Medieval Britain: 1066-1300
Introduction
The period between the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the end of the thirteenth century saw extraordinary changes in the size and nature of the lands any ruler of England might hope to govern. Within a hundred years the Anglo-Norman kingdom of William I had been engulfed in a great new Angevin empire of William's great-grandson, Henry II.
Within another hundred years, all the king of England had left of this empire in France was the strip of land known as Gascony. The ways in which these territorial changes affected the development within Britain of national identities and their cultural manifestations will be the subject of this course.
Aims & Objectives
The Interdisciplinary Seminar this year looks at the mythical history of Britain, a history which took its most celebrated form in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae ~ History of the Kings of Britain. In this Medieval History Option we will take a different perspective. We will consider events which have long been considered to be significant turning points in the "real" history of the British Isles, and both how and why these events assumed their importance. There will also be opportunities for students to follow up any particular interests they may have within this period.
Topics
- Week 1 The Norman Conquest : 1066 and All That
- Week 2 Murder in the Cathedral : the Death of Becket
- Week 3 "Bad King John": the making of Magna Carta
- Week 4 "The Hammer of the Scots: the imperialism of Edward I
- Week 5 No Irish Joke : The Statute of Kilkenny
Preliminary Reading
- Harvey, B. (Ed.) The Short Oxford History of the British Isles: the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. (ISBN 0-19-873139-6)
- Morgan, K.O., The Oxford History of Britain, Oxford University Press (ISBN 0-19-285202-7)