History 230: The Roots of English Society & Politics
Spring 2014: Mon/Wed 2:00-3:20pm (Wyatt 304)
Professor Katherine Allen Smith
email: kasmith2@pugetsound.edu
phone: 879-3906 (ext. 3906)
office hours: Wyatt 142 - Tues. 10:00-12:00 and Fri. 1:00-2:00
(and other times by appointment)
Course Description: This course takes a chronological approach to
the history of England from the Roman period to the eve of the
English Revolution, paying attention to political and social developments as well as the contributions of
different peoples and traditions to the making of England from 55 BCE to c.1649. Topics to be covered
include Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and culture; the Norman Conquest and its contested legacy; the culture of the
Anglo-Norman aristocracy; attempts to impose English rule and law on Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; the
economic, social, and dynastic upheavals of the late medieval period; new understandings of statecraft and
religious authority under the Tudors; and the expansion of English commercial interests and political authority
overseas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Course Objectives: All students will have the opportunity to
• gain a detailed understanding of the historical development of English politics and society up to
the mid-seventeenth century;
• learn about and actively engage with major historiographical debates relevant to premodern
English history;
• and practice historical analysis directly by evaluating a variety of primary sources, both orally and
in written assignments.
Texts: The required texts listed below are available for purchase at the university bookstore. Some
additional readings and resources may be posted on our course Moodle page. The books by Guy, Amt,
Howarth, and Crouch are also on reserve in the library. Please note that the bookstore is running slightly
short of Crouch’s William Marshal, so if you intend to buy it I recommend doing so early in the semester.
• C. Warren Hollister, Robert C. Stacey, and Robin Chapman Stacey, The Making of England to 1399, 8th
edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000) ISBN: 0618001018
• John Guy, The Tudors: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) ISBN:
0199674725
• Emilie Amt, ed., Medieval England, 1000-1500: A Reader (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001) ISBN:
1551112442
• David Howarth, 1066: The Year of the Conquest (London and New York: Penguin, 1981) ISBN: 0140058508
• David Crouch, William Marshal: Knighthood, War, and Chivalry, 1147-1219, 2nd ed. (Longman, 2002) ISBN:
0582772222
• Newton Key and Robert Bucholz, Sources and Debates in English History, 1485-1714, 2nd ed. (Malden, MA:
Blackwell, 2009) ISBN: 1405162767
• History 230 Course Reader (readings marked CR in schedule below)
Requirements and Evaluation:
1) Class Participation: While most classes will include some lecture, this is primarily a discussiondriven class. Students are required to keep up with all reading assignments and come to class prepared to
participate. I reserve the right to give occasional pop-quizzes on readings, and to count these as part of the
participation grade.
2) Map Quiz: Because knowledge of geography is crucial for historians of all places and eras, we
will have a map quiz during the first 5 minutes of class on Wednesday, January 29th. On the first day I will
hand out a sample map and list of landmarks to be covered on the quiz.
3) Short Essay: This assignment asks you to develop an original argument based on close reading
of sources on the Norman Conquest. The essay is to be ~6 typed, double-spaced pages, and is due on
Tuesday, Feb. 25th. A detailed explanation of the assignment will be handed out in class two weeks prior to
the due date.
4) Three Reflection Pieces: These short pieces of writing should reflect on an issue or question
derived from the reading assigned for the days on which they are due. You will be assigned to a letter group
(A-F) and your reflection pieces will be due on the days marked with this letter in the syllabus. *Pick 3 out of
your 4 letter-days to write reflection pieces. No late reflection pieces will be accepted.
5) Midterm Exam: Our in-class midterm on Wednesday, March 12th will feature a choice of IDs
and essays dealing with major themes of the course.
6) Final Paper: The final paper will give you a chance to learn more about an event in English
history of particular interest to you. Though some research will be involved, it is not meant to be a fullscale research paper, but rather a review of the modern scholarship dealing with a single event. This
assignment consists of two parts: a brief proposal and preliminary bibliography due on April 11th and an 810-page paper due on May 14th (in lieu of a final exam).
Grading Breakdown:
Map Quiz:
Short Essay:
Reflections:
Midterm:
Participation:
Final Paper:
5%
18%
12% (4% each)
18%
16%
31% (proposal=6%, paper=25%)
____
100%
Grading Scale: Written assignments, exams and class participation will all be graded on a scale from A to F.
For the numerical equivalents of each grade, see the list below.
A:
94-100
A-:
90-93
B+:
87-89
B:
84-86
B-:
80-83
C+:
77-79
C:
74-76
C-:
70-73
D+: 67-69
D:
64-66
D-:
60-63
F:
below 60
Other Policies:
Attendance: Regular attendance is essential to your success in this course, and you will find I take
attendance at every meeting. I understand that illness and emergencies occur in the course of a fourteen-week
semester, and will not penalize you for missing up to two classes. If, however, you miss more than this
generous allotment, be advised that I will deduct ½ letter grade from your participation grade for each
additional absence. If you become gravely ill or have a family emergency that will take you out of class for
several days, please provide me with documentation (or have the Office of Advising contact all your
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professors) so I can excuse these absences. Please be advised that I reserve the right to withdraw any student from the
class for excessive unexcused absences, normally defined as more than 6 absences over the course of the semester.
Academic Honesty: All students are expected to abide by the guidelines concerning academic honesty
outlined in the Logger (at http://www.pugetsound.edu/student-life/student-resources/studenthandbook/academic-handbook/academic-integrity/) Violations of honesty in research (inventing or falsifying
sources or data) or writing (borrowing the arguments or words of others without attribution, or collaborating
on assignments within the instructor’s permission), will result in a grade of ‘0’ for the assignment in question
and, at the instructor’s discretion, dismissal from the course.
Emergency Information: Please review university emergency preparedness and response
procedures posted at www.pugetsound.edu/emergency/. Familiarize yourself with exit doors and the
designated gathering area for your class and laboratory buildings. If building evacuation becomes
necessary (e.g., earthquake), meet your instructor at the designated gathering area so s/he can account for
your presence. Then wait for further instructions. Do not return to the building or classroom until
advised by a university emergency response representative. If confronted by an act of violence, be
prepared to make quick decisions to protect your safety. Flee the area by running away from the source of
danger if you can safely do so. If this is not possible, shelter in place by securing classroom or lab doors
and windows, closing blinds, and turning off room lights. Stay low, away from doors and windows, and as
close to the interior hallway walls as possible. Wait for further instructions.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
(Note: readings are listed under the date when they are due)
(W) Jan 22nd - Introduction: Themes and Scope of the Course
Unit 1: The Romans and After
(M) Jan 27th - Roman Britain (A)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 1 (pp. 3-24)
(CR 1-10) Caesar, Tacitus, and others in Roman Britain: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed., ed. S. Ireland (Routledge,
1996), pp. 19-23, 58-63, and 176-81.
(WEB) Highlights from the Roman Britain Gallery, British Museum, at
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/galleries/europe/room_49_roman_britain.aspx
(W) Jan 29th - Rome’s Fall and After (B)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 1 (pp. 19-38) and ch. 2 (pp. 39-44)
(CR 11-16) Gildas and Orosius on the 5th-century invasions, in Ireland, Roman Britain, 158-68.
(WEB) The Sutton Hoo ship burial, British Museum, at
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/articles/k/the_sutton_hoo_ship-burial.aspx
(CR 17-26) H.Harke, “Changing Symbols in a Changing Society: the Anglo-Saxon Weapon Burial Rite,” in
The Age of Sutton Hoo, ed. Martin Carver (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 1992), 149-65.
*Map Quiz Today* (first 10-minutes of class)
Unit 2: Anglo-Saxon England
(M) Feb 3rd - A ‘Dark Age’? (C)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 2 (pp. 44-69)
(CR 27-33) Bede, History of the English Church and People (excerpts of books 1-3), ed. Patrick J. Geary in
Readings in Medieval History, Vol. 1: The Early Middle Ages, 4th ed. (Toronto, 2010), 212-222.
(CR 34-35) The Laws of Ethelbert, ed. Daniel Lord Smail and Kelly Gibson in Vengeance in Medieval Europe:
A Reader (Toronto, 2009), 72-74.
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(W) Feb 5th – Alfred’s Age and the First Viking Invasions (D)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 2 (pp. 70-83) and ch. 3 (to pp. 84-107)
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 1-3 (Aelfric’s Colloquy, Rights of Various Persons, Wills)
(CR 36-45) Asser, Life of King Alfred (excerpts), in Patrick Geary, ed., Readings in Medieval History (Broadview,
2004), 243-53.
(M) Feb 10th - England and Scandinavia in the 10th and 11th Centuries (E)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 3 (finish)
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 4-6 (Laws, Cnut’s Letter, Praise of Queen Emma)
Howarth, 1066 (pp. 7-48)
Unit 3: 1066 and After
(W) Feb. 12th - The Stage is Set (F)
Howarth, 1066, pp. 49-141
Amt, Medieval England, no. 7 (Life of King Edward)
(CR 46-50) Snorri Sturluson, The Battle of Stamford Bridge from the Heimskringla, in The Viking Age: A
Reader, ed. Angus A. Somerville and R. Andrew McDonald (Toronto, 2010), 471-479.
(M) Feb. 17th - The Norman Invasion (A)
Howarth, 1066, pp. 142-201
(Moodle) Film: “The Battle of Hastings,” from the BBC Battlefield Britain Series
(CR 51-52) Penitential Observances after the Battle of Hastings; Royal Seals, ed. R.Allen Brown, The
Norman Conquest of England: Sources and Documents (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1984), 156-57 and 170-71.
(CR 53-61) William of Poiters, Gesta Guilelmi; Guy of Amiens on Hastings; Lanfranc; Bavarian Annals, and
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Version D, in The Normans in Europe, ed. and trans. Elisabeth van Houts
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), 118-25, 129-31,137-40.
Amt, Medieval England, no. 10 (Bayeux Tapestry’s text)
(W) Feb 19th - The New Norman Order (B)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 4 and ch. 5 (to p.159)
Amt, Medieval England, no. 9, 11, 13 (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Domesday, Orderic)
(CR 62-69) Hugh M. Thomas, “A Chronology of Assimilation,” in The England and the Normans: Ethnic
Hostility, Assimilation, and Identity, 1066-c.1220 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 56-69.
Unit 4: England Under the Normans and Angevins
(M) Feb 24th - Henry I and the Anarchy (no reflections due)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 5 (pp. 154-178)
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 14-16 (Coronation Charter, Eadmer, William of Malmesbury)
(CR 70-86) Hugh M. Thomas, “Violent Disorder in King Stephen’s England: A Maximum Argument,” in
King Stephen’s Reign, ed. Paul Dalton and Graeme White (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 2008), 139-70.
*Essay #1: Debating the Norman Conquest, due Tues., Feb. 25th by 3pm (in my office)*
(W) Feb 26th - Henry II and the Angevin Empire (C)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 6 (to p.197)
Amt, Medieval England, no. 18-21 (Gerald of Wales, Clarendon, Becket, Assizes)
(CR 87-94) Thomas Keefe, “Shrine Time: Henry II’s Visits to Becket’s Tomb,” Haskins Society Journal 11
(1998): 115-22.
(CR 95-104) John Gillingham, “The Beginnings of English Imperialism,” Journal of Historical Sociology 5/4
(1992): 393-409.
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(M) Mar 3rd - Life in England’s Medieval Cities (D)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 7
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 25-27, 38, 56
(W) Mar 5th - William Marshal: Knighthood and Chivalry in Twelfth-Century England (E)
Crouch, William Marshal, pp. 1-56 and 179-206
Amt, Medieval England, no. 30 (History of William of Marshal)
(CR 105-106) An early tournament, from Jean Marmoutier’s Chronicle of the Counts of Anjou, excerpted in
Those Who Fought: An Anthology of Sources, ed. Peter Speed (Italica Press, 1996), 110-111.
(CR 107-111) Marie de France, “Chaitivel,” trans. Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante in The Lais of Marie de
France (Durham, North Carolina, 1978), 181-89.
(M) Mar 10th - Good King Richard and Bad King John? (no reflections due)
Crouch, William Marshal, pp. 57-96
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 31-33 (Richard Devizes, Song of Richard I, Letters)
(W) Mar 12th - Midterm Exam
Spring Break: no classes week of March 17th-21st
Unit 6: Consolidation and Crisis in the Later Middle Ages
(M) Mar 24th - The Barons’ Wars and the Great Charter (F)
Crouch, William Marshal, pp. 97-142, 159-78, and 207-16
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 34-36 (Roger of Wendover, Magna Carta, Queen Isabella)
(W) Mar 26th - Royal Ambitions and Baronial Revolts (A)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 8 and ch. 9
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 42-43, 51 (Song of Lewes, Summonses, Parliament)
(CR 112-115) Chronicle of Walter of Heminburgh and the Trial of John Warenne, in Lacey B. Smith and
Jean R. Smith, eds., Past Speaks: Sources and Problems in English History, 2nd ed. (D.C. Heath, 1981), 1:52-53.
(M) Mar 31st - Edward II, Edward III and the Hundred Years War (B)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 10 and ch. 11
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 57-58 (Froissart, Black Prince)
(CR 116-122) Andrew Ayton, “War and the English Gentry Under Edward III,” History Today 42/3 (Mar.
1992): 34-40.
(W) Apr 2nd - Disasters and Popular Responses (C)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 12 (pp. 335-351)
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 52-53 (famine), 59 (plague), 60 (Ordinance) & 62-64 (Peasants’ Revolt)
(M) Apr 7th – Richard II and Lancaster and York (D)
Hollister, Making of England, ch. 12 (pp. 352-360)
(CR 123-129) Lacey Baldwin Smith, “The Wars of the Roses,” in This Realm of England, 1399-1688
(Houghton Mifflin, 2001), 58-70.
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 69-70, 80 (Deposition of Richard II, Henry V, London Chronicle)
Key and Bulcholz, Sources, docs. 2.1-2.4 (pp.30-35)
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Unit 8: Tudor Revolutions
(W) Apr 9th - Henry VII (E)
Guy, The Tudors, ch. 1 (pp. 1-17)
(CR 130-139) David Grummitt, “Household, Politics and Political Morality in the Reign of Henry VII,”
Historical Research 82/217 (2009): 393-411.
Amt, Medieval England, nos. 84-85 (Polydore Vergil, An Italian Relation)
Key and Bulcholz, Sources, pp.20-26 + docs. 1.3-1.5, 1.7-1.8, 2.5-2.7 (pp.10-14, 15-19, 35-39)
*Topic Proposal and preliminary bibliography due Friday, April 11th by 3pm*
(M) Apr 14th - Henry VIII and the Reformation (F)
Guy, The Tudors, ch. 2-3
Key and Bulcholz, Sources, pp.26-28, 44-50, and docs. 3.1-3.5 (pp.57-63)
(CR 140-145) The Six Articles, 1539, and documents on the dissolution of the monasteries, ed. Hillerbrand
in The Reformation, pp. 335-41.
(CR 146-147) Henry VIII’s last speech to Parliament, ed. Smith and Smith in Past Speaks, 203-04.
(W) Apr 16th - Edward VI and ‘Bloody’ Mary (A)
Guy, The Tudors, ch. 4-5
(CR 148-149) Rose Hickman’s Memoir, ed. David Cressy and Lori Anne Ferrell, in Religion and Society in
Early Modern England: A Sourcebook (Routledge, 1996), 34-37.
Key and Bulcholz, Sources, docs. 3.6-3.9 (pp.64-71)
(M) Apr 21st - Queenship and the State (B)
Guy, The Tudors, ch. 6
(CR 150-165) Susan Doran, “Why Did Elizabeth Not Marry?” in Dissing Gloriana: Negative Representations of
Gloriana, ed. Julia M. Walker (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1998), 30-59.
Key and Bulcholz, Sources, pp.80-85, docs. 4.4-4.13 (p.91-103)
(CR 166-168) Elizabeth I’s Letter to James VI of Scotland, and Roger Wilbraham’s comparison of
Elizabeth and James, both ed. Smith and Smith in Past Speaks, 272-74.
(W) Apr 23rd - Elizabethan Culture (C)
Guy, The Tudors, ch. 7-8
Key and Bulcholz, Sources, pp.104-118 and docs. 5.1-5.10 (pp.122-133)
(CR 169-170) Cases from the Oxfordshire Archdeaconry Court, ed. Cressy and Ferrell, Religion and
Society, 122-25.
Unit 9: Early Modern England
(M) Apr 28th - Early Stuart Kingship (D)
(CR 171-178) Clayton Roberts, David Roberts, and Douglas R. Bisson, “Early Stuart England,” in A
History of England, Vol. 1: Prehistory to 1714, 4th edn. (Pearson, 2002), 326-34.
(CR 179-194) Mark Kishlansky, “The Political World,” in A Monarchy Transformed: Britain, 1603-1714
(London and New York: Penguin, 1997), 34-64.
Key and Bulcholz, Sources, pp.134-53 and docs. 6.1-6.2, 6.5-6.10 (pp.156-57, 160-65)
(W) Apr 30th - Civil War (E)
(CR 195-205) John Morrill, “The Causes and Course of the British Civil Wars,” in The Cambridge Companion
to Writing of the English Revolution, ed. N.H. Keeble (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 13-31.
Key and Bulcholz, Sources, pp. 174-93 and docs. 6.12-13, 7.3-6, 7.11-14 (pp.166-69, 199-205, 212-18)
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(M) May 5th - Comparative Colonial Projects (F)
Key and Bulcholz, Sources and Debates, pp. 72-80 and docs. 2.11, 4.1-3 (pp.42-43, 87-91)
(CR 206-217) Jane H. Ohlmeyer, “’Civilizinge of those Rude Partes:’ Colonization within Britain and
Ireland, 1580s-1640s, in The Oxford History of the Brtish Empire, Vol. 1: The Origins of Empire, ed. Nicholas
Canny (Oxford, 1998), 124-47.
(CR 218-223) Edmund Spenser, A View of the Present State of Ireland and Letters Patent to Sir Humphrey
Gilbert, ed. Aughterson in The English Renaissance, 107-14 and 506-07.
Plus one of the following two articles:
(CR 224-237) John C. Appleby, “War, Politics, and Colonization, 1558-1625,” in The Oxford History of the
Brtish Empire, Vol. 1, ed. Canny, 54-78.
(CR 238-260) Melanie Perreault, “’To Fear and to Love Us:’ Intercultural Violence in the English Atlantic,”
Journal of World History 17/1 (Mar. 2006): 71-93
(W) May 7th- No class (You’re cordially invited to attend the annual History Day Celebration, room TBA)
*Final papers due on Wednesday, May 14th by 3pm in my office*
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