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Power, authority and geography
Teaching History article
Dissatisfied by her previous enquiries on medieval kingship and inspired by Helen Castor’s 'She-Wolves', Elizabeth Carr sought to incorporate the stories of powerful medieval women such as Empress Matilda and Eleanor of Aquitaine into her Key Stage 3 curriculum. Carr used these stories to highlight to her pupils the crucial...
Power, authority and geography
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The dialogic dimensions of knowing and understanding the Norman legacy in Chester
Teaching History article
Michael Bird and Thomas Wilson focus their attention directly on the voices of pupils, in dialogue with their teacher and with each other, as they draw inferences from differing sources about the Norman legacy in Chester. By carefully examining dialogue stimulated by these sources, Bird and Wilson demonstrate not only...
The dialogic dimensions of knowing and understanding the Norman legacy in Chester
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Widening the early modern world to create a more connected KS3 curriculum
Teaching History article
Readers of this journal will be familiar with a number of ways of approaching the Tudors. Kerry Apps provides here an article detailing her concerns about the differences between what she had been delivering at Key Stage 3 and the broader, connected experience she had as an undergraduate historian. How...
Widening the early modern world to create a more connected KS3 curriculum
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Scots Abroad in the Fifteenth Century
Classic Pamphlet
(Historical Association Pamphlet, No. 124, 1942)
Dunlop's research into the occupations and attitudes of Scots abroad during the 15th century uncovers some surprising revelations about all members of the Scottish ex-pat society.
She particularly notes the ‘scurrilous' opinions of the French regarding Scotsmen's behaviour. While Scottish diplomatists and envoys tended...
Scots Abroad in the Fifteenth Century
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‘I need to know…’: creating the conditions that make students want knowledge
Teaching History journal article
Chloe Bateman recognised the value to her Key Stage 3 pupils of developing rich subject knowledge, but wanted to find a way of encouraging them to value that knowledge for themselves. In this article she explains how she provided that inspiration by setting her Year 7 class the challenge of...
‘I need to know…’: creating the conditions that make students want knowledge
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Cunning Plan 173: using Black Tudors as a window into Tudor England
Teaching History journal feature
On 29 September 2018 I was fortunate enough to get involved with a collaborative project with Dr Miranda Kaufmann, the Historical Association, Schools History Project, and a brilliant group of people from different backgrounds all committed to teaching about black Tudors. In this short piece, I will share how I...
Cunning Plan 173: using Black Tudors as a window into Tudor England
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New, Novice or Nervous? 171: Teaching Medieval History
Teaching History feature: the quick guide to the no-quick-fix
Was your diet of school history mostly modern? Are you more comfortable debating the industrial revolution than the feudal revolution? And do you now find yourself teaching more medieval history, particularly at GCSE and A-level? Recent changes to the examination specifications in England have made the medieval mainstream, and as...
New, Novice or Nervous? 171: Teaching Medieval History
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Teaching Medieval History Resources
Article
We hope you enjoyed reading Teaching Medieval History. To help you explore the topic further we’ve put together some ‘top pick’ resources below which have been made open access for a limited time.
You can open up resources like these and so much more for your school by signing up...
Teaching Medieval History Resources
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The Great Charter
Classic Pamphlet
The following introduction to and translation of Magna Carta was made for the use of my pupils and is here published in response to a suggestion that it may be of use to others. The Charter bristles with technical legal terms and its Latin is often ambiguous since the language...
The Great Charter
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Cunning Plan 163.2: Developing an A-level course in medieval history
Teaching History feature
Medieval history has always been a Cinderella era for post-16 students. Some schools offer A-levels in classical civilisation, but most A-level history courses focus on the early-modern and modern periods. A few schools teach an A-level medieval module, with the Crusades being a popular choice. I was therefore excited at...
Cunning Plan 163.2: Developing an A-level course in medieval history
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The archer's stake and the battle of Agincourt
Historian article
Our perspective on how archers performed in battle is enhanced byMark Hinsley's research into their use of protective stakes.
On the approach to Agincourt in 1415 a small skirmish took place at Corbie, on the Somme. A force of French men-at-arms sallied out from the town and cut up some...
The archer's stake and the battle of Agincourt
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Cunning Plan 161: Magna Carta's legacy
Teaching History feature
Both Dawson and Hayes have recently written Cunning Plans that show how exciting Magna Carta is.
So why not stop there? Bring the barons to life with a flare of Dawson and send Magna Carta flying across the continent with just a hint of Hayes. Hey, from the same edition,...
Cunning Plan 161: Magna Carta's legacy
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Henry V in the cinema
Historian article
Public attitudes to Henry V are very much influenced by WilliamShakespeare's interpretation. Richard Inverne discusses howShakespeare's version has been translated into cinematic form byLaurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh.
Shakespeare indulges himself considerably with his own relatively recent history - Richards II and III, Henrys IV, V and VI, for example....
Henry V in the cinema
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On the campaign trail: walking the Hundred Years War
Historian article
In the tradition of landscape historians, Peter Hoskins has explored some of the route marches taken by English armies during the Hundred Years War.
After the battle of Crécy in 1346 and the capture of Calais by Edward III in the following year the Hundred Years War settled into an...
On the campaign trail: walking the Hundred Years War
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Welsh archers at Agincourt: myth and reality
Historian article
Adam Chapman debates the evidence for a Welsh presence among Henry V’s highly-successful force of archers at Agincourt in 1415.
Michael Drayton, in his poem of 1627, The Bataille of Agincourt, described the Welsh presence in Henry V's army: ‘who no lesse honour ow'd To their own king, nor yet...
Welsh archers at Agincourt: myth and reality
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Agincourt 1415-2015
Historian article
Agincourt has become one of a small number of iconic events in our collective memory. Anne Curry explores how succeeding generations have exploited its significance.
In his budget statement of 18 March 2015 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced £1m had been awarded to commemorate the 600th anniversary...
Agincourt 1415-2015
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Magna Carta and the Origins of Parliament
Historian article
In February this year the four surviving originals of Magna Carta were briefly brought together in the Houses of Parliament. John Maddicott, examining the Charter's role in the early development of Parliament, shows that the setting was well chosen.
What did Magna Carta contribute to the origins of parliament? If...
Magna Carta and the Origins of Parliament
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Podcast Series: The Hundred Years War
The Hundred Years War
How can a war last 100 years? What did this mean for the peoples of England and France during the medieval period? How significant were the battles of Poitiers, Crecy and Agincourt?
In this podcast series the 100 Years War is explained, explored and brought to life. The lists of...
Podcast Series: The Hundred Years War
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Polychronicon 159: Interpreting Magna Carta
Teaching History feature
First some history: the question of how historiographic and public historical representations of Magna Carta have changed over the last 800 years is an important one. The ‘myth' of Magna Carta as a foundational document for modern democracy is still very powerful.
That tradition of understanding the legacy and history...
Polychronicon 159: Interpreting Magna Carta
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Cunning Plan 159: Was King John unlucky with his Barons?
Teaching History feature
Typical teaching of King John and Magna Carta focuses either on the weakness of John or the importance (as Whig historians would see it) of Magna Carta. The first question is a bit boring and the second discussion unhistorical. This enquiry sequence is designed for students aged 11 to 13. It...
Cunning Plan 159: Was King John unlucky with his Barons?
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Cunning Plan 159: Putting the people into Magna Carta
Teaching History feature
Does your heart skip with excitement at the prospect of a Year 7 lesson on Magna Carta? No? Magna Carta may be an important part of the long-term story of royal power and individual liberties but it is not a topic that excites many teachers. If it were, teachers would...
Cunning Plan 159: Putting the people into Magna Carta
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Enabling Year 7 to write essays on Magna Carta
Teaching History article
Setting out to teach Magna Carta to the full attainment range in Year 7, Mark King decided to choose a question that reflected real scholarly debates and also to ensure that pupils held enough knowledge in long-term memory to be able to think about that question meaningfully. As he gradually prepared his pupils to produce their own causation arguments in response to that question, King was startled by...
Enabling Year 7 to write essays on Magna Carta
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Reinventing the Charter: from Sir Edward Coke to 'freeborn John'
Historian article
When was Magna Carta launched on its modern career as a symbol of freedom and liberty? Justin Champion looks at the role of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century lawyers and politicians in shaping how we see the Charter today.
‘For every person who knows what the contents of Magna Carta actually...
Reinventing the Charter: from Sir Edward Coke to 'freeborn John'
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Magna Carta: oblivion and revival
Historian article
Magna Carta was to go through a number of revisions before it finally took its place on the statute book. Nicholas Vincent takes us through the twists and turns of the tale of the Charter's death and revival after June 1215.
The Charter issued by King John at Runnymede is...
Magna Carta: oblivion and revival
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Podcast Series: An Introduction to Magna Carta
An Introduction to Magna Carta
What precedents were there to Magna Carta? Why was the charter originally drawn up and signed in 1215? Why was it reissued during the thirteenth century? Would “ordinary” people have been aware of Magna Carta? How effective was Magna Carta as means to controlling medieval kings? Why was it resurrected...
Podcast Series: An Introduction to Magna Carta
