Plague, Fire and Popish Plots: The Worlds of Charles II

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The changing nature of kingship in this period and how people responded to the restoration of the monarchy
• The key events in the reign of Charles II
• The similarities and differences between the English and French courts
• Court and popular culture in London
• The impact of plague, fire and plots on court culture and the people of London

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Gather information and organise it into an accurate and coherent essay

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Make well-supported judgments about the value of different historiographical perspectives on different aspects of Charles II's reign
• Formulate your own responses on the key topics under discussion and be able to communicate them effectively in formal written exercises
• Evaluate and analyze critically a variety of primary written and visual sources.

Indicative topics may include

• Execution, exile and restoration - the changing nature of kingship and monarchy in England in the second half of the seventeenth century
• Creating the king's image: portraiture, clothing and reputation
• Wives and mistresses: the place of women at the Caroline court
• Documenting the period: The writings of Pepys, Evelyn and Defoe
• 1665: Plague in London
• 1666: The immediate effect of the Great fire of London and its long term impact on the architecture and layout of the city
• Comparisons with and influences from the court of Louis XIV at Versailles
• 1685-89: Monarchy in crisis? The succession crisis and the Glorious Revolution

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include

Lectures and seminars

Individual consultations on essays

Learning activities include

Individual preparatory reading for seminars

Further reading and research for the practice and assessed essays

Accessing on-line resources

Preparing and presenting seminar papers.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

R. Ollard (1979). The Image of the King: Charles I and Charles II. London.

A. Ribeiro (2005). Fashion and Fiction: Dress in Art and Literature in Stuart England. London and New Haven.

M. Ashley (1971). Charles II: The Man and the Statesman. London.

C. Tomalin (2002). Samuel Pepys: the Unequalled Self. London.

R. Hutton (1989). Charles II: King of England, Scotland and Ireland. Oxford.

R. Ollard (1974). Pepys: A Biography. London.

A Bryant (1934). The England of Charles II. London.

T. Harris (2006). Restoration: Charles II and his Kingdoms, 1660-1685. London.

P. Mansel (2005). Dressed to Rule: Royal and Court Costume from Louis XIV to Elizabeth II. London and New Haven.

B Coward (2003). The Stuart Age: England 1603-1714. London.

T. Harris (1990). London Crowds in the Reign of Charles II: Propaganda and Politics from the Restoration until the Exclusion Crisis. Cambridge.

D. de Marly (1987). Louis XIV and Versailles. London.

C. Macleod and J. M. Alexander eds (2001). Painted Ladies: Women at the Court of Charles II. London.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

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.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External