Unit information: The Black Death in England in 2019/20

Unit name	The Black Death in England
Unit code	HIST20125
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
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

This unit aims to provide students with insights into the course and consequences of the Black Death in England from its first appearance in 1348-9 up to the sixteenth century, when population levels finally began to recover. The unit considers the impact of pestilence on a wide range of aspects of late medieval English life: politics; agricultural practices; town-life; the role of women; religious devotion; medical thought; diet; dress; charity; literary and artistic fashions; international trade; warfare, and social relations.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. demonstrate in-depth understanding and detailed knowledge of the course and consequences of the Black Death in England;
2. display the ability to integrate both primary and secondary source material into a wider historical analysis and argument
3. approach a long-term historical analysis from a modern perspective
4. select relevant evidence in order to illustrate historical arguments
5. identify a particular academic interpretation, evaluate it critically and form an individual viewpoint, as appropriate to level I

Teaching Information

1 x 2hr Seminar per week

1 x 1hr Seminar per week

Assessment Information

• Portfolio Part 1: 750 word primary source analysis [10%] (ILOs 1-3)
• Portfolio Part 2: 750 word broad question [10%] (ILOs 1-3)
• 4000 word research project [80%] (ILOs 1-5)

Reading and References

Bruce M. S. Campbell, Land and People in Late Medieval England (Farnham, 2009)

Barbara A. Hanawalt, Ceremony and Civility: 'Civic Culture in Late Medieval London (Oxford, 2017)

Gerald Harriss, Shaping the Nation: 'England' 1360–1461 (Oxford, 2005)

Barbara Harvey, Living and Dying in England 1100-1540: The Monastic Experience (Oxford, 1993)

Rosemary Horrox and W. Mark Ormrod (eds.), A Social History of 'England', 1200–1500 (Cambridge, 2006)

Mark Ormrod and Phillip Lindley (eds.), The Black Death in England (Donington, 1996)