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Long essay questions

NOTE: These are only a few of the possible topics. It is best to develop a question that fits around your own research interests in consultation with either your tutor or the module convenor.

Please refer to the essay checklist provided by the module convenor for guidance on presentation, formatting, style and assistance with primary source citation: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/modules/british_problem/essay_check-list.docx 

Further details about the assignment can be found here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/modules/hi275/assessment/longessay


Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots

  • How serious a threat did Mary Queen of Scots pose to Elizabeth I?
  • Was Elizabeth's gender a strength or weakness in her exercise of power?
  • What factors motivated Elizabethan policy in Ireland?
  • To what extent were ideas for a ‘British’ vision prioritised over a broader ‘European’ vision by Elizabeth I and her Council, 1558-1603?
  • How important was Elizabeth I's gender in shaping her public image?
  • How important were Elizabethan relations with the Muslim world in England's foreign policy agenda?
  • ‘The memory of Mary Queen of Scots was a mixed blessing for James VI and I.’
    Discuss.
  • Why and to what extent did the ambitions of Mary Queen of Scots destabilise Elizabethan politics?
  • What factors explain the success of Elizabeth I's reign in England in comparison to those of Mary Stuart in Scotland?

James I & VI

  • ‘Divine in theory, weak in practice’. How far is this persuasive when assessing the reign of James I & VI?
  • Did the Elizabethan legacy strengthen or weaken James I?
  • ‘The memory of Mary Queen of Scots was a mixed blessing for James VI and I.’ Discuss.
  • 'Rule of the three kingdoms was intrinsically unworkable'. Discuss.
  • To what extent did Protestantism provide a basis for Anglo-Scottish unity during the reign of James I & VI?
  • How useful is 'faction' as a means of understanding court politics during the reign of James I & VI?
  • In what ways was James I’s rule in England shaped by his experience as James VI of Scotland?
  • ‘Parliamentary politics in the reign of James I & VI was dominated by anti-Scots sentiment.’ Assess this statement in relation to the period 1603-1625.

The Gaelic world, c.1550-1640

  • ‘The Gaelic world was too divided to be successfully united under the British Crown’. Discuss.
  • How far did religion determine the politics of Gaelic Ireland AND/OR Gaelic Scotland ?
  • How effective was English policy towards Ireland AND/OR Scotland?
  • Was ethnicity more important than religion in the challenges English rulers encountered in Ireland?
  • Why was a policy of conquest and plantation pursued in Ireland and not Scotland?
  • How far were the Gaelic Scots AND/OR Gaelic Irish the excluded 'other' in Tudor and Stuart Britain?
  • 'Rule of the three kingdoms was intrinsically unworkable'. Discuss.
  • How serious a threat did Gaelic opposition pose to the monarchs of England and Scotland?
  • How far did developments in Europe shape the Gaelic world?
  • Why did Catholicism become linked with Gaelic Irish identity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

Overseas expansion and America, 1558-c.1640

  • What did English commentators perceive as the prime purpose of overseas empire?
  • How important was promotional literature in encouraging people to settle in America?
  • How significant were internal problems in England in the evolution of a policy of overseas expansion?
  • How far did English conquest in Ireland provide a blueprint for the creation of colonies in North America?
  • To what extent was the expansion of commerce the rationale for the expansion of the English empire?
  • What was the rationale for the establishment of the English Empire?
  • Did early British settlement in the Americas seek to replicate the Spanish model of empire?
  • Did profit or piety drive settlers across the Atlantic in the seventeenth century

Wales

  • Why was Wales and not Ireland successfully incorporated into Tudor and Stuart England?
  • Was Anglo-Welsh union the ‘perfect union’?
  • Was the union in Wales of a wholly different character to that experienced in Ireland and/or Scotland?
  • How far did the idea of a shared ‘British’ identity ensure the success of the Anglo-Welsh union?
  • How far was religion the most important reason for the survival of the Anglo-Welsh union?
  • Can Wales be defined by anything more than its geographical borders in the early modern period?
  • Was Wales a united Royalist front during the Wars of Religion?

Charles I and the Civil Wars

  • To what extent were Charles's religious policies responsible for the Wars of the Three Kingdoms?
  • How important was religion as a determinant of allegiance in the Civil Wars in the Three Kingdoms?
  • 'Has the period of personal rule (1629-1640) been overemphasised as a cause of the English Civil Wars?

  • 'The Civil Wars of the 1640s were wars between and within three kingdoms.’ Discuss.
  • How did the common people react to the war and the changes it brought, 1642-1649?
  • Why did people support Charles I during the Civil War?
  • ‘Divine in theory, weak in practice’. How far is this persuasive when assessing the reign of Charles I?
  • Did the outbreak of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms represent the erosion of divinely inspired authority?

  • In what ways did events before the reign of Charles I contribute to the outbreak of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms?
  • Was the Irish Rebellion of 1641 primarily motivated by religion?
  • Were the Bishop's Wars of 1639-40 primarily motivated by religion?
  • How far were the seeds for Civil War sewn in the reign of James I & VI?
  • To what extent were accusations of tyranny the key cause for the trial and execution of Charles I?

Women, radicalism and ordinary people during the Civil Wars

Women

  • What opportunities for political or religious activism did the Civil War conflicts create for women?
  • Were women’s public activities during the Civil War conflict primarily conservative in their character?
  • Was there anything ‘radical’ about women’s involvement in the Civil War conflict?
  • How central were women in supporting underground Catholic communities in Tudor and Stuart Britain?

The impact of the wars on the localities

  • How did the common people react to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the changes they brought?
  • How far did ordinary people engage in the Civil War conflict?
  • What factors determined allegiance during the Civil War conflict? / How important was religion in determining allegiance of ordinary men and women during the Civil War conflict?
  • ‘Most people in the British Isles were more concerned about the mundane happenings within their own orbits rather than earth-shattering events outside’[Charles Carleton]. How far is this an accurate representation of ordinary people’s involvement in the Civil War conflict?
  • Was Wales a united Royalist front during the Wars of Religion?

Radicalism and the Levellers?

  • Were the Levellers AND/OR Diggers radical revolutionaries?
  • How important was political [and/or] religious radicalism in determining the outcome of the Civil War conflict?
  • Why did sectarian political and religious groups emerge in the 1640s? What opposition did they encounter?

Religion, Britishness and national identity

  • How do we account for the survival of Catholicism in the Three Kingdoms, 1558-1649?
  • To what extent did Catholics pose a serious threat to the Three Kingdoms?
  • How successfully did persecuted faiths use martyrdom as a weapon of propaganda in Tudor and Stuart Britain?
  • How central were women in supporting underground Catholic communities?
  • To what extent did Protestantism provide a basis for Anglo-Scottish unity?
  • To what extent was anti-Catholicism the nearest thing to a national ideology in Tudor and Stuart Britain?
  • Why was fear of Catholicism so rife in the reigns of Elizabeth I AND/OR James I & VI / AND/OR Charles I?
  • What was the most significant factor in explaining the survival of Catholicism between 1558 and 1642?
  • Why did Catholicism become linked with Gaelic Irish identity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?