Student Chronicle
Kings, Courts and Empires
2014/15 Issue 2
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Letter from the Editor
To everyone who has handed in dissertations and had exams
over the last few weeks, congratulations on completing another academic year!
This edition focuses on Kings, and their courts and empires.
There are articles ranging from the empire of Charlemagne in
800 AD to the reign Edward VII. In particular we’ve heard from
the third year special subjects, who have had the opportunity
to go on a number of great trips since the last edition.
If you’d like to get involved with the Student Chronicle, and
are interested in writing an article, join the UEA History Student Chronicle group on Facebook.
Emma Blackburne
Contents
The Playboy Prince… 3
Ben Annis looks as the escapades of Prince Bertie, and their impact on his reign as
King Edward VII.
Cardinal Wolsey: Malicious or Misunderstood?... 4
Beth Brookes challenges traditional historiography.
In Charlemagne’s Footsteps – The City of Rome… 5
Ryan May recounts the trip to Rome by his special subject group, ‘The Age of Charlemagne’.
History Away from Campus… 7
Several Special Subjects had the chance to go on trips relating to their modules.
Studying the British Empire at Victoria, University of Wellington … 8
Charlotte Gallagher shares her experience of learning about the British empire in an
ex-colonial setting.
Interview with David Gilks… 9
Crossword… 10
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The Playboy Prince
Ben Annis looks as the escapades of Prince Bertie,
and their impact on his reign as King Edward VII.
Prince Albert Edward, known as ‘Bertie’ in the family,
came to be defined by his sheltered childhood - but
only through his distaste for it. His social vitality owed
to its isolation, his love of pleasure to the strain of its
regimented studies, and his gluttonous diet to its controlled one. Ultimately, as a father, his compassionate
and affectionate parenting would reflect his will to contradict the example of his own parents.
Bertie bloomed in his late teens. On state visits, he
toured France, Germany, Italy, Canada and the US in
the fifties. He was well received, especially in the US,
for his charm - something overlooked at home. Concurrently, his education led him to Edinburgh, Oxford and
later Cambridge. Here Bertie first tasted Victorian indulgence. He became firm friends with two notorious
Bullingdon Club fellows, Henry Chaplin and Frederick
Johnstone, who introduced him to the pleasures of
heavy drinking, laddish-ness and tobacco smoking. This
last indulgence he would never kick, and until his death
smoked 20 cigarettes and 12 cigars daily – it would
eventually kill him.
Cleveland Street Scandal concerning a homosexual
brothel and in 1890 he was involved in the Tranby Croft
affair concerning an illegal game of baccarat. The prince
lived promiscuously, and among his mistresses were
the actress Sarah Bernhardt, socialite Lady Warwick,
and Lady Randolph Churchill. A German cartoon of
1901 mocked Bertie’s exploits with females – ‘Aren’t
you going to South Africa?’ ‘No, I must comfort the widows and wives’, was his supposed reply.
As a bachelor, Bertie was larkish but stirred trouble.
1861 marked the year of his first scandal. Whilst at military training in Dublin, fellow officers smuggled an actress, Nellie Clifden, into his quarters for the night. The
rumour soon spread, making national news, and
Bertie’s father passed a stern word once he was back in
It was doubted that Edward would make a good King,
Cambridge.
or even become King. He lacked the training for stateTwo years later, after their second meeting, Bertie pro- craft, and he was old. But the ‘social lion’ excelled. His
posed to the beautiful Princess Alexandra of Denmark. chequered past was humbling and humanizing, and
She willingly accepted. The couple would remain to- tore down the façade of a nobility supposedly free of
gether for the rest of his life, but the relationship was mistakes or fragility. Public opinion soared in his favour.
arduous for Alexandra. The playful mischief of Bertie’s Edward was a naturally good diplomat, and his internaadolescence had made way for an adulthood driven by tional connections played well. The celebrated Entente
an insatiable desire for pleasure of all kinds. He fast Cordiale was signed with France in 1904. He also
rose to prominence in upper social circles and was proved an asset to discussions with Russia and the Anverging on the decadent hedonism of Oscar Wilde’s glo-Russian entente followed in 1907. These alliances
Dorian Gray. In Victorian England pleasure was taken secured Britain’s position in the new and volatile centuvery seriously. Bertie indulged in brothels (his favourite ry and were a notable legacy. Ultimately, Edward
being the lavish Le Chabanais in Paris), adultery, mis- played to his strengths and is remembered amiably as
tresses, gambling, exotic hunting trips and extravagant perhaps the most ‘human’ of British monarchs.
food.
Such habitual pleasure-seeking gave rise to more scandal. In 1871 Bertie was caught up in the divorce case of
Sir Charles and Lady Mordaunt in which he was accused
of adultery. In 1889 he and his son were involved in the
Photograph of the Prince of Wales by Paul Popper, c.
1870,
www.timenewsfeed.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/14
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Cardinal Wolsey: Malicious or Misunderstood?
Beth Brookes challenges the traditional historiography.
Accounts of Thomas Wolsey have predominately embedded into human memory the idea of a Renaissance cardinal with insatiable greed; the personification of everything wrong with the medieval Church. The personality
of the cardinal is a divisive issue among historians, but it
is evident he possessed a huge amount of ambition, devotion and motivation. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was of
major importance at the Henrician court, and thus his
personality cannot be ignored, being a crucial part of the
Henrician period. Rather than being a purely malicious
man, Wolsey was a multi-faceted character, as recent
historiography is beginning to show.
Older perceptions of Wolsey tend to be unflattering. In
the early sixteenth-century Barlowe and Roye wrote
about the Cardinal, claiming ‘hys tyranny was covered
over with a Cardinals hatt’. Hall’s Chronicle follows a similar theme, presenting Wolsey as an impulsive man driven to acts of malice by an irresistible drive for power and
wealth. In his account on Wolsey’s fall, he noted a book
of articles were made against the Cardinal, ‘to the nombre of thirtie and foure’ which allowed the king to see
how Wolsey ‘with faire liyng wordes had blynded and
defrauded the kyng; and handeled the kinges cause wyth
clokyng’. Holinshed definitely shared this view, exaggerating Wolsey as a more sinister character. In the 1577
Chronicles, Wolsey is seen as a Machiavellian figure
keeping his real motives for action hidden until his malicious ends were achieved. He was seen as being solely
responsible for the destruction of the Duke of Buckingham by the ‘forged tales, and contrived surmises that
Wolsey dayly put into the king’s head’.
Despite such clear animosity towards the Cardinal from
his contemporaries, Wolsey was undoubtedly devoted to
Henry VIII and his service to the king was out of genuine
loyalty. George Cavendish, Wolsey’s gentlemen usher
claimed his primary motivation in writing a biography of
his former master in the 1550s was because ‘since his
death I have heard divers sundry surmises and unimagined tales of his proceedings which I myself have perfectly known to be untrue’. To Cavendish, Wolsey was a dedicated serviceman, stating ‘all his endeavour was oonly
to satisife the kynges mynd knowyng it was the very
vayn and right Cours’. As Guy points out, the
failure of the Amicable Grant proved Wolsey’s
loyalty. On failing to collect £800,000 from
peacetime taxes to raise a war with France,
Wolsey claimed he was solely responsible for
this bad decision and that Henry knew nothing
about it, thereby protecting Henry’s reputation.
Twentieth century historians, Scarisbrick, Gwyn
and Elton, have taken a more positive approach
also, discerning Wolsey as a innovative statesman and lawyer of substance with many positive achievements to his name. Sharkey compliments this view, arguing Wolsey’s appointment
marked the start of a new era in relations between England the Papacy’.
Although recent historiography has been more
complimentary towards Cardinal Wolsey, this is
an avenue that needs to be pursued further,
with much evidence pointing towards a skilled
diplomat and lawyer in the service of Henry
VIII, with these concerns taking primary importance.
Sampson Strong, Portrait of Cardinal Wolsey, 1526
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In Charlemagne’s Footsteps – The City of Rome
Ryan May recounts the trip to Rome by his special subject group, ‘The Age of Charlemagne’.
Rome is a fascinating and exciting city and it occupies a
special place in European history. It is the centre of the
legendary Roman Empire; the civilisation which has
spawned many western European states across the centuries; the seat of the mighty political force which was
the papacy; and one of the key intellectual crucibles
which saw the birth of the Renaissance. What makes the
city even more fantastic is that we can experience all of
this history today. Rome boasts an incredible range of
magnificent and beautiful monuments, buildings and
pieces of art from all over the world. For this reason,
when I and my classmates were offered the chance to
travel to Rome for four days, as part of our studies for
our third year special subject, ‘Age of Charlemagne’, we
were all extremely excited! The trip actually managed
not only to live up to our expectations, but also to surpass them, and this was mostly due to the fact that the
history we all discovered in the city proved to be so fascinating.
The trip got off to an incredible start with a visit to the
awe-inspiring Pantheon, an enormous and elaborate
Catholic church dedicated to St. Mary, nearly 1900 years
old and still dominating its surroundings. To be in the
presence of such history was a humbling experience, and
set the tone for the rest of the trip---it only got more
interesting from there! The Pantheon was not the only
landmark we visited which has its beginnings in the actual Roman Empire itself. Whilst at one of Rome’s many,
many famous churches, we laid eyes upon a huge set of
brass doors, green with age but formidable none the
less, and were told that they had been the actual doors
through which the senators of the Roman Republic had
trudged to assemble and debate the policies of the historic city. It was amazing to be near such history, and,
seeing these ancient monuments, we were reminded
that the rulers of the early medieval world also took
great inspiration from Rome’s imperial history. When
they visited the city, they saw the same great sights
which we saw, and were in awe of the city’s long and
eclectic legacy.
One of these rulers was Charlemagne, the subject of our
year-long module, and an enthralling historical character, who, in 800, became the first ruler to be crowned
emperor in Rome for nearly four centuries. The history
and memory of Rome was vital to Charlemagne’s understanding of his own rule, and this is something which we
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with art and infused with an
atmosphere of awe. It was
unlike any other building I
have entered, and it was, for
everyone, an absolutely
amazing sight to behold. We
were very lucky to have the
chance to scale the inside of
the basilica’s great dome, a
journey which took us up to
the roof of the mighty church
and provided some fantastic
views. It was December, and
the usually thronging streets
of Rome had been surprisingly quiet, but up on the roof,
overlooking the city below, it
was absolutely crowded with
tourists from every corner of
the world, all united in an
appreciation for the incredible panoramic views which
the dome afforded.
really came to appreciate during our trip. The highlight
of the whole four days was the trip to the Vatican, the
centre of Christianity and a humbling sight to behold.
We arrived, weary but excited, in time to see the sunrise
illuminating the walls of St. Peter’s basilica, a scene
which was equally captivating to the religious and nonreligious in our group. Even more exciting, however, was
the chance to visit the catacombs beneath the great
church, a network of labyrinthine passages which very
few people get to see. The winding, narrow streets were
once walked upon by Romans many centuries ago, and
the sense of history was almost palpable. We were able
to walk amongst the past, and it was absolutely fascinating to set eyes upon what are commonly accepted to
be the material remains of St. Peter himself, the greatest
of Christ’s apostles and the figure (quite literally!) at the
foundations of the Catholic faith. The inside of the basilica was incredible. It was a vast gilded expanse covered
Charlemagne never saw the
basilica as we saw it, because
unfortunately, it was destroyed and rebuilt in the
later medieval period, long
after Charlemagne’s reign
had passed---but he did experience dozens of the sights
which we did, during his
many pilgrimages and political visits to the ancient city.
He laid eyes upon the ruined
but still beautiful Colosseum
(named after the ‘Colossus’,
the huge imperial statue which once stood by its side),
just as we did. He also saw the remnants of the Forum,
the ancient centre of the city, with its imposing and enduring columns and arches, and was reminded, as we
were, of the magnificent power and scope of Rome and
its politics. Little is left today of Charlemagne’s reign in
Rome, outside of written sources, but so much of the
city’s stunning vistas, beautiful art, grand buildings and
its historical legacy, which we were fortunate enough to
experience, are sights which we have shared with him.
That is a strange but incredible feeling! Unlike us, however, Charlemagne probably did not enjoy the opportunity to take numerous selfies, consume vast quantities
of ice cream (and just a little wine), and peruse the karaoke bars of Rome’s nightlife---not to mention the carousels. So ultimately, I can’t help but think that we came
off better!
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Other third years also had the chance to explore history away
from campus...
‘The Devil’s Brood: the Angevin Kings of England’ went to
Poitiers, France.
“Poitiers is next door to the disputed territory of Anjou,
and seeing it and the places around it like Chinon (a castle
once belonging to Henry II) and Fontevraud (where Henry
II, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lionheart are buried) gave us a personal connection with the people we’ve
been studying. Poitiers was a key home, and strategically
essential, for the royal Angevin dynasty of England, and the
attempts by John to take it back contributed to the taxation
and military disasters that led to Magna Carta.” Oliver Barrett
‘Henry VIII: The Making of
a Tyrant?’ spent the day
wondering around Tudor
London.
“Jess Sharkey took us on a
walking tour of London,
recreating for us what
Westminster would have
looked like during Henry
VIII’s reign (some parts,
sadly, no longer exist). At
Westminster Abbey we saw
the burial places of Henry
VIII’s family. Our trip ended in the House of Lords, where we saw the spot at
which Thomas More, once Henry’s most loyal servant, was condemned to death
for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy. We were also treated to tea and a
few scones in the Lords sitting room!” Beth Brookes
‘We Are Not Amused: The Life and Times of Queen Victoria’ visited Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
“Osborne House gave us an insight into Queen Victoria’s
family life, as it was the setting for many holidays. The house
itself took us from the servants’ kitchen to the children’s
nursery, via Victoria’s study, who’s desk stood beside her
husband’s, but most impressive were the grounds. Swiss
Cottage, an overgrown playhouse, allowed the girls to learn
to cook while the barracks taught the boys to play soldiers. “
Sophie Wilson
“Osborne was the first Royal residence purchased
by Victoria and Albert and it came to symbolise the
‘private’, ‘middle class’ lifestyle of the royal family.
By visiting the restored property we were able to
gain an understanding of Victoria's relationship with
Albert and her 9 children.” Michelle Downham
(also, photo bottom right)
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Studying the British Empire at Victoria, University of Wellington
Charlotte Gallagher shares her experience of learning about the British empire in an excolonial setting.
In February of 2014, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to study abroad for one semester at Victoria,
University of Wellington in New Zealand’s capital. The
experience was unique and something which I am unlikely to ever be able to repeat in my career. As a student of modern history, my studies focused on the Great
British Empire of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Victorian era is often perceived as the 'golden
age' of empire when Britain extended commerce, civilization and Christianity across the globe. Such concepts
had, most likely, never crossed my mind outside of an
academic setting. Our colonial Empire had declined and
saw almost complete dissolution by the mid-twentieth
century finding recognition in the Commonwealth;
therefore, its relevant legacy, aside from legal terminology, had long since evaporated?
With too many bags crammed full of attire suitable for
any occasion, I attempted to weave between the crowds
huddled at the Arrivals gate of Wellington airport into
the sunlight of a February day in the Southern Hemisphere. I felt fearless. Undaunted by airport signs of a
familiar tongue, a range of facilitating transport links,
where the traffic drove on the ‘right’ side of the road,
and despite a 19,000km journey, I felt confident in a city
that resembled home in more ways than one. With hindsight, I realise that many of the similarities I took for
granted. They were things so familiar that I didn’t even
notice them. Why would I?
Over the next few days I began to explore the city in
which I would live for the next four months, beginning
to recognise emblems of home. Street names, cities,
geographical landmarks all echoed a European establishment; glaringly obvious was the name of the city
itself, called after its founder Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
Wellington, in 1840. The legacy of Victorian imperialism is everywhere, even the name of the university I
attended.
Zealand as we know it today. The arrival of Abel Tasman,
the first European in New Zealand, in the 17th century
seemed a distant fantasy in the history of the ‘New
World’. However, as the lecture series continued over
the course of the semester, the injustice of colonialism
was portrayed in an embarrassingly objective manner.
The version of the Empire taught to British adolescents
does not account for the day-to-day impact of imperialism in the colonies and refers to the Empire as but a
vague memory. In contrast, the colonisation mission in
New Zealand is so recent that members of my class
could relay oral histories of land confiscation from their
ancestors by the British.
As the British ‘representative’ in both classes, I felt embarrassed of my nationality. Rather than invoking a
sense of patriotism, I almost felt personally responsible
for the imperialistic mentality of the nineteenth century.
I was assured by my ‘kiwi’ colleagues that I was not to
feel guilty, it was the reality of colonialism, but I was still
shocked by the emotional nature and the continuing
relevance of British imperial history to New Zealand. My
experience highlighted important and controversial
questions about how our history, and particularly the
history of the Empire, is written about and taught in
schools.
Should the full story be told to our children from a young
age? If it was, what would be the effect on our national
pride? Can we reconcile ourselves with our imperial
past?
At ‘Victoria, University of
Wellington,’ I found it an
important part of my experience to actively learn
about the formation of New
Phillip Capper, ‘Queen Victoria Statue in wellington, New Zealand’,
Flickr.com, (2006)
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Interview: David Gilks
Emma Blackburne talks to David Gilks about his upcoming book on Quatrémere de Quincy,
whose influence over culture and politics during the French Revolution is still felt today.
According to Michel Foucault, all knowledge is subjective. For many students trying to get their heads around
the Enlightenment, this would seem to provide the perfect excuse to stop reading. However, for David Gilks,
who has just completed his first year as an academic at
UEA, it was these ideas which sparked his interest in politics and culture at the time of the French Revolution,
even if he didn’t initially understand them. He tells me
that as an undergraduate at Cambridge, political theory
was both “fashionable and hard core. You could go along
to a lecture on Hegel and there would be 6 people probably not really understanding anything but seeming like
the crack troops.” Perhaps Hegel eluded him, but David
pursued his interest in Foucault, taking a whole module
on the Enlightenment philosopher whilst on a Henry Fellowship at Harvard.
on Buzzfeed, or stuck in a YouTube vortex, David tells me
that his downfall is the digitization of primary sources.
“Now the sources are all online you can find yourself
whiling away days and days upon days reading around
what you thought you knew...trying to know everything
about a subject, which is dangerous because then you
don’t actually write anything.”
For someone who is now distracted by primary sources,
it is somewhat surprising that David did not really enjoy
history until his mid teens and even then, he tells me, it
was more because it was the only subject where “you
got kudos for arguing with the teacher.”
Indeed, it seems to be this passion for debate and argument which has fed David’s research. He listed a number
of controversial political figures whom he would like to
interrogate at a dinner party: Petronius, Machiavelli,
Madame du Barry, Gambetta and Nixon. He tells me that
although he admires De Gaul, his dinner parties were
notoriously boring.
David’s life in academia was interrupted by two internships, the first at Christie’s, the art auctioneer’s, and the
second, at Ruder Finn in New York, where David got to
work on the temporary re-housing of the Museum of
Modern Art in the Queen’s district. Whilst he enjoyed
both experiences he found the business “quite repetitive So, to everyone who is going to be taught by David next
compared to learning” and with an offer of a scholarship year, argue with him. It will probably go down quite well!
from Cambridge David found himself “sucked into an
academic career.”
Yet it was his experience and interest in the world of art
and museums which prompted David to look into
Quatremére de Quincy, a leading figure in cultural circles
during the French Revolution who, in 1796, wrote a famous treatise objecting to the artistic plundering of Napoleon Bonaparte. David explains that this treatise is
often cited by cultural property lawyers as the “first example of arguments against displacing artwork during
war time” but it was only once he began his research
that he discovered that the document is “cited but not
actually understood.” The trouble, David goes on to say,
is that historians often go “looking for the smoking gun”
when really they should “be prepared to spend time
looking for not very much, prepared to go against the
grain of the documents.” His research has suggested that
de Quincy was not so much foreshadowing UNESCO, but
writing papal propaganda.
David has translated de Quincy’s treatise for the Getty
institute and is currently in the midst of writing his book
on the subject. His publisher apparently thinks he has
completed his research but he confides that he keeps
finding new ideas that he wants to look into. Whilst the
average student might find themselves procrastinating
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ACROSS
1. This vessel was seized by the Chinese in 1856 and it prompted the Second Opium War. (5)
2. He became Pope in 1154 and remains the only Englishman to have held the position. (6,1,1)
3. The first state in America to extend suffrage to women in 1869. (7)
4. The name for a critic of the Catholic Church and a follower of John Wycliffe. (7)
5. Born in Corsica and Emperor of the French. (8)
6. The first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957. (7)
7. The communist leader of Yugoslavia. (4)
8. The founder of the Mongol Empire. (7,4)
9. The _______. The period of conflict between Empress Matilda and King Stephen. (7)
10. A prominent political philosopher and opponent of Julius Caesar, whose name means ‘chickpea’ in Latin. (6)
11. From the House of La Marck, she became the wife of Henry VIII for only 6 months in 1540. (6)
DOWN
9. What was built on the Via Sacra in Rome in 82AD to commemorate Emperor Titus and his military victories? (4)
3. A founding father of America, and one of the few to arrange for the liberation of his slaves after his death. (10)
4. The coalition government of 1783 which ended the war in America by signing the Treaty of Paris. (3-5)
5. A massacre of suffrage supporters in Manchester in 1815. (8)
6. The place where the Magna Carta was sealed. (9)
7. Richard III is known as the last king of this dynasty. (11)
8. Boudicca was the Queen of this tribe in East Anglia. (5)
10. The prison stormed by French Revolutionaries in July 1789. (8)
11. The King of England under which Cabinet government was initiated. (6,1)
12. A cult of priests greatly feared by the Romans. Tacitus records how they were massacred by Gaius Suetonius
Paulinus at Anglesey. (6)
13. The last Viceroy of India. (11)
14. (4,2) For clue see 11. ACROSS.
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