This module will examine the deep cultural, political, and religious roots of the British Empire from the sixteenth through to the early eighteenth centuries. Beginning with early attempts by the English (and later ‘British’) state to extend influence over the ‘British Isles’ through Ireland and Scotland in the sixteenth century, this module will investigate and question these models of extending control and influence into a wider discussion of imperial endeavours abroad. This will include analysis of the operation of and life within burgeoning colonies in the Americas, Tangier, and India. Central to these discussions will be the question of situating imperial discussions within wider dialogues of centre and periphery: for instance, how power was extended and negotiated across imperial networks; the role of religion in the shaping of imperial ideas; emergent concepts of ethnicity and ‘Britishness’ within and across the early empire; and the role of ‘marginal’ groups in the forging and questioning of imperial efforts (for instance, the place of women, religious minorities, radicals, and others). A wide variety of sources – including contemporary correspondence, political tracts, artwork, material objects, architecture, and fashion – will help to illuminate a side of the British Empire which challenges the place of empire in world history and the idea of ‘Britishness’ in an increasingly transnational world

Knowledge and Understanding:

Upon the completion of the advanced option, the typical student will be able to

·       Demonstrate a systematic and critical understanding of the early British Empire and a wide variety of historiographical approaches to both the British Empire specifically and the notion of ‘empire’ more broadly

·       Critically identify and engage with both contemporary and current interpretations of the nature and legacy of the British Empire.

·       Discuss and critically assess the range of secondary debates regarding early-modern empires, including the challenges posed by social and cultural approaches to ethnicity, gender, religion, and politics.

·       Assess and interpret a variety of primary sources relating to the practice and experience of the early British Empire

A range of teaching methods will be employed in order to structure student discussion and debate. The aim will be to facilitate open conversation regarding key issues while still maintaining a strong foundation in wider debates over the nature of  imperialism and transnational cultures in the early-modern world. The syllabus will be divided into sub-themes, which will be addressed in overview in the lectures and discussed more intensively, and with greater detail, in the seminars. Seminars will provide students with the opportunity to discuss debates within the secondary literature in greater detail while also engaging with primary source material where feasible. Opportunities will be provided within the seminars to pursue particular thematic strands not fully addressed in the lectures. Students will also be required to give short presentations in seminars as part of developing skills in oral presentation and organisation.

The following skills will be developed  and assessed:

·       The development and articulation of clear, well-researched and theory-driven arguments grounded on independent study.

·       The ability to deconstruct and challenge existing arguments and assumptions while putting forward alternate views

·       The ability to constructively challenge and engage with the arguments of fellow students

·       Time management and study skills.

.       Accessing, employing, and critically assessing information technologies made available to them

Summative assessment takes the form of one 3,000 and 4,000 word essay (excluding empirical appendices and references).

Themes to be discussed will include:

• Introduction: Empire, Centre and Periphery – Approaches and Apprehensions
• The First Empire? The ‘New British History’, Transnationalism, and Models of Integration
• Ireland: Surrender and Conquest under the Tudors
• Ireland: Religion and Revolt – the Desmond and Tyrone Rebellions
• Ireland: The Language of Colonialism – Edmund Spenser
• The Union of the Crowns and the Early Stuart Settlements: Creating ‘Britain’?
• The Wars of the Three Kingdoms: An Imperial War?
• Protestantism and Empire: The American Colonies – A Protestant Atlantic?
• Protestantism and Empire: Primary Source Discussion - ‘Puritanism’ and Early American Identity
• Protestantism and Empire: The Western Design and A Godly Empire
• What Type of Empire?: Tangier – Failed Empire and the British Plan
• What Type of Empire?: India and Empire – The East India Company
• What Type of Empire?: The West Indies – Luxury and Disruption
• Review – Whose Empire?

Please see Background Reading List for an indicative list.

Indicative Reading and Resource List:

In addition to exemplary secondary studies of the early British Empire listed below, students will be required to make use of online databases (including EEBO and ECCO, listed above) and major academic journal repositories (including JSTOR). It is expected that students will be, in part, guided in their readings by personal interest as  well as by assigned ‘required’ readings for seminar discussion and lecture frameworks.

Armitage, D., The ideological origins of the British empire, (Cambridge, 2000).

Armitage, D. and M. Braddick (eds.), The British Atlantic world, 1500-1800, (Basingstoke, 2002).

Barnard, T., Making the grand figure : lives and possessions in Ireland, 1641-1770, (New Haven, 2004).

Bowen, H.V., Wales and the British overseas empire : interactions and influences, 1650-1830, (Manchester, 2011).

Bridenbaugh, C., Cities in the wilderness : the first century of urban life in Ammerica, 1625-1742, (London, 1971).  

Canny, N. Making Ireland British, 1580-1650, (Oxford, 2001).

Canny, N. (ed.), The origins of empire : British overseas enterprise to the close of the seventeenth century, (Oxford, 1998).

Chauduri, K., The trading world of Asia and the English East India Company, 1660-1760, (Cambridge, 1978).

Elliott, J.H., The old world and the new, 1492-1650, (London, 1970).

Foster, W., The English factories in India, 1624-1664: a calendar of documents in the India Office, (Burlington, 2010).  

Games, A., Migration and the origins of the English Atlantic world, (Cambridge, 1999).

Morgan, P. and B. Bailyn, Strangers within the realm : cultural margins of the first British Empire, (Chapel Hill, 1991).

Sarson, S., British America, 1500-1800 : creating colonies, imagining an empire, (London, 2005).

Wilson, K., A new imperial history : culture, identity, and modernity in Britain and the Empire, 1660-1840, (Cambridge, 2004)