Module overview
The aims of this module are to introduce you to the turbulent sequence of rebellions which took place during the Tudor period, to encourage you to ponder on the causes and consequences of those uprisings, and to help you to understand why previous historians have written about them in the way that they have.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- The sequence of rebellions which took place under the Tudor monarchs.
- The reasons why so many of the rebellions were suppressed.
- The links which existed between taxation and rebellion.
- The links which existed between regional/national identities and rebellion.
- The links which existed between religion and rebellion.
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Describe and assess the various rebellions which took place in Tudor England.
- Reflect on the place of controversy in historical studies.
- Demonstrate theoretical and methodological skills.
- Analyse evidence, texts and sources.
- Offer your own perspectives, supported in detail, on key topics.
- Engage with historical controversies.
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Formulate reasons that are clearly reasoned and based on evidence.
- Demonstrate problem-solving skills.
- Find, assimilate and analyse diverse and complex information.
- Write fluently and effectively, preparing assessed work independently.
Syllabus
On 22 August 1485 King Richard III was defeated and killed by the forces of the twenty-eight year old Henry Tudor at the battle of Bosworth Field. With Richard dead, his young challenger was promptly acclaimed as his successor. Thus the Tudor dynasty was established, and the man who only hours before had been the leader of a desperate rebellion found himself transformed instead into the ruler of all England. It was a stunning success – but it was also a powerful reminder of just how vulnerable the position of an early modern monarch could be. Over the succeeding decades, Henry VII, his son and grandchildren were themselves to face a series of major riots and rebellions: some of which shook the authority of the Tudor crown to its very foundations. This course introduces students to the many insurrections and popular disturbances which occurred during the period 1485-1603: episodes which – as scholars are now increasingly coming to realise – illustrate as few other episodes can the deep-seated splits and divisions which lurked behind the smooth-seeming façade of Tudor society.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include
- Lectures.
- Seminars.
Learning activities include
- Intensive reading, guided by annotated reading lists, by the lectures and by your own active participation in seminars.
Studying individual sources.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 12 |
| Assessment tasks | 120 |
| Wider reading or practice | 60 |
| Seminar | 12 |
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 96 |
| Total study time | 300 |
Resources & Reading list
Journal Articles
P Williams. Rebellion and Revolution in Early Modern England. War and Society: Essays in Honour of John Western.
Textbooks
M Stoyle (2002). West Britons: Cornish Identities and the Early Modern State. Exeter.
A Wood (2002). Riot, Rebellion and Popular Politics in Early Modern England. Basingstoke.
P Williams (1979). The Tudor Regime. Oxford.
P Slack (1984). Rebellion, Popular Protest and the Social Order in Early Modern England. Cambridge.
Mark Stoyle (2022). A Murderous Midsummer: The Western Rising of 1549. London and New York: Yale.
A Fletcher and J Stevenson (1997). Order and Disorder in Early Modern England. Cambridge.
R B Manning (1987). Village Revolts: Social Protest and Popular Disturbances in England, 1509-1640. Oxford.
A Fletcher and D. MacCulloch (2009). Tudor Rebellions.
A Wall (2000). Power and Protest in England, 1525-1640. London.
Assessment
Assessment strategy
Assessments designed to provide informal, on-module feedback
You will be given informal feedback on your oral contributions and essay planning during the course of the module.
In this option module, you will be assessed informally on oral and group skills.
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Written assignment | 50% |
| Essay | 50% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Written assignment | 50% |
| Essay | 50% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Written assignment | 50% |
| Essay | 50% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External