This course is a general survey of English (and insofar as they interacted with England, Scottish, Irish and Welsh, history), from the Anglo-Saxon invasions of the fifth and sixth centuries through the end of the Plantagenet dynasty a millennium later. The scope of the course is broad, and it will introduce the student to the main currents of social, legal economic, political and cultural history during the period. Topics to be covered include the consolidation of England under the Anglo-Saxons, the Viking incursions and Danish settlements, the Norman Conquest, Feudal Society, institutions of law, religion and government, the Black Death and Peasants’ Revolt, and the so-called “Wars of the Roses”. Instruction will be a combination of lecture and discussion of documents from the period.
