University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 60

ECTS credits : 30

Level : SCQF level 10

Semester: Full Year

Availability restrictions: Available only to students in the second year of the Honours programme.

Planned timetable: See http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/infoug/ugtimetable

The popular image of Elizabethan England is of a successful regime gloriously triumphing over its enemies at home and abroad. But recent historians have instead depicted Elizabeth as an imperfect monarch who constantly obstructed and infuriated her political and ecclesiastical elite by refusing to marry, name an heir, or decisively reform the English Church. This Special Subject considers how power was negotiated, manipulated, exploited, and managed by Elizabeth and those around her. Integrating the political and religious history of the period, it examines courtiers, favourites, counsellors within and outwith the Privy Council, nobles, and bishops. The major questions of Elizabethan government - the best form of the church, the rule of a woman, the marriage of a queen regnant, and dynastic instability - will be examined to uncover who really held power. Primary sources studied range from contemporary printed works to records of the everyday workings of government, to court plays and the visual culture of rule.

Relationship to other modules

Anti-requisite(s): You cannot take this module if you take MO4916

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 1 x 3-hour seminar, plus 1 office hour.

Scheduled learning hours: 66

Guided independent study hours: 534

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: 3-hour Written Examination = 30%, Coursework = 70%

As defined by QAA
Written examinations : 30%
Practical examinations : 5%
Coursework: 65%

Re-assessment: New Coursework: 1 x source exercise (2,000 - 2,500 words) and 1 x 4,000- to 5,000-word essay = 100%

Personnel

Module teaching staff: Dr J Rose