Century
By Keith Wrightson - Yale
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707
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Lecture Description
Early Modern England: Politics, Religion, and Society under the Tudors and Stuarts (HIST 251)
Professor Wrightson provides a broad sketch of the social order of early modern England, focusing on the hierarchical language of ''estates'' and ''degrees'' and the more communitarian ideal of the ''commonwealth'' by which society was organized. The differences between the social structure in rural and urban areas are addressed and the subordinate roles of women and the young are also outlined. Professor Wrightson discusses the differences between members of peerage, the gentry, and the commonalty and the social positions of servants, yeoman, husbandmen, and apprentices are explained. The mechanisms by which the social order was preserved, such as prescriptive literature and ecclesiastical injunctions, are also considered. Professor Wrightson concludes that, while in the theory the social order was rigidly hierarchical and rooted in relationships of authority and subordination, in practice there was a great more flexibility and ambiguity within every day interpersonal social relationships.
00:00 - Chapter 1. The Tree of Commonwealth
11:07 - Chapter 2. The Nobility
18:17 - Chapter 3. The Commonalty
26:26 - Chapter 4. Gender and Age
Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses
This course was recorded in Fall 2009.
Course Description
This course is intended to provide an up-to-date introduction to the development of English society between the late fifteenth and the early eighteenth centuries. Particular issues addressed in the lectures will include: the changing social structure; households; local communities; gender roles; economic development; urbanization; religious change from the Reformation to the Act of Toleration; the Tudor and Stuart monarchies; rebellion, popular protest and civil war; witchcraft; education, literacy and print culture; crime and the law; poverty and social welfare; the changing structures and dynamics of political participation and the emergence of parliamentary government. This Yale College course, taught on campus twice per week for 50 minutes, was recorded for Open Yale Courses in Fall 2009.
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