This course explores a minority culture within the expanding early modern state. This was a transformative period for Wales which was annexed to England by the ‘Acts of Union’ in the mid-sixteenth century. This was a vital era for state building in early modern Britain, and we shall be considering the ways in which this process impacted on identity, politics, religion and culture in Wales. The topics covered include the accession of the ‘Welsh’ Tudors, the impact of the Reformation and identity politics during the mid-seventeenth century civil wars. The course also adopts a comparative approach and discusses Wales’s experience of British state building alongside those of Ireland and Scotland.  We will also look at how the Welsh constructed their own self-image through myths and national histories, as well as the English view of their Celtic neighbours in sources such as the plays of Shakespeare and the speeches of Oliver Cromwell.

Knowledge and Understanding:

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

• Demonstrate a critical and systematic knowledge the history of Welsh identity, politics and religion between 1485 and 1660, and a critical understanding of the relevant historical and historiographical ideas, contexts and frameworks.
• Identify and discuss the main issues in contemporary understandings of identity, and relate these to subject positions concerning race, blood, historical memory, ethnicity and religion.
• Identify and discuss the key historiographical trends and debates in the history of early modern Wales, early modern state building and the relationship between centre and periphery under the Tudors and Stuarts.
• Demonstrate a in-depth and critical understanding of a range of concepts, perspectives and debates within the appropriate secondary literature.
• Analyse key themes and issues in the history of early modern Wales in the light of these concepts, perspectives and debates.
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of important primary sources relating to identity in early modern Britain and assess their significance.

Intellectual Skills:

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

• Discuss in a critical and informed manner the history of Wales and Welsh identities between 1485 and 1660.
• Summarise and evaluate critically the relative merits and demerits of alternative views and interpretations about the history of Wales and concepts of identity in early modern Britain, and to evaluate their significance.
• Identify problems, assess evidence, and reach conclusions consistent with them on the history of identity and state building in early modern Britain.
• Devise and sustain arguments about issues such as ethnicity, cultural imperialism, lanuage use, religious identities, state building and ideas of historical memory
• Present, accurately, succinctly and lucidly, and in written or oral form their arguments in accordance with appropriate scholarly conventions.

Discipline Specific (including practical) Skills:

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

• Express their ideas and assessments on selected topics related to the history of minority cultures in Britain (with particular reference to Wales) during the reigns of the Tudors and Stuarts.
• Discuss in a critical and informed manner the history of early modern Wales and its relationship to the constituent parts of Britain between 1485 and 1660.
• Identify strengths, weaknesses, problems, and or peculiarities of alternative historical/historiographical interpretations
• Apply a critical approach to the nature of primary sources in the assessment of historical interpretations and methodologies;
• Use and evaluate primary sources and demonstrate an appreciation of  how historians have approached them.

Transferable Skills:

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

• 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
• Posses a range of information technology resources to assist  with information retrieval
• Work as part of a team in seminar or tutorial discussions
• Independently organise their study methods and workload

• Formal lectures will introduce students to factual and conceptual issues.
• Seminar discussions of secondary historical literature will develop student understanding of these issues, with discussions focused around key course themes
• Workshops in which primary sources are analysed

Transferable Skills:

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

• 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
• Posses a range of information technology resources to assist  with information retrieval
• Work as part of a team in seminar or tutorial discussions
• Independently organise their study methods and workload

Students will be assessed by

• one 1,000 word essay relating to primary sources [20%]
• one 2,000 word assessed essay [30%]
• one 2-hour unseen written examination paper in which the student will answer two questions [50%].  

Geraint H. Jenkins, The Foundations of Modern Wales (1987)

Steven G. Ellis and Sarah Barber, eds., Conquest and Union:  Fashioning a British State, 1485-1725 (1996)

Alexander Grant and Keith Stringer, eds., Uniting a Kingdom? The Making of British History (1995)

Philip Jenkins, A History of Modern Wales 1536–1990 (1992)

B. Bradshaw and J. Morrill, The British Problem c. 1534-1707: State Formation in the Atlantic Archipelago(1996)

Mike Braddick, State Formation in Early Modern England, c1550-1700 (2000)

Please see Essential Reading List.