King John - the good, but mostly the bad ...

 

Frankly … King John (1166 – 1216) was mostly bad … I'm not sure I can find much good to say about him after his early years, when he was doted on by his father, King Henry II and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine.

King John his
tomb effigy

He was awful … other kings were as incompetent (Edward II (1307 - 1327)), or perhaps as cruel (Richard III (1483 - 1485)), but in the eyes of his contemporaries John appears to have been uniquely both.

Yet his disastrous and bloody reign led to one of the most famous documents in history: Magna Carta.

Magna Carta - perhaps you can read it?!
... part of it ... 

To save you the history lesson … and me to make it short enough to be entertaining … perhaps this all you need to know …

Rous Roll depicting Richard III
(c/o John Rous)

John was not in any way diplomatic … alienating many, cruelly leaving others to die, sometimes killing many others …

… his reign as King of England was a failure … although some historians have tried to paint a more positive picture of John, but this is hard to do when one recalls his deeds as monarch:

the murder in France of his young nephew, Arthur;

the English lands lost to the French;

the starvation of a mother and her young son;

the submission of his kingdom as a fief to the papacy;

his blatant adultery;

his cowardly retreat from combat;

the taxation that finally pushed the country into open rebellion; and after his death ... 

leaving London and one-third of the country under French rule.

To somewhat confirm the above - here are a couple of quotes recorded in history …

Gerald of Wales:

'He Feared Not God, Nor Respected Men'.

The Barnwell annalist:

'A Pillager of his own People'

King John ratifying Magna Carta in 1215

Yet from his reign came one of the greatest legacies – Magna Carta … it might have been forced upon him as a damning verdict of his rule, but it has endured as a global symbol of political rights and freedom …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters International Stories

Muddling maudling me … life!

 

It does tick by doesn't it … I was giving a talk on King John 1167 – 1216 … and I seem to have totally got myself absorbed into that era …

King John on a stag hunt

Eight hundred years ago is such a mixed up era – before the English were English … and owned more land in France than on this little isle …

Lots of Isabellas, Henrys, Margarets, two Popes, Matildas, Joans … just trying to work out who was who has been 'quite interesting' …

Not the Library's exhibition
guide - I've sent for one

Nine years ago I went to an exhibition celebrating the 800 years since Magna Carta was signed (1215) at the British Library and had found some booklets on that period … perfect for my history talk … the filing cabinet enlightened me!

Thankfully I didn't need to muddy the waters by just listing dates, battles, castles, people – but through the guide I was able to distil the parts needed to bring the treacherous, obnoxious King John to life …

I enjoyed the cruel look in
his eyes ... well I didn't, but you
know what I mean!

Then I researched deeper … and am now totally captivated by the 1200s – hook line and sinker - totally engrossed … it's sad really!

The Plantagenet era has me spellbound … books, guides, novels are sprouting down here in Eastbourne …

Lots of interesting snippets
in here

Then disaster struck my printer gave up the ghost – no it was not eight hundred years old! … its owner at times might feel like that … but I needed a print-out of my talk.

Oh … ok … I could email it to myself onto my ipad … duly done – except the 'old girl' got faffed while doing it – something very stupid … and I put the right extension onto the list of slides, but did not do that for the 23 page talk (largish type) …

We had the headmaster to talk to us
about changes in our taxation system and
its effect on fee paying schools ... 

I didn't realise until I was at the church, where we hold our history meetings – remember the blue moon was attempting to rise in July …

Now panic set in … but, thankfully on Monday's, the church office is manned by men … so they were enlisted to help – including their techie chap – bless them all! They blessed me!

Isobella of Angouleme
(2nd wife of John)

By fair means or foul he rescued me, definitely on the fair means side, and I had my talk, with the slide listings for Enid (our history buff) to refer to as she occasionally adds in to our talks, to clarify some aspects …

I'm still totally immersed in this period … so much so that I've been reading a novel … but another post to follow – it's an interesting one … I could see the characters of that period.

English lands in 1180 (red) ... but most lost
by 1223 after Magna Carta.
(French in blue; Yellow the Church; Green -
other fiefs held on behalf of the French crown)

From the discombobulated world of .......

Hilary Melton-Butcher at

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Pancakes ...

Today is pancake day … originally called Shrove Tuesday … I was thinking back to my childhood when our mother would cook us pancakes … guzzling children were happy kids!

Pancakes with sugar and lemon

… those were the days when for us … it was sprinkling sugar over the pancake, then a few drops of lemon juice … simple, but plain …

I've learnt that I enjoy simple food … as we used to have it when I was growing up – yet I'm the one with cookbooks for Africa and who always used to enjoy experimenting with new recipes … from said books – along with some of my mother's …

I still enjoy reading foodie books … and have a few here that I will post about …

The heart of our childhood home was the Aga – the cast iron, two door, creamy primrose coloured Aga … we cooked with it, we hugged around it, we warmed our hands on it, we dried our clothes around it, we kept the winter chills away …

Olney town sign

I have never tossed, nor raced, with a frying pan in hand to the local church, pancake still frying … dressed in a kitchen apron and headscarf (particularly that bit!) - but the Pancake Race is an annual happening – since 1445 – in Olney, Buckinghamshire.  (nearly 600 years)

Bet it makes a wonderful day in Olney for the kids … especially this year – as it's half-term …

Sign for the 2009 race in Olney

... perhaps not so wonderful for the grown-ups ...'shrove' comes from 'shrive': meaning to confess your sins and being absolved by a priest … thankfully today we can, I hope, just sort out our own misdemeanours?!

Happy pancake day wherever you might be …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Poly-Olbion ... colouring-in books ...

 

Poly-Olbion is a topographic poem depicting the counties in England and Wales, written by Michael Drayton (1563 – 1631) and published in 1612, with a reprint in 1622.

Part of Cornwall - showing 
St Michael's Mount and the Scilly Isles

Drayton was an English poet, specialising in historical poetry, who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. Every poem was anthropomorphised … then brought to artistic life by William Hole, a skilled engraver, who died in 1624 (his d.o.b.) is uncertain.

Poly-Olbion came to my notice (somehow) as colouring books– so guess who had to investigate...

Drayton had adopted the concept of celebrating all the points of topographical or antiquarian interest in his homeland …

Title page of Poly-Olbion -
as engraved on copper
plate by William Hole
in 1624

Albion's Glorious Ile – 'Of Albion's glorious Ile – I write.' - Drayton's used the rhetorical device of prosopopoeia throughout his song-poems.

As I didn't understand it – for elucidation: to remind me and let you know … prosopopoeia is when (in this case) an abstract thing is personified …

River Severn - showing south Wales, with
the English of St George on the pennant,
on the opposite shore

England in the 1500s had very few roads, when the rivers were an important and mythologised natural feature – which the poem eulogises …

Part of the blurb 'as we move from place to place: an extraordinary textual repository of English and Welsh history, topography, legends, wildlife and traditions is amassed'.

Possibly depicting Boudica - Queen of
the Iceni tribe - which resided in
Norfolk, by the city of Norwich

Every subject imaginable is considered: Roman builders, English saints, the birds of Arden Forest, Dutch settlers, the great sheep of the Cotswolds, falconry, Robin Hood, sea monsters, Druidry, civil wars, herbal cures.

Quite honestly – that's even more than my brain carries! - it has been boggling at these songs/ poems …

Well I think perhaps I'd better just get to why I'm writing this post … when I was out in Canada I came across adults' colouring art pages … but quite honestly they didn't do anything for me …

Cover for one of the volumes

Then these colouring books appeared and I was entranced – whether I actually sit and colour them in is another matter – being somewhat incompetent in that area …

Who'd have thought the art of colouring was popular during the 17^th century and beyond – when many of the original monochrome copies of these maps would be hand-coloured by both amateur and professional colourists.

Showing a coloured version
from earlier times - this is
part of Worcestershire

If you feel another post could enhance this one to add a bit more information – then I'll give it a go next time …

A few links: The University of Exeter's takes you to the others, with some explanatory details set out … particularly relevant are that the workshops were delivered for children, with Special Education Needs, mainly in the South-West region of England … the Royal Geographical Society was also involved.

Flash of Splendour's logo

The University of Exeter's involvement …

Flash of Splendour Arts …

The Poly-Olbion Project/s … the children's project ran concurrently with the scholarly version …

Michael Drayton c/o Wikipedia

PS - the books are now out of print ... so I was lucky to have found some ... publication was in 2015 ... so time has passed.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Society

Wheatley and Gillray – Georgian artists …

 

The two history talks I gave were about these two Georgian period artists … Francis Wheatley (1747 – 1801) and James Gillray (1756 – 1815) …

Francis Wheatley

We're learning something of the Georgian era (George I to George IV: 1714 - 1830) … which included the sub-period that is the Regency era (when George IV as Prince of Wales was regent during the illness of George III).

Some members of the group opt to give talks on different subjects - I'm usually the one that tends to break the mould … choosing something interests that me, rather than a subject suggested.

Chair Mender

Wheatley (1747 - 1801) was an English portrait and landscape painter, who was brought up in and around Covent Garden … where the poor would hawk their wares …

He had an eventful career when his low point came in 1789 he was elected to the Royal Academy in preference to the King's nominee … that was that – he never secured another commission from the aristocracy.

Preparing for market

His career unravelled … yet in the middle of all the turmoil he had created these 'Cries of London', which were exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1792 and 1795 …

It is thought that his third wife, who became, after his death, Clara Maria Pope, was his model for the female hawkers shown in these paintings. There's a ginger and white terrier that often occurs throughout the series.

Sweet Oranges

Various engravers of the time brought these 'Cries of London' to the public's attention – which have ever since remained in the nation's heart …

The ballad seller

… and prevail as part of our historical culture … featuring on chocolate boxes, biscuit tins and prints often found hanging in the houses of elderly relatives and the seaside hotels of our British childhoods.

James Gillray

Next came James Gillray … a caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mostly published between 1792 – 1810.

He's been called “the father of the political cartoon” … and who, along with Hogarth, became the two most influential cartoonists of the era.

L'Assemblee Nationale (1804) -
was called "the most talented caricature
that has ever appeared" partly due to its
admirable likenesses.  The Prince of Wales
paid a large sum of money for it to be 
suppressed and its plate destroyed.

Gillray's targets were the great and the good, not excepting royalty. But his vision is often dark, his wit frequently cruel and even shockingly bawdy: some of his own contemporaries found his work repellent.

John Bull raising Napoleon's
head just after landing in
England (1803)

He changed his art from embracing the French Revolution to being no longer hostile to King George III … creating John Bull, defending the realm from the French and Napoleon …

It just happened that a new book by a young highly applauded historian, Alice Loxton, has come out … of which the convenor of our history group sent me the review … so having ordered her book it awaits my eyes to be read: Uproar!: Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London.

The other particularly noteworthy aspect about Gillray - was that he was a skilful writer, taking great pains over the text that accompanied his works …

'Dublures' of Characters (1798)

To sum Gillray up – he was late Georgian Britain's funniest, most inventive, and most celebrated graphic satirist, continuing to influence cartoonists today.

For further reference – should anyone wish to read my talks … I'd be happy to send them to you (they're not long) … together with a list of slides that illustrated both talks.

Spitalfields Life – has further details on Francis Wheatley and his 'Cries of London' together with relevant art works …

There will be various reviews of Alice Loxton's book and articles about James Gillray on the net …. Wikipedia has plenty of Gillray's cartoons.

I will get back to 'Our English Language' … I have lots of books to read first … but posts will occur!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Our English Language – its rise … part 1

 

How on earth did we get from a language of 1,000+ years ago to the English we speak today – or do we speak English … is a tweet, or text message, or morse code a completely different language … who knows – come back in a thousand years and someone will be able to tell you!

Showing how explorers exploited our lands -
as they expanded their settlements
in 400 - 500 CE (AD)

All I can say is – I am so grateful I'm an English speaker in this day of the internet and books … I have no idea how I learnt to write in English or adapt my own style for my blog – life takes us on odd paths …

I spoke English – no choice there … parents did the same! At school we were taught grammar – I still don't understand it … but seem to have an intrinsic ability to cope …

The Tower of Babel by Pieter Brueghel the
elder (1563) - Humans have speculated about
the origin of language throughout history:
this is one such account

… then throw in Latin – again I'm grateful I had that learning period … it helps with plant identification, some legal words – before French got added to the mix … then for some reason I decided to try Italian, after school came German – before Afrikaans – once I went off to South Africa …

Before the journey down to South Africa – I'd worked with East European countries … so those names had to be absorbed …

Globe showing the African
continent and the area of 
India and Asia

I've never learnt any of these languages, other than that Brit one, nor did I ever go across to the Indian and Asian continents to 'glance at' their languages.

You'll have realised I'm not a linguist … but I do love learning … however I won't go into things I have no idea about … so cannot easily expand on the above ideas, or the next paragraphs for that matter …

Old English epic poem -
Beowulf - in the tradition
of German heroic legend

Old English came about before William conquered back in 1066 AD … we might have been conquered over the centuries, but language adjusted … absorbed by our oral and rural life …

… it might be that the conquerors quite liked the English roses they met and stayed on … ???!!!

Wild rambling roses

English is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to our islands post the Roman era.

The second part of this will follow (if I remember!) ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Vacillating ...

 

Vacillating seems an appropriate descriptive word for so many now … a return to what was - appears to be required, yet is unlikely (especially for us here in the UK) …

… though I feel the world has changed so much – and that will be impossible for present inhabitants to settle back into our old way of life … change is on the cards – which is not going away.

A lifetime is ahead … in other words twenty-five or so years … before a settled life will happen – many will continue on, many will struggle, some will forge new ways for themselves and others …

Barnack Hills and Hole Reserve
(John Clare used to live near here)

We'll adapt and life will progress, regardlesss …

John Clare's poem “I am … ” written when he had been declared mentally ill, as he was 'full of many strange delusions' …

… while being held in an asylum – he was encouraged to continue writing … where he 'developed a very distinctive voice an unmistakable intensity and vibrance, such as the later pictures of Vincent Van Gogh' …

John Clare (1793 - 1864)

Here is John Clare's poem …

I am—yet what I am none cares or knows;

My friends forsake me like a memory lost:

I am the self-consumer of my woes—

They rise and vanish in oblivious host,

Like shadows in love’s frenzied stifled throes

And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,

Into the living sea of waking dreams,

Where there is neither sense of life or joys,

But the vast shipwreck of my life’s esteems;

Even the dearest that I loved the best

Are strange—nay, rather, stranger than the rest.

I long for scenes where man hath never trod

A place where woman never smiled or wept

There to abide with my Creator, God,

And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,

Untroubling and untroubled where I lie

The grass below—above the vaulted sky.

Durer's Rhinocerus ( Woodcut 1515)

Clare's work evokes a life which many will seem to be living now … but life really does come around again … continue on with life, do what we can, move on … we cannot change the world order (regrettably!) - but we can be at peace with ourselves wherever we're at …

I just need to get off my pity bad back bandwagon and move along … thankfully it doesn't stick around for long … I'm blessed and very fortunate in that way …

Right – that's me over my lethargy … I'm getting on with life – and that back will improve …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories