3 November 2004

Answer ALL parts of BOTH questions. You have TWO HOURS for this test. We recommend that you spend about a third of that time on reading, thinking and planning, and the rest of the time writing. Question One should take about twice as much time as Question Two.

If you find the texts difficult and unfamiliar, don't worry: the exercise is intended to be challenging, but we hope you will also find it thought-provoking. There is no 'right' answer to many of the questions: you will be judged on the intelligence of your case, how clearly you make it and how effectively you support it.

Please do not turn over until you are asked to.

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QUESTION ONE (70 marks)

This is an adapted section from a book about the birth of the modern world. Please read through the extract carefully and think about what it is trying to say. You do not need to know anything about the modern world to answer the questions below.

Most professional historians still have at the back of their minds the question of 'why things changed'. Historians and philosophers who lived in the nineteenth century tended to think that history was moved along by big spiritual and intellectual changes. In the twentieth century, materialist explanations of change came to the fore. By 1950, many leading historians had been influenced by socialist theories and saw the logic of industrial capitalism as the dominant force explaining changes in human affairs after 1750. This perspective remains central. At one level, it must be true that the critical historical change of the nineteenth century was the shift of the most powerful states and societies towards urban industrialism. The desire of capitalists to maximise their income and to subordinate labour was an irresistible force for change, not just in the West, but across Asia and Africa.

However, the great political and intellectual developments of the nineteenth century did not necessarily work on a time scale which directly reflected the underlying growth of the power of industrial capital. The movements of economies, ideologies and states were not always synchronous. They tended to be interactive. The French Revolution, the dominant political event of the period, occurred before significant industrialisation had occurred even in Britain, and few historians now see the revolution as a triumph of the 'bourgeoisie'. Certainly, many lawyers and 'middling people' took part in the revolution, but they were hangers-on of nobles and regional assemblies, rather than incipient capitalists. Even in 1870, landowners and aristocrats remained the power-holders in most societies. The later nineteenth century was indeed 'the age of capital', but it was also the age of nobles, landowners and priests, and, over much of the world, an age of peasants.

We need therefore to propose a more complex interaction between political organisation, political ideas and economic activity. Historical development seems to have been determined by a complex parallelogram of forces, constituted by economic changes, ideological constructions and mechanisms of the state. Developments in the world economy do not really seem to have been 'prior' to the ideological and political structure in any straightforward sense. There were periods when the state and the powerful narratives people created about it were the 'drivers' of historical change. There were periods of flux and fluidity. And there were periods when significant economic restructuring cumulatively determined the direction of government and its ideologies.

(a) Explain, in a sentence or two, what the author means when he says 'Developments in the world economy do not really seem to have been 'prior' to the ideological and political structure in any straightforward sense'.
(5 marks)

(b) Write a summary of the argument of the extract in not more than 10-15 lines.
(10 marks)

(c) Write an essay of one and a half to three sides explaining how a particular change that you are familiar with arose from the interaction of different kinds of causes (political, economic, ideological, social, cultural, religious etc). Make sure you include at least three kinds of causes in your answer.
(35 marks)

(d) Why do you think the dominant ways in which historians explain change tend to alter over time? Write an answer of about one side in length, giving reasons for your views.
(20 marks)

QUESTION TWO (30 marks)

This is an adapted extract from a fourteenth-century chronicle. It talks about a recently-dead king. You are not expected to know anything about its context, but you will be asked to make inferences about it.

He was, besides, stout of heart and, though sometimes aware that he was about to experience misfortunes or troubles, never turned pale or changed his expression. Waging war, he was distinguished and fortunate, always bringing back victory in triumphant glory from all encounters on land and sea. He was friendly, humble, and gentle to all, as much to foreigners as to his own; favouring, esteeming, advancing, and dutifully ruling all his subjects. He was outstanding in his devotion to God, often making pilgrimages, and venerating and honouring priests of the Church. In secular affairs, he was prudent and yielding, and discerning in council; in pleasant conversation, gentle and courteous; in carriage and manners, composed and mature. He was like a father to orphans, compassionate to the wretched, feeling for the afflicted, comforting the oppressed, and giving out seasonable help to all the poor. He behaved almost like an equal to inferiors, and amongst men of first rank and the princes of this world, he showed himself a lord. He was assiduous and eager in the construction of buildings... Hawking and hunting provided the relief of recreations for him ... To be sure, he ruled his kingdom actively, wisely and nobly right up to the feebleness of old age. And because he had been distinguished by complete integrity of character, under him to live was to reign, as it seemed to his subjects.

What does this tell you about the nature and practice of royal rule in the fourteenth century? (Write about one to two sides).

End of Paper.

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