1. 111 © HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation How do historians use evidence?

2. 222 © HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation Objectives In this activity you will: Take information from evidence. Explain some problems when looking at a piece of evidence. Explain a method for using sources to conduct an enquiry.

3. 333 © HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation As historians, we use evidence to find out about the past. Each piece of evidence we call a ‘source’. We need to be careful about how we use sources and what questions we ask of them.

4. 444 © HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation The following piece of evidence is an anachronism. It is a page from a social networking site for a man called James Stuart, but the internet didn’t exist when he was alive. The point of the exercise is to give you an idea of how to look at evidence.

5. 555 © HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation James Stuart Relationship status: James is married to Anne of Denmark Work: James is King of England, Scotland and Ireland. Interests: Golf, horse racing, the theatre, the paranormal, religion. Favourite books: The Bible – King James I edition Favourite plays: Macbeth, the works of Inigo Jones. Religious beliefs: Protestant, I believe in the Divine Right of Kings. Political beliefs: Absolute Monarchy. Last updated Nov. 1612

6. 666 © HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation What have you learned from the last screen about James Stuart? What do you think about him? What problems are there with this evidence? (It helps to ask yourself: Who wrote this? When? Why and where?)

7. 777 © HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation Some extra facts about James: James’s tongue was too big for his mouth. James didn’t wash. James wore padded clothes to stop assassins killing him. James had affairs with both men and women and openly kissed people other than his wife in public. James was intelligent and supervised the production of a new version of the Bible and other books. James became senile at the end of his life.

8. 888 © HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation How does this add to what you know about James? Why isn’t this included in the first source? What does this tell us about how we should use sources to find out about the past?