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BRITISH HISTORY LECTURE (all codes)

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course is a series of 90-minute lectures. The early sessions will be broadly chronological
in nature, after which the topics will become more thematic. Each of the lecture hand-outs can
be found at the department web site, and it is the students responsibility to make them
available prior to each lecture. Should for any reason the full complement of lectures not
be held, the final test will presuppose a knowledge of the contents of all of the lectures.
You will find an instruction at the end of each hand-out to read the relevant chapter of the
course literature, K. O. Morgans Oxford History. This book has ten chapters, so we are
talking about approximately a chapter a week. Students are strongly recommended to read at
this rate, or they will find it difficult if not impossible to complete the book or the final test.
The final test will presuppose a thorough reading (and digestion) of the course
literature.
Core Course Literature
1. Course hand-outs. In addition to the hand-outs mentioned above, supplementary reading
is occasionally distributed at lectures. Please ensure that you have ALL of the material, as this
may mean the difference between a pass and a fail at the final exam.
2. MORGAN, Kenneth O. (ed.): The Oxford (Illustrated) History of Britain. Oxford
University Press.
My copy is 1993, but this is constantly in print. I recommend the illustrated version, but there
is a cheaper edition available without illustrations. It is usually available at the Pcs
Alexandra outlet.
Please do NOT make the mistake of buying any other history of Britain, as it is unlikely to
help you through the course and the test.
You will find especially helpful the royal dynastic family trees at the end of the book.
Supplementary reading.
There are at least as many interpretations of history as there are history writers. Here are some
that you might find useful and accessible. Use these as back-up material, using the Index at
the back of the books.
BRIGGS, Asa. A Social History of England Penguin. One of the last social histories to have
England rather than Britain in the title, but this (and Trevelyan, below) do actually treat
the whole of G.B., but from the English perspective.
SCHAMA, Simon. A History of Britain. BBC: A new, three-volume history available as
reference material at the English/German Dept. Library. TREVELYAN, G.M. English Social
History Penguin. First published during WWII, so occasionally a bit jingoistic, but a valuable
pioneer work of social history.
My ongoing online History Dates can be found if you go to www.andyrouse.com and click on
History Dates. The list is not there for you to memorize the dates () but to give you a
timeline so you can quickly see who and what was when!
The Internet is very useful if you want to check your knowledge of any particular topic in just
a few words. Wikipedia and the online concise Encyclopaedia Britannica are excellent
sources, but a simple google will give you quick and easy access to practically any
historical topic and certainly those that we deal with in the course.

SYLLABUS
Week One: The arrival of the various ethnic groups in the British Isles, from the Beaker Folk
to 21st century immigration
Weeks Two and Three: The development of power structures, from tribal to modern
democracy.
Week Four: Religion in Britain. Paganism, medieval religions, Reformation, denomination
and sect proliferation, modern multireligious community, religion and education.
Week Five: Vernacular History, Urban Legend. History from the vernacular perspective.
Annual cycles, life cycles, national icons.
Week Six: Middle Ages. This week and next week we look at two periods in British history
which, it is argued, deserve special attention. The medieval period covers 1,000 years, from
the coming of the Saxons to the English Renaissance.
Week Seven: Eighteenth Century. This is the century when America was lost and Australia
formed, when the institute of Prime Minister was created and the first newspapers were
published, when hanging was a popular form of entertainment but when the conditions for the
abolition of slavery were produced.
Week Eight: Suffrage. The history of political human rights.
Week Nine: Taxation. A fascinating history that affects us all and reflects greatly the issues of
different periods. Taxation is to a great extent the history of government management.
Week Ten: Food in historical perspective. The consumption of food and drink is the single
communal activity which we spend most time on in the social company of other people. Over
time it has produced a complicated set of behavioral patterns which, though most people think
of as eternal and universal rules of etiquette but which, in fact, are determined by historic
factors.
Week Eleven: The Arts in historical perspective. A survey of various art forms, some of them
less obvious, most of them with a particular English slant. As well as musicians, artists and
some writers, the lecture also looks at the Bayeux Tapestry, lace-making traditions,
architecture, gardening, silversmiths and cabinet-makers.
Week Twelve: Recapitulation. A chance to return to any of the topics covered during the
lecture series before the end-of-course exam.
Week Thirteen: Test

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