Aims
This course aims to:
• to convey something of the richness and variety of the social, political and religious history of England in the later 14th century
• to indicate how literary and artistic creativity sat alongside political and social instability.
• to appreciate the chronicle narratives as sources for the main events of the period and to assess their value
Content
Richard II’s reign is perhaps best known today through Shakespeare’s play about the king, the first of the dramatist’s history cycle and one of his finest works. The course will take the play as its point of departure, but it will extend the coverage to take in the whole of Richard’s lifetime, from his birth in 1367 to his deposition in 1399 and death in the following year. The period saw almost unprecedented political and social upheaval, with popular discontent bursting into the open in the Great Revolt of 1381 and aristocratic anger at Richard’s increasingly autocratic policies culminating in his overthrow and replacement by his cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, later King Henry IV. At the same time, religious life was unsettled by the heretical teaching of the Oxford academic, John Wyclif, who condemned papal authority and called for the Bible to be made available to the faithful in English. Alongside this instability and turbulence, however, sat enormous artistic and literary creativity. The Wilton Diptych, the product of a courtly milieu, is the finest English panel painting of the Middle Ages, while Westminster Hall, built in the 1390s, is one of Europe’s very grandest royal meeting spaces. And in the world of literature, Geoffrey Chaucer, who worked in this period and was associated with the court, ranks with Shakespeare as one of England’s greatest writers.
The course will open with a general review of the politics of the period, focusing on Richard’s exalted style of kingship and the reactions to it of the political nation. It will then look at the social upheavals of the time, in particular the Great Revolt, its origins in the changes in the rural economy, and the contribution to its outbreak of the notorious poll taxes. Consideration will then be given to the religious life of the period – and not just to the activities of John Wyclif and his followers, but also to the more orthodox expressions of piety. Following this, attention will be directed to the art and architecture of the period, looking in particular at the Wilton Diptych, the State portrait of Richard II in Westminster Abbey, and the architectural patronage of the king and of one of his leading bishops, William Wykeham, bishop of Winchester. The course will round off with an attempt to assess the literary achievement of the period, with its great flowering of English vernacular literature in the works of Chaucer, Langland and Gower.
Presentation of the course
Teaching will be by means of informal lectures at which questions and discussion will be encouraged. Extensive use will be made of the chronicles, the main narrative sources for
the period.
Course sessions
1. Hubris and nemesis: the kingship of Richard II, 1377-1399
2. Social upheaval: the Great Revolt of 1381, its causes and consequences
3. John Wyclif and his enemies: the Lollard heresy, its roots and its importance – or otherwise
4. The Wilton Diptych and more: art and architecture in the late fourteenth century
5. The flowering in vernacular literature: Chaucer, Gower, the Gawain poet and Langland and their works
Learning outcomes
You are expected to gain from this series of classroom sessions a greater understanding of the subject and of the core issues and arguments central to the course.
The learning outcomes for this course are:
• a fuller understanding of the political, social and religious upheavals of the period
• a deeper appreciation of the literary and other cultural achievements of the period
• a greater awareness of the value of the contemporary chronicle narratives
Required reading
A.K. McHardy, A, K (ed.), The Reign of Richard II. From Minority to Tyranny, 1377-97 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012)
Given-Wilson, C (ed.), Chronicles of the Revolution, 1397-1400. The Reign of Richard II (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993)
You may be able to access both of these books through the MJUP website: MMSO - Manchester University Press
