The Little Lion – Edward III's England, 1327-1347 Faculty of History Part II
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The Little Lion – Edward III’s England, 1327-1347 Coats of arms of the kings of England and France, and the arms of King Edward III quartered with those of France. From The Schøyen Collection, London & Oslo, MS 033, fol. 110r Faculty of History Part II Special Subject 2021-22 Dr Christopher Briggs and Dr Andrew Spencer [email protected] [email protected] Course description England in 1327 was at a low ebb: defeated in war by the Scots, still recovering from a period of devastating famine and agrarian crisis, and consumed by political infighting that had brought down its king. Twenty years later, the English were regarded by Petrarch as a ‘fiercely warmongering people’, whose ‘unexpected success’ had ‘subjected the entire kingdom of France to steel and fire.’ The Little Lion examines this transformation by charting the political, diplomatic, economic and social structures that characterized England in this period, and showing how developments in each of these areas helped to create the circumstances for English success in the opening phases of what became the Hundred Years’ War. The aim of the paper is not simply to chart those military successes, but rather to take a crucial and eventful twenty-year period and use it to explore the complex interactions between politics and economy that characterized the era. We will provide a narrative of political events from the downfall of Edward II in 1327 to the successful siege of Calais in 1347 but this narrative will be enriched by complimentary classes on different aspects of the English economy, climate change, parliament, law and order, diplomacy and the church. These will help to provide a fuller picture of England and its neighbours at a time of war, climate change and on the eve of the global pandemic of the Black Death. The focus is on allowing students to gain a richly detailed grasp of the period by working upwards from the abundant primary sources. The emphasis is on depth: by restricting ourselves to a relatively short period of just two decades, albeit one that was highly formative, it becomes possible to consider key episodes from a number of different angles, and to delve deep into the sources in search of fresh perspectives. We encounter a large variety of primary sources (see indicative list below). These range from vivid chronicle accounts and the voluminous records of central government, to estate accounts, manor court records, letters, sermons, and songs and poems of popular protest. By the end of the course, students will have a strong sense of how different kinds of evidence can be used to build up a picture of political society as a whole, and they will gain an understanding of how kingship, politics, economy, law and war interacted with each other in medieval society. In particular, the course aims to interrogate the categories ‘politics’ and ‘economy’, and to demonstrate that the two cannot easily be considered in isolation from one another. We also consider the distinctive role of prominent political actors ranging from Archbishop John Stratford to Queen Isabella. At the centre of events, and of the paper as a whole, is of course King Edward III himself: we trace his political development from the boy of 15 at the beginning to the man of 35 at the end. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the course provides insights into an era of warfare that had profound effects not just on England, but on all the states and economies of Western Europe. Although most of these effects will be examined during the course at the local or micro scale using England as a case study, wider connections and contexts are everywhere apparent. Teaching and expectations: the course will be taught in Michaelmas and Lent Terms via 16 weekly two-hour classes. There will be no formal lectures. Instead, each class will be based 2 on discussion of a list of translated primary sources, which all students are expected to read in advance alongside key specified pieces of secondary literature (mostly online). The sessions will be introduced each week by either Dr Briggs or Dr Spencer, depending on subject matter, but both teachers will be present for all classes. A student presentation then follows, followed by general discussion. Study of a medieval history paper at Part I is not a requirement, and students who have not previously studied the period are very welcome. An introduction to the distinctive form of assessment known as ‘gobbets’ will be provided at the end of Michaelmas Term. Four two-hour classes in Easter Term provide ample opportunity for revision on the prescribed texts, for further gobbets work, and for drawing out key themes of the course as a whole. Course structure Below is the likely schedule of classes for 2021-2. Following an introductory session, we go into a series of classes which move in broadly chronological fashion through our period. Then, from week 4 of Lent Term we have five classes which look in greater detail at important themes. Michaelmas term 1) Introduction to the paper / Crisis, deposition and accession 2) The rule and downfall of Mortimer and Isabella, 1327-30 3) The English Economy: i) dearth, abundance and depression 4) The Second Scottish War: Dupplin Moor to Neville's Cross 5) Plantagenet versus Valois: the drift to war, 1328-1337 6) The war to Tournai, 1337-40 7) Parliament and the politics of taxation 8) Gobbets session Lent term 1) Crisis and propaganda, 1340-1 2) Learning from mistakes: domestic politics, 1341-6 3) Brittany to Calais: the war, 1342-7 4) The English Economy: ii) wool and the power of the merchants 5) Drought, rain and frost: the shifting climate 6) The church and the crown 7) The papacy and diplomacy 8) Law and order: criminal gangs and the keepers of the peace Easter term Four classes on revision and gobbets practice 3 Sample Long Essay questions Write an essay of not less than 6,000 words and not more than 7,000 words on one of the following questions. 1 Why did it prove so difficult for Edward III to gain independent control of his kingdom between 1327 and 1330? 2 To what extent was the agrarian economy of the second quarter of the fourteenth century most affected by short-term shocks rather than long-term structural weaknesses? 3 ‘The political ambitions of the English crown did little to enhance the fortunes of overseas and long-distance trade between c.1327 and c.1347; indeed, the reverse was true.’ Discuss 4 ‘The Anglo-Scottish wars of 1332-1346 were primarily an opportunity for deeds of chivalry with few lasting or wider effects.’ Discuss. 5 How serious were problems of law and order between 1327 and 1347? 6 ‘The first 20 years of his reign demonstrate that Edward III’s foreign relations were characterized by a preference for military action over diplomacy.’ Discuss. 7 ‘Unsustainable, regressive and lacking in political legitimacy.’ Discuss this view of royal taxation in the 1330s and 1340s. 8 How strong was support for the French war in the period 1337-47? 9 How far was the political crisis of 1340-41 essentially a clash of personalities rather than a struggle over fundamental political issues? 10 To what extent did the period 1327-1347 witness an increase in the power of the English state? 4 Prescribed Sources: indicative list The following is not intended to be comprehensive or definitive; rather, it provides an indication of the kind of published primary sources from which the paper’s prescribed source extracts, or ‘set texts’, are drawn. All sources will be studied in translation. All the prescribed sources are detailed in the Course Handbook, and all are available electronically, either via web links in the Handbook, or the paper’s Moodle course. A significant number of the prescribed sources are collected in a single ‘Source book’ presented as a Word document. The total number of pages covered by the ‘set texts’ falls below the maximum of 1,750 set by the Faculty. Vita Edwardi Secundi , ed. and trans. W.R. Childs (Oxford, 2005) English Historical Documents, 1189-1327 , ed. H. Rothwell (London, 1975) Thomas Wright’s Political Songs of England From the Reign of John to that of Edward II , ed. P.R. Coss (Cambridge, 1996) Calendar of Charter Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office Calendar of Fine Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office Calendar of Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office Calendar of Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office Statutes of the Realm , ed. A. Luders and others (11 vols., London, 1810-28), I The parliament rolls of medieval England, 1275-1504, ed. C. Given-Wilson, C. (16 vols., 2005) The Brut or the Chronicles of England , ed. F.W.D. Brie (Woodbridge, 2000) The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel, 1290-1360 , trans. N. Bryant (Woodbridge, 2011) The Chronicle of Lanercost , trans. H. Maxwell, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1913) The Chronicle of Geoffrey Le Baker of Swinbrook , trans. D. Preest (Woodbridge, 2012) The Anonimalle Chronicle, 1307 to 1334 eds. and trans. W.R. Childs and J. Taylor (Cambridge, 1991) Adae Murimuth Continuatio Chronicarum , ed. E.M. Thompson (London, 1889) Political Thought in Early Fourteenth-Century England: treatises by Walter of Milemete, William of Pagula, and William of Ockham , ed. and trans C.J. Nederman (Arizona, 2002) Anglo-Scottish Relations, 1174-1328: some selected documents , ed. and trans. E.L.G. Stones (Oxford, 1965) The Wars of Edward III , ed. C. Rogers (Woodbridge, 2000) The Gascon Rolls Project (http://www.gasconrolls.org/en/ ) Nonarum Inquisitiones in Cura Scaccarii, temp.