The English People at War in the Age of Henry VIII

Oxford University

5.0 (2)
EDUCATION

In this history lecture series Professor Steven Gunn look at the effects of war on the people of England in the 1500s. This lecture series was recorded in Hilary Term 2015 and is part of the annual James Ford Lectures in British History series at the Examination Schools in Oxford University.

10/12/2016

Kings and peoples

This lecture argues that engagement in war vitally shaped the relationship of Henry VIII's subjects with the king and with his immediate successors. Their idea of national history and their place in it, and their sense of Englishness, Welshness, or Englishness in Ireland.

1 hr
10/12/2016

Killing and dying

This lecture asks what weapons people owned in Henry VIII's England and whether they knew how to use them, some of its evidence drawn from coroners' inquests into accidents with bows, guns and swords. Exhortations to manly valour egged soldiers on to fight, but as in most wars before penicillin, more died of disease than from enemy action.

54 min
10/12/2016

Trade and tillage

This lecture examines war and the economy in Henry VIII's England: heavy taxation and disrupted trade threatened recession. But, arms traders, fortification builders, privateers and those who raided the Scots for their livestock, often with names familiar to followers of North-Eastern football - Robson, Milburn, Charlton - did well.

55 min
10/12/2016

Noblemen and gentlemen

This lecture explores how military service related to the social power and self-image of lords and gentlemen in Henry VIII's England. While contemporaries complained that they were giving up the knightly ways of their forebears, many still valued their martial honour and found a satisfying place in the new structures of the lord lieutenancy or the increasingly permanent English army in Ireland.

53 min
10/12/2016

Towns and villages

This lecture uses the records of hundreds of parishes and boroughs to see how communities coped with the pressures of war in Henry VIII's England. This included buying and maintaining up-to-date weapons and armour, fortifying the coasts and developing new mechanisms of local government to organise their efforts.

55 min
10/12/2016

Wars and Rumours of Wars

This lecture introduces the series and asks how many people took part in war in Henry VIII's England and how far those not directly involved were aware of what was happening.

56 min

6 Episodes

5

out of 5

2 Ratings

In this history lecture series Professor Steven Gunn look at the effects of war on the people of England in the 1500s. This lecture series was recorded in Hilary Term 2015 and is part of the annual James Ford Lectures in British History series at the Examination Schools in Oxford University.