131-232 Elizabeth I: Power and Patriarchy

Formerly available as 131-005. Students who have completed 131-005 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually 25 points of first-year history, see Prerequisites.

This subject studies a period of highly significant transformation in British and European history. When the civil 'War of the Roses' ended in 1485 with the death of Richard III, the Welsh Tudor family built up a powerful nation-state. This period incorporates Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, the Tudor revolution in government, the Protestant Reformation, the Anglican Church, and Catholic priests in hiding. Students should develop a knowledge of topics such as women, families, culture and cuisine, the long reign of a female monarch, nationalism, xenophobia, fears of invasion, the Spanish Armada of 1588, and the literature of Shakespeare's England. Students should also encounter themes such as the anatomy of political transformations in centralised government, parliamentary authority, and the value of constitutional definitions of civil liberties.

Class participation and written work totalling 4000 words.

A subject reader will be available.