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Welcome to the British Culture Wiki

Restoration Culture

So far, this wiki has accompanied last semester's lecture on Renaissance culture; now, with your help, it is about to grow so as to extend to the Restoration period.

So, what about Wikipedia? Why a British Culture wiki? Quite simply, because it is reliable. Because it will provide us with relevant information. Because everybody can participate in its development and everybody can use it to study. Because it is our opportunity to work as a scholarly community. And finally, buy it or try it, because it is fun.

Here's what you can do: Read the articles - for reference, exam preparation or during future study. Amend and expand an article. Suggest new articles by turning words into links. Write suggested articles by clicking on any red link. And as your masterpiece, write completely new articles.

What's hot these days?

Poetry		Patronage	Licensing	John Wilmot (a.k.a. Rochester)
Architects and...		Inigo Jones	Banqueting House, Whitehall	Queen's House, Greenwich
...architecture		Great Fire of London	Christopher Wren	St Paul's Cathedral
Society, ...		Squirearchy	Meritocracy	Sumptuary Laws
the public sphere & ...		Coffee House	Whigs	Tories
the private sphere		Nuclear family	Bundling	Samuel Pepys

This Wiki currently boasts 1,018 articles - and counting. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

• New and revised articles are listed in the Blackboard course announcements and under Recent Changes.
  
• There's also an overview of All Articles.
• In search of inspiration? The Wanted Pages section gives you a list of all articles that have been linked to by others but that do not exist yet. (Before starting to write, please try some keywords in the search box to make sure that there isn't a similar article to what you're planning to pen.)
• Authors, please check back to your article some time after publishing it to see if it needs any revision. (If it's blue, click on the "discussion" tab at the top of your article page, in-between the tabs "article" and "edit".)

Navigating In the menu on the left, use the search box to find a specific article, or click on "Random page" to read a surprise article. Wiki articles are cross-linked; thus you can choose one article as an entry point and explore your topic by moving through the pages. The "What links here" feature in the toolbox on the left allows you to see a list of the articles that link to the page you're currently reading, helping you to put information in context. "Recent changes" will allow you to keep track of all modifications and new articles. How to participate... First of all, if you're new to writing in a wiki, just give it a try - no one is born a master. To test the editing process of an article, experiment with styles and let your creativity run wild, have a look at the Sandbox. To create a new entry in our wiki, you can either click on a red link in any text or enter the title of the article in the search box, then click on "create". See the Help Section for assistance.

...and some ideas to get us going No one's expected to write entire essays; there's no marking and no scrutiny. On the other hand, by investing a little effort in sharing parts of your work you can profit from everybody's additions, feedback and ideas. Some suggestions for articles Short biographies, e.g. Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke Concepts and Events, e.g. Restoration, Empiricism, Libertine, War of the Great Alliance, War of the Spanish Succession Cultural Background, e.g. Comedy of Wit Please start your own articles as well! Taking notes on a computer? If you're taking notes on a notebook during the lecture or if you're entering your handwritten notes in a word processing software at home, why not copy some of your information into our wiki? Previous endeavours? If you've previously worked on any topic pertaining to this course (does "John Milton" ring a bell?), whether in papers, presentations or elsewhere, consider posting parts of your material at the appropriate places here. (Obvious though it is: please do not publish anybody else's work than your own!)