HIST 6905

Gender, Power, and Authority in England, 1600 to 1800

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2020-2021.

It is a truism that early modern society was a 'patriarchal' one in which men had authority -- but how did that authority operate and what were its limits?  How did the exercise of power between men and women intersect with religious, literary, legal and political institutions?  We will approach these questions chronologically, examining the impact of the Reformation, the English Revolution, the Enlightenment, the rise of middle class and polite culture.  We will also explore them methodologically and generically, with an eye to how different kinds of evidence and sources can produce different kinds of conclusions.  Historians' hypotheses will be tested by analysis of primary sources.

When Offered Spring.

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