J.P.Sommerville

HISTORY 361, 2008: the Final exam is a take home exam; send your answers to Michael Kelly at <kelly2@wisc.edu> by email attachment, before noon on Monday 05/12. (Earlier is fine).

Answer one question from each section.

Your answers should total up to 1800 words (say, 1200 on the Cumulative section and 600 on the non-cumulative).

You can write good answers on the basis of the material in lectures, the web site, and the readings; but feel free to use material from other books or articles (though note that Wikipedia and other web sources are sometimes wildly inaccurate); there is no need to cite sources unless you directly quote, and no need to cite lectures or the web site.

Here are the questions.  

CUMULATIVE SECTION (worth 65% of the points)

Answer 1 (one) of the following three questions (suggested length: 1100-1200 words.)

(1) “Between 1485 and 1660 England underwent revolutionary changes which transformed it from a medieval and feudal state to a distinctively modern one”. Do you agree or disagree with this thesis, and why?

(2) How, why, and with  what consequences did the relationship between England’s rulers and their parliaments change between 1485 and 1660?

(3) What problems did religion and church-state relations pose for England’s rulers between the Reformation and the Restoration, and how successful were they at solving them?

NON-CUMULATIVE SECTION (worth 35% of the points)

Answer 1 (one) of the following three questions (suggested length: 600-700 words.)

(1) Why did the Restoration happen, and what did it restore – and fail to restore?

(2) Why did Oliver Cromwell fail to establish a lasting settlement in England?

(3) “The events of the period of the Civil Wars and Interregnum – 1642-1660 – had few if any lasting consequences”. What can be said for and against this claim?

  Semester II, 2008
 

	This course will explore a decisive period in the making of modern Britain, and of the western world today. Though the social, economic and intellectual aspects of the period will not be neglected, the main focus of the course will be on political and constitutional change. The course will begin with a broad introduction to early-modern Britain. Then we will examine how the turbulent period of the Wars of the Roses was ended, and how the Tudor monarchy broke the independence of the "over-mighty magnates" of late-medieval England.
	The Tudors succeeded in introducing far greater unity and centralization than had existed earlier, and this will be the main theme of the first half of the course. Topics discussed will include the Reformation, the so-called "Tudor Revolution in Government," the bitter factional politics of the court of Henry VIII, the Marian Reaction and the "mid-Tudor crisis," and the re-establishment of royal power in the reign of Elizabeth - when an unprecedented flowering of English culture took place, and when English sea-power staved off conquest by Catholic Spain.
	The succession of James, King of Scots to the English throne in 1603, united the Scottish and English monarchies but the new Stuart dynasty was soon faced with grave problems. The second half of the course will examine the ways in which financial, constitutional and religious issues combined to lead to civil war and to the execution of the King and the introduction of a republic in England in 1649. We will also see how the advent of a military despotism and the proliferation of radical ideas led the English to reintroduce monarchy in 1660.

Instructor:

Johann Sommerville

Email: jsommerv@wisc.edu

Office: Humanities 5214; Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:15-2:15 and by appointment.

Teaching Assistant: 

Michael Kelly
Email: kelly2@wisc.edu

Office: 5268 Humanities; Office Hours: Wednesdays, 1:30-3:30.

The Course schedule gives an outline of this course's content, summaries of the lectures, additional relevant information, and links to other internet sites.

This is a three or four credit course for undergraduates, and a three credit course for graduate students. If you are registered for the wrong number of credits, please visit your MyUW site and follow the links to update your current course information.

Undergraduates

• attend lectures (TR, 2:30-3:45, 1101 Humanities.)
• do the required course reading.
• attend discussion section.
• and explore the material on this site by clicking the hyperlinks (starting with Course schedule.)
  

Three credit undergraduates do two midterms (in class on 2/26 and 4/17,) and take the final (07:45, Monday 5/12, place to be announced;) four credit students do the same things and also write a term paper (due 3/27 in class.)

Your fourth credit term paper should be double-spaced and about 5-6 pages in length; in addition to the 5-6 pages of text, the paper should also include a bibliography, and references to things you have read, giving your sources, and it should show familiarity with at least two books or articles in addition to the course reading. See this guide on how to cite references in your paper.

The paper should be on either:
(1) Why did the Reformation happen in England, and what effects did it have on English society and government?
(2) What problems confronted Elizabeth I in the course of her long reign, and how successful was she in overcoming them?
(3) What were the causes and consequences of the mid-seventeenth century civil wars?
or  

(4) another topic, by arrangement by myself or Michael Kelly.

Graduate students:

Do 2 term papers (12-15 pp. including notes and bibliography; due 3/13 and 5/8.) Topics by arrangement.

Reading

Required Texts:

(1) Susan Brigden, New Worlds, Lost Worlds: the Rule of the Tudors 1485-1603; Paper; Penguin; 2002 (ISBN-10: 0142001252 or ISBN-13: 978-0142001257.) This is the main textbook for the first half of the course.

(2) Mark Kishlansky, A Monarchy Transformed: Britain 1603-1714; Paper; Penguin; 1997 (ISBN-10: 0140148272 or ISBN-13: 978-0140148275 .) Read the first nine chapters. this is the main textbook for the second half of the course.

NOTE: you will be given detailed reading assignments in discussion section.

Also read the material and follow the links in the pages on this site, beginning with the Course schedule. Those who are interested, and people writing term papers, could also consult the much larger book list here - - and this search engine . A good collection of biographies is available in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .

How much are the exams (etc.) worth:

Undergraduates:

3 credit: discussion section participation and attendance: 20%; each midterm 20%; final 40%.

4 credit: discussion section participation and attendance: 20%; each midterm 15%; final 30%; term paper 20%.

Graduates: 50% for each paper.

A note on term papers and the Internet:

The term paper should cite at least two sources in addition to the course reading. This booklist provides many sources, and others are listed in the footnotes and endnotes of the course reading. Addall is a good link for buying books cheaply. Be careful about using sources from the Internet, as they are not always reliable. As a general rule, use printed, published sources (though it's fine to use them in pdf versions available on the Internet.)

A good guide on questions of style, grammar etc. is available at The Wisconsin Handbook.

Finally, be aware that you should be careful to give proper citations for things you take from the Internet or from printed books and articles; take a look at this information on academic misconduct.

[Hints on how to write a good paper]