Unit information: Norman, Saxon and Celt in the Medieval British Isles: What's in a Name? (Level H Reflective History) in 2009/10

Unit name	Norman, Saxon and Celt in the Medieval British Isles: What's in a Name? (Level H Reflective History)
Unit code	HIST38017
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. Smith
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of History (Historical Studies)
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

The idea that the English suffered under a 'Norman yoke' in the centuries after 1066 is a very old one, but was reinvigorated by historians of the late nineteenth century who stressed the 'Germanic' credentials of the 'Anglo-Saxon' people conquered by that 'Frenchman', William, duke of Normandy. The mixed inhabitants of twelfth-century England were critical of their Welsh, Scottish and Irish neighbours, but it was another six hundred before historians began to lump these peoples together as 'Celts', and ascribe to them a common culture of which they themselves were quite unaware. This unit seeks to unpick the two strands of this process of identity-formation. What changes occurred in the twelfth century in the national labels contemporaries applied to themselves and others? And what motivated those studying the past in the nineteenth century to think up new categorizations for the medieval inhabitants of the British Isles?

Aims:

Reflective history is identified in the Subject Benchmarking Statement as an important skill. Whilst students will reflect on their work in all of their units the aim of this unit will be to focus on that reflective practice and to enable students to carry it forward in conjunction with a particular historical subject matter which will fit in with their overall portfolio of subject/period/theme-based units.

Intended Learning Outcomes

• Students will have a heightened understanding of the particular and unique skills that historians acquire and of the way in which they apply those skills to a specific task

• Students will be able to convey that understanding to others both in writing and through a shared group exploration

• Students will have a deeper understanding of their own individual acquisition and application of those skills. They will be aware of their own particular combination of skills and they will have a clearer understanding of the areas where skills need to be improved.

• Students will have a stronger awareness of how their skills might be applied more generally to other contexts

• At the same time, and as part of the same process, they will have gained a deeper knowledge of identity-formation in the British Isles from the twelfth century to the twentieth.

Teaching Information

• Initial 1 hour introductory seminar, then fortnightly 2 hour seminars for 5 weeks.

• Guided independent reading directed towards presentation of material to their group

• Access to tutorial consultation with unit tutor in office hours

• Tutorial feedback on essay

Assessment Information

1 x 24 hour seen exam

Reading and References

• J.W. Burrow, A Liberal Descent: Victorian Historians and the English Past (Cambridge, 1981)

• P. Damian-Grint, The New Historians of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance (Woodbridge, 1999)

• R. R. Davies, Domination and Conquest: The Experience of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, 1100-1300 (Cambridge, 1990)

• J. Gillingham, The English in the Twelfth Century: Imperialism, National Identity and Political Values (Woodbridge, 2003)

• H.A. MacDougall, Racial Myth in English History: Trojans, Teutons, and Anglo-Saxons (Montreal, 1982)