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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : History

Undergraduate Course: Pictures and Propaganda: The Printed Image in England, 1500-1700 (HIST10467)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course examines the printed images that were produced in London during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It analyses what this graphic form of source material reveals about political opinion and religious belief, social attitudes and cultural life in Tudor and Stuart England. This was a formative era in print making and such a powerful medium reflects some of the major events and significant forces that transformed British national life during the early modern period.
Course description This honours course explores the variety of printed images that were produced in London between 1500 and 1700. This was a seminal age in print making and established the techniques and topics that were to define the medium thereafter. Tudor and Stuart England witnessed momentous events such as the Reformation, the Civil Wars, and the Glorious Revolution. At the same time, it experienced significant change in economy, society and culture. These signal developments are reflected in the graphic art of the period which provides a medium through which to explore the forces that transformed life in Britain during the early modern era.

The course will develop skills of identifying the major artists, engravers and publishers who created and disseminated these images. It will help students to recognise the various techniques involved in their production, including woodcut, engraving, etching, and mezzotint. Themes to be explored will include the circumstances that lay behind the making of graphic art, the audiences at which it was aimed, and the impact that it had. These classes will seek to interpret the intricate symbolism and coded messages that this material often contained, and investigate the contemporary political, religious, and social contexts that help to explain its meaning and influence.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.

Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Secretary to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 504030).
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesVisiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission.

** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course **
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  0
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 174 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Coursework:
1,500 word Short Assignment (30%)
3,000 word Essay (70%)
Feedback Students are expected to discuss their coursework with the Course Organiser at least once prior to submission, and are encouraged to do so more often. Meetings can take place with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. Students will also receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the production, circulation and reception of printed images in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England;
  2. read, analyse and reflect critically upon scholarship relating to the printed image in early modern society;
  3. understand, evaluate and utilise contemporary printed images as primary material;
  4. develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
  5. demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
Reading List
Globe, A., Peter Stent, London Printseller, circa 1642-1665 (1986)

Godfrey, R. T., Wenceslaus Hollar: a Bohemian Artist in England (1994)

Griffiths, A., Prints and Print Making: an Introduction to the History and the Techniques (1996)

Griffiths, A., The Print in Stuart Britain 1603-1689 (1998)

Hind, A. M., Engraving in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (3 vols., 1952-64)

Hunter, M. (ed.), Printed Images in Early Modern Britain: Essays in Interpretation (2010)

Jones, M., The Print in Early Modern England (2010)

Landau, D. and Parshall, P., The Renaissance Print 1470-1550 (1994)

O'Connell, S., The Popular Print in England 1550-1850 (1999)

Pierce, H., Unseemly Pictures: Graphic Satire and Politics in Early Modern England (2008)

Wells-Cole, A., Art and Decoration in Elizabethan and Jacobean England: the Influence of Continental Prints, 1558-1625 (1997)

Watt, T., Cheap Print and Popular Piety 1550-1640 (1991)
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserProf Adam Fox
Tel: (0131 6)50 3835
Email: Adam.Fox@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Annabel Stobie
Tel: (0131 6)50 3783
Email: Annabel.Stobie@ed.ac.uk
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