Module Information

This Special Subject will explore the religious developments in the reigns of Elizabeth I and the early Stuart kings, up to the outbreak of the civil war. It will examine the ways in which England became a ‘Protestant country’, paying due attention to the instability and division created by that process. As well as assessing the nature and significance of the religious changes of Elizabeth’s reign, it will look at the polarization of the early Stuart decades, and examine whether the civil war was in actual fact a predominantly religious conflict. In doing so, students will be introduced to a wide range of primary sources – administrative records, literary texts, sermons, private correspondence and biographies – and acquire familiarity with the rich historiography of this period and theme.

This module is intended to provide a detailed examination of the English Reformation in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Approaching the Reformation as a long process, rather than a specific event, this Special Subject uses a rich variety of primacy sources to discuss and analyse religious changes and the foundational importance of religious questions to early modern England. This module will develop ideas discussed in the semester one module and focus in particular on the Elizabethan Reformation and the period up to the outbreak of the civil war in 1642.