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 how such models of extending control influenced imperial endeavours abroad. This will include analysis of the operation of and life within growing colonies in the Americas, Tangier, and India. Central to these discussions will be the interactions between the centre and the periphery. For example, the module considers how power was extended across imperial networks; how religion shaped imperial ideas; and it explores the role of ‘marginal’ groups (e.g. women, religious minorities, radicals) in these imperial efforts. 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.

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.

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.

• 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 Settlement of the Americas
• Protestantism and Empire: ‘Puritanism’ and Early American Identity
• Protestantism and Empire: The Western Design and A Godly Empire
• Protestantism and Empire: The Dutch Wars and Domestic Debates
• What Type of Empire?: The East India Company
• What Type of Empire?: Tangier
• What Type of Empire?: Colonial India (I & II)
• Governing Empire: Ireland, 1660-1714
• Governing Empire: America, 1660-1714
• Governing Empire: India, 1660-1714
• Marginals?: Catholicism in Empire
• Marginals?: Women in Empire
• Marginals?: Radicalism and Revolt
• Questioning Periphery: Ireland
• Questioning Periphery: America
• Questioning Periphery: India
• Final Session: Debating Identity and Empire

Please see Background Reading List for an indicative list.

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).

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

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).

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

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

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