Board: OCR | Unit: Y104 | Component: 1 (British Period Study)
About this option
England 1377–1455 covers the final decades of the Plantagenet dynasty and the beginning of the dynastic crisis that would become the Wars of the Roses. Students trace the turbulent reign of Richard II, his deposition by Henry IV, the Lancastrian usurpation, the military glory and political limits of Henry V’s French campaigns, and the catastrophic reign of Henry VI that brought England to the brink of civil war. The option requires sustained engagement with the nature of late medieval kingship, the relationship between Crown and nobility, and the structural pressures that destabilised the Lancastrian regime.
Key themes
- Richard II’s reign: the Peasants’ Revolt, court culture, the tyranny of the late 1390s, and the deposition of 1399
- The Lancastrian usurpation: Henry IV’s claim to the throne, the rebellions of his reign, and the problem of legitimacy
- Henry V: Agincourt, the Treaty of Troyes, and the nature of Lancastrian kingship at its zenith
- The minority of Henry VI: the competing regencies, the loss of France, and the erosion of Lancastrian authority
- Henry VI’s personal rule: the role of court favourites, the collapse of order in the localities, and the origins of factional conflict
- The road to civil war: the rivalry of York and Lancaster and the first phase of the dynastic conflict
- Late medieval government: bastard feudalism, the role of the nobility, and the limits of royal authority
What the exam asks
Y104 is a period study. Questions require breadth across the full chronological range, assessing change and the ability to make comparisons across different phases of the period. Students are expected to demonstrate precise factual knowledge and to sustain arguments across the whole option.
Historiography
The late medieval period raises fundamental questions about kingship, nobility, and the causes of political breakdown:
- Richard II: tyrant or victim? The debate between those who see Richard’s late-reign despotism as personally motivated and those who read it as a systematic attempt to redefine royal authority (Nigel Saul)
- Henry V: great king or lucky adventurer? The revisionist questioning of Henry’s strategic vision alongside the traditional celebration of Agincourt
- Bastard feudalism: K. B. McFarlane’s influential concept and the debate about whether the relationship between lords and retainers was a source of disorder or stability in late medieval England
- The causes of the Wars of the Roses: structural weaknesses in Lancastrian government, the personality of Henry VI, or the ambitions of Richard of York?
Interpretations pack — coming September 2026
A teaching pack for this option is in development, covering all core historiographical debates. It will include named historians with argument summaries, paired comparison tasks built to OCR mark scheme logic, and provenance analysis prompts — all in a downloadable PDF.
£9.99 per pack · Available September 2026
