An Introduction to the

History and Culture of

the British Isles

Dr Andrzej Diniejko

Course Overview

1.

Geography: The British Isles; Great Britain and
Ireland;

2.

England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland; the
Republic of Ireland;

3.

Prehistoric and Ancient Britain: Geography and
Topography. Paleolithic, Neolithic, Celtic and Roman
Britain.

4.

Medieval Britain: Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman
England. Consolidation of Medieval England. Chivalry.

5.

Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Mythology. Arthurian
Legends. Christianity.

6.

Medieval Culture. The Early Development of the
English Language.

5: Tudor and Stuart England. The

Reformation. Elizabethan & Jacobean
Culture. The English Civil War. The
Restoration. The Glorious Revolution. The
Constitutional Monarchy. Scotland and
Ireland until the 18th Century. British
Overseas Expansion.

7. Transformations of Britain in the late 18th

Century. The Scientific Revolution. Empire.

8. Britain in the 19th Century.The Industrial

Revolution in the 19th Century. Growth of

Industrial Cities and Working-class Life.

Victorian Culture. The Woman Question.

10. Britain in the 20th Century. World War I.

Interwar Britain. World War II. Economic,

Social and Cultural Transformations.

Decolonisation and Devolution.

Contemporary Britain. Government,

Education, Lifestyles.

11. Ireland, Scotland and Wales in the 20th

Century.

General Outline



This course examines the major social,

political and cultural developments in the

British Isles (including Ireland, Scotland, and

Wales) from the early medieval period until

the end of the 20th century.



Specific areas examined include the

indigenous Celtic populations, the Roman

and Anglo-Saxon conquests, the formation of

the Anglo-Norman kingdom, and the Tudor

monarchy, the development of the Empire

and its dissolution, contemporary Britain.

Course Format



Lectures, including multimedia



Individul study of a special topic to
be mutually selected by the
Student and the Lecturer.

Course Material



Textbooks:



Andrzej Diniejko, English-Speaking

Countries: The United Kingdom and the

Republic of Ireland. Warszawa: WSiP, 1999; D.

McDowall, An Illustrated History of Britain.

Longman, 1989;



Wojciech Lipoński, Dzieje kultury brytyjskiej.

Warszawa:

Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2003.



Handouts



PowerPoint presentations



Online resources

This course will enable
you to develop:



more detailed understanding of specific periods
or particular themes in British history and
culture,



intellectual skills, such as effective reading,
note taking, and the collation, interpretation
and comparison of information from a broad
range of sources;



the ability to construct an historical argument,
and to present this coherently, economically
and elegantly with the appropriate supporting
evidence