Eglin, John A.

English

University of Montana

University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana University of Montana Course Syllabi Open Educational Resources (OER) Fall 9-1-2021 HSTR 348.01: Britain 1485-1688 John A. Eglin University of Montana, Missoula, john.eglin@umontana.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/syllabi Let us know how access to this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Eglin, John A., "HSTR 348.01: Britain 1485-1688" (2021). University of Montana Course Syllabi. 12333. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/syllabi/12333 This Syllabus is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Educational Resources (OER) at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Montana Course Syllabi by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact scholarworks@mso.umt.edu.                                                                  HISTORY [HSTR] 348: BRITAIN 1485 TO 1688 A. Eglin, LA 255, MWF 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM, or by appointment, or by accident. john.eglin@umontana.edu J.Welcome! This course will introduce you to the history of a nation that has had a great deal of influence (perhaps too much!) on our own history. This period in British history witnessed tumultuous change. England and Scotland eachunderwent religious reformations, while Ireland remained within the Roman Catholic fold. Ireland came under English domination, while Scotland, dynasticallyunited with England after 1603, stubbornly maintained its independence. Politicalchange emerged from decades of conflict, including a bloody civil war involvingall three kingdoms, the execution of one king in 1649, the much less violentremoval of another king in 1688, and his replacement by a nominee of Parliament in 1689. The power of the English Parliament increased at the expense of the British monarch (although Britain was still far from democratic at the end of thisperiod). Students in this course will gain an understanding of these developmentsand their wider significance, and in the process will develop their ability to read,write, speak and think critically and historically. We will focus not only on "whathappened," but how we know, and how we find out. This syllabus contains usefulinformation, and you should retain it for future reference.Course Texts are currently available for purchase in the University CenterBookstore. These are as follows:Robert Bucholz and Newton Key, Early Modern England 1485-1714Eamon Duffy, Voices of MorebathDavid Underdown, Fire From HeavenIn addition, there will be weekly primary source readings, which will be deliveredin various formats online; you can follow embedded links to many of these in thissyllabus. Class Meetings. Mondays and Wednesdays at 1 PM are set aside for lecture andfor your questions or comments relating to the subject matter. I may also directquestions to you, and for this reason, you should complete the assigned textbookreading before the first lecture of the week for which it is assigned. Attendance will not be monitored. You should attend anyway. Moreover, since you’re there,you really ought to take notes on lectures – your own notes. You should no moreborrow someone’s else’s notes than you should borrow their toothbrush. Takingnotes on lectures forces you to listen actively, and you are more likely to                                                                               remember what is said.Fridays are set aside for discussions of the primary source readings assigned forthat week. You will turn in written responses to the readings, and you should beprepared to take part in discussion. The responses and discussions are intendedto give students experience in reading historical documents critically and analytically. The reading responses are to be handed in at the beginning of classon Friday, and may not be turned in later. They are to be 300 words in length, orone typed page with standard fonts and margins. Note, however, that theseresponses do not need to be typed. Do not neglect the reading responses, as you get no points for participation if you do not turn in the response at the beginningof class. While we’re on the subject, if you ‘re absent from discussion, you can’tvery well participate, can you?Grades will be determined by a midterm examination, two essays (based on theDuffy and Underdown books respectively), weekly reading responses andparticipation in discussions, and a final examination. Each of these five components (book reviews, examinations, and discussion/ responses) will countfor 20% of the final grade. NOTE: Since you will need 60% of the available pointsmerely to score an abysmal D-, beware that 20% is a much larger portion of yourgrade than it might seem. Most students who fail have neglected to turn in oneor more major assignments or to take one or more examinations; most studentswho neglect to turn in one or more major assignments or to take one or moreexaminations fail.I use the plus/minus grading scale, modified to eliminate the silly grade of “D+,”as follows: A, 93-100 points; A-, 90-92; B+, 87-89; B, 83-86; B-, 80-82; C+, 77-79;C, 73-76; C-, 70-72; D, 65-69; D-, 60-64; F, 0-59. Be advised that I will not changegrades once they are assigned. Make-up examinations will not be given, and latework not accepted, except for reasons which are verifiable and allowed underuniversity regulations. (For example, please note that I absolutely will not givemake-ups of examinations to accommodate any travel arrangements a student may have made either before or after the fact). It is the student’s responsibility topresent these reasons as soon as possible, to provide documentation if asked, to arrange to make up work, and to do so in a timely fashion. Students withlegitimate excuses typically present them promptly, and often through theagency of a health care provider or a university official.Drops require the consent of the instructor after the fifteenth instructional day(13 September 2021). After the forty-fifth instructional day (1 November 2021),                                                                   drops are available only in very specific circumstances and only through petitionwhich must be approved by the instructor, your advisor, and the Dean, in that order. Drop petitions will be considered (but not necessarily granted) only ifaccompanied with documentation. I reserve the right to investigate droppetitions.Disabilities. Every effort will be made to provide reasonable accommodations forstudents with disabilities. Requests for accommodation should be made throughthe Office of Disability Equity. If you anticipate or experience barriers based ondisability, please contact the ODE by phone at (406) 243-2243, by e-mail at ode@umontana.edu, or visit www.umt.edu/disability for more information. As the ODE cannot honor retroactive accommodation requests, please contact themas soon as issues arise. And, of course, feel free to me, and be assured that I willhold all such communications in strict confidence.COVID-19 Advisory: If you have not been vaccinated, the University (myselfincluded) urges you to do so. Please contact the Curry Health Center forinformation and with any questions or concerns. The University’s pandemicprotocols stipulate that masks must be worn in all indoor instructional settings,which in this case means lectures, discussion sections, and office hours. TheUniversity Provost has instructed faculty to initiate disciplinary proceedings in thecase of students who refuse to mask. If our enrollment precludes social distancing in lecture (which is likely), I will have to implement a seating chart andtake attendance in order to enable contact tracing. Faculty have been warned that if we do not impose these measures, a single exposure could result in entireclasses having to quarantine. If you fall ill or begin to exhibit symptoms, pleasedo not attend class but contact the Curry Health Center. If you are required toquarantine or isolate, please contact us immediately so that I can take measuresto support and accommodate you.Academic dishonesty warning. The History Department believes that students arebest served through the maintenance of high academic standards. Academicdishonesty undermines these standards, and threatens the integrity of theUniversity. Fortunately, in my experience at this institution, academic dishonestyis ridiculously easy to catch. In accordance with the Student Conduct Code, anystudent who cheats on an examination, or who commits plagiarism in an essay ora reading response, will be assigned a failing grade in the course. I have onlyimposed this penalty in the face of overwhelming evidence, but I have done so without pity. In addition, academic dishonesty may result in more seriouspenalties, including suspension or even expulsion.                                                                       In closing, let me encourage all of you, in this class and out of it, to be activeparticipants in your own education. A UM education costs about what you’ll payfor a new car, and either one will go a lot further if you drive it yourself.COURSE SCHEDULE Week One (30 August-3 September) Tudors, Stuarts, and You: Introduction and Background.Week Two (8-10 September) The Accountant’s  Revenge: The Fifteenth-CenturyCrisis and the Rise of the Tudors. EME 1-31.Week Three (13-17 September) Household Hints: The Tudor Revolution in Government. EME 32-64. Discussion: William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas More. Focus question: What conclusions can we draw about the nature of governmentin Tudor England from this biography of a high-ranking royal official, written byhis son-in-law?Week Four (20-24 September) What if Somebody Threw a  Reformation, and  Nobody Came?: The Crisis in the Church. EME 65-91. Discussion: The Book ofCommon Prayer (editions of 1549 and 1552), selections. Focus question: How didrevisions in the prayerbook reflect tensions over religious reform?Week Five (27 September – 1 October) Bloody Mary Straight Up: The EdwardineReformation and the Marian Reaction. EME 92-115. Discussion: John Foxe, Actsand Monuments of the Christian Martyrs, selections. Focus question: This bookwas initially published in 1563, very shortly after the events described. It wasamong three books which could be found in any parish church in England, alongwith the Bible and Book of Common Prayer. Why do you think this book was thatimportant?Week Six (4-8 October) We Knew Her Before She Was a Virgin: The ElizabethanSettlement. EME 116-157. Discussion: Duffy, Voices of Morebath (no reading response expected, as essays are due Monday).First Essay due Monday 11 October. Week Seven (11-15 October) Pease Porridge in the Pot, Nine Days Old: EverydayLife in Early Modern Britain. EME 158-211. Discussion: William Harrison, The                                                                        Description of England, selections. Focus question: What sorts of social attitudesare reflected in Harrison’s Description?Week Eight (18-22 October) Francis Drake and Demi Moore: The Wider World.No discussion or focus question because of theMidterm Examination Friday 22 October. Week Nine (25-29 October) Scots on the Rocks: The Succession of the Stuarts.EME 212-249. Discussion: John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress. Focus question: IfBunyan’s work is a classic of puritanism, then what are the characteristics ofpuritanism? How are these characteristics illustrated?Week Ten (1-5 November) Laud Almighty: Charles I and Personal Rule.Discussion: Letters of Charles I, selections. Focus question: What does Charles I seem to think about the respective roles of parliaments and monarchs?Week Eleven (8-12 November) Trade in that Old Regime for a New Model: The Civil Wars. EME 250-276. Discussion: John Evelyn, Diary, selections. Focusquestion: Evelyn was a committed royalist who sat out the Civil Wars in exile onthe Continent, returning to England in 1652. How and why does he seem to havestayed out of trouble under the Commonwealth?Week Twelve (15-19 November) King Loses Head; Parliament Finds Rump: TheInterregnum. Discussion: Underdown, Fire from Heaven. No reading responseexpected, on account of theSecond Essay due Monday 22 November. Week Thirteen (29 November – 3 December) Big Hair is Back and Boy is it Mad: The Restoration. EME 277-314. Discussion: Samuel Pepys, Diary, selections. Focusquestion: Pepys lived throught the Great Fire of London in September 1666. Howdid he and his household cope?Week Fourteen (6-10 December) Orange You Glad to See Me?: The Revolution of1688. Discussion: John Locke, An Essay on Toleration. Focus question: How didLocke's ideas about religion differ from those of his contemporaries, including,very possibly, those who supported religous tolerance?Final Examination 1 PM Wednesday 15 December 2021                            Guidelines for First Essay Your first essay, to be based on Eamon Duffy's Voices of Morebath, is due in class on Monday 11 October 2021. It is to be 1500 words in length, typed, and double-spaced. It should have a title page with your name on it and only on it -- your name should not appear anywhere else on the paper. There are three topic options; please indicate on your title page which option you have chosen:  1. How does Duffy’s account of Morebath either support or refute Bucholz and Key’s accounts and interpretation of the English Reformation? What are the advantages and limitations of using the Morebath parish accounts as evidence for the course of the English Reformation?  2. How does Duffy’s account of Morebath either help us to answer, or hinder us from answering, questions about the extent of popular support for the Henrician Schism, the Edwardian Reform, the Marian Reaction, and the Elizabethan Settlement?  3. What does Duffy’s account of Morebath suggest about the relationship between the central government (the Tudor Regime) and local communities? Guidelines for Second Essay Your second essay, due in class on Monday 22 November 2021, is to be writtenon David Underdown's Fire from Heaven. Select one of the options below:1. In 1660, Charles II was restored to the throne by many of the very same peoplewho had helped to overthrow his father. What does Underdown's examination ofseventeenth-century Dorchester suggest about this political trajectory? Whymight people in Dorchester have wanted to overthrow the status quo? Whymight many of those same people have wanted, after two decades or so, torestore it?2. Historians of the English Civil War debate the "problem of allegiance," or, who took what side, and why: landed interests versus trading interests, high churchversus low church, southerners/easterners versus northerners/westerners, fans ofproto-soccer versus fans of proto-cricket (I am not kidding!), to name a few examples. What does Underdown suggest about this problem? Why wasDorchester so interesting in this connection?  3. It is often tempting to view seventeenth-century Puritanism as a marginal sect of extremists, especially in light of writers like John Bunyan, from whose Pilgrim's Progress Underdown takes his title. On the other hand, scholars like Patrick Collinson and Nicholas Tyacke have emphasized the degree to which "puritans" were more or less mainstream Anglicans. What does Underdown's treatment of "the most Puritan town in England" suggest about the nature (and very possibly the changing nature) of Puritanism?  Once again, your name should appear on a cover sheet, and nowhere else on the essay. Also, please indicate on the coversheet which of the three options you have selected. 

HSTR 348.01: Britain 1485-1688

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=13279&context=syllabi

HSTR 348.01: Britain 1485-1688

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

University of Montana