The Smugglers' City
Department
of History, University
of Bristol
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Unit Handbook 2007/8
Introduction
Unit Aims and Outcomes
Structure of the Unit
Seminars
Assessment
Essays & Special Field Primary Source Project
Examination
INTRODUCTION
During the sixteenth century Bristol became, in a very literal sense, a 'smugglers' city'. This was not just because smugglers lived here. Rather, it was because Bristol itself was owned and dominated by a group of merchant-smugglers that were heavily involved in a large-scale illicit trade. This Special Field explores how Bristol's ruling class ran the city to maximize their own, often corrupt, interests. This includes investigations of the elite's involvement in the discovery voyages, privateering, land speculation, and national politics, as well as smuggling. In the course of this study, students learn how to investigate hidden or secret histories.
UNIT AIMS AND OUTCOMES
UNIT AIMS
The primary aim of the first half of the unit will be to give the students a firm grasp of how Bristol's underlying political and economic structures shaped the city's development in the late medieval and early modern period. The whole unit will be very firmly rooted in a critical evaluation of primary source evidence relating to the discovery voyages. This will develop students' ability to evaluate and use primary evidence. By examining popular histories and local myths, students will learn the ways in which historical evidence can be distorted and abused. It is hoped that students will also learn why such myths can be powerful and persistent. A major aim of the unit is to teach students ways in which 'secret histories', involving smuggling, fraud and corruption, can be investigated. The students will use and examine documents that reveal Bristol's engagement with smuggling. The purpose will be to reconstruct the illicit trade as a commercial enterprise. The unit will also examine how the need to protect Bristol's smuggling operations led to the corruption and subversion of Crown agents.
UNIT LEARNING OUTCOMES
All 'Special' Historical Studies units taken at Bristol foster the development of research initiative, problem identification, creative small-group discussion and individual research. Specials give students a chance to become involved in historical research, rather than just to read about it. This unit will be no exception.
In addition, to these general forms of educational development, it is intended that, by the end of the unit, students will:·
- Gain a greater appreciation of the ways in which deeply embedded social, political and economic relations can shape a city's development.
- Have greater ability to use and interpret a variety of primary sources.
- Be better at dissecting and criticising the scholarship of other historical writers.
- Have learned how to apply some of the methodologies developed by the unit co-ordinator to reconstruct smuggling networks.
- Be able to assess the extent to which smuggling can alter traditional interpretations of early modern trade.
- Be able to produce an analysis of some of the ways in which the development of organised crime networks can affect existing political structures.
STRUCTURE OF THE UNIT
This unit examines the development of Bristol (The Smugglers' City) in the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. It begins by examining the city's development as an entrepreneurial centre dominated by a tightly knit mercantile elite. The unit investigates how and why these men became involved in Atlantic exploration and it examines the evidence that relates to the voyages of discovery themselves. In addition, the unit examines how and why both the Cabot voyages, and the myths associated with them, became central to Bristol's identity. The latter part of this Special Field focusses on 'Crime, power and monopolies'. It examines how Bristol's merchant class created and sustained a large-scale illicit trade during the sixteenth and early seventeenth century. It examines the nature of this organised crime and the use of political power both to protect the trade and to subvert the instruments of the State. The unit investigates how Bristol's elite used sea warfare to secure support from the Crown. Finally, the unit examines how the elite's influence over the Crown enabled Bristol to secure rights, powers and property for the city during periods of crisis, such as the Reformation.
SEMINARS
PLACE AND TIME
- To be decided
SEMINAR TOPICS
The provsional list of seminar topics, questions and reading can be found on the seminar list. The precise topics addressed in the unit may, however, be somewhat different from this, depending on the interests of the class etc.
ASSESSMENT
This unit will be assessed in the same way as other Special Fields. See the '2nd handbook' for full details of assessment proceedures, regulations concerning the submission of essays, etc.
ESSAY
The essay for this unit is 4,000 words. For the deadline and other submission guidelines, see the Second Year Handbook.
Questions and reading lists can be found on: essays page.
SPECIAL FIELD PRIMARY SOURCE PROJECT
A topic and title for this essay will be agreed during a tutorial that will take place during the course of this unit.
EXAMINATION
There will be a voluntary revision session early in the summer term on exam technique and preparation. This will begin with a mock 'exam' in which you will have to prepare essay plans to two questions. Copies of two sample mock papers are given below:
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
Part I Examination for the Special Degree of B.A. in History
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Mock
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THE SMUGGLERS' CITY
This section contains eight questions
Answer two questions
1. To what extent were the Cabot voyages prefigured by events earlier in the fifteenth century?
2. Why did Bristol loose interest in Atlantic exploration after 1508?
3. Is it fair to describe the sixteenth century as the 'bleak midwinter' of Bristol's economic history?
4. 'The monopolisation of existing markets was more important to Bristol's merchants in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries than the development of new ones.' Discuss.
5. What impact did changing fiscal and market conditions have on the extent of English smuggling in the sixteenth century?
6. What collective strategies did Bristol merchants adopt to protect their illicit trade in the sixteenth century?
7. To what extent did the Reformation reshape the physical and political geography of Bristol?
8. How did shipowners benefit from Bristol's engagement in privateering and naval service during the sixteenth century?
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
Part I Examination for the Special Degree of B.A. in History
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MOCK
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THE SMUGGLERS' CITY
This section contains eight questions
Answer two questions
1. What had the greatest influence over the development of Bristol's overseas trade in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: politics, economics or geography?
2. What do we know and what can we infer about the fate of John Cabot's 1498 expedition?
3. Why has John Cabot's fame never approached that of Christopher Columbus?
4. How did Bristol's sixteenth century merchants justify their attempts to exert greater control over the port's trade?
5. To what extent did factors peculiar to Bristol and its region promote the growth of smuggling in the sixteenth century?
6. When Bristol's sixteenth century merchants smuggled, what would they have feared?
7. What does the 'Complaint of the Tuckers, 1568' reveal about the attitudes of Bristol's poor to the city's merchant elite?
8. What was a sixteenth century Bristol privateer more like: a naval captain or a pirate?