HS1742: The British Civil Wars and Revolution, c.1638-1649

School History
Department Code SHARE
Module Code HS1742
External Subject Code 100758
Number of Credits 30
Level L6
Language of Delivery English
Module Leader Dr Lloyd Bowen
Semester Double Semester
Academic Year 2015/6

Outline Description of Module

In the mid-seventeenth century England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland were engulfed in a destructive and transformative civil war. This module examines this remarkable period in an innovative fashion by considering the British dimension of the conflict. This charts how developments in Scotland and Ireland as well as England and Wales are crucial to understanding the origins and progress of conflict. In addition to this multi-kingdom perspective, the module also pays particular attention to the cultural and social impact of war in England and Wales. It explores the newly-expanded world of print and propaganda in this 'first age of journalism', drawing on the explosion of news and propaganda which competed for readership in a much-expanded public sphere. It examines the impact of war on the literary culture of the period through authors like John Milton and Robert Herrick. It considers the radical political groups like the Levellers who argued that a more democratic society should rise from the ruins of Charles I's kingdoms. The module deals with one of the most exciting and absorbing periods of British History when the fault lines between kingdoms and communities released forces which ultimately saw the king executed and a pan-British Republic established by the force of Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army.

On completion of the module a student should be able to

 Knowledge and Understanding

  • Demonstrate a broad and systematic knowledge of the key themes and events in the history of the British Civil Wars.
  • Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the debates surrounding Britishness, ethnicity and popular allegiance during the civil wars.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the wider social and cultural impact of civil wars throughout the constituent kingdoms of Britain, with particular reference to England and Wales.
  • Discuss with reference to modern scholarship selected topics in the political, social and religious history of the civil wars of the 1640s.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the pertinent historical and historiographical ideas and frameworks relating to the causes and course of the Civil Wars. Demonstrate an understanding of the similarities and contrasts which are revealed when political and religious developments in the constituent kingdoms of Britain during the 1640s are analysed.

 Intellectual Skills:

On completion of the module a student should be able to:

  • Identify the nature and scope of the issues raised about the causes and course of the civil wars in the constituent kingdoms of Britain.
  • Summarise and appraise the relative merits and demerits of alternative views and interpretations and evaluate their significance.
  • Identify the strengths and weaknesses, problems and/or particularities of alternative historiographical interpretations of the British civil wars, such as the debate over the three kingdoms model, the ethnic nature of civil war, the contexts of regicide, the concept of an expanded public sphere.
  • Devise and sustain arguments about the nature and course of the Civil Wars.
  • Formulate and justify their own arguments and conclusions about issues raised through the module.
  • Analyse in the light of the above ideas, context and frameworks, selected topics in the history of the British civil wars such as the nature of popular allegiance, the influence of radical religion and politics, the expansion of the printed public sphere, the changing nature of literary culture, etc.
  • Present accurately, succinctly and lucidly, and in written or oral form their arguments in accordance with appropriate scholarly conventions their opinions on matters relating to the Civil Wars in Britain.

 Discipline Specific (including practical) Skills:

  • Students should be able to express their ideas and assessments upon a full range of issues and interpretations arising from the module, for instance the nature of the multi-kingdom crisis of 1637-1642, the role of popular print, the ethnic theory of allegiance.
  • Evaluate a range of arguments of alternative historical and historiographical interpretations such as the role of religion, ethnicity and class in the outbreak of civil war.
  • Discuss in an informed manner the history of Britain during the 1640s.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of some of the primary sources and an appreciation of how historians have approached them.

 Transferable Skills:

  • Communicate ideas and arguments effectively, whether in speech or in writing in an accurate, succinct and lucid manner.
  • Formulate and justify their own arguments and conclusions about a range of issues.
  • Demonstrate an ability to modify as well as to defend their own positions.
  • Possess a range of information technology resources to assist with information retrieval.
  • Organise their own study methods and workload.
  • Work is part of the team in seminar and/or tutorial discussions.

How the module will be delivered

A programme of lectures which will introduce students to the main factual and conceptual issues to be discussed and analyse during the module.

Seminars related to lectures, in which key issues and topics are analysed and discussed further.

Skills that will be practised and developed

Transferable Skills:

  • Communicate ideas and arguments effectively, whether in speech or in writing in an accurate, succinct and lucid manner.
  • Formulate and justify their own arguments and conclusions about a range of issues.
  • Demonstrate an ability to modify as well as to defend their own positions.
  • Possess a range of information technology resources to assist with information retrieval.
  • Organise their own study methods and workload.
  • Work is part of the team in seminar and/or tutorial discussions.

How the module will be assessed

Students will be assessed by means of a combination of one 1000 word assessed essay [15%], one 2000 word assessed essay [35%] and one two-hour unseen written examination paper in which the student will answer two questions [50%].

Course assignments:

  1. Assessed Essay 1will contribute 15% of the final mark for the module. It is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to review evidence, draw appropriate conclusions from it and employ the formal conventions of scholarly presentation. It must be no longer than 1,000 words (excluding empirical appendices and references).
  2. Assessed Essay 2will contribute 35% of the final mark for the module. It is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to review evidence, draw appropriate conclusions from it and employ the formal conventions of scholarly presentation. It must be no longer than 2,000 words (excluding empirical appendices and references).
  3. The Examination will take place during the second assessment period [May/June] and will consist of an unseen two hour paper that will contribute the remaining 50% of the final mark for this module. Students must write 2 answers in total.

Assessment Breakdown

Type % Title Duration(hrs)
Written Assessment 15 Assessed Essay 1 N/A
Written Assessment 35 Assessed Essay 2 N/A
Exam - Spring Semester 50 The British Civil Wars And Revolution, C.1638-1649 2

Syllabus content

  1.  Three Kingdoms Crack’d: The British Crisis, 1637-41.
  2. Covenanters and the Coming of the Millennium.
  3. The Irish Rebellion of 1641 and its Aftermath.
  4. Theories of Allegiance in England and Wales.
  5. An Ethnic Civil War? Wales, Cornwall and the ‘Wars of the Five Peoples’.
  6. Roundhead and Cavalier: Stereotypes and Popular Culture.
  7. The First Age of Journalism? The Role of News and the Public Sphere.
  8. Print, Publics and Propaganda: The Pamphlet Wars.
  9. Mass Politics or ‘People Led by the Nose’? Petitions, Crowds and Democratic Culture 
  10. Armies and People: The Impact of War in Local Communities.
  11. God’s Soldiers? Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army.
  12. Neutrals and Partisans: The Clubmen.
  13. Radicals and Society: The Levellers and the Diggers.
  14. Governing the People: Centre and Locality in the 1640s.
  15. The Second Civil War, 1648: A Very British Crisis?
  16. An Unwonted Revolution?: Regicide and Republicanism.
  17. A Parliament of Women?: Women, Gender and War.
  18. Literature and War: Milton and Herrick.

Essential Reading and Resource List

Michael Braddick, God’s Fury, England’s Fire (St Ives, 2008)

David Scott, Politics and War in the Three Stuart Kingdoms, 1637-49 (Harlow, 2004)

Mark Stoyle, Soldiers and Strangers: An Ethnic History of the English Civil War (New Haven and London, 2005)

John Adamson, ed., The English Civil War: Conflicts and Contexts (London, 2009).

Conrad Russell, The Causes of the English Civil War (Oxford, 1991)

Brendan Bradshaw and John Morrill, eds., The British Problem, c.1534-1707 (Harlow, 1996)

Bian Mac Cuarta, ed., Ulster1641: Aspects of the Rising (Belfast, 1993)

John Morrill, ed., The Scottish National Covenant in its British Context, 1638-1651 (Edinburgh, 1990)

Lloyd Bowen, ‘Rediscovering Difference? Nations, People and Politics in the British Civil Wars’, History Compass, 4 (2006)

John R. Young, ed., Celtic Dimensions of the British Civil Wars (Edinburgh, 1997)

Background Reading and Resource List

Please see Essential Reading List.


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