Early Modern Britain

(4 Credits)

This course examines Britain and the British Isles from the end of the Wars of the Roses (1487) through the Glorious Revolution (1688). Although modern Britain is often characterized as an unusually stable society and polity, the early modern period was dominated by civil wars, schism, and revolution. Topics include Henry VIII and the Reformation; Elizabeth I and European politics; imperialism in the Americas and South Asia; gender and family; popular culture and everyday life; England, Scotland, and Ireland; the Civil War and Commonwealth; Restoration art and drama; and the “Glorious Revolution” and ascendance of Parliament.