HIS-30135 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None.

Barred Combinations

None.

Description for 2024/25

During the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries Britain was dominated by two rival kingdoms: Northumbria and Mercia. Their eventful histories encompassed the trials and tribulations of their royal dynasties, but the people of these kingdoms witnessed much more than an elite soap opera. This period witnessed the ascendency of a new aristocracy, with both secular and religious faces, which would re-shape the landscape of early medieval Britain and become a dynamic part of a broader northwest-European culture. Students will study the `long eighth century¿, when the kingdom of the Anglian Mercians began to overshadow Northumbria, and will investigate the different kinds of evidence needed to understand this period: textual, archaeological, toponymical, topographical. The relationship between the Mercians (especially King Offa) and the Anglo-Saxon Church will form a particular focus, and students will evaluate whether Anglian hegemony during this period was primarily a secular or religious phenomenon.

The module aims to critically evaluate the historiographical narrative of Mercian rise and fall over the 'long eighth century'. Students will reflect critically on the nature of the sources that underpin this narrative, and will explore other approaches to the period. In particular, they will examine the idea that Mercian hegemony was as much a religious as a secular phenomenon.

Intended Learning Outcomes

1,2
1,2
1,2
1,2
1,2
1,2

Study hours

24 hours - seminars
50 hours - preparation for seminars (reading and preparing presentations)
26 hours - research and preparation of essay
50 hours - research and preparation of primary source commentary

School Rules

None.

Description of Module Assessment