the relations between the constituent parts of the Union.

D. Butler and D. Stokes, Political change in Britain (1974) D. Childs, Britain since 1939: progress and decline (2nd edn., 2001) P. Clarke, Hope and glory: Britain 1900-1990 (1996) T.M. Devine, The Scottish nation 1700-2000 (1999) R. Foster, Modern Ireland 1600-1972 (1988) D. Gladstone, The twentieth century welfare state (1999) A. Hardy, Health and medicine in Britain since 1860 (2000) D. Kavanagh, Thatcherism and British politics (1987) J. Lewis, Women in Britain since 1945 (1992) T.O. Lloyd, Empire, welfare state, Europe: English history 1906-1992 (4th edn., 1993) A. Marwick, British society since 1945 (2nd edn., 1996) H. Perkin, The rise of professional society: England since 1880 (1989) B. Porter, The lion’s share: a short history of British Imperialism 1850-1995 (3rd edn., 1996) D. Reynolds, Britannia overruled: British policy and world power in the Twentieth Century (2nd edn., 2000)