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History 3105: The English Civil War
Thursdays, 10:05 – 12:25
McCain 2021
Instructor: Dr. Andrea M. Shannon
Office: McCain 1171
Office Hours: Thursdays: 1:30 – 3:00
Email: [email protected]
Course Description:
This course considers one of England’s most turbulent eras. The period between 1642 and
1660 witnessed the breakdown of traditional rule, prolonged armed conflict, the trial and
execution of the king, and ten years of republican government. Historians seeking the causes
and consequences of these events often come to divergent conclusions. For some, the period
is ‘the English Revolution’ because of the lasting changes wrought in society and politics.
For others, the term ‘civil war’ illustrates that, for all things changed, so much stayed the
same. Our aim is to investigate why the mid-century upheaval occurred, the nature of its
course and how it changed (or did not change) Britain. Students may then come to their
own conclusions about the “English Civil War” or the “English Revolution.”
This class combines discussion and lecture, with the emphasis on discussion. Each week,
there are assigned readings of roughly 70-100 pages. Students should arrive to class prepared
to discuss these readings. The weight given to attendance and participation in the grading
scheme reflects the importance of discussion. The lecture portion of the class consists of
background information to help students place our discussions of more specific issues within
the general chronology of the English Civil War. Background lectures will therefore vary in
length and depth as necessary.
Course Texts:
This class is mounted entirely on the OWL platform. All readings are found on the class
OWL page. Please check the page frequently for updates and messages.
Assignments and Grading:
Primary Source Analysis (Due Oct. 15)
Research Paper: (Due Nov. 19)
Take-Home Examination (Due Dec. 11)
Attendance and Participation (Ongoing)
20%
35%
25%
20%
100%
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Primary Source Analysis:
Using the Early English Books Online (EEBO) database, locate the following TWO
documents: Archy’s Dream, sometime Jester to his majesty, but exiled the court by
Canturburies malice, London: 1641 and A new play called Canterburie his change of diot,
London: 1641. Read these documents, consult the Background Information and Questions
document on the class OWL page and prepare a 6-7 page analysis of these documents that
broaches the issues in the Background Information and Questions Document.
Research Paper:
Students will prepare a 12-15 page (roughly 2500-3000 words) paper on their selected topic.
Students must utilize at least SIX secondary sources (EXCLUDING websites), and at least
ONE primary source. Papers should be properly formatted - double-spaced and only on one
side of the page - and properly footnoted. Papers should include a bibliography. As always,
grammar, spelling, and style count.
NOTE: Students must submit the Research Paper Topic Form to the instructor no later than
October 22nd. The form consists of a brief description of your paper topic, your research
questions, and relevant primary and secondary sources so far located. Failure to submit the
form by the date indicated above will result in the automatic deduction of one day’s late
penalty on the final product.
Take-Home Examination:
The take-home examination will be a paper consisting of written responses to questions that
reflect on the main themes of the class. The exam is due by 4:30 on Friday, December 11th.
Submit the papers to box #99 in the foyer of the FASS.
Participation:
This portion of the grade reflects students’ attendance and participation. Attendance counts
for half of this grade: if a student attends every class, they will receive 10%. If a student
attends only half the classes they will receive 5%, and so on. The other 10% reflects the
instructor’s evaluation of the student’s class participation; that is, how much the student has
contributed to class discussion, and to what degree that contribution reflects an engagement
with the course material.
Students must attend a minimum of 7 full classes to qualify for a grade. If a student misses 5
classes due to illness, an “ILL” note will be entered on the grade sheet, but the student will
not be graded for mark.
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Form and Style: Conventions of form and presentation for the written assignments, see at
minimum the History Department Style Guide, available at the History office and on the
History Department webpage. Remember: grammar, spelling, etc., count as they are
necessary for the clear and effective communication of your ideas. More in-depth advice
may be found in: K.L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and
Dissertations, available in both hard-copy and online at the Killam Library. For matters of
style see: Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, usually available at the library, but also
online www.bartleby.com/141/
Extensions: Extensions will only be granted to students with documented medical or family
emergencies. Late assignments will lose 3% per business day late, and will not be accepted
one week past the original due-date.
Accessibility:
Students may request accommodation as a result of barriers related to disability, religious
obligation, or any characteristic under the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. Students who
require academic accommodation for either classroom participation or the writing of tests
and exams should make their request to the
Advising and Access Services Center (AASC) prior to or at the outset of each academic term
(with the exception of X/Y courses). Please visit www.dal.ca/access
for more information and to obtain the Request for Accommodation – Form A.
A note taker may be required to assist a classmate. There is an honorarium of
$75/course/term. If you are interested, please contact AASC at 494-2836 for more
information.
Academic Integrity/Plagiarism:
All students in this class are to read and understand the policies on academic integrity and
plagiarism referenced in the Policies and Student Resources sections of the
academicintegrity.dal.ca website. Ignorance of such policies is no excuse for violations.
Any paper submitted by a student at Dalhousie University may be checked for originality to
confirm that the student has not plagiarized from other sources. Plagiarism is considered a
serious academic offence which may lead to loss of credit, suspension or expulsion from the
University, or even to the revocation of a degree. It is essential that there be correct
attribution of authorities from which facts and opinions have been derived. At Dalhousie
there are University Regulations which deal with plagiarism and, prior to submitting any
paper in a course, students should read the Policy on Intellectual Honesty contained in the
Calendar or on the Online Dalhousie website. The Senate has affirmed the right of any
instructor to require that student papers be submitted in both written and computer-readable
format, and to submit any paper to be checked electronically for originality. As a student in
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this class, you are to keep an electronic copy of any paper you submit, and the course
instructor may require you to submit that electronic copy on demand.
September 10 – Introduction to Class
Section I: Background & Causes
September 17 – Ideas
Kevin Sharpe, “A Commonwealth of Meanings: Languages, Analogues, Ideas and Politics,” in
Politics and Ideas in Early Stuart England
Adam Fox, “Rumour, News and Popular Political Opinion in Elizabethan and Early Stuart
England,” Historical Journal 40 (1997): 597-620.
September 24 – Religion
Kenneth Fincham and Peter Lake, “The Ecclesiastical Policies of James I and Charles I,” in
The Early Stuart Church, 1603-1642.
Alexandra Walsham, “ ‘The Fatall Vesper’: Providentialism and Anti-Popery in Late Jacobean
London,” Past & Present 144 (1994): 36-87.
John Morrill, “The Religious Context of the English Civil War, Transactions of the Royal
Historical Society, Fifth Series, 34 (1984): 155-178.
October 1 – Parliament
Conrad Russell, “Parliamentary History in Perspective, 1604-1629,” History 61 (1976): 1-27
Derek Hirst, “The Place of Principle,” Past & Present 92 (1981): 79-99
Clive Holmes, “The County Community in Stuart Historiography,” JBS 19 (1980): 54-73
October 8 – King
Mark Kishlansky, “Charles I: A Case of Mistaken Identity,” Past & Present 189 (Nov 2005):
41-80.
Clive Holmes, Julian Goodare, Richard Cust and Mark Kishlansky, “Charles I: A Case of
Mistaken Identity – A Reply” P&P 205 (Nov. 2009): 175-237
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NOTE: Students are REQUIRED to read sections I and III, those pieces written by
Clive Holmes and Richard Cust. Students may if they wish read section II and
Kishlansky’s reply to his critics (which is a little saucy and worth the read if you have
the time)
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Section II: War
October 15 – The Breakdown: 1638-1642
SOURCE ANALYSIS DUE
Conrad Russell, “The British Problem and the English Civil War,” History 72 (1986): 395-415
Ethan Shagan, “Constructing Discord: Ideology, Propaganda and English Responses to the
Irish Rebellion of 1641,” JBS 36 (1997): 4-34.
David Cressy, “Revolutionary England, 1640-1642,” P&P 181 (2003): 35-71.
October 22 – The First Civil War, 1642 – c.1646
**Mark Stoyle, Soldiers and Strangers: An Ethnic History of the English Civil War (New
Have: Yale UP: 2005) [check out other works by Stoyle; perhaps is an article length work]
**Mark Stoyle, “The Road to Farndon Field: Explaining the Massacre of the Royalist Women
at Naseby,” English Historical Review 123:503 (2008): 895-923. (Advantages: discreet; works
with ‘British Problem’ issues; work with ‘Codes and Conduct’ by Donagan.
**Ian Roy, “England Turned Germany? The Aftermath of the Civil War in its European
Context” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 28 (1978): 127-144.
**Micheal O. Siochru, “Atrocity, Codes of Conduct and the Irish in the British Civil Wars,
1641 – 1653,” P&P 195 (May 2007)
Barbara Donagan, “Codes and Conduct in the English Civil War,” P&P 118 (1988): 65-95
October 29 – Radical Religion and Radical Politics
**David R. Como, “Secret Printing, the Crisis of 1640, and the Origins of Civil War
Radicalism,” P&P 196 (Aug. 2007)
November 5 – Second Civil War and Regicide
Patricia Crawford, “Charles Stuart, That Man of Blood,” JBS 16 (1977): 41-61
Sean Kelsey, “The Death of Charles I,” HJ 45 (2002): 727-754
Clive Holmes, “The Trail and Execution of Charles I,” HJ 53:2 (2010): 289-316
Section III: Interregnum
***Could change to Cromwell; then a class on the Protectorate
November 12 – The English Republic, c.1649-1653
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November 19 – The Protectorate: England under Cromwell
ESSAY DUE
John Morrill, “Rewriting Cromwell: A Case of Deafening Silences,” Canadian Journal of
History, 3 (2003): 553-578.
**Patrick Little and David L. Smith, Parliaments and Politics during the Cromwellian
Protectorate (Cambridge: CUP, 2007)
**Patrick Little eds., Oliver Cromwell: New Perspectives
Christopher Durston, “The Fall of Cromwell’s Major-Generals,” The English Historical
Review, 450 (1998): 18-37.
November 26 – The Fall of the Protectorate and the Restoration
Derek Hirst, “Concord and Discord in Richard Cromwell’s House of Commons,” English
Historical Review 103:407 (1988): 339-358.
**Clive Holmes, “John Lisle, Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal, and the Last Months of the
Cromwellian Parliament,” EHR 122:498 (2007): 918-936.
Tim Harris, “The Nation Would Not Stand Long: Weaknesses of the Restoration Monarchy
in England,” in Restoration: Charles II and his Kingdoms, 1660-1685, (London: Penguin
Books, 2005).
December 3 – Legacies
**David Cressy, “Remembrancers of Revolution: Histories and Historiographies of the 1640s,”
Huntington Library Quarterly 68:1/2 (2005): 257-68.
Christopher Hill, Some Intellectual Consequences of the English Revolution, (Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1980).