We devote the first ten weeks of our year-long study of England to the origins of the English people. The Celts, the Romans, and the Christians each contribute essential ideas and institutions to the earliest years of the English culture. Julius Caesar, Saint Patrick, and King Arthur are some of the figures who dominate this first quarter. We end the quarter with Chaucer whose life and career give us an excellent vision of England in 1400.
Week 1: "Introduction" Wednesday October 6, 2010
Introduction to our year studying the history of England.
A survey of the map. (colored map provided)
The regions of Britain.REQUIRED READING:
No required reading for our first week.
RECOMMENDED READING:
1) A General History.
There is one good book on Britain that can serve as a guide through all our work this year. This book is a huge 1296 pages of fascinating insights into the whole history of the British Isles called The Isles: A History, by Norman Davies. Davies is one of our greatest living historians who is also the author of Europe: A History, another massive fascinating panorama of the whole of European history. The Isles is available from Amazon in a paperback edition from Oxford University Press, (October 1, 2001), ISBN: 0195148312. You can buy both books from Amazon in one of those great 2-for deals, both books for $33.00.
Here is a review from Publisher's Weekly:
"Following his acclaimed Europe: A History, British historian Davies has written a wondrous, landmark chronicle of the British Isles--already a bestseller in the U.K.--that challenges conventional Anglocentric assumptions throughout. Davies situates prehistoric Britain as part of a Celtic world stretching from Iberia to Poland to Asia Minor. Unlike most historians, who stress Britain's Anglo-Saxon heritage, Davies shows that the isles' fourfold division into England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales arose from a complex mixing of peoples in a constantly fluctuating patchwork of ethnic communities, statelets and kingdoms. Bursting with fresh insights on nearly every page, this magisterial narrative, scholarly yet down-to-earth and engrossing, reveals Davies at his iconoclastic best. He declares that the Viking legacy is much greater than traditional historians admit, and that the Battle of Hastings in 1066 was not a famous showdown between the English and French, but an intricate scramble for the final Viking spoils in England (valiant English King Harold II was leader of the Anglo-Danish party). The dense narrative really hits its stride with serial wife-slayer Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, and Davies gives full play to the distinctive yet intertwined cultural, economic and political affairs of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Plumbing the roots of English (and British) prejudice, parochialism, xenophobia and imperialism, Davies includes vastly illuminating mini-essays on such sundry topics as class divisions, the loss of empire, race relations, the rise of organized sports, and the steady advance of a standardized English language. He closes with a provocative forecast: 'The breakup of the United Kingdom may be imminent,' a prediction he bases on the resurgence of nationalist consciousness and the fact that what he sees as the U.K.'s raison d'etre--the perpetuation of empire--has vanished. An advocate of Britain's full integration into the European Union, he chastises the U.K. for clinging to America's apron strings, yet he adds that a fuller embrace of the Continent might only hasten the U.K.'s breakup. No one who cares about Britain's past or future should miss this superb book."2. A Literary History.
Also available now in a new paperback edition is an unusual book from Peter Ackroyd called Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination, Anchor paperback, 560 pages, ISBN 0385497733. Ackroyd wants to define the distinctive qualities that are uniquely English especially as these qualities are revealed in the literary and artistic tradition of England. It is a big book and nothing like the Mark Williams book on Spain, but it may be great fun to dip into it and enjoy certain sections as the ten weeks go by. Here is a selection from some reviews:
"An ingenious essay in cultural anthropology."
The New York Times Book Review
"Beguiling. . . . A hugely readable book. . . . Pick it up whenever you need, open it wherever you like, read as much as you want with profit and pleasure."
The Wall Street Journal
"This work could have been produced only by the liveliest of intellects, drawing on an astonishing depth of experience. Ackroyd in his own writing demonstrates the quality of the English imagination."
The Spectator
"As ever, where Ackroyd excels is in the patient accumulation of suggestive detail or sudden descent unto a distinctive corner of the English world."
The Independent
SLIDES:
"The Regions of Britain"
MATERIAL ON THE WEB
Week 2: "The Celts and the Romans" Wednesday October 13, 2010
The Celts: who were they; where did they come from?
Britain as a Roman Colony.
How "Romanized" was Britain?
The limits of the Roman conquest.
And how the limits influenced all of later British history.
Romans versus the Britons.
Remnants of Roman Britain.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Norman Davies, The Isles: A History , Oxford University Press, (October 1, 2001), ISBN: 0195148312
DVD in Class:
Neolithic Britain: Skara Brae (Orkney, Scotland)
Celtic Britain
Roman Britain
Week 3: "The Christians" Wednesday October 20, 2010
Christian Britain.
Roman Missionaries.
Saint Columban.
Saint Patrick.
Saint Boniface
The role of British missionaries in the conversion of northern Europe.
REQUIRED READING:
The Confessio of Saint Patrick
RECOMMENDED READING:
"Freeman's imaginative but fact-based reconstructions of significant events in Patrick's life, such as his kidnapping, read like the most exciting popular fiction." -- Library Journal
"Lively and lucid." -- The New York Times Book Review
"Mr. Freeman's book succeeds where others have failed by giving us a wholly human portrait of Patrick the boy, the slave and the missionary." -- Michael Judge, The Wall Street Journal
"With uncommon insight and clear, unadorned prose, Philip Freeman supplants old myths with a true-life tale no less wondrous....[A] fine biography." -- Tim McNulty, The Seattle Times
DVD IN CLASS
Ancient Ireland
Week 4: "King Arthur" Wednesday October 27, 2010
King Arthur and the "Matter of Britain."
From the Wikipedia: "King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain, where he appears as the ideal of kingship both in war and peace. He is the central character in the cycle of legends known as the Matter of Britain. There is disagreement about whether Arthur, or a model for him, ever actually existed. In the earliest mentions and in Welsh texts, he is never given the title 'King'. An early text refers to him as a dux bellorum ('war leader'), and medieval Welsh texts often call him ameraudur ('emperor'; the word is borrowed from the Latin imperator, which could also mean 'war leader')."
King Arthur and the Round Table.You may want to consult the Wikipedia: King Arthur
which is very useful.
REQUIRED READING:
READING MALORY:
Read the editor Helen Cooper's Introduction on p. vi. It is very good and very helpful and I recommend that you also read the few pages she provides on this text (pp. xxiii-xxvi). And yes I know you will all remind me that I always say don't read the introduction, but that is exactly why I am writing this all out in detail. This introduction is useful. Then you will move forward with Malory's text beginning on p.3. This text is very long, running to more than 500 pages, and I do not expect you will want to read all of it. So, how much? I would say read through the story of Lancelot which ends on p. 119. That will give you a very good idea of what the tale of Arthur is all about and what Malory cared about.RECOMMENDED READING:
With Malory on your reading list you won't have time to read other things about Arthur, but I want you to know about a wonderful book that is in the opinion of many critics the greatest modern telling of the Arthurian legend. This book is called The Once and Future King. It was written by T. H. White and first published in 1958. Paperback: 640 pages
Publisher: Ace; Reissue edition (July 15, 1987)
Language: English
ISBN: 0441627404It is magnificent, a great achievement, and you might want to buy it now and save it for the day when you want to go back to the Arthurian stories.
From The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature:
"Quartet of novels by T.H. White, published in a single volume in 1958. The quartet comprises The Sword in the Stone (1938), The Queen of Air and Darkness--first published as The Witch in the Wood (1939)--The Ill-Made Knight (1940), and The Candle in the Wind (published in the composite volume, 1958). The series is a retelling of the Arthurian legend, from Arthur's birth to the end of his reign, and is based largely on Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'arthur. After White's death, a conclusion to The Once and Future King was found among his papers; it was published in 1977 as The Book of Merlyn."
DVD IN CLASS
Francis Pryor, Arthurian Britain.
Week 5: "Beowulf" Wednesday November 3, 2010
Britain in the Dark Ages.
Beowulf.
Discussion.DVD IN CLASS:
Simon Schama, Anglo-Saxon Britain.
REQUIRED READING:
Week 6: "1066" Wednesday November 10, 2010
Europe and the Year 1000.
Europe emerging from the Dark Ages.
The new European states.
1066 and the Norman Conquest.MATERIAL ON THE WEB:
SLIDES IN CLASS:
The Bayeux Tapestry. The Bayeux Tapestry (French: Tapisserie de Bayeux) is a 50 cm by 70 meters (20 in by 230 ft) long embroidered cloth. It depicts scenes before and during the Battle of Hastings in 1066, with annotations in Latin. It is presently exhibited in a special museum in Bayeux, Normandy, France.
RECOMMENDED READING:
I would like you to have one book to provide you with a good basic political and social history of this fascinating period running all the way from the Conquest to the death of Elizabeth I. Fortunately such a book does exist. It is not a new book. It is a book that is now almost ninety years old and yet it is still one of the best works of history ever written about the English. The book is the History of England by G. M. Trevelyan, that is, George Macaulay Trevelyan. George carried the name of his very famous uncle Thomas Macaulay, one of the greatest and most influential historians of the nineteenth century. Trevelyan's History of England was first published in 1926. Trevelyan was born in 1876. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge from 1927 to 1940 and Master of Trinity College from 1940 to 1951. His History of England has been published many times and now it is available in a paperback edition called a "shortened" History. You may find some used copies of the old Anchor books paperback edition in two volumes, and of course there will also be used hardcover editions, but the easiest one to obtain seems to be the one Amazon offers:
A Shortened History of England,
Paperback: 608 pages,
Penguin Books, Reprint edition (February 1, 1987),
ISBN: 0140233237 .You will be pleased to own it and you will enjoy the work of one of the grand historians writing old-fashioned narrative history at its best. History the way it should be written!
MATERIAL ON THE WEB
Week 7: "Henry II and English Common Law" Wednesday Nov 17, 2010
Europe and England.
The formation of the English state.
Henry II and the creation of English Common Law.
Parliament and Parliaments.
The Rights of Englishmen.
The Magna Carta.DVD IN CLASS:
"Becket" (1964) (One hour edited presentation)
One of the greatest films based upon real historical figures is Peter Glanville's 1964 Academy-award winning "Becket." The film stars Richard Burton as Becket and Peter O'Toole as King Henry II. The casting was as if it had been ordained in heaven. The two men were perfect for the two men they were playing. Their bodies, their voices, their general style was exactly like the real archbishop and the real king. The two actors were each at the summit of their careers with great roles behind and ahead of them. But I don't think either actor ever exceeded the brilliance of this performance. And their last scene together, the moment at which these two best friends part, never to see each other again, is one of the most brilliant heart-breaking scenes I know in any movie. Peter O'Tool was going to play Henry II again in "Lion in Winter" with Kathryn Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine. I will present an edited version of the film so that we can view it all together and you can rent it later after we see it in class. Every year students suggest a separate showing outside of class of the films we present in class so that they can be shown in their entirety. I have questioned every class about this issue. And every class finally overwhelming chooses to see a shorter edited version of the film in class on the night we are discussing it rather than a separate day. Students all point out that it is difficult to set aside one night a week for the class and almost impossible to find another night for a film showing. So let us go forward this year with this method of seeing some important historically based films in an edited version and those of you who wish to do so can always rent or buy the film for later viewing.Here is the amazon link for those who cannot resist having the dvd at their own disposal at any given moment.
MATERIAL ON THE WEB
Thanksgiving Vacation. No meeting week of Nov 22-26.
Thanksgiving Week
Students have stated they prefer having the week off.
Many are traveling for the holidays.
So no classes during Thanksgiving Week.
See you all on Dec. 1, 2008.
Week 8: "The Magna Carta" Wednesday December 1, 2010
From Henry II to John I, The Plantagenets
The reign of King John
The Rights of Englishmen.
June 1215.
Crisis of the political order.
The most important document in all of Western Civilization.
The origins of all legal protections of the individual in Western Civilization.
England, America, Canada, Australia etc. and human rights.SEE THE MAGNA CARTA AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM
RECOMMENDED READING:
The best edition of the Magna Carta comes from A. E. Dick Howard of the University of Virginia. Professor Howard has produced an excellent small economical edition with the whole text of the Magna Carta along with excellent analysis.
MATERIAL ON THE WEB
Week 9: "Geoffrey Chaucer and the Fourteenth Century" Tues Dec 8, 2010
Geoffrey Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales.
England at 1400.REQUIRED READING:
Read: Prologue (p. 1), The Knight's Tale (p. 26), The Miller's Tale (p. 88),
The Reeve's Tale (p. 108), The Wife of Bath Prologue (p. 258), The Wife of Bath's Tale (p. 281).RECOMMENDED READING:
Here are two excellent books for these weeks on Fourteenth-century England, one on the Hundred Years War and the other on the Wars of the Roses.
If you would like to take some time this week to learn more about this extraordinary conflict that endured more than one hundred years, this fine little book by Desmond Seward is excellent. It is clear and well written and economical: 296 pages including a good index. In print, Amazon has it.
Weir has written a wonderful book on this incredible civil war between different branches of the royal family. If you have always wanted to understand the Wars of the Roses this may be the time to read one good book on it. Here is a description from the publisher:
"Lancaster and York. For much of the fifteenth century, these two families were locked in battle for control of the British throne. Kings were murdered and deposed. Armies marched on London. Old noble names were ruined while rising dynasties seized power and lands. The war between the royal Houses of Lancaster and York, the longest and most complex in British history, profoundly altered the course of the monarchy. Alison Weir, one of the foremost authorities on the British royal family, brings brilliantly to life both the war itself and the historic figures who fought it on the great stage of England. The Wars of the Roses is history at its very best--swift and compelling, rich in character, pageantry, and drama, and vivid in its re-creation of an astonishing, dangerous, and often grim period of history."
Here are some reviews:
"[A] spellbinding chronicle. . . Weir's dark, glorious pageant restores the personal dimension to an oft-told tale without losing sight of a war that shattered feudalism, paved the way for capitalism and weakened the monarchy."
Publishers Weekly
"[Weir is] skilled at delineating the many memorable characters of the age. . . . It's a tribute to her skill that she leaves you wanting more."
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Weir does a masterful job of leading the layman through the entwined family trees of England's powerful families and the many usurpers to the throne. . . . [She] has perfected the art of bringing history to life."
Chicago TribuneMATERIAL ON THE WEB
Week 10: "English" Wednesday December 15, 2010
The Formation of the English Language.
The origins of English.
The Romans and Latin.
The French contribution.RECOMMENDED READING:
Christmas Vacation - Dec 20, 2010 to Dec 31, 2010
Christmas Vacation.
No class:
Dec 22 (Wed), and Dec 29 (Wed).
Winter Quarter begins Wednesday January 5, 2011.
