The Glorious Revolution to the First Prime Minister: Britain's 'Augustan' Age, 1688 - 1725

Britain's 'Augustan age' (1688 - c.1725) is a fascinating period which included war, revolution, political and religious strife and epoch-making changes to the political and social structures of the nation. Our starting point for this course will be the downfall of James VII & II in 1688 and the subsequent destabilising tendencies of the 'Glorious Revolution' which saw William and Mary crowned joint king and queen the following year. We will then discuss the financial and military revolution which occurred in the 1690s as a result of William III's determination to drag England into his 'crusade' against Louis XIV; a revolution which was to underpin Britain's later emergence as a great imperial and maritime power in the eighteenth century.

The Nine Years War of 1688-1697 and the War of the Spanish Succession of 1700-1714 form the backdrop for much of this period. William III was determined to break the power of Louis XIV's France and William bequeathed his wars to his successor, Queen Anne. The tensions and strains these wars created within Britain will be examined in relation to the Jacobite challenged, which manifested itself particularly in Ireland and Scotland, in the rise to power of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough and in the financial pressures and their consequences for British society and the constitution as a result of waging a global war for nearly 25 years against a strong and determined enemy.

Apart from war, another theme which runs through this course is the 'rage of party'. Augustan Britain has been called 'a divided society' and we will examine something of the ways in which this division between Whigs and Tories played itself out in British society. This division was particularly apparent over questions of religion and we will be looking at the trial of Dr. Sacheverell in 1710 and the potency of the slogan 'the church in danger' to try and understand why the position of the Church of England became such an emotive political issue in this period.

But despite all the wars and turmoil, late seventeenth and early eighteenth century Britain witnessed a cultural renaissance of great significance and we will pause in our examination of religion and politics to consider the later work of Sir Christopher Wren, the music of Purcell and Handel and the literature of Swift, Defoe and Pope. We will also consider the 'Vitruvian reaction' of Lord Burlington and his followers in the early eighteenth century against the baroque, which was in many ways inspired by the political and religious conflicts we will have considered earlier in the course.

Our exploration of Augustan Britain will conclude with a consideration of the succession crisis of August 1714 and the ensuing period of 'Whig ascendancy' under George I. Did this period really witness the growth of political stability after all the previous conflicts? An integral part of this course will be two trips around Cambridge to illustrate, through the buildings of Cambridge and the University, some of the themes we will explore in the classroom. In particular, the first trip will look at the relationship of the University with the Augustan monarchy, whilst the second will consider the architecture of Sir Christopher Wren.

Dr Andrew Lacey
December 2011

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