History 950
Seminar in European History: London to 1600
UWM, Fall 1999
Professor Martha Carlin
Office: Holton 328, tel. (414) 229-5767
Messages: History Department, tel. (414) 229-4361
E-mail: carlin@uwm.edu
Home page: pantherfile.uwm.edu/carlin/www
Office hours: Tues. 2:00-3:00 and by app’t
Course description: To the twelfth-century English cleric William FitzStephen, London was “the most noble city;” to the fourteenth-century French historian Froissart it was by London that “the entire kingdom of England is governed;” and to a German visitor in 1599 London was “so superior to other English towns that London is not said to be in England, but rather England to be in London.” To an early seventeenth-century Italian diplomat, however, London was a city whose suburbs were “inhabited by an inept population of the lowest description.” This course will examine the many faces of medieval and early modern London, using contemporary accounts and archaeological sources as well as the work of modern scholars, to trace the history of the city from its Roman origins to the time of Shakespeare.
Week 1 INTRODUCTION
7 Sept. Introduction to course; Roman and Anglo-Saxon London
Week 2 FROM CONQUEST TO COMMUNE: LONDON 1066-1191
14 Sept. Brooke and Keir, pp. 105-21, 162-182, 191-236
Schofield, Building of London, Chap. 2, pp. 37-56
FitzStephen, Description of London (in
Stow, Everyman edn., pp. 501-9)
White, pp. 6-18, 25-26, 28-31, 34-50, 71-73
The liberties of London, c. 1120, at:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1120privlndn.html
Week 3 THE DEVELOPING CAPITAL: CIVIC GOVERNMENT
21 Sept. Myers, London in the Age of Chaucer, pp. 85-136
Pearl, pp. 45-68
Thrupp, pp. 80-92
Rickert, pp. 10-14, 33-34, 41-46
Manley, pp. 188-91
Week 4 TRADE AND THE RISE OF THE GUILDS
28 Sept. Thrupp, pp. 1-27
Rappaport, Worlds within Worlds, pp. 29-47
Veale, “The `Great Twelve’: Mistery and Fraternity in Thirteenth-Century London”
James, “A London Merchant of the Fourteenth Century”
Bennett, “Women and Men in the Brewers’ Guild of London, ca. 1420”
Rickert, pp. 19-25
Week 5 THE COURT AND LONDON
5 Oct. Rosser, Medieval Westminster, pp. 35-41
Matthew Paris, Grant of a new fair at Westminster, 1248, at:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1248Westmnst.html
Mathew, pp. 1-52
McKisack, “London and the Succession”
Caroline Barron, “The Quarrel of Richard II with London, 1392-7”
Rickert, pp. 35-39, 137, 159-160
Week 6 WEALTH, POVERTY, AND THE CONDITIONS OF DAILY LIFE
IN CHAUCER’S LONDON
12 Oct. Myers, London in the Age of Chaucer, pp.47-58, 144-57, 184-194
Thrupp, pp. 130-74
Myers, “The Wealth of Richard Lyons”
Barron, “Introduction: The Widow’s World in Later Medieval London,” in
Barron and Sutton, eds., Medieval London Widows, pp. xiii-xxxiv
Wood, “Poor Widows, c. 1393-1415″ in Barron and Sutton, eds.,
Medieval London Widows, pp. 55-69
Rickert, pp. 15-17, 99-104, 107-8, 112-119
David Lorenzo Boyd and Ruth Mazo Karras, eds., “The Questioning of
John Rykener, a Male Cross-Dressing Prostitute, 1395,” at:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1395rykener.html
Week 7 CRISES IN LONDON (I): PLAGUE AND REVOLT IN
FOURTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON
19 Oct. [Topic, outline, and preliminary bibliography of research paper due]
Ziegler, pp. 13-29, 45-53, 117-26, 156-160
Hawkins, “The Black Death and the New London Cemeteries of 1348”
Rickert, pp. 354-357
Dobson, pp. 2-8, 18-31, 59-68, 119-131, 153-168, 199-228, 303-306
Week 8 PROVISIONING THE CITY
26 Oct. Keene, “Medieval London and Its Region”
Galloway, Keene and Murphy, “Fuelling the City”
Carlin, “Provisions for the Poor”
Rickert, pp. 27-31, 84, 349-50
“London Lickpenny” (poem of early 15th century), at:
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/lick.htm
Fisher, “The Development of the London Food Market, 1540-1640”
Week 9 THE CHURCH IN LONDON
2 Nov. Myers, London in the Age of Chaucer, pp. 72-84, 136-143, 157-162
Barron, “The Parish Fraternities of Medieval London.”
McHardy, “The Churchmen of Chaucer’s London: The Seculars”
Rickert, pp. 48-49, 374-378
Thomson, “Piety and Charity in Late Medieval London”
Brigden, “Religion and Social Obligation”
Archer, pp. 82-92
Manley, pp. 97-105, 108-10
Week 10 THE TUDOR CAPITAL
9 Nov. Manley, pp. 29-44
Schofield, Building of London, pp. viii-ix (map) and Chap. 6, pp. 131-155
Rappaport, Worlds within Worlds, pp. 76-98, 117-122
Beier, “Engine of Manufacture: The Trades of London”
Packet of documents, doc. nos. 16/7, 16/10, 16/16
Stow, “Singularities of the City” (=pp. 485-498 in Everyman edition)
Barron, Coleman and Gobbi, eds., “The London Journal of Alessandro
Magno, 1562”
Week 11 THE STREETS AND ENVIRONS OF TUDOR LONDON
16 Nov. Manley, pp. 57-61, 143-44
Stow, “Portsoken Ward,” “Cornhill Ward,” “Vintry Ward,”
“Cripplegate Ward,” “Subarbs Without the Walls”
Pearl, pp. 9-37
Rosser, “Vill of Westminster”
Packet of documents, doc. nos. 16/13, 16/17
Waldstein, pp. 10-12, 33-71, 165-79
See also Guildhall exhibition of paintings, prints and drawings of
Tudor London at:
http://collage.nhil.com/exhibitions/tudor.htm
Week 12 (23 Nov.) RESEARCH PAPER AND ORAL PRESENTATIONS DUE
Week 13 CRISES IN LONDON (II): PLAGUE AND REVOLT IN
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON
30 Nov. Slack, “Metropolitan Government in Crisis: The Response to Plague.”
Rappaport, Worlds within Worlds, Introduction, pp. 1-22, 54-60, 70-76
Packet of documents, doc. no. 16/14
Archer, pp. 1-9, 255-260
Week 14 DAILY LIFE AND STANDARDS OF LIVING IN SHAKESPEARE’S
LONDON
7 Dec. Manley, pp. 185-86
Rappaport, Worlds within Worlds, pp.123-153, 162-173, 363-372
Archer, pp. 182-197
Jonson, Chapman and Marston, Eastward Ho!, Act I (all) and Act II, scene 1
Week 15 RECREATION AND THE THEATER IN SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON
14 Dec. [Final exam draft due]
Gurr, pp. 13-48
Manley, p. 106
Packet of documents, doc. no. 16/18
Dekker, The Shoemaker’s Holiday (entire play)
Archer, Ian. The Pursuit of Stability: Social Relations in Elizabethan London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Barron, Caroline M. “Introduction: The Widow’s World in Later Medieval London.” In Medieval London Widows, 1300-1500, ed. Caroline Barron and Anne Sutton. London: Hambledon, 1994, pp. xiii-xxxiv.
———-. “The Parish Fraternities of Medieval London.” In The Church in Pre-Reformation Society: Essays in Honour of F. R. H. Du Boulay, ed. Caroline M. Barron and Christopher Harper-Bill. Woodbridge, Suffolk and Dover, New Hampshire: Boydell Press, 1985, pp. 13-37.
———-. “The Quarrel of Richard II with London, 1392-7.” In The Reign of Richard II: Essays in Honour of May McKisack, ed. F. R. H. Du Boulay and Caroline M. Barron. London: University of London, Athlone Press, 1971, pp. 173-201.
———-, Christopher Coleman and Claire Gobbi, eds., “The London Journal of Alessandro Magno, 1562,” London Journal, 9 (1983), pp. 136-152
Beier, A. L. “Engine of Manufacture: The Trades of London.” In The Making of the Metropolis: London 1500-1700, ed. A. L. Beier and Roger Finlay. London and New York: Longman, 1986, pp. 141-167.
Bennett, Judith M. “Women and Men in the Brewers’ Gild of London, ca. 1420.” In The Salt of Common Life: Individuality and Choice in the Medieval Town, Countryside, and Church. Essays Presented to J. Ambrose Raftis, ed. Edwin Brezette DeWindt. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 1995, pp. 181-232.
Brigden, Susan. “Religion and Social Obligation in Early Sixteenth-Century London.” Past and Present, 103 (1984), pp. 67-112.
Brooke, Christopher N. L. and Gillian Keir. London 800-1216: The Shaping of a City. London: Secker and Warburg, 1975.
Carlin, Martha. “Provisions for the Poor: Fast Food in Medieval London,” Franco-British Studies, 20 (1995), pp. 35-48.
Dekker, Thomas. The Shoemaker’s Holiday. (The New Mermaid edition has been ordered for purchase.)
Dobson, Richard Barrie, ed. The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. London: Macmillan, 1970.
Fisher, Jack. “The Development of the London Food Market, 1540-1640,” Economic History Review, 5 (1935), pp. 46-64; also reprinted in London and the English Economy, 1500-1700, ed. P. J. Corfield and N. B. Harte (London: Hambledon, 1990); and in Essays in Economic History, I, ed. E. M. Carus-Wilson (New York, 1962), pp. 134-151.
Galloway, James A., Derek Keene, and Margaret Murphy. “Fuelling the City: Production and Distribution of Firewood and Fuel in London’s Region, 1290-1400,” Economic History Review, 49 (1996), pp. 447-472.
Gurr, Andrew. Playgoing in Shakespeare’s London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Hawkins, Duncan. “The Black Death and the New London Cemeteries of 1348,” Antiquity, 64 (1990), 637-642.
James, Margery K. “A London Merchant of the Fourteenth Century,” Economic History Review, 2nd series, 8 (1956), 364-76.
Jonson, Ben, George Chapman, and John Marston, Eastward Ho! (1605).
Keene, Derek. “Medieval London and Its Region,” London Journal, 14 (1989), pp. 99-111.
Manley, Lawrence, ed. London in the Age of Shakespeare: An Anthology. University Park, Pennsylvania, and London: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1986.
Mathew, Gervase. The Court of Richard II. London: John Murray, 1968.
McHardy, Alison K. “The Churchmen of Chaucer’s London: The Seculars,” Medieval Prosopography, 16 (1995), pp. 57-87.
McKisack, May. “London and the Succession to the Crown During the Middle Ages.” In Studies in Medieval History Presented to Frederic Maurice Powicke, ed. R. W. Hunt, W. A. Pantin and R. W. Southern. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1948, pp. 76-89.
Myers, A. R. London in the Age of Chaucer. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972.
———-. “The Wealth of Richard Lyons.” In Essays in Medieval History Presented to Bertie Wilkinson, ed. T. A. Sandquist and M. R. Powicke. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969), pp. 301-329.
Pearl, Valerie. London and the Outbreak of the Puritan Revolution: City Government and National Politics, 1625-43. London: Oxford University Press, 1961.
Rappaport, Steven. Worlds Within Worlds: Structures of Life in Sixteenth-Century London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Rickert, Edith, comp., Clair C. Olson and Martin M. Crow, eds. Chaucer’s World. New York: Columbia University Press, 1948.
Rosser, A. G. “The Essence of Medieval Urban Communities: The Vill of Westminster 1200-1540.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 34 (1984), pp. 91-112.
———-. Medieval Westminster, 1200-1540. Oxford: Clarendon, 1989.
Schofield, John. The Building of London, from the Conquest to the Great Fire. London: British Museum, Colonnade Books, 1984.
Slack, Paul. “Metropolitan Government in Crisis: The Response to Plague.” In The Making of the Metropolis: London 1500-1700, ed. A. L. Beier and Roger Finlay. London and New York: Longman, 1986, pp. 60-81.
Stow, John. A Survey of London, 2nd edn, 1603. The best modern edition is by Charles Lethbridge Kingsford (2 vols., Oxford: Clarendon, 1908, rpt 1971). The one-volume Everyman edition by H. B. Wheatley (London: Dent, 1912; revised edn 1956; rpt with new introduction by Valerie Pearl, 1987) is more commonly available, but lacks good notes and indexes.
Thomson, J. A. F. “Piety and Charity in Late Medieval London,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 16 (1965), pp. 178-195.
Thrupp, Sylvia L. The Merchant Class of Medieval London [1300-1500]. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1948; rpt Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1962.
Veale, Elspeth. “The `Great Twelve’: Mistery and Fraternity in Thirteenth-Century London.” Historical Research, 64 (1991), 237-263.
Waldstein, Z. B. The Diary of Baron Waldstein: A Traveller in Elizabethan England, ed. and trans. G. W. Groos. London: Thames and Hudson, 1981.
White, William. Skeletal Remains from the Cemetery of St Nicholas Shambles, City of London. London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Special Paper, 1988.
Wood, Robert. “Poor Widows, c. 1393-1415.” In Medieval London Widows, 1300-1500, ed. Caroline Barron and Anne Sutton. London: Hambledon, 1994, pp. 55-69.
Ziegler, Philip. The Black Death. London: Collins, 1969; rpt Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1982.
LONDON TO 1600
Your topic, outline, and a preliminary bibliography are due in class on Tuesday, 19 Oct.
Full documentation (endnotes or footnotes, plus bibliography) is required for the finished paper. For guidelines on paper-writing, see handout. An online version is also available, together with some more detailed documentation guides, on my home page.
The finished paper is due in class on Tuesday, 23 Nov.
Oral presentations: Each student will be required to give a brief oral presentation of his or her research paper. These oral presentations will take place on Tuesday, 23 Nov.
Exams: In place of exams, each student is to draft a final exam covering the entire course. This is due (in typescript, with suggested answers), in class on 14 Dec.
Grading: The final grade will be based equally on your class work and your written work and oral presentation. 50% of your grade will be based on your regular attendance and active participation in class discussions, including doing the assigned readings on time; and 50% of your grade will be based on your research paper, oral presentation and final exam draft.