HIST 848 National Identity in Britain 1300-1600

"Britain" and "national identity" are concepts as contested among historians today as they were among contemporaries in the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries. Relationships among the respective traditional nations of the British archipelago overlay strong and enduring factors of regional and local identity. Throughout the same period, far-reaching social and economic, cultural, and political transformations sharpened interchanges and conflicts among nations and regions. The purpose of this research seminar is to investigate the historiography and current state of secondary literature on all these topics, and to guide students through a long-form research project resulting in a substantial final paper and presentation based upon primary sources.