Below: Map and timeline showing Anglo Saxon kingdoms prior to Viking’s establishing the kingdom of Danelaw.
Our DVD for the first session in June challenged the description of the period known as the Dark Ages claiming it was a time of great creativity and a period notable for the spread of Christianity. The narrator was one of the new wave of art historians challenging the usual label and showing us some splendid architecture and decorative arts. He showed how early Christian art and sculpture portrayed Jesus and the overlaying of pagan gods with new beliefs. It was startling to find that the first such images were not created until several centuries after the death of Christ and how the images portraying Christ and Mary have changed over time.
We were also shown some of the early Christian codes that enabled believers to advertise to others that they were Christian whilst preserving their security. We will finish the June sessions with a more traditional approach to history with a look at the early Saxon rulers of Britain We now move to studying the Saxons, who seem to have a bad name for murder and plunder; but maybe they were misunderstood!
The first Saxon settlers were retirees from the Roman Legions, which often had Saxon contingents. Saxon retirees stayed in Britain when the Legions pulled out. An English King was so impressed by the Saxons’ fighting skills he hired them to help ward off Pictish invaders. Those dastardly Scots were evidently a greater threat to the English. The Saxons decided England was not a bad place to stay and invited their friends to come over, just like one of those mad Melbourne parties you read about where gate crashers terrify everyone and the police are outnumbered. The next day everyone wakes up with a headache and promises never to drink again… or mess around with Saxons armed to the teeth. However recent DNA testing results are showing that maybe only 6 - 8% of the English population can trace their ancestry to those evil Saxons, so perhaps the English are not Anglo-Saxon after all? We are approaching the end of our study of Roman Britain and will soon transfer our attention to the Saxons, who brought with them the English language. The Saxon invaders were tamed by the Roman Christian religion, and this will give us the opportunity to study the spread of Christianity in this period.
In our last class we made some comparisons with Roman and Chinese history, I made up a timeline from various sources, Roman dates are shown in italics.
Comparative Chinese/Roman history 551 BC Birth of Confucius, ideas of an ethical ordered society. 206 BC to 220AD Han Dynasty, the “true” establishment of the Chinese state. 218 BC Hannibal conquers Spain, crosses the Alps and defeats the Romans. 214 BC Emperor Qin indentures thousands to link existing city walls into a Great Wall. 183 BCE Hannibal defeated by Romans, and takes poison to evade capture. c100 BC Silk Road between China & Middle East sees Chinese goods in Rome. c100 BC Buddhism first appears in China. 55-54 BCE Romans invade Britain 30 BCE Antony & Cleopatra commit suicide, Egypt becomes Roman Province. 27CE Jesus begins his ministry 46CE Paul begins his missionary journeys 67 AD Han Emperor Ming sent a mission to India to invite Buddhist monks to his court. 132 CE Sun dials, water clocks, astronomical instruments and paper in use. 166 CE Reported arrival of an emissary from Rome bringing ivory and other gifts. 380 CE Christianity official religion of Roman Empire. Vale of the White Horse, with the hillfort, Uffington Camp.
The 361-foot-long White Horse, cut out of the chalk in the Iron Age. By the 10th Century Anglo-Saxon estates in the area followed the Iron Age and Roman boundaries; suggesting some sort of continuity. Incredibly the present day parish boundaries follow the line of the Anglo-Saxon land grants very closely. Archaeological discoveries using new technologies continue to shed new light. During 2010 when I was last in Britain I read of the largest Roman Villa discovered (so far) there. In 2013 British Archaeologists were rocked by the discovery that farming was being undertaken some 6,000 years prior to what had previously been established. It is all so different from the life portrayed in history books from my school days. This year I am going to try and tell the story of the period of the Roman invasion of Britain to the Norman Conquest. It is also the story of how Christianity was to become the new religion in Europe. I hope to reach the period of the Crusades by the end of the year. I have been influenced by two important books that cover this period in detail:- Triumph of the West. Roberts, J.M. London: BBC, 1985 The Domesday Quest in search of the roots of England. Wood, Michael. London: BBC, 2005 Whilst I invite you to sit back and enjoy the wide range of dvds I have collected to illustrate the history the two books will aid those of you who want to pursue the subject in more detail. Michael Wood is a talented historian who has also produced a number of television documentaries, some of which will be used in this course. He challenges the idea that the Norman invaders made revolutionary changes to the direction of English/British history. He focuses on what survived from the Celtic, Roman and Saxon/Viking periods and was adopted by the new Norman invaders. By using the Domesday Book to illustrate the lives of ordinary people he develops a story of continuity. Wood sets out to try and answer what he thinks is the most important question in British history. How much of the Celtic and Roman past went into the Anglo-Saxon culture and what survived the Norman times? If you want to be really challenged I suggest you try and get hold of Triumph of the West. Roberts believes that Civilisations have historical myths and the Western view of history was anchored in two central ideas. One is the idea that people are in some sense able to take charge of their own destinies, the other is that history is meaningful because it has direction; it is progressing. These two ideas appear to originate in the traditions of the Graeco-Roman society and the Judaic. This is where the roots of western civilisation have long been recognised to lie. The Greeks of the classical age began to think of themselves as civilised. During the long series of wars waged by the Persian Empire to subdue them some Greeks began to see this as a war of ideas. They began to see it as a war against not just their freedom, religion and language, but also their self-direction (autonomy) and government (the city-state or polis). Those ideas were adopted by the Romans and developed into the idea that the West stood for freedom in contrast to barbarians. Roberts selected two big ideas from the West’s Jewish heritage, which had been transmitted via Christianity. One, the idea of the bad conscience, a force always pushing out the boundaries of the morally possible. It has often stirred up western thought and stopped it settling into immobility. The heart of the Jewish faith does not lie in the salvation of the individual as Christianity espouses; instead God’s covenant with Israel was with a whole community. This idea led both Jews and Christians to believe they were the Chosen people who by struggling to sustain God’s law would reach the Promised Land. That, claims Roberts, is why unlike other cultures the West has thrown up so many Utopias. One example is the Pilgrim Fathers, this (and other examples) fuel the western view that history is the story of people going somewhere; advancing. The 2016 course will start with the Roman Invasion of Britain and will cover a momentous millennium. The period following the collapse of the Roman Empire was typically portrayed in history text books as the “Dark Ages”, but modern interpretations now portray it in more light. If you were on the receiving end of a Viking raid or on the losing side against the Normans, you might be inclined to support the traditional view!
I have assembled a collection of wonderful TV documentaries that will enable us to sit back for another season of Armchair History. New members welcome! The Friday afternoon times are 1.15 start, 3.15 finish; this is at the request of the College. I have been spending time developing a course and finding dvds for classes next year. We will start with the Romans and should get as far as the War of the Roses, covering a momentous millennium.
The period was typically portrayed in old history text books as the “Dark Ages”, but modern interpretations now portray it in a different light. The final classes for this year will look at the closing decades of Victoria’s reign and the beginnings of the Edwardian era. I will use the Zulu and Boer Wars to illustrate British Imperial experiences in this period. In addition I will show a fascinating dvd on the role of Victoria’s children and grandchildren in the events that tumbled towards World War One. PLEASE NOTE, the final session this year will be on November 13th as there will be no class on the 27th November. Following the death of Albert, Queen Victoria sought seclusion. The Queen had homes (palaces) such as Osborne, Balmoral and Sandringham, all hidden from public view and well away from the duties expected of her in London. Our next series of DVDs look at how the British people made themselves at home in the wider reaches of the Empire and how a travel company specializing in offering cheap days out for the poor, began to cater for rich clients enjoying adventure holidays.
Source: A London Album 1840-1915 Printable Handout Wet-plate photography introduced in 1851 used coated glass plates that were developed whilst still wet. A complicated process but the resultant glass negative produced excellent quality prints. Victorians were great amateur scientists and loved dabbling with chemicals. In many ways the more involved the procedure, the more delighted they were. 1. London coaching inns There were once many coaching inns in British cities. In London most had been built after the Great Fire, replacing inns that had been built as far back as the mediaeval period. Before railway travel became commonplace coaches often took a number of days to complete long distance journeys, requiring changes of horses and places of rest for the passengers. Inns consisted of courtyards behind a conventional façade surrounded by galleries leading to guests’ rooms. Built in 1559 during the reign of James I, it was demolished to make way for London’s Liverpool Street Station The George was one of the twenty two inns located near the Borough High Street in the days when London Bridge was so crowded it was difficult for large coaches to cross. First mentioned in 1554, it was rebuilt after the Southwark fire of 1676. 2. Making a Living Top left. Pea-shellers, Covent Garden Market 1900. Bottom left. Sunday bird fair, Bethnal Green, 1900. Caged birds, sourced from Indonesia, India, Australia and Britain were very popular with Victorians. Right. Covent Garden Porter. The end of the line for the self-employed was the peddling of a few items which might have little value or profit in themselves, but which might bring a few extra coppers in charity. Matches, bootlaces, pipe-cleaners and newspapers were often sold by men and boys. Women and girls might sell apples or flowers. The face of destitution. A mother and child in a London doorway, c1877.
“God has appointed from the very first, that there should be different grades of human society, high and low, rich and poor, and it is not for the rich to boast or the poor to complain.” Vicar of a Kentish village, 1871. The Victorian era saw many changes and new inventions. There were once many coaching inns in British cities. In London most had been built after the Great Fire, replacing inns that had been built as far back as the mediaeval period. Before railway travel became commonplace coaches often took a number of days to complete long distance journeys, requiring changes of horses and places of rest for the passengers. Inns consisted of courtyards behind a conventional façade surrounded by galleries leading to guests' rooms. ’Wet-plate photography, introduced in 1851, used coated glass plates that were developed while still wet, a complicated process but the resultant glass negative produced excellent quality prints. Victorians were great amateur scientists and loved dabbling with chemicals. In many ways the more involved the procedure, the more delighted they were. Photos of people and buildings in the Victorian period will be uploaded to the web page soon. I took a brief winter holiday in Alice Springs and left dvds for Doug Geeson to run the class in my absence. Thought I was well prepared, but a disk I had copied at home had not been “finalised”, so it did not play on the W4 machine. It is a good reminder to check that disks copied on your home recorder are finalised to play on other equipment!
Doug being a resourceful person was able to run a successful class, despite my sabotage. Thanks Doug. Our last class watched a DVD showing some of the dangers associated with Victorian homes, ranging from steep and uneven staircases to adulterated foods. I wonder how historians in the future will view our homes? It was a change to see the homes of the lower middle class rather than the mansions of the aristocracy that seem to be all the rage in recent documentaries. To be fair SBS did screen a series about the history of various London streets and I will be using one of this series in our next session.
We are now studying the middle years of the 19th Century and will look at Queen Victoria’s relationship with her many children and how the death of Albert saw her withdraw from public life. Eventually the public lost faith in the monarchy and it also led to constitutional problems that almost brought government to a standstill. Whilst the Industrial Revolution was boosting the British economy and creating a new middle class, age old problems of disease were still a major challenge. We will view DVDs showing how diseases such as typhoid, dysentery and cholera were finally brought under control in the wealthier parts of Europe. June sessions will feature DVDs showing the changes taking place in Britain in the middle of the 19th century. Reformers were trying to change the grim life for many who lived in the new industrial cities of northern England. Disease and poverty meant many suffered a short and brutish life. Reformers had little success, the Chartist movement having one last charge at change before it died. Queen Victoria had no time for democracy: revolutions might be tearing Europe apart, but she was not for change. Democracy, she thought, was “a mad wicked folly”.
It was not only in the cities that Victorians were at the mercy of diseases such as cholera and typhoid. Many of you may be familiar with the beauty of Haworth, set in the hills of the northern moorland. Even here disease was a killer and the famous Bronte family its victims. It would take new scientific methods and vast engineering projects to eradicate diseases such as cholera, yet by 1900 it was eliminated from Britain. We’ll also see Scotland’s Caledonian Ship Canal, which was a major Victorian engineering project designed to give ships both a safe passage and a short cut to the isles. Today the canal is a mecca for “boaties” and those who wish to see some of Scotland’s fantastic countryside. In 1842 when Dickens set out from Liverpool on his first American tour he took a new steam powered ocean liner. Schedules could now be published in the expectation that a steam powered vessel would run to time.
In 1851 the word “Victorian” entered the English language. In that year Queen Victoria was able to take the Royal train from London to visit Liverpool and Manchester, before continuing north to her beloved Scotland. It was the year Victorians celebrated their achievements with the Great Exhibition. Visitors came not just from Britain, but also from Europe, America and the British colonies, the Victorians basked in the glory of being world leaders. Prince Albert tried to change the monarchy to make it appeal more to the new members of the Middle Class, who were to dominate the Victorian world. The aristocratic Tory Party re-invented itself as leaders such as Peel and Disraeli sought to widen its appeal, it emerged as the Conservative Party. Not all members of society shared the spoils, Elizabeth Gaskell wrote novels about the harsh conditions in Northern mill towns, these were a call for change. Dickens continued to amuse and shock his audience, The Old Curiosity Shop was a tear jerker that also raised the issue of child prostitution. A new generation of journalists and religious leaders took to the streets of the big cities seeking to challenge the complacency of those in power and bring about social change. In 1838 when Oliver Twist was published, Dickens showed he could stir the complacency of Victorian Britain and be a powerful advocate for social change: a dangerous writer. He had the ability to talk feely to the outcasts and destitute, he was able to draw upon his own unhappy childhood for material and fashion it into an attack upon the new Poor Law.
1844 saw the publication of Sybil: or two nations. The author was Benjamin Disraeli who whilst advocating change, was also hoping it would ultimately aid his bid to become Prime Minister. The novel used cities as synonyms for the destruction of traditional social order and a threat to religion. Disraeli was touting a new Conservatism in which the aristocracy would lead the workers to a better future. In our previous session we saw how the Workhouses struck fear into those in poverty: Annie Lennox shows her family’s tussle with poverty and children born out of wedlock and the social stigma that entailed. Another part of her family were servants to Victoria and Albert, making for an interesting Who do you think you are? We will look at how the policy of governments not interfering and leaving it to the market to decide the economic future led to famine and rebellion in India and Ireland. On a brighter note we will view Walking through history: looking at Haworth and the Bronte family and the Liverpool-to-Leeds canal, and some beautiful scenery. I will be bringing the Elmo projector into play as we view photographs from the Victorian period. In 1839 the first practical photographic process was demonstrated and cameras were rapidly developed leading to excellent plate-glass cameras that in the right hands produced magnificent photographs. 1837 was a momentous year for three important Victorians. Victoria became Queen, Benjamin Disraeli (a future Prime Minister) entered parliament and Charles Dickens became a celebrity when Pickwick Papers was published. We will also look at the lives of the workers. This image is the jacket of one of the books I read during the holidays. The cover design is based on an early trade union membership certificate for cotton spinners. During Victoria’s reign the Industrial Revolution came to its peak in Britain and the cotton industry was the source of new fortunes for factory owners and a harsh new world for the workers. In his novel Hard Times, published in 1854. Dickens examined the harshness of education and industry. . In 2015 we will look at the world of the Victorians, not just in Britain and its colonies, but America and Europe. I will focus on three outstanding individuals who were major players in this drama: Queen Victoria, her favourite Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and the writer Charles Dickens whose books woke the social conscience of his wide audience. Dickens was the celebrity writer of the period, touring widely and mobbed by adoring fans. His tours took him to America in one of the early steam powered liners. This was the age of steam when the Industrial Revolution and the British Empire were dominant forces! Victoria & “Dizzy” Why should the Queen of popular imagination-the dowdy, unsmiling, unapproachable, matter-of-fact Widow of Windsor be attracted to the flamboyant, honey-tongued and ageing exotic? With her dumpy shape and her dour expression the Queen looked like a grumpy German hausfrau; with his dyed ringlets, his parchment skin and his hunched shoulders, Disraeli had the air of a decaying roue. Where he was said to be wily, Oriental and sphinx-like, she was known to be honest as the day was long. Victoria sat on the most important, most firmly-established throne in the world. Dizzy was looked upon as an adventurer, a man whom the Queen herself somewhat inaccurately described as having “risen from the people”. The adored Prince Albert had once said that Disraeli “had not one single element of the gentleman in his composition”. His very name was synonymous with Jewry. (Jews were not allowed to stand for parliament) and the Queen had refused a peerage for Lionel de Rothschild on the grounds of his being a Jew. But by the 1870s the lessons Albert had instilled were being abandoned as “Dizzy” encouraged the Queen to dream of being a Queen Empress and from 1880 he steered her on a new course. For the last 25 years of her life she was no longer the Windsor widow, but a revered, awe-inspiring and almost mythical Queen Empress. It had needed Disraeli the astute and imaginative statesman to open her eyes to the possibilities of her position, to recognize the underlying romanticism and emotionalism of her nature and to bring into full flower her latent sense of majesty. The old Queen who drove through the clamorous streets of imperial London on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in 1897was very much Disraeli’s masterpiece! (Source: Victoria & Disraeli by Theo Aronson). This year our focus will be The World of the Victorians. I would like to welcome anyone who would like to know more about this fascinating period as the British Empire expanded and the Industrial Revolution was to spread across Europe and America.
The scientific revolution saw changes in disease control and coupled with changes to sanitation, cities became safer places to live. People continued to clamour for the right to vote, which led to outbreaks of violence such as the Eureka Rebellion; but the governments of the British Empire were determined to restrict more people obtaining the vote: especially women. We will look at the way these people lived and their aspirations and how they came to identify themselves as “Victorians”. Sit back and watch DVDs that will illustrate this period whilst I will supplement them with readings and commentary to show you why I find this period so enthralling. Terry Case |
Armchair History - 'Tudors - Power and Religion''Tudors- Power and Religion', commenced just before the Pandemic lock down in 2021. Owing to the number of interruptions that the course had in 2021, the full course is being offered again in 2022. Convenor/s and Contact DetailsTerry Case 0427621700
Meeting TimesNew times - 2nd & 4th Friday 2 to 4 pm from Friday 25th March.
U3A Room 1 Archives
December 2022
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