KINGDOMS AND COMMONWEALTHS: WRITING NATIONS, 1558-1688 (P01905)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : LLC-P-P01905

This course introduces students to the textual responses to the complex relations between England, Scotland and Ireland in a particularly turbulent historical period, during which the social and political relationships between England, Ireland and Scotland underwent a number of significant transitions. At the beginning of this period, Scotland was politically and economically separate from England; by 1707, the two nations were officially 'united'. This course explores how such a reconfiguration of national relations became established, and how these changes were recorded and responded to in literary, philosophical and other contemporary texts. It moves from examining the separate organisation of England and Scotland during the reigns of Elizabeth 1 and Mary, Queen of Scots to the establishment of a 'contractual' monarchy with the accession of William of Orange and Queen Mary to the English throne in 1688. While monarchies of different kinds provide the start and end point of this course, due attention is also paid to the wars of the three kingdoms, the execution of Charles 1st and the Republic of the 1640s and 1650s. Political changes during this period were simultaneously aligned with shifts in religious affiliations and social relations, which facilitated a movement from a theoretically hierarchical social formation (in which only the elite had power) toward a more 'democratic' organisation of the public sphere. Accordingly, the reading for this course is drawn from writers of divergent backgrounds in order to introduce students to conflicting contemporary interpretations of specific events and issues of general cultural concern.

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

? Costs : Essential course texts.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

English Literature, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 1 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

- an understanding of how literary and cultural works document the complex and changing relationship between England, Ireland and Scotland from the accession of Elizabeth 1 to the 'Glorious revolution' of 1688.
- an understanding of how debates concerning the nation also explored a range of ideas concerning the adequacy of social and gender hierarchies.
- An understanding of the variety of early modern modes and genres in which ideas of the national and national difference were articulated.