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Thomas More: Learning, Politics & Religion in England, 1500-35 - HIS00031H

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  • Department: History
  • Module co-ordinator: Dr. John Cooper
  • Credit value: 40 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2021-22
    • See module specification for other years: 2022-23

Module summary

Thomas More has been the subject of several recent biographies and continues to be a controversial figure in English historiography. Much of the recent scholarship has emerged as archival sources in the public records have been examined more thoroughly, but a great deal has been stimulated by the Yale edition of the Complete Works, available in the library. This course will exploit these sources to engage students in a much-studied period of English history which continues to produce scholarly work of a vigorously contested nature, and thus the relationship between source material and historiography is one which can be very clearly drawn out. The course will follow a broadly chronological framework, placing More’s intellectual history in the context of his own career and of political and religious developments in England and Europe in the early 16th century.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Autumn Term 2021-22 to Spring Term 2021-22

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

  • To introduce students to in depth study of a specific historical topic using primary and secondary material;
  • To enable students to explore the topic through discussion and writing; and
  • To enable students to evaluate and analyse primary sources.

Module learning outcomes

Students who complete this module successfully will:

  • Grasp key themes, issues and debates relevant to the topic being studied;
  • Have acquired knowledge and understanding about that topic;
  • Be able to comment on and analyse original sources;
  • Be able to relate the primary and secondary material to one another; and
  • Have acquired skills and confidence in close reading and discussion of texts and debates.

Module content

Teaching Programme:

Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1 of the autumn term, and a 3-hour seminar in weeks 2-5 and 7-9 of the autumn term and weeks 2-5 and 7-10 of the spring term. Both the autumn and spring terms include a reading week for final year students and so there will be no teaching in week 6. Students prepare for and participate in fifteen three-hour seminars. One-to-one meetings will also be held to discuss the assessed essay.

Seminar topics are likely to include the following :-

1. Humanism in England
2. Texts: Erasmus, In Praise of Folly; More, Letter to Dorp
3. History and Politics: More and early Tudor historiography
4. Text: More, History of King Richard the Third
5. Utopia and political thought
6. The legacy of medieval piety: the four last things
7. Text: More, The Last Things
8. The challenge of Luther
9. Text: More, Responsio ad Lutherum, book 1
10. English Protestants: More against Tyndale and Barnes
11. Texts: More, The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer, books 2 and 8; Robert Barnes, A Supplication
12. Religion, Parliament and the law: More, Fish and St German.  Texts: Simon Fish, A Supplication for the Beggars; More, The Supplication of Souls
13. Trial, prison and execution
14. Text: More, A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, book 3
15. Fashioning a reputation: the afterlife of Thomas More. Texts: William Roper, The Life of Thomas More; Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons  

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Essay : 4,000 words		 N/A 50
Online Exam - 24 hrs (Centrally scheduled)
Online Exam		 8 hours 50

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

For formative assessment, students will be given the opportunity to do practice gobbets and then required to write a 2,000-word procedural essay relating to the themes and issues of the module in either the autumn or spring term.

For summative assessment, students complete a 4,000-word essay which utilises an analysis of primary source materials to explore a theme or topic relating to the module, due in week 5 of the summer term.

They then take a three-hour closed examination for summative assessment in the summer term assessment period comprising: one essay question relating to themes and issues, but showing an awareness of the pertinent sources that underpin these AND one ‘gobbet’ question (where students attempt two gobbets from a slate of eight).

The essay and exam are weighted equally at 50% each.

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Essay : 4,000 words		 N/A 50
Online Exam - 24 hrs (Centrally scheduled)
Online Exam		 8 hours 50

Module feedback

Following their formative assessment task, students will receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.

Work will be returned to students in their seminars and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their procedural work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.

For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 20 working days of the submission deadline unless submitted in week 5 of the summer term, in which case these are available within 25 working days. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.

Indicative reading

For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:

Ackroyd, Peter. The Life of Thomas More. London: Vintage, 1999.

Paul, Joanne. Thomas More. Cambridge: Polity, 2017.

Wooding, Lucy. Henry VIII. Abingdon: Routledge, 2009.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.