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HIST211

The Making of Britain: 450-1688
HIST211 SP

Crosslistings: MDST205

Next Offered in 9899 SP

This course of lectures will focus on the emergence of Britain by examining a series of formative moments and crises that blended Britons into a political, religious and ethnic community but also differentiated them from outsiders. The course is therefore as much about the cultural creation of the English and the British as it is about the political events and military crises that occurred. The course begins in the fifth century, at the moment that the Romanized Celts in England and Scotland first felt the effects of the Germanic English invaders, and will conclude in the seventeenth century when England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland had been united under one Protestant monarch. It is a story guided by conquest, religion and ethnicity.

MAJOR READINGS

Gildas, DE EXCIDIO BRITANNIAE
Gerald of Wales, THE JOURNEY THROUGH WALES
King James VII, POLITICAL WRITINGS

Bede, A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND PEOPLE
Milton, A DEFENSE OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE
John Knox, HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND
John Locke, A LETTER CONCERNING TOLERATION
William Shakespeare, RICHARD II-HENRY V

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Two papers; two exams.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS HIST

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-03-1998




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