Lecture Series: Early Modern England from Yale

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3uBi2TZdUY

Notes:

• Lecture 1 – General Introduction
  • There are at least three good reasons for exploring deep history. It is imaginatively enriching, it is intellectually demanding, and it creates meaning
  • It’s only from about the early sixteenth century that sources survive in large quantities for historians to use
• Lecture 2 – The Social Order in the Sixteenth Century
  • There were four kinds of distinctions between people: function, rank / status, age, and gender
  • The nobility (peerage, gentry, and church leaders) were the principal landowners of England and Wales. For example, in the county of North Yorkshire, the peerage owned 27% of the land, the gentry owned 46% of the land, and nearly all of the rest belonged to the church
• Lecture 3 – Households: Structures, Priorities, Strategies, Roles
  • Sixteenth-century households differed from modern households in three essential ways: structurally in that a substantial number of them contained people affiliated by contract (servants and apprentices), conceptually in that servants and apprentices were regarded as members of the family, and functionally because these people were usually taken on for reasons which go beyond usual functions of a modern household
  • Only a small minority of children would have formal schooling, about 10% in the early sixteenth century. From the age of about seven or eight, most children would be regularly found engaging in various household tasks
• Lecture 4 – Communities: Key Institutions and Relationships
  • Most towns had a very strong sense of identity as autonomous, self-governing communities. The core members of these communities were the free citizens of those cities
  • Guilds were responsible for a multitude of things including regulating particular trades, governing the taking on of apprentices, keeping non-members of the guild out of practicing the trade, and laying down the rules for good business practices of masters
• Lecture 5 – “Countries” and Nation: Social and Economic Networks and the Urban System
  • The word “country” was not used in the modern sense of a territorial state. Instead, it was used to mean a distinctive area, a landscape, a society, or a local culture
  • London was the great center of international trade. The dominance of London was based on it being so close to the Netherlands, specifically Antwerp
• Lecture 6 – The Structures of Power
  • The principal functions of the king were: keeping the peace and defending the realm, maintaining the law and the administration of justice, and upholding the church
  • The early Tudor kings solidified their power through the use of propaganda, patronage, consultations, and coercion
• Lecture 7 – Late Medieval Religion and Its Critics
  • At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the church was the biggest institution in the kingdom. The clergy was estimated to be about 60,000 people, which was around four percent of the entire national population or around eight percent of the entire male population
  • King Henry VIII was originally a devout and well-informed Catholic. He published Defense of the Seven Sacraments in 1521, which earned him the title Defender of the Faith from the pope
• Lecture 8 – Reformation and Division, 1530-1558
  • Henry VIII had six queens: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived
  • The Protestant Reformation happened in five phases: the Gathering Crisis (1527-1531), the Royal Supremacy (1532-1535), the Henrician Reformation (1536-1547), the Edwardian Reformation (1547-1553), and the Marian Reaction (1554-1558)
• Lecture 9 – “Commodity” and “Commonwealth”: Economic and Social Problems, 1520-1560
  • Between 1536 and 1540, about 60% of the land that was owned by the church was transferred to the crown through the Dissolution of the Monasteries
  • The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular uprising that began in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England. It was a protest against Henry VIII’s break with the Roman Catholic Church as well as his other policies
• Lecture 10 – The Elizabethan Confessional State: Conformity, Papists and Puritans
  • The Act of Uniformity was an act passed in 1559. It set the order of prayer to be used, and mandated everyone to attend church once a week or be fined 12 pence a month
  • By 1603, the Church of England had roughly two and a half million members, while there were only 8,000 to 9,000 known Catholics who remained
• Lecture 11 – The Elizabethan “Monarchical Republic”: Political Participation
  • Elizabeth had to deal with the ongoing threat posed by Mary, Queen of Scots, the increasingly tense relationship with Spain, the internal divisions in matters of religion, and the ongoing war with France
  • Mary, Queen of Scots was implicated in the Babington plot to kill Elizabeth. Elizabeth signed Mary’s death warrant, but then withheld it until the council acted without permission, which led to Mary’s execution
• Lecture 12 – Economic Expansion, 1560-1640
  • By 1600, London already contained 5% of the national population. By 1650, London contained just over 9% of the national population and was still growing
  • Based on figures calculated by the demographer E. A. Wrigley, between 1520 and 1670, the rural agricultural population was significantly reduced. The urban population living in towns of over 5,000 rose from about 5.5% to over 13%. The rural non-agricultural population rose from about 18% to about 26%
• Lecture 13 – A Polarizing Society, 1560-1640
  • This was a period when many of the gentry and nobility began to spend part of the year in London. It became known as the London Season, the habit of spending the winter in town and being absent from their estates
  • The best paid men in the 1560’s could have fed their families with 153 days of work. By the 1630’s, with rising prices and wages that did not rise as fast, this became 229 days. The figures were 192 days and 306 days for the worst paid craftsmen in the two time periods respectively
• Lecture 14 – Witchcraft and Magic
  • Witch trials were relatively rare except for in the home circuit. Even within the home circuit, the cases came predominantly from the county of Essex to the east of London
  • Witches were usually women and they were frequently elderly women. Witches were usually accused by neighbors, not strangers, and they were often poorer than their alleged victims
• Lecture 15 – Crime and the Law
  • J. A. Sharpe calculated that the homicide rate in mid-seventeenth century England was about three times that of modern Britan
  • A person found guilty, even of a capital crime, could escape hanging by claiming benefit of clergy. They had to prove they could read by reading what was known as the “neck verse” (Psalm 51, verse 1)
• Lecture 16 – Popular Protest
  • Food riots were often orderly affairs rather than chaotic. They aimed to defend traditional rights that participants felt were being threatened, either by food shortages or by agrarian changes such as enclosure
  • These forms of modern popular protest were fundamentally political in nature. These defenses of popular custom and rights influenced early forms of labor organization from the late seventeenth century onward
• Lecture 17 – Education and Literacy
  • In 1563, only 26% of members of parliament attended university vs. 50% in 1642. For justices of the peace serving in six counties, only 5% of them attended university in 1562 vs. 62% in 1636
  • Historical literacy rates were measured using large samples of people putting their names to documents and to distinguish between those who could write their names and those who simply made a mark
• Lecture 18 – Street Wars of Religion: Puritans and Arminians
  • The Jacobethan consensus largely prevailed throughout the reign of James I and was characterized by broad-based conformity and adherence to the Calvinist doctrine
  • The Arminian movement, which was anti-Calvinist in doctrine with strong elements of ritualism and clericalism, destroyed the Jacobethan consensus
• Lecture 19 – Crown and Political Nation, 1604-1640
  • George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, attracted James I’s attention in the late 1610’s. By 1628, he appears to have had virtually a monopoly over influence on policy. However, he was seen by some as the quintessential bad councilor
  • In 1642, civil war broke out between the crown and the parliament. In 1649, King Charles I was put on trial by a High Court of Justice and executed
• Lecture 20 – Constitutional Revolution and Civil War, 1640-1646
  • In 1640, Charles was forced to end his personal rule and call a parliament to defend England against invading Scottish armies
  • The New Model Army was formed in 1645 under the leadership of Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. It was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration
• Lecture 21 – Regicide and Republic, 1647-1660
  • Charles I was charged with being “a tyrant, a traitor, a murderer, and a public and implacable enemy to the Commonwealth of England.” Only 59 of the more than 150 members of the court could be prevailed upon to actually sign the King’s death warrant
  • There were four legacies from the revolution. First, the restored monarchy under Charles II lived under the shadow of the events of the 1640’s. Second, the politicization of a much larger section of society remained. Third, the Church of England could never again encompass the sheer diversity of English Protestantism. Finally, an immensely rich reservoir of ideas that were to echo and re-echo down the ages
• Lecture 22 – An Unsettled Settlement: The Restoration Era, 1660-1688
  • The Immortal Seven was a group of seven leading politicians (five Whigs and two Tories) who sent a letter to William of Orange, inviting him to intervene in England to secure a free Parliament
  • In the Treaty of Dover, Charles II agreed to ally with France in any future war against the Dutch. It also contained two secret clauses. First, Charles agreed that he would suspend the penal laws against Roman Catholics at an appropriate moment. Secondly, he agreed that he would himself eventually convert to Catholicism
• Lecture 23 – England, Britain, and the World: Economic Development, 1660-1720
  • During this period, population was relatively stable due to higher mortality and overseas migration
  • In 1640, 92% of London’s exports were woolen cloth. By 1700 it was down to 72% due to the rise of other kinds of domestic exports such as fish, lead, tin, coal, and animal hides

Lecture Series: Introduction to Ancient Greek History from Yale

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FrHGAd_yto

Notes:

• Lecture 1 – Introduction
  • Ancient Greek history is important because it is the culture that most powerfully shapes not only the West, but most of the world today
  • The Judeo-Christian tradition is also very important in the history of the West, but even the Judeo-Christian tradition was dependent on the Greek culture of philosophical debate
• Lecture 2 – The Dark Ages
  • The Bronze Age in the Aegean Sea area started to emerge around 3000 BC
  • The Greek world has a tremendous discontinuity after the fall of the Mycenaean world. There is no writing in Greece from around 1100 BC until roughly 750 BC
• Lecture 3 – The Dark Ages (Cont.)
  • The kings described in Homer’s poems are very poor. They engage in agriculture in their spare time. They also do not have a bureaucracy and do not have scribes, since they didn’t know how to write
  • One belief that is unique to the Greeks is that they claimed that they were of the same race as the gods
• Lecture 4 – The Rise of the Polis
  • The concept of arête derives from the word anar, which means man (vs. woman). These refer to masculine qualities, primarily courage, including physical courage, moral courage, mental courage, and courage in battle
  • The largest polis is Athens, which had somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 men. However, most poleis would have had well under 5,000 adult male citizens
• Lecture 5 – The Rise of the Polis (Cont.)
  • Property rights were introduced in around eighth century BC. With clear title to the land, farmers now have an incentive to invest capital to improve the size and quality of their crop
  • Greek communities were different from Mycenaean communities in that men who fought in the army always seemed to have had to be consulted before any kind of fighting
• Lecture 6 – The Greek “Renaissance” – Colonization and Tyranny
  • Hoplites were citizen-soldiers of ancient Greek city-states. The word hoplite comes from the word hoplon, which refers to the large concave shields that the soldiers carried
  • A phalanx was typically eight rows deep. Each man was responsible for protecting themselves and the soldier to their left
• Lecture 7 – The Greek “Renaissance” – Colonization and Tyranny (Cont.)
  • The rise of new colonies was primarily due to the need for new farmland. However, other reasons include desire for good commercial or trade opportunities and defeated political opponents fleeing town
  • Founders of colonies were probably noblemen who had a position of eminence, but who were not part of the dominant faction in that city, because otherwise there would be no reason to leave
• Lecture 8 – Sparta
  • The first tyrant named in the Greek tradition is a man named Pheidon of Argos. Aristotle describes him as a king who became a tyrant
  • Sparta developed a reputation as being the state that was the enemy of tyranny. They never developed a tyranny, and often fought against tyrants
• Lecture 9 – Sparta (Cont.)
  • The decision of whether or not a Sparta boy is allowed to live is made by the elders of the Spartan community who examine the child for his physical condition
  • There is a council in Sparta of five men called ephors. Ephors are ordinary Spartans who can bring charges against the kings if they believe that either of the kings has done wrong or violated the law
• Lecture 10 – The Rise of Athens
  • Spartans were reluctant to fight wars, especially those that were far away. The main reason is fear of a Helot rebellion
  • There were nine archons in Athens, who were important magistrates of the State. They included the eponymous archon, the polemarch archon (war ruler), the archon basileus (king ruler), and six thesmothetes (judicial officers)
• Lecture 11 – The Rise of Athens (Cont.)
  • Greek historians came up with a list of Seven Sages or Seven Wise Men of the archaic period in Greece. Solon was one of the seven sages
  • The threat of tyranny forced Athenians to replace all the nine archons of the usual government with a sole archon for one year. Solon was appointed as sole archon in 594 BC
• Lecture 12 – The Persian Wars
  • King Cleomenes and the Spartans overthrew the Peisistratids and established an aristocratic republic in Athens with his friends in charge. However, the city was quickly taken over by Cleisthenes and his supporters
  • Ostracism was a feature in the constitution introduced by Cleisthenes. Every year, the assembly would vote on whether or not there would be an ostracism. If a majority said yes, then a vote would take place. The person with the most votes (not necessarily majority) must leave Athens for ten years
• Lecture 13 – The Athenian Empire
  • Although the Greeks viewed complete subjugation to the Persians as slavery, the Persians were not harsh rulers for the most part. As long as a tribute was paid, the Persians generally left their subjects along
  • The Battle of Marathon involved around 10,000 Greeks (about 9,000 Athenians and about 1,000 Eretrians) and around 25,000 Persian infantry and some cavalry
• Lecture 14 – The Athenian Empire (Cont.)
  • The Congress at the Isthmus of Corinth took place in 481 BC, where thirty-one cities came together and swore they would fight against the Persians. Sparta was officially appointed as the hegemon, and was in command on land and sea
  • The Delian League was an alliance of Greek city-states led by Athens. The Peloponnesian League was an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta. Both were members of the Greek League
• Lecture 15 – Athenian Democracy
  • The legislative branch of the Athenian democracy was the ecclesia. It was open to all adult male citizens of Athens. During Pericles’s lifetime, it was probably between 40,000 and 50,000 men
  • Cimon was the official representative of Sparta in Athens. He also had long family associations with the Spartans. While Cimon was the dominant political figure in Athens, the Athenians and the Spartans lived in peace
• Lecture 16 – Athenian Democracy (Cont.)
  • Athens had a panel of 6,000 jurors who enlisted to serve in the courts each year. On any given day, the jurors who showed up were assigned to specific courts and cases. The usual size of a jury was 501, but there were juries that ranged in size from 51 to 1,501
  • The Athenians introduced a procedure called the grafe para nomo to help protect the constitution. Any citizen could object to a proposal made in the council or in the assembly simply by asserting that it contradicted an existing law
• Lecture 17 – The Peloponnesian War, Part 1
  • The spark for the war came from a dispute between two of Spartan’s allies, Megara and Corinth. Athens decided to take Megara into the Athenian alliance, which angered the Corinthians
  • The Thirty Years’ Peace was a treaty signed between Athens and Sparta in 446 BC that ended the First Peloponnesian War. Despite the treaty, peace only lasted for fifteen years
• Lecture 18 – The Peloponnesian War, Part 2
  • Thurii was a panhellenic colony established in southern Italy. Even though the Athenians took the lead in establishing the colony, only one tenth of the people were Athenians
  • Athens had a choice between making an alliance with Corcyra and run the risk of angering the Spartans or allowing Corinth to potentially take over Corcyra’s navy and change the naval balance of power. Athens decides on a defensive alliance
• Lecture 19 – The Peloponnesian War, Part 3
  • The Megarian Decree was a set of economic sanctions levied upon Megara by the Athenian Empire shortly before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. Sparta asks Athens to withdraw the Megarian Decree to avoid war, but Pericles argues against this
  • Pericles’s strategy for Athens was to avoid open battle with Sparta, and to instead rely on Athens’s superior fleet
• Lecture 20 – The Peloponnesian War, Part 4
  • There were two main flaws with Pericles’s strategy. First, the Athenians did not have an offensive place. Second, Pericles failed to realize that war is not always rational
  • Cleon was a major opponent to Pericles’s strategy. He was hawkish and an advocate of aggressive, active fighting
• Lecture 21 – The Struggle for Hegemony in Fourth-Century Greece
  • Lysander was not a pure, legitimate Spartiate. He was a mothax, which meant he had a Spartan father and a non-Spartan mother
  • Lysander established a small group of oligarchic Athenians to be in charge of Athens. The group of thirty included Theramenes, nine others that he appointed, and twenty supporters of Critias
• Lecture 22 – The Struggle for Hegemony in Fourth-Century Greece (Cont.)
  • The Corinthian War was fought between Sparta and an alliance consisting of Thebes, Argos, Corinth, Athens and some smaller city-states
  • The war ended in 387 BC with the King’s Peace (or Peace of Antalcidas). The treaty emphasized Greek autonomy and effectively broke up all alliances except for the Peloponnesian League
• Lecture 23 – Twilight of the Polis
  • In the 370s BC, the Thebans changed the constitution of the Boeotian League to make it more democratic. Furthermore, not only did Thebes have a majority of representatives in that league, all of the league’s meetings took place in Thebes
  • The Battle of Leuctra between Thebes and Sparta put an end to Spartan supremacy in the region
• Lecture 24 – Twilight of the Polis (Cont.)
  • Although Macedonians insisted that they were Greeks, “real” Greeks viewed them as uncivilized because they did not have city-states and lived in a feudal society instead
  • The Macedonian army was a national army. Their soldiers were professional soldiers who were paid a salary from the king