MODULE SPECIFICATION

Code: UPHPJS-30-3 Title: Culture, Authority and Crisis: England and its Neighbours, 1348- c. 1520

Version: 4

Level: 3 UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15

Module type: Standard

Owning Faculty: Social Sciences and Humanities Field: History

Faculty Committee approval: QSC, Chair’s Action Date: 16^th July 2009

Approved for Delivery by:

(indicate name of affiliated institution if module will only be delivered by them)

Valid from: September 2009 Discontinued from:

Contributes towards: Awards up to BA Hons

Pre-requisites: None

Co-requisites: None

Entry requirements:

(if the module is offered as CPD or stand alone, indicate the entry requirements)

Excluded combinations: None

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this module, students should have, in relation to the period c. 1348-1520:

• a grasp of the chronology;

• an understanding of the main political, economic and social trends and issues;

• an understanding of the major cultural trends and movements;

• the ability to identify and analyse different forms of authority and their cultural manifestations and an understanding of their interrelationships;

• an understanding of the foundations and manifestations of cultures of subversion and contemporary critiques of political and social authority, together with an awareness of attempts to suppress or marginalise them;

• a critical appreciation of the different scholarly approaches to the issues raised in the module;

• a critical awareness of the problems and opportunities of multi/inter-disciplinary approaches to historical problems;

• the ability to discuss critically concepts such as ‘crisis’, ‘culture’ and ‘subversion’;

• the ability to analyse texts critically in their appropriate context.

Syllabus outline:

The module explores how political and social authority was asserted and challenged in the culture of the period between the Black Death and the Reformation; a period characterised by demographic crisis, political conflict and social fluidity. In doing so, it seeks to reflect a number of recent inter-disciplinary approaches to these issues. Of these, the module concentrates on the following:

• the role of theory and ideology in the practice of politics

• the importance of chivalry within elite secular culture

• dissent within ecclesiastical culture

• discourses of gender and the family

Authority – problematised, contested, reasserted – is the thread that links these elements, from real and theoretical challenges to royal and ecclesiastical authority, in a period when kings were dethroned and even killed with unprecedented frequency, and the church came under pressure from heresy and schism; through challenges to the authority of the landed and urban elites, in a period of unusual social fluidity, caused to some extent by demographic collapse, the disintegration of ‘feudalism’ and the rise of embryonic capitalism, to the problematic position of patriarchal authority in a period that has been called ‘a golden age for women’.

The module adopts a multi-disciplinary approach, using literature and literary scholarship, and, to a lesser extent, evidence from the visual and performance arts, to complement a core of social and political history. Its geographical focus is on England and its dependent territories and neighbours: Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France and Burgundy.

Indicative Sessions:

An Introduction to Aims, Sources and Methods

An Historical Overview of the Period c1348-1520

‘Mirrors for Princes’: court culture in England, France and Burgundy

Kings and Criticism: political propaganda and satire

Chivalry: the origins and meanings of an ideal

The Arthurian Cycle: the political uses of a myth

Nationhood and Ethnicity

Popular and Unpopular Religion: piety and heresy

Civic Culture: ritual and drama

Popular Culture: rebellion, carnival, and Robin Hood

Patriarchy: authority within the household

The Debate over Women

Conclusions: Authority and Subversion

Teaching and learning methods:

The module will be delivered through a combination of lectures, to introduce major themes and suggest frameworks for reading and discussion, and seminars, allowing discussion and the study of primary sources. There will be considerable emphasis on the use of primary sources, both documentary and visual, with the former covering both ‘historical’ and ‘literary’ texts. Lectures and seminars will be supplemented by personal tutorials as appropriate. All document extracts will be presented in translation where necessary, but students will be expected to develop a basic reading ability in Middle English.

Indicative Reading List:

Allan, A,	‘Royal propaganda and the proclamations of Edward IV’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 59 (1986).
Allmand, C (ed),	War, Government and Power in Late Medieval France (2000).
Archibald, e & Edwards, ASG (eds),	A Companion to Malory (1996, 2000).
Aston, M,	Faith and Fire: Popular and Unpopular Religion, 1350-1600 (1993).
Baker, D N (ed),	Inscribing the Hundred Years’ War in French and English Cultures (2000).
Barron, C & Saul, N (eds),	England and the Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages (1995).
Commynes, P de, trans M Jones,	Memoirs: The Reign of Louis XI, 1461-83 (1972).
Coss, P,	‘Aspects of cultural diffusion in medieval England: the early romances, local society and Robin Hood’, Past & Present, 108 (1985).
Davies, R G,	‘Lollardy and locality’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 6th ser, 1 (1991).
Davies, R R	The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dwr (1995).
Dockray, K	‘Patriotism, pride and propaganda: England and the English in the fifteenth century’, The Ricardian, 110 (1990).
Doig, J	‘Political propaganda and royal proclamation in late medieval England’, Historical Research, 71 (1998).
Fleming, P	‘The Hautes and their ‘circle’: Culture and the English gentry’, in D Williams (ed), England in the Fifteenth Century (1987).
Fleming, P	Family and Household in Medieval England (2000).
Fleming, P	‘Telling tales of oligarchy in the late medieval town’, in M Hicks (ed), Revolution and Consumption in Late Medieval England (2001).
Griffiths, R A	Conquerers and Conquered in Medieval Wales (1994).
Humphrey, C	The Politics of Carnival: Festive Misrule in Medieval England (2001).
James, M E	‘Ritual, drama and the social body in the late-medieval English town’, Past & Present, 98 (1983).
Justice, S	Writing and Rebellion: England in 1381 (1994).
Kaeuper, R W	Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe (1999).
Keen, M	Chivalry (1984).
Strohm, P	England’s Empty Throne: Usurpation and the Language of Legitimation, 1399-1422 (1998).
Sutton, A & Visser-Fuchs, L	Richard III’s Books (1997).
Watts, J	Henry VI and the Politics of Kingship (1996).

Assessment

Weighting between components A and B (standard modules only) A: 50% B:

ATTEMPT 1

First Assessment Opportunity

Component A

Description of each element Element weighting

1. Examination: three hours 50%

Component B

Description of each element Element weighting

1. Document Exercise 10%

2. Essay 1 - 2000 words 20%

3. Essay 2 - 2000 words 20%

Second Assessment Opportunity (further attendance at taught classes is not required)

Component A

Description of each element Element weighting

1. Examination: three hours 50%

Component B

Description of each element Element weighting

1. Document Exercise - 1000 words 10%

2. Essay 1 - 2000 words 20%

3. Essay 2 - 2000 words 20%

SECOND (OR SUBSEQUENT) ATTEMPT Attendance at taught classes is required.

Specification confirmed by …………………………………………………Date ……………………………

(Associate Dean/Programme Director)