Rebellion and Revolution: Britain, 1637-1653 - Semester 2 - HIS00158H

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Module summary

Rioting, iconoclasm, mass petitioning, and the ‘invention of news’; families, friends, and neighbours divided; the trial and execution of King Charles I by his own people; the establishment of this country’s only republic, the conquest of Scotland and Ireland by an English army, and the rise to power of an obscure Fenlands gentleman called Oliver Cromwell. The civil wars are one of the most exciting periods in Britain’s history. These years were revolutionary: this course invites you to ask why. The ‘British civil wars’ have gone by other names – ‘the English civil wars’ is the most recognisable – but whatever we call them, they continue to fascinate because they were so hotly debated not only by elites, but also by ordinary people. These wars were fought with words as well as weapons.

Making use of a huge volume of controversial print material, the course will help you get to grips with the novel ways in which the written word was used to mobilize opinion. The civil wars were undoubtedly an exhilarating experience for many people, allowing men and women to experiment with new religious practices and engage with politics in new ways. We also need to acknowledge that, for many others, the wars were experienced and remembered as a time of profound anxiety, hardship, fear, brutality, and loss. The course concludes by considering the ambiguous and contested legacy of a ‘world turned upside down’. Wars that had generated new ideas about ‘liberty’ and ‘freedom’ ended with regicide and conquest.

Related modules

Students taking this module must also take the first part in Semester 1.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 2 2024-25

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

• To introduce students to in depth study of a specific historical topic using primary and secondary material;
• To enable students to explore the topic through discussion and writing; and
• To enable students to evaluate and analyse primary sources.

Module learning outcomes

Students who complete this module successfully will:

• Grasp key themes, issues and debates relevant to the topic being studied;
• Have acquired knowledge and understanding about that topic;
• Be able to comment on and analyse original sources;
• Be able to relate the primary and secondary material to one another; and
• Have acquired skills and confidence in close reading and discussion of texts and debates.

Module content

Students will attend a 3-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 2. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight three-hour seminars in all. A one-to-one meeting between tutor and students will also be held to discuss assessments.
 
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:

1. The wars in print 1: newsbooks
2. The wars in print 2: Scots, soldiers, and sectaries
3. Freeborn Englishmen - and their wives
4. ‘No mere mercenary army’: politics and the new model army 
5. ‘Martyr of the People’ or ‘Man of Blood’? The regicide
6. The conquering commonwealth
7. Memory and the civil wars    
8. A revolutionary legacy?    

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

For formative assessment, students submit an essay draft of 2000-words.
 
For summative assessment, students complete a 4000-word essay relating to the themes and issues of the module. This comprises 100% of the overall module mark. Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period. 

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Module feedback

Following their formative assessment task, students will receive a one-to-one meeting with the tutor to discuss the essay and their plans for the assessed essay.  

Work will be returned to students with written comments in their tutorial and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to make use of their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.

For summative assessment tasks, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.

Indicative reading

For semester time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:

• Michael Braddick, God’s Fury, England’s Fire: A New History of the English Civil Wars (London: Allen Lane, 2008).
• Ann Hughes, Gender and the English Revolution (London: Routledge, 2012).
• Diane Purkiss, The English Civil War: A People’s History (London: HarperCollins, 2006).