Unit name | Kingship and Crisis during the Wars of the Roses. (Level H Special Subject) |
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Unit code | HIST37011 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Reeks |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
'Sackage, carnage and wreckage' is the 1066 & All That summary of the fifteenth century in England, and its image as an era of anarchy and bloodshed has been crystallised in the popular imagination from the history plays of William Shakespeare to Game of Thrones. However, over the last forty years, increasing interest has been taken in this 'Cinderella century' by scholars and controversy continues to rage over major issues of interpretation. This special subject will address perhaps the most vital question - that of kingship during a period of dynastic turbulence and usurpation. How was kingly authority conferred and its continued validity restated and reaffirmed in a century when every occupant of the English throne had his right to it challenged?
On successful completion of this unit students will have developed:
Classes will involve a combination of class discussion, investigative activities, and practical activities. Students will be expected to engage with readings and participate on a weekly basis. This will be further supported with drop-in sessions and self-directed exercises with tutor and peer feedback.
1 x 3500-word Essay (50%) [ILOs 1-9]; 1 x Timed Assessment (50%) [ILOs 1-9]
Carpenter, Christine, The Wars of the Roses: politics and the constitution in England, c. 1437-1509 (Cambridge, CUP, 1997)
Cook, David R., Lancastrians and Yorkists: the Wars of the Roses (London, Longman, 1984)
J. L. Laynesmith, 'The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503' (Oxford, 2004).
Kleineke, Hannes & Christian Steer (eds), The Yorkist Age (Donington, Shaun Tyas, 2013)
Helen Maurer's 'Margaret of Anjou: Queenship and Power in Late Medieval England' (Boydell, 2005)
Pollard, A.J., The Wars of the Roses (2nd edn., Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001)
Watts, John, Henry VI and the Politics of Kingship (Cambridge, CUP, 1996)