Course syllabus Scandinavian Maritime Warfare, 1521-1721

Swedish name: Skandinavisk maritim krigföring, 1521-1721

Course code:
2MH088
Valid from semester:
Autumn Term 2024
Education cycle:
Second cycle
Scope:
7.5 credits
Progression:
A1N
Grading scale:
Three-grade scale
Main field of study:
History with specialisation in Military History
Department:
Department of War Studies and Military History
Subject:
History with Specialization in Military History
Language of instruction:
The teaching is conducted in English.
Decided by:
Forsknings och utbildningsnämndens kursplaneutskott
Decision date:
2023-12-12

Entry requirements

Courses in the humanities or social sciences of at least 90 credits. In addition, knowledge of English equivalent to English B or English 6 is required.

Course content and structure

The aim of the course is for the student to independently gain insight into and be able to present an overview of Scandinavian Maritime Warfare in a time of geopolitical upheaval. The geographical focus of the course is the Baltic and North Sea areas. The student independently analyses Scandinavian maritime warfare in a geopolitical, legal and military historical context.

The course deals with changes in maritime warfare in the region, concerning the development from relatively disorganised navies to state regulated seapower. This includes naval development as interstate conflict, privateering, maritime alliances in the region, Great Power influence and legal development on the matter.

During the course, themes are introduced in lectures combined with independent research in order to analyse military historical aspects on Scandinavian maritime law and warfare. In seminars different aspects of course themes are discussed in order to deepen analyses, while students develop their oral presentation skills. The course is concluded through a written analysis of the course themes. During the course the student cumulatively builds an understanding of Scandinavian maritime warfare during the Early Modern period, from different perspectives.

Type of Instruction
Seminars

Lectures

Independent Study

Objectives

Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding
  • demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the development of the evolution of Scandinavian maritime warfare, geopolitics and the development of Early Modern maritime legal structures

Competence and Skills
  • in writing as well as orally discuss research on Scandinavian maritime warfare and geopolitics, particularly regarding the development of Early Modern maritime law and Great Power competition
  • apply a holistic approach with regards to maritime warfare, legal development and alliances during the Early Modern period

Judgement and approach
  • identify needs for additional knowledge in the field.

Examination formats

Exam
Scope: 7.5

Grading Scale: Fail, Pass, Pass with Distinction

The course is assessed through active and constructive participation in mandatory seminars and through an individual written home exam.

The examiner can determine what supplementary work can be completed in order to achieve a Pass mark. The student will have three working days to complete supplementary work once it has been agreed, in the absence of previously accepted exceptional circumstances. Exams which are submitted after the due date will not be marked unless the examiner has previously accepted exceptionalcircumstances.

Grading
The student is graded on a three-point grading scale: Fail (U), Pass (G) and Pass with Distinction (VG). Grading criteria are reported at the latest at the start of the course.

For the grade Pass (G) on the course, the student must achieve the grade Pass (G) on the seminars, as well as Pass (G) on the home exam. For the grade Pass with Distinction (VG) on the course, the student must achieve the grade Pass with Distinction (VG) on more than half of the seminars, as well asthe grade Pass with Distinction (VG) on the home exam.

Restrictions in Number of Examinations
There is no limit on the total number of examination opportunities.

Transitional provisions

When the course is no longer offered or when the course content has changed substantially, the student has the right to be examined once per semester during a three-term period in accordance with this syllabus.

Other regulations

The course cannot be included in a degree with another course whose content fully or partially corresponds to the content of this course.

If the Swedish Defence University has formally decided that the student is entitled to receive special educational support due to a disability, the examiner may decide on alternative forms of examination for the student.

The course director will conduct an evaluation on the completion of the course, which will form the basis for any changes to the course.

This is an edited version of the syllabus, created to transfer the original to the education database Ladok education planning. For originals, refer to the archive.
Reading list decided date: 2024-05-08
D. D. Aldridge, ‘The victualling of the British naval expeditions to the Baltic Sea between 1715 and 1727’, in Scandinavian Economic History Review, 12:1 (1964), pp. 1-25
D. D. Aldridge, Admiral Sir John Norris and the British Naval Expeditions to the Baltic Sea, 1715-1727 (Lund, 2009), pp. 178-261
R. C. Anderson, Naval Wars in the Baltic During the Sailing-Ship Epoch, 1522-1850 (London, 1910), pp. 47-70.
Martin Bellamy, Christian IV and his Navy: A Political and Administrative History of the Danish Navy, 1596-1648 (Leiden, 2006), two chapters
T. W. Fulton, The Sovereignty of the Seas (Edinburgh, 1911). 40 pages, though not grouped in one chapter.
Jan Glete, Swedish Naval Administration, 1521-1721 (Leiden, 2010), two chapters
J. Grainger, The British Navy in the Baltic (Boydell & Brewer, 2014), two chapters
Hugo Grotius, Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty, trans. Gladys L. Williams and edited by Martine Julia van Ittersum, Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics (Indianapolis, 2006), selected pages amounting to c.40 in total
Richard Harding, Seapower and Naval Warfare, 1650-1830 (London: Routledge, 1999)
Angelo Forte, Andrew Little, Steve Murdoch, ‘Scottish Privateering, Swedish Neutrality and Prize Law in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, 1672-1674’ in Forum Navale 59 (2003), pp. 37-65.
Michael Kemp, ‘Beyond the Law: The Image of Piracy in the Legal Writings of Hugo Grotius’ Grotiana 26-28 (2005-2007) 396-415
Steve Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas? Scottish Maritime Warfare 1513-1713 (Leiden, 2010), pp. 20-32
Steve Murdoch, ‘Surfing the Waves: Scottish Admirals in Russia in their Baltic Context’ in Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies, 3, 2 (2010), pp.59-86 (esp from p.68)
Steve Murdoch ‘Breaching Neutrality’: English prize-taking and Swedish neutrality in the First Anglo-Dutch War, 1651–1654 in The Mariner's Mirror 105:2 (2019), pp.134-147.
Steve Murdoch and Leos Muller (eds), Peter Maxwell-Stuart (trans), A Critical Edition of Johannes Gröning’s Naviagatio Libera [Extended 1698 Edition] (Leiden, 2019), pp.1-23
Steve Murdoch, 'Neutrality at Sea: Scandinavian Responses to "Great Maritime Power" Maritime Warfare, 1651-1713' in J.D. Davies, Alan James and Gijs Rommelse (eds), Ideologies of Western Naval Power, c.1500-1815 (Routledge, 2020), chapter 13, esp pp.244-250.
Olaf Mörke “Seventeenth-Century Sweden and the Dominium Maris Baltici—a Maritime Empire?” Empires of the Sea: Maritime Power Networks in World History, edited by Rolf Strootman et al., (Brill, 2020), pp. 219–42.
Jakob Seerup, ‘Danish and Swedish Flag Disputes with the British in the Channel’, in N.A.M. Rodger, et al., (eds), Strategy and the Sea: Essays in Honour of John B. Hattendorf (Woodbridge, 2016), 28–30.
van Ittersum, M.J., ‘Mare Liberum versus the Propriety of the Seas? The Debate between Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) and William Welwood (1552–1624) and its Impact on Anglo-Scottish-Dutch Fishery Disputes in the Second Decade of the Seventeenth Century’ in The Edinburgh Law Review, vol. 10, Issue 2, (May 2006).
Total Pages is approx. 1850