Early Modern England with Keith E. Wrightson - 1. General Introduction

Early Modern England: Politics, Religion, and Society under the Tudors and Stuarts (HIST 251) Professor Wrightson provides an introduction to the course. He briefly discusses the main features of the political and social landscape of early modern England and then summarizes the broad social and structural changes that occurred during the period. Professor Wrightson offers some thoughts on the nature of history and the study of history and focuses, in particular, on the benefits of studying the history of early modern England. He notes that the history of Britain in this period affected many other nations, such as early America and Canada, as well as later colonies such as those in Africa and India, and that studying these events helps us to better understand ourselves in time and contextualize many of the features of modern society that we take for granted. 00:00 - Chapter 1. The Historical Importance of Epidemics 07:23 - Chapter 2. Themes of the Course 19:49 - Chapter 3. Humoralism and Bubonic Plague 28:37 - Chapter 4. Logistics Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses This course was recorded in Fall 2009.