Overview

Indicative contents: The C17th background to the revolution; the reign of James II; the events of 1688-9; the revolution’s constitutional and religious settlement; the nature of William and Mary’s monarchy; debates round the radicalism and modernity of the change of monarch, limitations on the prerogative, and the toleration act. The significance of 1688 in the overall development of England

Assessment Strategy

-threshold -Threshold: Threshold students (D- and D) will have done only a minimum of reading, and their work will often be based partly on lecture notes and/or basic textbooks. They will demonstrate in their written assessments some knowledge of at least parts of the relevant field, and will make at least partially-successful attempts to frame an argument which engages with historical controversies, but they will fail to discuss some large and vital aspects of a topic; and/or deploy only some relevant material but partly fail to combine it into a coherent whole; and/or deploy some evidence to support individual points but often fail to do so and/or show difficulty weighing evidence (thereby relying on unsuitable or irrelevant evidence when making a point). Alternatively or additionally, the presentation of the work might also be poor, with bad grammar and/or punctuation, careless typos and spelling errors, and a lack of effective and correct referencing. Engagement with primary sources will be basic, and in gobbets answers, no attempt will be made to analyse passages beyond some broad explanation of context. -good -Good: Good students (B- to B+) will demonstrate a solid level of achievement and depth of knowledge in all the criteria in the C- to C+ range, and will in addition exhibit constructive engagement with different types of historical writing and historiographical interpretation. Ideas will be communicated effectively and written work will include a good range of sources/reading and demonstrate a clear understanding of the issues and of the existing interpretations expressed in a well-structured, relevant, and focused argument. Students at the top end of this band will engage with and critique the ideas that they come across, and synthesise the various interpretations they find to reach their own considered conclusions. Written work will be correctly presented with references and bibliography where appropriate. Primary sources will be central to arguments, in gobbets answers a good context will be provided, and the particular passage will be used to make detailed points about the topic. -excellent -Excellent: Excellent students (A- and above) will show strong achievement across all the criteria combined with particularly impressive depths of knowledge and/or subtlety of analysis. In written work, they will support their arguments with a wealth of relevant detail/examples. They will also demonstrate an acute awareness of the relevant historiography and give an account of why the conclusions reached are important within a particular historical debate. They may show a particularly subtle approach to possible objections, nuancing their argument in the light of counter-examples, or producing an interesting synthesis of various contrasting positions. Primary sources will be used imaginatively or even innovatively, and gobbets answer will show a detailed analysis of the passage, and suggest potentially significant things about its wider significance. -another level-Above threshold: Students in this band (C- to C+) will demonstrate a satisfactory range of achievement or depth of knowledge of most parts of the module, and will make successful, if occasionally inconsistent, attempts to develop those skills appropriate to the study of History at undergraduate level. In the case of the written assessments, the answers will attempt to focus on the question, although might drift into narrative, and will show some evidence of solid reading and research. The argument might lose direction and might not be adequately clear at the bottom of this category. Written work will be presented reasonably well with only limited errors in grammar, punctuation, and referencing, and not to the extent that they obscure meaning. There will be some solid citing of primary sources, but largely as illustrations to arguments gleaned from secondary works, and in gobbets answers, a reasonable context will be provided, but there will be little deep understanding of the particular passage itself.

Learning Outcomes

• Be able to analyse contemporary documents closely.

• Gain in depth knowledge of the events of 1688-9, and their possible causes and consequences, and write an essay on one aspect of this.

• Present original historical arguments in both essay and short comment form.

• Understand competing scholarly interpretations of 1688-9, and judge between them using evidence and logic.