British History for Students of Literature

I've divided this page up into different parts -- A, B, C, and so on. You must read Part A. You really ought to read Part B. Part C is for your further information.

Part A.

I would like you to read two things in preparation for this class. They are:

The Wikipedia page called "History of England". It's an outline, but not bad at all.
Click on "Contents" -- it's the three dots and lines to the left of the title "History of England." We will skip "Prehistory" and "Roman Britain." Start with "Anglo-Saxon period" and read through "English Civil War, stopping at "Restoration of the Monarchy." These are the sections of this page corresponding to the period our course covers.
Download Chapter One from Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker's great book The Many-Headed Hydra (2000). Read it all, but concentrate on pp. 15 - 20, "Expropriation", where the social rebellions of Elizabeth I's time are briefly discussed. This is really the only discussion of these very important revolts outside of the very specialized historical literature. And it is very important, and very good!

That's all you are required to do in preparation for class. But it would be very useful to you to read through the two "timelines" in Part B.

Assignment: (a) Read these two pages; (b) Print them out and bring them to class with you.

I will check to see that you have brought them. Bring them neatly printed out, and suitably marked up with your notes, to show that you have studied them carefully, and you will get credit for your HW today. Otherwise, you won't.

NOTE: Usually, I say you can bring in your readings in digital form only, on your laptop, etc. But in this case, please note that I'm not giving you any additional writing requirement!

If you don't print them, and mark them up, I won't know that you have studied them! So, in this case, please print them out and mark them up. Thanks!

(P.S. If you can figure out some way to do this digitally, then by all means, do it! But make sure YOUR markup, notes, etc., are on the readings.)

That's your assignment!

Part B.

Here are two timelines

one of the Middle Ages, 1066 (the Norman Conquest) to 1485 (The Battle of Bosworth Field, won by Henry Tudor who became Henry VII, father of Henry VIII and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I).
one for the Renaissance period to 1689. It is called "The Reformation" (which did not really get started till 1533 or 1534) to "The Restoration" (which took place in 1660, whereas this time line goes to the expulsion of James II and end of the House of Stuarts, the Bill of Rights and the accession of William and Mary.

For easy references here is a list of British monarchs (kings and queens) from the Old English period through 1689. Concentrate on the monarchs since the Norman Conquest of 1066, from the House of Normandy through the House of Stuart (restored), or sections 1.5 through 1.10 on "Contents".

Part C.

Here is a link to the full text of Robert H. Fletcher's book A History of English Literature, published in 1918. Sure, it's not the latest -- but the facts are basically all there. (This book is still in print, and for sale on Amazon.com -- but no need to buy it, of course).

It does not emphasize social history, the history of labor, women, rebellions, or
many of the literary figures once considered "minor" but now thought more important, such as female writers or the working-class rebels of the Civil War period (1640-1660).

But for starters -- as a general orientation -- it's pretty good. And it is free!

Take a look at the outline view (called "tabular view"). We are interested in sections I through V, the Anglo-Saxon Period (now we call this the "Old English" period) through "The Seventeenth Century" to 1660.
Here is Chapter 5, on the Elizabethan period, with sections on "The Reformation", "Sir Thomas More and His 'Utopia'"; "Wyatt and Surrey and the New Poetry"; "Edmund Spenser", and so on.

Here are one timeline devoted solely to Queen Elizabeth I and a web page devoted solely to Elizabeth I.