Sommerville, Spring 2005
Office: 218 Keene-Flint, hours M 10:30-12, W & F 10:30-11:30, and by appointment
(e-mail address: jsommerv@history.ufl.edu)

Attendance Policy:

Please drop this course now if you will be unable to attend regularly. Others want to add it. Past experience shows that if you miss 4 times you cannot get an A, miss 8 times you cannot get a B, etc. Don't test these odds. This course exists in the lectures and class discussion, NOT IN ANY TEXTBOOK, because of the way textbooks are written (I'll explain). That is why you need to be here every day. Someone else's notes will remind THEM of what I said; they won't remind you of anything.

Topics for lecture and discussion:

• Prehistoric and Roman Britain
• Anglo-Saxon Society
• Paganism and Christianity
• Alfred and the Danes
• The Norman Conquest
• Feudal Government
• The Church Reform Movement
• Lecture #8
• The Invention of Property and Lawyers
• King Arthur and Robin Hood
• Revival of the English Language
• Rise of Parliament
• Decline of Medieval England
• Medieval Architecture
• Decadence
• Reformation and National Sovereignty
• Birth of the Nation-State

C. W. Hollister, The Making of England
L. B. Smith, This Realm of England (read only through chapter 5)
David Crouch, William Marshal
Judith Bennet, A Medieval Life: Cecilia Penifader of Brigstock

A paper will be due on Friday, April 15, based on the books by Crouch and Bennett (see directions below).  The paper must draw on both books and should be about 2,000 words. You are urged to discuss your approach with the instructor before you get too deeply into it.

Grading:

30% on a mid-term exam, Friday, February 25.
30% on the paper described above.
40% on the final exam, Thursday, April 28, at 10-12 am, in our classroom

The exams will be essay type, with some allowance for choice of questions. We will discuss how to prepare for essay exams a week ahead of each exam.

***IMPORTANT***

Any make-ups MUST be taken BEFORE the rest of the class is scheduled to take it. 
There are NO exceptions to this rule, not even illness.

The class adheres to the University honesty policy regarding cheating and the use of copyrighted material.

Students needing accommodation for disabilities must register with the Dean of Students Office, to receive the documentation to bring to the instructor when reqesting accommodation.

Course objectives:

• To help students place themselves in their own historical context and tradition--socially, politically,and intellectually.
• To teach them to read monographs and popularizations discriminatingly.
• To give them practice in answering historical questions of their own formulation.
• To familiarize them with the concepts historians use in interpreting this period of England's history.
• To familiarize them with the general outline of England's development in this period.

• The paper should be about 7-8 double-spaced pages, or 2,000 words.
• It should have a title which indicates the theme.  The theme should be a comparison of some limited topic, for which you can draw from both books.  It might compare gender differences, or time differences between the two figures.  It could compare the two people, or their different situations, with regard to some feature of life or thought.
• The opening paragraph should indicate where you intend to go with your theme.
• Each paragraph should have some internal coherence.
• It should be spelled and punctuated carefully.
• Don't leave all your comparisons until the end, but keep referring to them.
• You do not need a bibliography, unless you use other books than those assigned. Using other books is neither encouraged nor discouraged.
• Footnotes are only needed if you quote directly or if you think I may be suspicious of your statement and you want to prove it to me. If so, simply use a parenthesis in the text giving author and page, for example (Crouch 297).
• The paper is not to be a comparison of the books themselves but of the people described in the books.
• Do not use material off the Internet.
• Do not submit the paper electronically, as an attachment.  Hard copy only.
• Again, you should talk to me about your paper topic BEFORE you write, and I will keep a record of the topic you have chosen.