School of Humanities  
 
 
HIS-20062 English Radicals and Writers  
Co-ordinator: Dr Philip Morgan    Room: CBB0.048, Tel:33204  
Teaching Team: Miss Amanda  Roberts, Dr Philip  Morgan, Mrs Christine  Edge, Miss Jo-Anne  Watts  
Lecture Time: See Timetable...  
Level: 2 Credits: 15 Study Hours: 150  
School Office: Tel: 01782 733147
 
 
 
Programme/Approved Electives for
History Dual Honours (Level 2)
History Major (Level 2)
History Minor (Level 2)
History Single Honours (Level 2)
Available as a Free Standing Elective
No
Barred Combinations
None

Prerequisites
Pass at level one, or appropriate alternative experience for exchange students.

Description

This course will examine the social and cultural history of late medieval
England through the prism of its radicals and writers. Or to put it another way, how do politics, literature and piety connect to each other. Or to put it another way, what happens when climate changes, disease kills on a mass scale, peasants revolt, kings get deposed and murdered. Or to put it another way, how will you feel about Heath Ledger in A Knight&Šs Tale when you have done this course?

Principal themes will include:

ˇ the structure of English society and economy in the decades after the Black Death, including the significance of events like the Great Revolt of 1381, the Revolution of 1399 and the rising of Sir John Oldcastle.
ˇ religion and society both ordinary and exceptional from popular piety to academic theology and the thought of John Wyclif to the Lollard heresy
ˇ the growth of a vernacular literature from Geoffrey Chaucer to female mystics like Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe.


Aims
To introduce students to a critical period of crisis in English medieval history which nevertheless provides the context for a high degree of cultural vitality. To integrate the study of religious, social, political and literary change and development, ands to allow students to read texts from a veriety of disciplinary perspectives.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Demonstrate a secure grasp of the historical context of late-medieval England c. 1350-1425. will be achieved by assessments: 2,3,4
Read literary texts like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in a historicising fashion. will be achieved by assessments: 2,3,4
Explain how politics, literature and piety connect to each other in a specific historical context. will be achieved by assessments: 1,2,3,4.
Critically explain 'what is going on' when climate changes, disease kills on a mass scale, peasants revolt, and kings get deposed and murdered will be achieved by assessments: 2,3,4
Develop the ability to identify scholarly debates, research resources and a methodology appropriate to an undergraduate assignment will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
Listen to critical arguments, develop further reading and research from that listening and understanding, and deploy reasoned historical arguments in a clear and persuasive manner in response to critical questions will be achieved by assessments: 2
Present, in both written and oral form, one's own ideas and a synthesis of reading and engagement with a scholarly literature. will be achieved by assessments: 2,3,4
Develop the ability to read and use contested texts and other source materials critically, while addressing the issues of genre, content, perspective abnd historicity. will be achieved by assessments: 1,2,3,4
Study hours
10 lectures, 7 seminars, 49 hours seminar preparation, 64 hours essay preparation, 20 hours lecture consolidation.
Description of Module Assessment
01: Essay-Plan
A brief plan or literature review in preparation for assessed essay.
Formative assessment. Students are encouraged to engage in the research process in identifying resources for an essay, a suitable plan for its execution and feedback on a proposal. Feedback allows the student to modify the approach to assessment 02.
02: Essay weighted 40%
Essay 2000 words
An essay of 2000 words, chosen from a list set by the tutor, or negotiated between the student and tutor as a result of assessment 01.
03: 2 Hour Unseen Exam weighted 40%
Two hour paper with choice of 2 questions from 8.
An unseen two-hour examination consisting of eight questions set from the themes covered in the lectures of which students must answer two.
04: Portfolio weighted 20%
Gobbets, short exercises, oral presentations or debates.
Gobbet, written exercise or oral presentation/debate, each set by the tutor and totalling no more than 3000 words. At least one of each type will be set for the module, but no more than one oral presentation/debate.
Version: (1.06B) Updated: 03/Mar/2013

This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.