Example history dissertation topic 2:

How secure was English Protestantism in the early years of Elizabeth I’s reign?

As Levin (2002:22) opines that the accession of Elizabeth in 1558 resulted in ‘English Christians experienc[ing] their fourth religious upheaval in a generation’. In the early years of her reign, Elizabeth made outward displays of Protestantism, for example in her invitation, as Doran (1994:7) notes, to ‘Dr William Bell, a Protestant who had been ejected from Cambridge under [Mary’s reign] to preach at St Paul’s Cross whilst arresting the Bishop of Chichester for preaching a rejoinder the following Sunday’. Using the work of these two authors as a starting point, this dissertation explores the nature of Protestantism in the first fifteen years of Elizabeth’s reign and assesses the extent to which the ‘new’ religion was safe in an administration that was itself, until later, threatened with extinction.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Levin, C. (2002) The reign of Elizabeth I. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
• Doran, S. (1994) Elizabeth I and religion: 1558 – 1603. London: Routledge.
• Rosman, D.M. (1996) From Catholic to Protestant: Religion and the people in Tudor England. London: University College London Press.
• Morrill, J.S. (ed.) (2000) The Oxford illustrated history of Tudor and Stuart Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.