Unit name | The English Civil Wars |
---|---|
Unit code | HISTM0094 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | M/7 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
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 |
This unit explores the causes, course and consequences of the most calamitous wars in English history. What started as an attempt to restrain the royal prerogative morphed into a full-throttled assault on the old order. Removing monarchy proved easy compared to attempts to establish a republic, which floundered against the radicalisation of former supporters, the apathy of a divided country, and the weight of its own contradictions.
Historians are blessed with both a high-quality source base and a topic that captures the public imagination, but many of the key questions remain unresolved. Why did England slide into war in 1642? Why did Parliament win and why did the winners divide among themselves? Why was Charles I executed? Why did the English experiment with republicanism fail?
This unit will place particular focus on the English experience but will locate that experience in British and European contexts. Seminars will take their cue from past and present historiographical debates and key sources like Parliamentary Acts and Ordinances, printed newsbooks, diaries and journals, and various local records such as those of parish churches and incorporated town governments.
The unit aims to:
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
One two-hour weekly seminar.
One 5000-word essay (100%). [ILOs 1-4].
Caroline Boswell, Disaffection and Everyday Life in Interregnum England (Boydell: Woodbridge, 2017)
Richard Cust and Ann Hughes, Conflict in Early Stuart England, 1603-1642 (Routledge: Abingdon, 1989)
Rachel Foxley, The Levellers: Radical Political Thought in the English Revolution (Manchester University Press: Manchester, 2014)
Ian Gentles, The English Revolution and the Wars in the Three Kingdoms, 1637-1653 (Routledge: London and New York, 2007)
John Morrill, The Revolt of the Provinces: Conservatives and Radicals in the English Civil War, 1630-1650 (Longman: London, 1982)
Conrad Russell, The Fall of the British Monarchies, 1637-1642 (Clarendon: Oxford, 1995)