The Stuart Successions: fresh approaches to the understanding of seventeenth-century history and literature

'The Stuart Successions: fresh approaches to the understanding of seventeenth-century history and literature' has been developed out of, and would immediately follow, the AHRC-funded 'Stuart Successions Project'. In this project we explored a category of writing which has long been recognized but never well understood. Each of the six Stuart successions (James I in 1603, Charles I in 1625, Charles II in 1660, James II in 1688, William III and Mary II in 1688-89, Anne in 1702) generated a wealth of publications. So did the accession to the role of Lord Protector by Oliver Cromwell in 1653, and that of his son Richard in 1658. Succession literature includes a range of elegies on the old monarch and panegyrics on the new; indeed most of the greatest poets of the day felt the need to participate in this activity, some on successive moments of transition. Other kinds of succession literature include histories, genealogies, sermons, satires, news-reports and political tracts. Through surveying and analyzing this material we have been able to throw fresh light on particular moments of transition and also on processes of change across this turbulent period of British history. Our outputs include a database of succession writing, a major volume of essays, and an anthology of primary texts.
As this research has demonstrated to us, however, Stuart succession literature holds more than merely academic interest. The Stuart era is widely recognized as a pivotal one in the development of British political and cultural life; it has an established place in the media and the cultural sector (e.g. museums), and recent reforms to school curricula, in History and English Literature, are according it increasing prominence. This is hardly surprising given the achievements and events of the period: Shakespeare was a Stuart for half of his working life; others to shape this century include Milton, Hobbes and Behn. The Stuart era included the greatest British civil war, an unprecedented experiment with republicanism, and eventually the founding of Great Britain itself. The topic of succession, meanwhile, is today pressing itself increasingly upon the public consciousness, as journalists and playwrights, among others, are already speculating about the impact of a third Caroline reign. In this context, we identify four user-communities with which our follow-on project will engage: secondary schoolchildren and their teachers; our partner organizations, united by their commitment to education about the past; media programme-makers; and the general public.
We propose a focused and collaborative project involving all three members of the current project team and four major partners: the Ashmolean Museum, the Bodleian Library, the Historical Association and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. It will be supported by Historyworks, a company committed to bringing academic research into the public domain in professional, creative and effective ways. We will select items drawn from the collections of partners, and work collaboratively to develop for each one a range of original interpretative materials. Among other outputs, we will produce: a bespoke website; learning materials (including lesson plans); a series of c.20 vodcasts (short documentary-style audio talks illustrated with still photographic images, suitable for publication via a website as well as for use by our partners); a one-day 'Shakespeare and the Stuarts' workshop for A-Level English and International Baccalaureate students; a 'Stuart Successions and Seventeenth-Century History' study day for secondary teachers; and treatments for radio and television programmes. The project is designed to combine quality impact directed at specified audiences with a commitment also to reach a much wider range of potentially interested parties. It also balances a focus on particular events with an interest in providing resources that will be of use across a longer period.

Who might benefit?
We have identified four user-communities that will benefit from this project, and we have developed our proposal with these groups in mind. They are as follows.
1. Secondary-school teachers, trainee teachers and schoolchildren, working at higher levels in the disciplines of History and/or English Literature. We will address selected groups through specific events, but also ensure longevity of impact through other outputs.
2. Our partner organizations. A commitment to education and public engagement is shared by all four of our partner organizations (the Ashmolean Museum, the Bodleian Library, the Historical Association, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust). By working collaboratively towards our various outputs, with the intention of achieving greater impact by sharing outputs across multiple platforms, each of these organizations will also derive benefits.
3. Media organizations; radio and television programme makers. One goal of the project is to bridge the gap between our essentially academic project and the perspectives of programme makers. By doing so, we hope to demonstrate the potential value of our material and findings within this context.
4. The general public. While focusing on the core user-communities identified above, we expect benefits also to accrue for the general public, most notably those with an interest in the Stuart era, the political and cultural history of Britain, the history of the monarchy, and the topic of royal succession.

How might they benefit?
While the range of potential benefits is wide, we identify, as fundamental to the project, the following forms of benefit.

1. Those involved in education will derive benefits, both within the school-year 2015-16 and beyond. These benefits are accentuated by changes to History curricula, which have placed greater focus on early modern British political history. History teachers, therefore, many of whom are relatively unfamiliar with the Stuarts, are likely to be receptive to our efforts to provide them with engaging and research-informed routes into this field. Our methods will be collaborative, working with teachers and trainee teachers as we develop materials that will be of lasting value to them. Our events and learning materials, centring on particular texts and objects as routes into narratives and debates about the Stuart era, will provide vibrant avenues into teaching.
2. Our project partners are keen to identify new ways of engaging with user-groups, at a time when their own resources are stretched. We will use the partnerships not only to extend their missions, but equally to explore new methods of working, in association with academics who have developed expertise that may be applied to items in their holdings. They will all derive fresh exposure, and will work with us to create virtual outputs which they may deploy in multiple ways in the future.
3. Media organizations and programme makers are constantly looking for high-quality academic work that can be translated into forms for successful public dissemination. By preparing treatments for programmes, we will ensure that this user-group is made fully aware of the potential that the material and findings of the initial project hold. This approach, professionally supported by Historyworks staff, and exploiting also their media contacts, holds the potential to extend the impact of the project in subsequent years.
4. Among the general public, we note continuing high levels of interest in the Stuarts and the political history of Britain, and propose that our outputs will use engaging methods of exploration to extend understandings of this era and its defining conflicts. We also note growing levels of interest in the topic of royal succession, and suggest that there is as a result strong potential for a project which sets a major forthcoming event within a rich historical context.