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A New Jerusalem? Being Protestant in Post-Reformation England: Context

Module description

The English Reformation is one of the most transformative episodes in English history, its consequences fundamentally shaping the political, intellectual, economic and artistic development of the nation in ways that arguably paved the way for England's precocious emergence as a commercial, industrial and imperial superpower. But how were the long-term consequences of the establishment of Protestantism manifested in the daily lives and worldview of those who lived through them? This module provides a cultural and social history of the long-term transformations triggered by the Reformation by focusing on the religious beliefs and practices of those living through the period c.1560 -1660, exploring what it meant to 'be Protestant' in an era motivated by establishing a 'New Jerusalem' in England's green and pleasant land. Two interlinked questions will frame our analysis of a range of textual, visual and material primary sources: how did Protestantism shape English life and culture in this period, and how and why did this change over time?

No prior knowledge is required, though some understanding of the early modern period would be a benefit. Students taking this module will also take ‘A New Jerusalem? Being Protestant in post-Reformation England: Sources’. As the focus is on more popular aspects of culture, textual primary material will be supplemented by literary, visual and material sources.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module is designed to draw on current lively scholarship exploring ‘lived religion’ in England. It will provide you with an insight into the cultural life of the nation, within the context of significant political and social developments in the late sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries. The central issue will be: Protestant beliefs about the divine and supernatural, and the way that these informed everyday behaviour. It will provide you with a deep knowledge the role of Protestantism in the nation, it will familiarise you with the enormous range of source material that we might use to explore religious belief and practice, and it will enrich your understanding of religious and social change and its impact in early modern England.

Aspects covered might include: ‘types’ of Protestantism (conformist, Puritan, Laudian etc), the Protestant worldview (supernatural beliefs, salvation, assurance), public worship (sermons, catechising, liturgy), private religious practices (household worship, Bible reading, prayer), individual devotion (reading, writing, prayer). We might also look at elements of people’s life experience that were common to all, such as belief and practice associated with sleep and death. Communal festive culture and leisure activities are another important area, allowing exploration of cultural conflict, the emergence of a Protestant ritual year, and the impact of the Reformation on the visual and performative arts. The last part of the module will consider some broader questions including the way that histories of the Reformation were written at the time and have been represented since.

Documents considered might include: printed material (liturgical texts, sermons, treatises, prayer manuals, ‘cheap print’ in all its forms); literary sources, particularly plays; diaries; personal correspondence; ecclesiastical and domestic material artefacts & inventories; visual material; churchwarden accounts; church and secular court records.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Identify and explain the different complex themes that relate to the history of Protestant early modern England
• 2. Understand and explain the key developments in the history of religious cultures of post-reformation England and their impact on the social and cultural life of contemporaries.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Analyse the key developments within a particular historical environment
• 4. Comprehend and explain complex historical issues and debates
• 5. Understand and deploy relevant historical terminology in a comprehensible and sophisticated manner

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Select, organise and analyse material for written work and/or oral presentations of different prescribed lengths and formats.
• 7. Present an argument in a written form in a clear and organised manner, with appropriate use of correct English
• 8. Through essay development process, demonstrate ability to reflect critically on your own work, to respond constructively to feedback, and to implement suggestions and improve work on this basis

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
• Context: Elizabethan England
• Context: Jacobean England
• What was a Protestant? (conformist, non-conformist, country divinity, Puritan, Laudian etc.)
• The Invisible World: the Protestant Mentality (supernatural beliefs, providence, the devil, salvation, assurance)
• Context: Charles I and the Civil Wars
• How to be a Protestant: public worship (sermons, catechising, liturgy), private religious practices (household worship, Bible reading, prayer), individual devotion (reading, writing, prayer), death.
• Context: The 1650s
• Context: Restoration England
• Culture Wars? Protestant Lifestyles (communal festive culture and merry England; Puritan culture, the emergence of a ritual year, the visual and performative arts)
• The invisible world in decline? (secularisation, religion and the ‘new science’, Thoresby)
• A new Jerusalem? The Protestant Nation (histories of the Reformation; martyrs and myths)

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• E. Cameron, Enchanted Europe: Superstition, Reason and Religion, 1250-1750 (Oxford, 2010).
• B. Capp, England's Culture Wars: Puritan Reformation and its Enemies in the Interregnum, 1649-1660 (Oxford, 2012).
• D. Davis, Seeing Faith, Printing pictures: Religious Identity during the English Reformation (Leiden, 2013).
• J. Gascoigne, Science, Philosophy and Religion in the Age of the Enlightenment: British and Global Contexts (Farnham, 2010).
• T. Hamling, Decorating the 'Godly' Household: Religious Art in Post-Reformation Britain (London, 2010).
• Hunt, The Art of Hearing: English Preachers and their Audiences, 1590-1640 (Cambridge, 2010).
• R. Hutton, The Rise and Fall of Merry England (Oxford, 1994).
• R. Lund, Ridicule, Religion and the Politics of Wit in Augustan England (Farnham, 2012).
• J. Maltby, Prayer Book and People in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England (Cambridge, 1998).
• Marsh, Music and Society in Early modern England (Cambridge, 2010).
• N. Mears and A. Ryrie (eds), Private and Domestic Devotion in Early Modern Britain (Farnham, 2013).
• J. Shaw, Miracles in Enlightenment England (London, 2006).
• Walsham, The Reformation of the Landscape: Religion, Identity, and Memory in Early Modern Britain and Ireland (Cambridge, 2011).
• T. Watt, Cheap Print and Popular Piety (Cambridge, 1991).
• P. Whitfield White, Theatre and Reformation (Cambridge, 1993).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4573
• EEBO
• EBBA
• British Printed Images to 1700
• English Prose Drama Database
• LEME

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• RAMM collections
• Exeter Cathedral Archives

Key words search

Protestantism, Reformation, religion, culture