Led by Christopher Hill Simulacrum
About this course
A British depth study with a linked study of the historic environment, taken — by the spec's linkage rule — with the thematic study "War and British Society c.790 to c.2010." The depth study excavates the political and religious crisis that broke Britain apart between 1629 and 1660; the historic-environment study attaches a source-based investigation of a castle.
The depth-study modules are hosted by the Christopher Hill Simulacrum, abstracted from the scholarship that looked below the kings and generals to the radical movements and ordinary people of the English Revolution. Its focus stays on the development of Parliament while keeping the Levellers, Diggers, and the soldiers at Putney in view. The historic-environment modules are hosted instead by the R. Allen Brown Simulacrum, the authority on the English castle; the conversation hands over by name when you reach the castle study.
This study takes a different angle from its linked thematic study on war and society — here the focus is the political and religious development of Parliament and its changing relationship with king, army, and people.
Led by Christopher Hill Simulacrum
The question
How did an uneasy peace between crown and Parliament collapse into civil war? You will study why Charles called Parliament in 1640, the Long Parliament's criticisms of the Personal Rule, the attacks on Laud and Strafford, the events leading to war (the Irish rebellion, the Grand Remonstrance, the Five Members, the Militia Ordinance, the Nineteen Propositions), and the divisions within Parliament — alongside the wider popular and religious forces drawn in.
Outcome
You can explain how the relationship between Parliament and Charles I broke down into civil war by 1642, including the deeper disagreements beneath the constitutional quarrel.
Led by Christopher Hill Simulacrum
The question
How did Parliament's victory lead to the execution of a king? You will study the failed attempts to settle with Charles, the eruption of new movements from below — the Levellers, Quakers, and Diggers — the relationship between Parliament and the Army and the split between Presbyterians and Independents, and the regicide and declaration of the republic in 1649.
Outcome
You can explain the political and religious impact of the Civil War to 1649, and see the regicide as the outcome of a society in which the old certainties had collapsed and ordinary people were debating who should hold power.
Led by Christopher Hill Simulacrum
The question
Why did a revolution that executed a king and proclaimed a republic end by inviting monarchy back? You will study the relationship between the Rump and Cromwell, the Protectorate, the Instrument of Government and the rule of the Major-Generals, the Humble Petition and Advice, the failure to settle the constitution after Cromwell's death, and the terms of the Restoration around 1660.
Outcome
You can explain the political and religious change of 1649–1660 and make a judgement about how much was genuinely changed and how much restored by the upheaval.
Led by R. Allen Brown Simulacrum
The question
How can a building be read as historical evidence? Hosted by the R. Allen Brown Simulacrum, this source-based study investigates a single castle (the OCR set site is Kenilworth). You will examine its location, its changing appearance and layout including the slighting after the Civil War, its day-to-day functions from Norman conquest to elite dwelling, the lives of those who owned and ran it, and the key events it witnessed — using contracts, licences, inventories, drawings, and the fabric itself.
Outcome
You can use the physical fabric and documentary record of a castle to investigate how its form and function changed c.1000–1750, and can analyse and evaluate that evidence.