NCEA Level 3 History (90658) 2006 — page 21 of 21
Assessment Schedule – 2006
History: Examine a significant historical situation in the context of change, in an essay (90658)
Evidence Statement
Achievement / Achievement with Merit / Achievement with ExcellenceCONTENT
Through her / his response to the essay question, the candidate has described:
· the changes to a significant situation in an historical context
· the influence of the situation on people.
(See content guidelines for examples of relevant historical information that could be included in the candidate’s answer.) / Through her / his response to the essay question, the candidate has:
· described in detail the changes to a significant situation in an historical context
· evaluated the influence of the situation on people.
Evaluation should involve weighing up the influences that this situation had on people, e.g. positive influences weighed up against negative ones or one theory about the influence contrasted with another.
(See content guidelines for examples of relevant historical information that could be included in the candidate’s answer.) / Through the breadth, depth and / or range of the ideas in her / his response to the question, the candidate has:
· comprehensively described the changes to a significant situation in an historical context comprehensively evaluated the influence of the situation on people.
Evaluation should involve the comprehensive weighing up of the influences that this situation had on people, e.g. positive influences weighed up against negative ones or one theory about the influence contrasted with another.
(See content guidelines for examples of relevant historical information that could be included in the candidate’s answer.)
STRUCTURE
The candidate has structured and organised her / his information using an appropriate essay format.
· Introductory paragraph
· Relevant, structured and logically sequenced paragraphs
· Conclusion / The candidate has structured and organised her / his information using an appropriate essay format.
· Introductory paragraph
· Relevant, structured and logically sequenced paragraphs
· Conclusion
The candidate has provided an argument, i.e. the candidate has stated a view and supported it with relevant and accurate evidence. / The candidate has structured and organised her / his information using an appropriate and effective essay format.
· Introductory paragraph
· Relevant, structured, and logically sequenced paragraphs
· Conclusion
The candidate has provided a convincing argument, ie the candidate has a clearly articulated view and has supported it with sound reasoning and relevant, accurate, and significant evidence.
Content Guidelines
Topic One: England 1558–1667
Topic One: Essay One
Describe the developments that took place in the agricultural economy of early modern England between 1558 and 1667. Evaluate the influence of agriculture on the lives of people during this period.
The candidate’s response to the first part of the essay question could include:
· England was an agrarian nation, and rural life totally dominated society. This did not differ greatly even by the end of the period.
– From almost anywhere, even from parts of London, one could see fields.
– The majority of the population (90–95%) was tied to the land and living in farms and a network of small towns and villages.
– Rural land provided wealth in rents, profits, and wages and was the most important employer. There was mixed farming of corn, grain (mostly wheat and barley), and grazing, with meat consumption growing. Wood was coppiced or grown in standards – its maintenance was essential because of the universality of its uses. Mining was a minor, if important, activity.
– Labour use was intensive and seasonally conditioned (milking, sowing and harvesting).
· The agricultural economy operated only a little above subsistence – the majority of the population lived with little in reserve so that when harvests failed, there were years of poverty and illness.
· Food, fuel, clothing, and shelter were all provided by local labour and resources. All agricultural production was for local consumption, with any (generally small) surplus sold in local markets. The dangers and risks of transporting goods, especially during the civil war, inhibited trading outside the local region.
· Agricultural production provided the foundation for virtually all other economic activities.
– The agricultural economy was a source of demand for urban services and industrial goods
Towns had important functions as finishers as well as consumers of agricultural products. Some of the larger towns had multiple specialist market areas for fish, meat, horses, cloth, etc. Industry was largely a myriad of small-scale crafts that employed rural workers at the times when labour demands on farms were less intense. Even the most important industrial trade product (cloth) was based on rural cottage production. Most products were intended for local consumption and agricultural use – scythes, shoes, and stirrups. Most non-mineral raw materials for industry came from the agricultural economy – wool, hides, linen flax, and vegetable dyes.
– Agricultural production generated capital for investment in other parts of the economy
Most investment in industry and trade came from successful farmers and landowners.
– Ownership of rural land acted as a source for status
The rural economy affected the profits of landed wealth. Careful management of one’s estates could increase wealth and social status. Successful farmers had the potential for upward social mobility.
· Changes in the landscape were local and regional rather than national. Agriculture in many areas was gradually improving with the demand for food and clothing products from a steadily growing population. Fluctuations happened with bad harvests and plague outbreaks.
· Increased amounts of land were brought into production: wastelands, swamps, and forests.
· Interest (as evidenced in published writings) in improvements in agricultural practice became more widespread. Techniques that could be mentioned were the use of fertilizer (‘denshiring’ marl, and lime), ley farming (a longer fallow period with heavier manuring), water meadowing, growing peas and legumes for soil improvement, and winter animal feed crops (turnips and carrots) as a second crop after the grain was harvested.
· Some specialisation occurred, such as animal fattening and market gardening near urban areas.
· The gradually decreasing need for labour in rural areas through the period provided people for towns and for the New World colonies.
· Good years for agriculture provided the financial surpluses for trade. By the late 17th century, England exported more food than she imported.
The candidate’s response to the second part of the essay question could include:
· Agriculture in England had a number of problems that affected the lives of people.
– The growing season was about five months. Low temperatures often inhibited growth. Periods of drought could lead to famine.
– Poor farming methods tended to drain the fertility of the soil. Cooperation was needed in communities to ensure that this did not happen.
– There were conflicts over the use of land—three-field / open field systems, enclosure, use of the manorial courts—that could affect individuals and their capacity to survive.
– Access to common pasture was essential to the survival of some farmers.
– The clearing of forests for agriculture created timber crises for the poor; the rights of woodbote, firebote, and pannage.
– The seasonal, labour-intensive nature of agriculture meant that communities were highly dependent on one another at times.
– Grain supplies were in high demand at times of food crises as the population expanded. This could lead to disorder and rioting when some were starving.
· There were generally observable differences in the lives of people who were lowland or highland farmers.
– Lowlands: nucleated villages dominated the landscape of the lowlands often only 2-5 miles apart. Each possessed a resident landlord and a parish church.
– Highlands: settlements were more remote and dispersed with many farmhouses standing alone and subsistence farming more evident. Fewer villages had a resident landlord, and social customs relating to grazing and inheritance tended to be different.
· Enclosure and other agricultural changes did subject some agricultural workers to eviction from their tenancy, displacement, or unemployment. Candidates may debate the extent of this occurrence, but there were subsequent increases in vagabondage; depopulation in some areas; and a drift to woodlands, fens, and urban centres.
· The increase in wheat growing was beneficial to the health of the nation, improving the amount of protein in people’s diets.
· Cheaper food created a rise in real wages, stimulating a demand for industrial goods, while improved agriculture created more raw materials for industry—wool. hides, linen flax, and vegetable dyes.
· Successful entrepreneurial farmers were able to move up into the gentry class. They often bought out smaller neighbours, left legacies of park-like estates, or invested in industry and trade.
Topic One: Essay Two
Describe the ways in which the practice of popular beliefs was absorbed and changed by the established church in early modern England between 1558 and 1667. Evaluate the influence that popular beliefs had on the lives of people during this period.
The candidate’s response to the first part of the essay question could include:
· The pre-Reformation Church over a long period had accommodated the seasonal practices of its people and pre-Christian ceremonies, so there was a blurring of the margins as to what was clearly of pagan origin and what was allowably Christian, e.g. Rogationtide and the beating of the parish bounds, which sought God’s protection for newly planted seeds, was also a pagan fertility rite. But after the 1559 Elizabethan Church Settlement, Protestants wished to eliminate the Roman Catholic customs, ceremonies, and organisations that had a strong hold on the common people. Symbols of traditional Catholicism (paintings, statues, altars, rood screens, and carvings) were destroyed by Elizabethan commissioners, although many were hidden in an effort to preserve them. The 125 holy days of the Catholic calendar were replaced with about 30 Protestant holy days and festivals; but some, like May Day, could not be eliminated. The Major-Generals’ attempt to ban Christmas was almost universally unpopular and ensured that their puritanical administration would never be accepted. Only slowly were traditional forms and ritual altered in a Protestant direction. Some festivals once organised by the pre-Reformation church eventually became embedded folk customs.
· The established church was primarily concerned that the continuance of popular beliefs undermined its authority, encouraged immoral conduct, prevented the people from understanding the truth, and possibly contributed to an erosion of attendance. Irreverence during church services was frequently recorded. Sermons—effectively government-written homilies—were used to teach the morality of the Old Testament. Catechisms—simplified instruction books on the basics of the Protestant message—were circulated. During this period of time, there was a substantial increase in the number of clergy with university degrees (23% in 1580 to 84% in 1640). Wrightson concludes that by 1650, England probably never had a better manned and financed Church or a more active preaching ministry and yet failed to eradicate popular beliefs.
· Institutional forms of religion were absorbed, yet became only a thin ‘veneer’ over popular religious beliefs (Barry Reay). People transformed the new Protestant beliefs and traditional popular beliefs into new forms. The Bible became a holy talisman, through which God could speak to people. Common people clung to their magic charms and spells in their daily lives and simply added Christian prayers to them. They were often oblivious to (or uninterested in) contradictions in their belief structure and, not appreciating explanations of misfortune in their lives offered by the church, preferred traditional ones. Long-established rituals were more comforting than personal faith despite the disapproval of the established church.
· Outright attacks on magic, witchcraft, and other forms of popular religion by the church were even less successful. Church court records provide evidence that popular religious customs continued. Some parish clergy and JP’s responsible for administering the edicts of the established church and government tended to enforce only requirements they favoured or knew that their communities would not resist. Regular church attendance was poor (about 20%). When people did attend, the effect was often negligible or negative. There was a considerable degree of religious indifference. The Church itself had competition from the village’s wise and cunning men and women. Their magic seemed stronger than whatever the new Protestant Church said.
· Belief in superstition, magic and witchcraft declined only gradually through 1558–1667. Those who practiced magical arts were still valued by their communities. Practices that were outlawed—such as Candlemas—were transferred from churches to homes. Popular literature such as ballads, almanacs, and chapbooks helped to preserve many elements of traditional culture as folklore satisfying important emotional needs. People proved reluctant to part with things that gave them reassurance, protection or comfort. The decline over time of traditional practices and beliefs appears to have had more to do with the gradual secularisation of society and the growth of legal toleration than with initiatives of the church. By 1660, separation was being drawn between church and civic or communal festivities. There is also some debate as to whether popular culture was abandoned over the period by the governing class because of the propensity of some festivals to turn into disorder and rioting that was difficult to control.
The candidate’s response to the second part of the essay question could include:
· Popular beliefs encompassed all sectors of the population. It was not an entity but a range of changing beliefs in different regions where each community had its own customs. Few experienced a formal education or travelled beyond their home village to be exposed to other beliefs.
· Religious belief occupied an important place in the lives of people because there was an implicit belief by all in an unseen supernatural world of spirits competing for each human soul. Belief in the devil and the potential salvation or damnation of each soul was a part of popular consciousness.
· Religious belief and superstition was important in influencing each individual’s attitudes, values, and perspective on the vicissitudes of life. It seemed to have a stronger hold on the hearts and minds of people. To protect themselves from personal misfortune, a variety of charms, spells, prayers, and herbal remedies were used. Their perceived potential to affect the seasons and weather had a significant influence on an individual’s well-being and survival. People worried about such things as the length and intensity of winter, harvest failure, the success of hunting, and fishing ventures. A series of traditional rites and ceremonies were important in allaying these concerns e.g. New Years Day was to encourage the return of spring, and fasting before Easter helped conserve food for the latter part of winter. Accusations of witchcraft increased in times of economic hardship, when people were less willing to give charity.