All Servants Were Not Created Equal: The Gender Divide

by Maria Grace

During the Regency era , anywhere from ten to twenty percent of the British population were employed in domestic service. Of that number, approximately ninety percent were women. A significant gender gap existed both in wages and prestige afforded male and female servants.

Male versus female labor

Two primary factors contributed to these gender differences. Firstly, men were more expensive to hire. Not only did they command higher wages, but the 1776 tax on male servants made them dramatically more expensive to employ. Effectively a household required an income of at least 1000 pounds per year to employ a man servant (though 700 pounds a year might afford a footboy),whereas households having only 150 pounds a year could afford a maid-of-all-work.

Male servants became a status symbol and a mark of prestige, whereas female servants were only a commonplace feature found in even very modest households.

On the whole, women filled unskilled positions in the house, primarily cleaning and cooking. Men managed and oversaw those positions and supervised household valuables and luxury items like tobacco and alcohol. Perhaps more significantly, male servants engaged in what was considered skilled labor, including most of the labor outside of the house. Young men apprenticed in those tasks, learning to take on those skilled positions in the future.

Most male servants reported to the master of the house, through a hierarchy of male servants. The system worked well for those servants concerned with outdoor activities. Problems arose, though, when indoor male servants reported to the mistress of the house. Conflicts often arose when a woman attempted to supervise male staff, requiring the intervention of the master of the house.



The professional staff positions available in large households demonstrated this divide clearly.

This gender divide extended from the lowest to the highest staff positions in households, with all of the highest paid, most powerful and prestigious positions held by men.

The largest households employed stewards to manage the lands. In some cases when the house itself was very large, the house also had a steward assigned. Paid a salary from 50 to 300 pounds a year, depending on the size and profitability of the estate, these men usually had a background in law and many had served as clerks to solicitors. Land stewards would have a separate dwelling on the estate, but a house steward would have private quarters in the house. Neither were considered servants, but rather professionals and according respect equal to or above the family lawyer.

No directly corresponding female positions existed. The closest analogy might be the lady’s companion or the governess. Both these positions employed women who were gently born but forced into service by some unfortunate circumstance. Thus, they were not fully considered as servants. However, despite their skills and education, they were not afforded professional status either. They were relegated to a neither/nor position where they did not fit with the family and were not accepted among the household staff. Similarly, their salaries were typically only in the range of 25 pounds a year, half of what the least steward might earn.

In short, male servants cared for the household luxuries, alcohol, silver, crystal and were paid far more than the women who cared for the household’s young ladies and children.

Hardships of the female servant

The lowest order of servants was relegated to the most difficult, unpleasant tasks: cleaning, scrubbing, hauling water and waste, maintaining fires and cleaning up after them. These were the scullery maids and maids-of-all-work. They also made up the largest single category of those in domestic service.

Girls as young as eleven filled these roles. They were also the servants most subject to physical discipline by their employers, particularly the mistress of the house. No laws prevented a master or mistress from beating a servant they felt deserving of it. A servant could petition the courts if they felt themselves mistreated, but such an action could impact their ability to seek future employment, so such complaints might cause more problems than they resolved.

Female servants were subject to one further hardship that male servants did not generally face. Women in service were deemed sexually available to the men of the household, including male servants. Even if the female servant was married, or the master enforced celibacy (forbade boyfriends) among the servants, this additional ‘service’ could be demanded from female employees, including governesses and companions. To add further insult to injury, nothing prevented a jealous mistress from venting her spleen upon these vulnerable servants. Few legal protections existed in this situation, and girls could be dismissed for pregnancy, even if it were caused by one of the members of the household.

Although men and women both worked in service, both law and tradition conspired to make their relative situations vastly different. Despite occupying only ten percent of the domestic service positions, high paying, high power and prestige roles were held almost exclusively by men while the lowest ranks were occupied by women.

References

Adams, Samuel, and Sarah Adams. The Complete Servant; Being a Practical Guide to the Peculiar Duties and Business of All Descriptions of Servants ... with Useful Receipts and Tables,. London: Knight and Lacey, 1825.
Ardelie, Susan. "Domestic Servants - Part 1 - Women." Making History Tart Titillating. February 16, 2010. Accessed August 10, 2015. https://lifetakeslemons.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/domestic-servants-part-1-women/.
Ardelie, Susan. "Domestic Servants - Part 2 - Men." Making History Tart Titillating. March 2, 2010. Accessed August 10, 2015. https://lifetakeslemons.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/domestic-servants-part-2-men/.
Barker, Anne. The Complete Servant Maid or Young Woman's Best Companion. Containing Full, Plain, and Easy Directions for Qualifying Them for Service in General, but More Especially for the Places of Lady's Woman, Housekeeper, Chambermaid, Nursery Maid, Housemaid, Laund. London: Printed for J. Cooke, No. 17, Pater-Noster Row, 1770.
Beeton, Isabella Mary. The Book of Household Management. Edited by Mrs. I. Beeton, Etc. [With Illustrations.]. London: S. O. Beeton, 1861.
Cosnett, Thomas. The Footman's Directory, and Butler's Remembrancer Or, the Advice of Onesimus to His Young Friends: Comprising, Hints on the Arrangement and Performance of Their Work ; Rules for Setting out Tables and Sideboards ; the Art of Waiting at Table, and Conduct. London: Printed for the Author ;, 1823.
Giles, Kelly. "Servants." Randolph College Faculty Webserver. Accessed August 10, 2015. http://faculty.randolphcollege.edu/janeausten/reports/servants.htm.
Glover, Anne. "Regency Culture and Society: A Primer on Household Staff." Regency Reader. March 19, 2012. Accessed August 10, 2015. http://www.regrom.com/2012/03/19/regency-culture-and-society-a-primer-on-household-staff/.
Hoppe, Michelle Jean. "Servants--Their Hierarchy and Duties." Literary Liaisons. 2003. Accessed August 10, 2015. http://www.literary-liaisons.com/article046.htm.
Household Work, Or, The Duties of Female Servants Practically and Economically Illustrated, through the Respective Grades of Maid-of-all-work, House and Parlour-maid, and Laundry-maid : With Many Valuable Recipes for Facilitating Labour in Every Departmen. London: J. Masters, 1850.
Koster, Kristen. "A Primer on Regency Era Servants - Kristen Koster." Kristen Koster. November 29, 2011. Accessed August 10, 2015. http://www.kristenkoster.com/a-primer-on-regency-era-servants/.
Schmidt, Wayne. "Victorian Domestic Servant Hierarchy and Wage Scale." Wayne's This and That. Accessed August 10, 2015. http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/servantwages.htm.
The Servant's Guide and Family Manual: With New and Improved Receipts, Arranged and Adapted to the Duties of All Classes of Servants ... Forming a Complete System of Domestic Management. 2d ed. London: J. Limbird, 1831.
Webster, Thomas, and William Parkes. An Encyclopædia of Domestic Economy .. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1852.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Maria Grace is the author of Darcy's Decision,  The Future Mrs. Darcy, All the Appearance of Goodness, and Twelfth Night at Longbourn, Remember the Past, and Mistaking Her Character.  Click here to find her books on Amazon. For more on her writing and other Random Bits of Fascination, visit her website. You can also like her on Facebook, follow on Twitter or email her.

A Feisty Feminist Confronts Ellis Island Officials

by Vincent Parrillo

Emmeline Pankhurst

[Author’s note: In the recently released film Suffragette, which is the story of this movement in England, Meryl Streep has a supporting role as Emmeline Pankhurst. Her story also has an American chapter as given in my new historical novel, Defenders of Freedom. Here is an excerpt; the year is 1913.]

With her graying hair drawn softly back from her elegant face, and a gentle smile upon her thin lips, Emmeline Pankhurst’s image was that of an attractive, pleasant woman. Wearing a long sealskin coat over an olive broadcloth suit and a blue cloth hat with a black plume, this widowed mother of four radiated an endearing charm to one and all.

And yet, this diminutive, 55- feminine figure was perhaps the most hated woman of her time in England, and her notoriety had preceded her ocean voyage to the United States aboard the liner Provence. Though she was only coming for a visit, as earlier in 1909 and 1911, this time her notoriety was such that Ellis Island authorities had taken special steps to deal with her.

Born into a family that constantly championed women’s rights, both her father and mother had been extremely active in the suffragist movement and Emmeline not only followed in their footsteps, but emerged as one of the movement’s fiery leaders. Through passionate speeches in private homes, in assembly halls, and in front of the Parliament building, she urged her followers to take disruptive and destructive actions until women received the same legal and political privileges as men.

Mrs. Pankhurst performed no violent deeds herself, but other English women acted upon her words. For the past eight years, she had kept London in continual tumult. Physical battles with police, arson, vandalism, and rioting were common…. Arrested frequently on various charges—including conspiracy, incitement to riot, and obstructing the police in the performance of their duty—Emmeline had been imprisoned eight times. Subjected to the brutal prison treatment that was then accorded to convicted criminals, she went on a hunger and thirst strike until granted the status of a political prisoner.

Another time she went on a hunger strike when her fellow imprisoned women agitators did not receive the same political status and prison transfer as she, instead suffering the same harshness of incarceration experienced by imprisoned felons. When her imprisoned female followers also went on a hunger strike, prison officials fed them forcibly with tubes. Because of a heart condition, Mrs. Pankhurst was spared this ordeal. However, her health broke down from lack of food and drink.

To counter the hunger strikes, Parliament had passed the “Cat and Mouse Act.” This permitted the release of the female hunger strikers until they regained their health, at which point they would be arrested again to continue serving their prison sentences. Released from prison after serving only a few days of her three-year prison term, Emmeline set sail for America for a lecture tour to raise funds for her cause.

Publicity about her planned lecture tour sparked hundreds of angry letters and telegrams to Ellis Island officials. Other letters of protest reached city newspapers, their publication intensifying further the emotional reaction of American males against the frail Englishwoman, attempting to recover from her latest hunger strike, while peacefully sailing towards the Statue of Liberty and the land of freedom.

Even some women resented her arrival. In a letter to the editor of The New York Times, a naturalized citizen, formerly of England, wrote that admitting Emmeline Pankhurst to the United States “would be an insult to all Englishwomen residing in this country.” Though some American suffragette groups enthusiastically welcomed Emmeline’s imminent arrival and planned a huge meeting at Madison Square Garden, other suffragette groups either resented her lecture tour, either because it was raising funds only for the English movement or they feared her presence would be a detriment to the American suffrage cause.

Acting Ellis Island Commissioner Byron Uhl asked his superiors in Washington for a ruling as to whether Mrs. Pankhurst’s conviction and delayed imprisonment constituted moral turpitude. In reply to a request from the Secretary of State for data about her alleged crimes, the English Consul General, John L. Griffiths, provided a candid report of her offenses and criminal record. As to whether these offenses involved moral turpitude, Mr. Griffiths replied, “That opinion necessarily depends upon whether the persons expressing the opinion believe or do not believe in militant suffragism.”

Ultimately, the Commissioner General in Washington sent his special instructions to Ellis Island. She was to be treated as all other alien applicants. Without regard to newspaper accounts or letters from the public, officials were to implement the law as it applied. Questioned by an immigration inspector on board ship with other first-class cabin passengers, she admitted to a conviction in England for conspiracy with a three years’ sentence, of which she served three months. With that, she was detained and taken to Ellis Island to appear before the Board of Special Inquiry, which would determine her eligibility to enter the United States.

Soon thereafter, and over the objections of her attorneys Frank O’Neil and Herbert Reeves, she was escorted alone into the hearing room and saw three men seated behind a table that rested against a wooden railing that was a few inches higher. In a seventy-minute session, the three board members proceeded to ask her a great many questions, all of which she answered simply, without any sign of irritation, remaining calm and collected throughout....

After completing their questioning, the board officials met in private to reach a decision. In short order they asked Mrs. Pankhurst to return to the room…[and] denied [her] entry into the United States on the grounds of moral turpitude [and ordered her to] be held in custody on Ellis Island until [her] deportation.

Acting Commissioner Uhl arranged for her to stay in the comfortable rooms next to his office.... The next day, Emmeline confidently prepared her speech for Madison Square Garden, and later read the deluge of telegrams sent by supporters. . . . Meanwhile, her lawyers Reeves and O’Neil argued her case before Anthony Caminetti, the Commissioner General of Immigration, in his office on the seventh floor of the Department of Labor building. Also at the hearing were six reporters. Caminetti had invited them to avoid any criticism of a secret, star-chamber hearing as newspapers had leveled against the Ellis Island Board of Special Inquiry procedures in this case.

In early afternoon, Caminetti continued the order of detention until a formal hearing the next morning on whether or not the charge of moral turpitude was warranted. Almost immediately, President Wilson—swamped with an avalanche of telegrams protesting the Ellis Island board’s action—stepped in personally, asking the Secretary of Labor and Commissioner General to meet with him at the White House.

That meeting occurred before the hearing, which turned out to be brief and perfunctory. Caminetti reversed the Ellis Island board’s verdict and directed that Emmeline be permitted to enter the United States without bond.

Emmeline’s exit from the island was a triumphant one. Dozens of reporters and photographers came to record her departure from the island. Flanked by friends and other well-wishers, she accepted the enthusiastic congratulations of the press as well as of her supporters, and boarded the ferry for Manhattan.

That evening, she received a standing ovation from the 300 assembled dinner invitees at the Aldine Club as the guest of honor of the Women’s Political Union…. [L]oud and enthusiastic applause greeted Emmeline as she arose to speak.

Thank you so much. What has happened in the last two days has meant much to our cause. I would not have had it otherwise for anything.

I want you to think what it would have meant to those fighting women in England had the verdict in Washington been a different one than what it was today. Think and remember that they are fighting against frightful odds and that this means much to them. Think what it means to them to be able to realize that the government of the United States of America knows what this movement means. You may have some narrow laws, narrowly administered, but still the just hearts of the American people are sound and liberty still reigns here.

Some are asking today, what right has Mrs. Pankhurst to come to America? I have the same right as any other representative of a repressed people, and I am here in pursuance of that right, to ask the sympathy of the American people.

Benjamin Franklin went to France for such sympathy, and you know that France responded. Irish Nationalists have been coming to America for years for that sympathy, some of them convicted of the same crimes that I have been, and America has welcomed them.

And so I, too, have come to ask your sympathy and to say to you that our battle is your battle. Even at Ellis Island our mission was understood. It is the same everywhere in every civilized nation on the earth.

I am glad, indeed, to be here tonight, but all the time I am here in America, I shall be longing and yearning to get back on the firing line with my comrades in arms.

When she finished, a third, sustained standing ovation expressed the admiration of her listeners. That roar of approval was even greater when ten times that number of people came to Madison Square Garden to hear her in the first venue of her lecture tour….

She spoke first of her detention at Ellis Island, complimenting those in charge and said the work there was admirably done. She made a point of congratulating the matrons and told how one of the officials on Sunday had taken her all over the station.

“Since I was first here four years ago, the cause here has progressed by leaps and bounds. It is a certainty that women will get the vote here. Even the antis accept that. All they want to do now is to make progress as slow as possible.

“The whole system of government in England is an elaborate system of how not to do things. It takes an earthquake to get an act of Parliament out of the House of Commons.”

After the loud applause abated, a woman cried out, “Wouldn’t socialism bring political equality to women?”

“Our cause is not going to wait for socialism or any other ism.”

“What about women doing military duty? Would they be soldiers?”

“Whenever there has been a real fight for home and self- preservation, women always fought."

A woman in the gallery asked, “What lasting good was ever won by force?”

“Liberty!” she quickly replied. “Your ancestors fought for it once and we women in England fight for it now.”

As Emmeline’s image improved through her speaking engagements in virtually all the major cities in the East and Midwest, the image of Ellis Island officials declined. Newspaper editors across the country ridiculed them with accusations of sheer stupidity. They complained of prudish, pedantic officials making the American people the laughing-stock of Europe. Revise the moral turpitude clause of immigration law, they demanded, since dense immigration bureaucrats could not be trusted to interpret it with ordinary intelligence and common sense.

Her speaking tour completed, Pankhurst returned to England with $20,000 raised for her cause [nearly half a million U.S. dollars today] Remaining in the United States was the powerful influence of her words upon the women who had heard her.

[As detailed in Defenders of Freedom, Emmeline’s words and actions would have a strong impact on the actions subsequently taken by American suffragettes. Back in England, she ceased militant suffrage activism with the outbreak of World War I, urging support for the British cause. Later an opponent of Bolshevism, she died in 1928 at age 69, just weeks before the vote was extended to British women over 21. Two years later, her statue was erected in London’s Victoria Tower Gardens.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vincent N. Parrillo is professor of sociology at William Paterson University, where he twice received the Faculty Achievement Award for Distinguished Scholarship and Creative Expression. He is executive producer, writer, and narrator of four award-winning PBS television documentaries, including Ellis Island: Gateway to America. An internationally recognized expert on immigration and Fulbright scholar, Vince has given talks at more than 100 universities in Asia, Europe and North America, including Roehampton University. He has also published numerous articles and textbooks on immigration and diversity, is co-lyricist of Hamlet: The Rock Opera, and directed an outdoor production of The Comedy of Errors in New Jersey.

Website

Sunderland Point - Cotton and Slaves

by Annie Whitehead


According to Wiki, Sunderland point is "a small village among the marshes, on a windswept peninsula on the mouth of the River Lune and Morecambe Bay". Hardly a description to pique one's interest. But come with me on a little tour of a place that stands immune to the passage of time, beyond the fact that the ships no longer dock here, and the warehouses are now domestic dwellings...


On this virtual tour, your feet will stay dry, but in reality Sunderland Point is only accessible via a single-lane track, which, much like the Island of Lindisfarne, is submerged at high tide. (Although unlike Lindisfarne, it is not an island and is unique in being on the British mainland and yet dependent on the tides for access. The name Sunderland is reputed to mean "sundered from the land").

Local places nearby named 'Catchems' and 'Snatchems' hint at a murky past of Press Gang operation in the area.

Developed as an 'outport' for Lancaster by a Quaker named Robert Lawson in the 18thc, in its heydey, Sunderland Point was rivalled only by London, Bristol and Liverpool. Reputedly, it was the place where the first bale of cotton landed in Britain.

The stump of the Sunderland point cotton tree is preserved - According to legend, the Cotton Tree grew from a seed imported in a bale of cotton. Although the tree was not grown from a cotton seed, it might actually have come from the USA. It is not a tree normally found in this part of the country, and the female is relatively uncommon in England. It might have been brought as a cutting by one of the sea captains on a return voyage from America.The wood was also used for brake blocks, clogs and even arrows (a clutch was found in The Mary Rose.)

A short, circular walk from the end of the causeway takes you along 'First Terrace', from where you can turn and walk past Upsteps Cottage, where the 'slave Samboo (or Sambo) is said to have been lodging when he died there in 1736. The walk to his grave takes you past the chapel, where if you look closely at the sign you can see that services are 'subject to tides'.


The story goes that Samboo/Sambo was a slave. His grave is out on the middle of the point because as a non-Christian he had to be buried in non-consecrated ground. That much is probably true, but whether he died, as is rumoured, from a broken heart waiting for his master to return from sea, or whether he contracted an illness, is open to conjecture. It seems more likely that he was a crew member of a West Indian trading ship. Reverend James Watson's verse, written in 1796, is still visible on the grave, although the original plaque was, unfortunately, vandalised and had to be recast. It reads:

"Full many a Sand-bird chirps upon the Sod And many a moonlight Elfin round him trips Full many a Summer's sunbeam warms the Clod And many a teeming cloud upon his drips. But still he sleeps - - till the awakening Sounds Of the Archangels's Trump new life impart Then the GREAT JUDGE his approbation founds Not on man's COLOR but his worth of heart."

As you walk away from Sambo's grave, turn round and see a stark reminder of the current largest employer in the area: Heysham Power Station, looming on the horizon.


Returning to the village you can see across to Glasson Dock, which eventually came to serve Lancaster as Sunderland Point fell into disuse. In 1728, Robert Lawson went bankrupt. By 1830, over 10,000 tons passed through Glasson Dock, most of it taken then to the Lancaster canal, construction of which had begun in 1792.


But reminders of Sunderland Point's heyday remain. Rounding the point, one catches sight of Sunderland Hall, a now slightly faded building of grandeur, dating originally from 1683, but with a 'Colonial' style façade added at a later date.



Walking back along second terrace takes you past the old warehouses (pictured at the top of this page) and past walls and gateways that offer glimpses of otherwise hidden gardens. Many of the buildings here are Grade II listed, and the whole village is so untouched by modern building that it was used as a location for the television production of "Ruby in the Smoke".



A final reminder before we leave, is of the capricious nature of the elements. These elegant Georgian buildings testify to more than just their history; all have flood defences - modern technology which must surely be an improvement on the past.

But the village, still inhabited but with a large 'holiday home' population, remains quiet, undisturbed by modern development and has the air, especially 'out of season', of an abandoned film set. To walk here, especially on a quiet day, is to get a real sense of how it must have been centuries ago. But you must imagine the noise and bustle of the great days of the ships' cargo being unloaded into the warehouses. Today, an eerie silence is broken by the sound of seabirds calling, and the fishing boats seem to add to the air of abandonment.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Annie Whitehead is an historian, and the author of To Be a Queen, a story of 9th/10thc Mercia. She also writes regularly for magazines and is rarely happier than when discovering the little nooks and crannies of the British countryside and digging into their past.

Find Annie at Casting Light upon the Shadow.

What Happened When Agatha Christie, the Great Mystery Writer, Went Missing for Eleven Days?

by Roy Dimond

For a writer staring at the tabula rasa, the great daunting blank sheet can be an intimidating process. That virgin landscape stretching vast before the mind’s eye is perfect in its simplicity and menacingly silent in its judgment. It has no need of me, yet taunts. “Spoil me,” it teases. “Ruin my perfection with your imperfect words.”

Never does the blank slate cry out more agonizingly than when an author is about to embark on a tale about another writer. And if that “other writer” happens to be the great Agatha Christie…it is the shriek of the banshee that is heard. “Who are you?” it wails. “What gives you the right?” Finally it judges. “You are unworthy!”

And in my mind the response is…silence. I have no answer…only a need. So, I write. From this angst came my novel, Silence and Circumstance, a fictional account of a very real event, published by Untreed Reads http://www.untreedreads.com/ with representation from my agent, Malaga Baldi.

***

It was December 3, 1926 when Agatha Christie went missing for 11 fateful days. Agatha’s mother had died earlier that year and Agatha had been under tremendous personal strain. Her husband, Archie, who hated illness, had for all intents and purposes abandoned Agatha for London, leaving his wife alone to deal with her mother’s belongings. Mrs. Christie’s family home in Ashfield would have been filled with precious memories as Agatha often shared with the public what a gloriously rich childhood she had.

Filled with grief, Agatha carried out her mother’s last wishes while Archie gallivanted. At the same time, she was left alone to deal with her young first born, Rosalind, which only added to her despair. During this time of loneliness, Agatha first showed signs of confusion. It was well documented that she was wound tight during this period of her life, breaking into tears when her car wouldn’t start or forgetting her own name when trying to sign a cheque.

Earlier in June that same year, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd had launched with great success. While at her home in Styles, where she and Archie had been so in love, its acclaim must have brought tremendous joy to Agatha.

How quickly life can disintegrate. It was most likely here, in her own home, that Mrs. Christie heard for the first time the other woman’s name – Neele. She was the former secretary of Major Belcher’s, a man known to both the Christies from their days of traveling the world. Possibly within the walls of her beloved Styles, Archie first approached his wife and uttered the dreaded word – divorce! No doubt the first cut of a thousand slashes that even after a trial reconciliation, left Agatha broken. As Mrs. Christie said of this period, it was a “Mistake… a period of sorrow, misery, heartbreak.”
As all abandoned lovers can attest, it left Agatha a shell of herself and through the summer and fall of 1926 she was unable to focus, setting aside manuscripts and instead attempting simple short stories.
It was at this time with the death of her mother, the raising of her daughter, with the word divorce lingering over every conversation, and of course there was that name – Mrs. Neele…pushing Mrs. Christie to her fateful decision.

On Friday, December 3 around 9:45 in the evening, Agatha picked up the keys to her green Morris Cowley and drove away from the home where she had been so happy.

Saturday morning the vehicle was found near Silent Pool, a lake in Surrey, its hood up and lights still on. The police found only her fur coat, suitcase and driver’s license.

Once the missing person’s report was filed, it rapidly became national news. Rewards were offered, bloodhounds were used, and for the first time ever, airplanes and divers searched. Five hundred policemen from over four counties and an almost unbelievable 15,000 volunteers were organized. Newspapers blared headlines and readers were asked to search backyards and basements. The sense of the time was that something like this could never happen in England.

Even famous writers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers immediately volunteered to help with the search.

These are the facts, but from here information is sketchy. Rumors that a letter was sent to her husband Archie. Scathing in its content, it was supposedly burned by him. A note may have arrived to her friend and governess Carlo Fisher, a possible letter to Campbell Christie, and one to the police, but none of these were confirmed.

***

As a writer, this is where I took liberties and interweaved my fictional account of what happened during those 11 days. Silence and Circumstance is told from the unique perspective of Carlo Fisher, the Christie’s governess.

I found it too unbelievable that one of the most disciplined writing minds of her time simply had a nervous breakdown. The papers of her day asked if she was trying to generate publicity for her next book, or perhaps creating a scene to win back her husband. I found these notions dubious.

So I conceived of a scenario where Mrs. Christie was in fact solving a mystery so grand that its effects would be felt to this very day.

***

But back to the facts…After 11 days, the population of Britain was at a fever pitch. How could the most famous mystery writer of her time just vanish? No body, corpse or otherwise, had been found. Virtually everyone had checked storage sheds, walking trails, every conceivable spot and yet…no Agatha.

However, when she was finally found, it was anti-climatic. There was no kidnapping or vast network of underground thugs as there would have been in a Holmes detective novel -- just Agatha, staying at the Hydropathic Hotel, known today as The Old Swan. There were nevertheless still oddities. Apparently, Agatha had signed in using the name, “Mrs. Neele of Cape Town.” The name of her husband’s new love interest.

Attribution: Andrew Blades

She had been spotted dancing the Charleston, playing bridge, and completing the newspaper’s daily crossword puzzle. A musician in the hotel’s band claimed the reward for finding her. When the police asked Archie to identify her, at first she thought him to be her brother. Later, Mr. Christie announced, “Agatha has had the most complete loss of memory and does not know who she is.”

Steve Hopson Photography
www.stevehopson.com

Almost immediately all Britain fell into three camps of thought regarding what had really happened. Some believed her amnesia to be true; many believed it all a scam to bring shame and perhaps even criminal charges against Mr. Christie, while others continued to think that it was a publicity stunt.

***

In my novel, Silence and Circumstance I do not attempt to answer these questions. Instead, Agatha uses her incredible sleuthing skills to send Carlo Fisher on an adventure to solve a good old-fashioned whodunit while mysterious societies emerge from the shadows and darkness threatens all of humanity.

In my fictional account of those 11 days, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a young Ian Fleming also search for her missing diary. They race across Europe on the Orient Express towards Mrs. Christies favorite tourist accommodation, Istanbul’s exotic Hotel Pera, in hopes of finding her diary and clues as to what happened to her, but that is for you, the reader, to discover in…Silence and Circumstance.

Roy at Machu Pichu

About the Author:

In his first life, Roy Dimond had the honor of helping at risk children and their families. In his second life, he pursues his love of travel and writing. Having explored four continents from Cuzco to Kyoto, Santorini to Tsumago, his wanderings have all found a way into his stories.

Roy currently lives with his wife in Garden Bay, a small harbor on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. He is the author of The Singing Bowl second edition.

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Mr. Darcy strips off...

by M.M. Bennetts

Upon occasion I feel the need to bring the late M.M. Bennetts' work to the forefront again. Today is one of those days. I'm sure you'll enjoy this amusing post, whatever era interests you. And if you have not read her books, please take a look at them. And now, the entertaining M.M. Bennetts:

First off, we have a conundrum.

Because, of course, there are two versions of the novel featuring Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, set in two sartorially different periods. Do I tell you about Mr. Darcy circa 1796-97 when First Impressions was being written? Hmn. Well, that's easily solved. In 1797 wealthy young men were wearing cravats in the style of the Prince of Wales, which "were then worn without stiffening of any kind, and bagged out in front, rucking up to the chin in a roll." Messy. Very messy. Not to say slovenly...

Therefore, a picture of Darcy circa 1813--when the revised novel, Pride and Prejudice as it was now called, was published--is no doubt the better choice.

Gentlemen's clothing had undergone a radical change during the early years of the 19th century. The long war with France had isolated Britain from the Parisian trend-setters who had dominated the 18th century, along with their preference for brightly coloured silks and satins. In their place, a new, austere, almost monochromatic aesthetic had taken hold, courtesy of one George Brummell, based on the finest of British tailoring, and drawing its inspiration from the military, from English horsemanship and a classical standard of masculinity as seen in the ancient Greek and Roman statuary, most notably the Apollo Belvedere.

And this ideal of "unity, simplicity and a continuously flowing movement from one part of the body to the next" is at the core of Regency menswear.

The body beneath must needs be moulded into a figure worthy of the clothes too--hence the daily exercise taken by gentlemen at the many boxing saloons, such as Gentleman Jackson's, or Fencing schools about London. Riding is also known to build strong back and shoulder muscles, as well as those of the thighs and calves. Carriage driving also requires very strong shoulders...

So, there's the man and the ideal...but what's he wearing?

Among the essentials of this new neo-classical look were breeches or pantaloons for the day, made either of doeskin or chamois leather or a soft stocking-like fabric. (If made of soft leather, often the wearer first wore them dampened, allowing them to dry to his physique so that they more closely resembled a second skin--they weren't called bum-clingers for nothing.) Both had corset lacing at the back, a fall front fastened by side buttons over the stomach, and were held up with braces to maintain the severe and fitted line over the thigh. They were also cut wider on one side at the top of the thigh, and higher on the other, to accomodate the family jewels, in a custom known as dressing to one side. Beneath the knee, button fastenings kept the fabric taut down the length of the leg.

Evening breeches or pantaloons were made of sheer black silk jersey, knitted cashmere or a stretchy silk-stockinette imported from India, made with only one seam per leg and that along the outside--though this was sometimes embroidered or 'clocked' down the length of it--all of which was intended to frame the muscles of the thigh.

For summer, the breeches would be cut the same, but made of stout pale or white linen or nankeen, a heavy twilled cotton.

Just as important was a gentleman's fitted waistcoat, which would have been made of white or skin-toned fabric--the idea being that if a gentleman were to remove his coat, in his shirtsleeves and from a distance, he would resemble nothing so much as a naked Greek god, muscular, beautiful, carved from marble or stone.

Coats were now made of dark matte fabrics such as wool Bath cloth or 'superfine', sculpted through the back and shoulders, with a high collar to provide a contrasting frame to the whiteness of the starched cravats. Our Mr. Darcy has several specialist tailors from whose work to chuse: John Weston's at No. 34 Old Bond Street, or even Mr. Brummell's favourite, Schweitzer & Davidson on Cork Street.

Beneath it all, the shirt of white linen, plain and lightly starched, with collars "so large that, before being folded down, it completely hid [the] head and face..." with tiny buttons at the neck and cuffs. Cuffs were worn long--a good inch or two longer than the coat sleeve to emphasise the fact that the gentleman did not work.

About Mr. Darcy's neck was his starched cravat.

Made of fine Irish muslin, a triangle was cut on the diagonal from a square yard of fabric, with its edges plainly stitched. This triangle was then folded twice and wrapped carefully about the neck, with the ends tied in one of several manners before the wearer lowered his chin to create a neat series of folds which were either rubbed into place by a day-old shirt or pressed with a hot iron. (I favour the day-old shirt method, myself...less danger of frying the larynx.)

Footwear? Highly polished Hessian boots with spurs by day and thinly-soled black pumps for evening.

Underwear? Very little was worn and then only rarely--it being pretty much a thing of the 18th century, although it was still in use (in cold weather, for example) and referred to as 'summer trousers'. In this look of careless, casual, sensual arrogance, there was no room for lumpy knickers or rucked up shirt tails. However, due to the transparency and cut of the tight kneebreeches and pantaloons, a lining of either flannel or cotton was sometimes incorporated into the garments.

Mr. Darcy would have dressed some three or four times during the course of a normal day.

He would also have required, per week, in addition to the usual "20 shirts, 24 pocket handkerchiefs, 9 or 10 summer trousers, 30 neck handkerchiefs, a dozen waistcoats, and stockings at discretion", a chintz dressing gown and Turkish slippers for taking his breakfast.

He would also have several driving coats and/or greatcoats, caped, and made of a heavier wool worsted or "Norwich stuff" for colder, rainier weather (read every day from September to May and most of June).

Like Brummell and other gentlemen of his class and station, Darcy would have bathed every part of his body every day, and in hot water. He would have used no perfumes (they were considered very 18th century!) but smelled instead of very fine linen and country washing.

So there he is--drab greatcoat emphasising the width of his shoulders, thigh-hugging doeskin breeches, pale waistcoat, dark coat (navy, grey or black being the preferred colours), and pristine white cravat and collarpoints outlining the strength of his jaw. Polished Hessians are on his feet.

Does he not look fine? Every inch a god?

So now...let's take it off.

His high-crowned bevor, his cane, his gloves and his greatcoat he has, fortunately, left with the footman belowstairs. The door is shut.

His boots (with or without horse muck on them) have been left at the door or really anywhere but in the bedchamber, if at all possible. There are two reasons for this. One, this may be a good idea at a time when there are no Dysons or Hoovers. But also, the method of removing one's boots generally required the backside of another person, and gentlemen didn't much care for bootjacks as it was said to break down the back of the boot. Equally, the reason a gentleman did not 'sit down in all his dirt' was a pungent one.

So shoes are a better bet. Easier to slip off.

And it all starts this way: with the the kissing...this could go on for a long time. A very long time. Because the most important thing is always that his Eliza feels and knows that her wishes and desires are paramount to his.

Then, the coat comes off. It's easier, I'll be frank, if she'll slips her hands upward from his chest toward his shoulders and lifts it away from him. But assuming she's not forward and that he doesn't have his coats cut so as to make removing them akin to peeling an obstreperous orange, he shrugs the thing off, first one shoulder, then the other, all the while still kissing her.

Then, the waistcoat. Button by tiny button. All eleven or so of the things. More than that if the waistcoat is double breasted. And with each button, a sensation of incremental yet greater sensual liberty is attained.

The waistcoat now on the floor with the coat, Darcy slides his index finger into the front of that knot of white linen at the base of the throat and pulls. And index finger into the remaining tied-bit and pulls. And freedom. And the end of the cravat is yanked and pulled off and discarded onto the floor.

Then he takes down his braces, first one, then the other.

And finally, he undoes the small Dorset buttons at his neck and cuffs. But being not a little impatient, he pulls the shirt off over his head without unbuttoning it all the way.

But the removal of the shirt only happens when she wishes it to happen. For all the time, his removal of his clothes is secondary to touching her, kissing her, telling her in every wordless way that her beauty blocks out the sky and the stars and is all that he sees.

And that's how he did it.

"To teach thee, I am naked first..." John Donne




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

M.M. Bennetts was a specialist in early nineteenth-century British and European history, and the author of two historical novels set in the period - May 1812 and Of Honest Fame: Amazon. Find out more at www.mmbennetts.com.

Rosary Tales: Emergence, Development and Controversy

by Deborah Bogen

Perhaps the first thing non-Catholics have to learn about the development of the rosary in the middle ages is that the focus of inquiry is not the physical object (i.e., the often gorgeous string of beads that serves as a counting tool) but rather the prayer cycle itself which is prayed and meditated upon by both clergy and laypeople. The prayer cycle appears to have emerged in the early13th century and has, ever after, been the subject of interpretation, change and even heated debate.

The second thing is that we cannot be definitive about its history: there are multiple and often opposing views and records on nearly every aspect of the rosary. Among the sometimes confusing sources are historical references, long-standing myth, connections to the imagery of courtly love and earlier traditions (with their own pantheon of gods) and, of course, the wide range of local culture, geographical constraints and even village customs that come in to play.

In short, there is not now, and never has been, only one rosary. But given the intense focus on religion and especially the afterlife in the middle ages there is still much we can learn about the rosary’s development and practice that will enrich our writing about medieval life.

What follows are jigsaw puzzle pieces, each with a history, a basis in teaching and a religious justification as well as a place in the culture of the church. I hope it will be possible to arrange them in a fashion that allows a larger and richer picture to emerge.

1.) Relying on that dubious source, “according to tradition,” the rosary was first given to St. Dominic by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the year 1214. In fact, aside from stories passed down and later promoted by the church there is no documentation linking Dominic to the rosary. Better documented is the fact that the rosary’s importance was later boosted by Alain de la Roche (who claimed he received a vision from Jesus encouraging the reinstatement of the rosary as a form of prayer.) de la Roche (also known as St. Alan of the Rock) promoted the rosary as a devotional exercise and encouraged the establishment of rosary confraternities.

2.) The tradition of using knotted string or strings of beads to keep track of prayer recitations is an ancient one and can be found in Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist cultures, among others. Scholars assume Christians brought these beads back to Europe when they returned from the Crusades, but some beads were already in use (e.g., Lady Godiva of Coventry who died in 1041 and bequeathed a set of gems threaded on a cord that she had used to recite her prayers.) The beads that can be documented pre-date the use of the Hail Mary and were used to recite paternosters and other prayers. In addition to helping the devout keep track of prayers the physical rosaries were an opportunity for some religious persons to own and wear beautiful objects that might have otherwise been counted as vain or worldly.

3.) There is some controversy about the power and precedent of the Our Father versus the Hail Mary in the development of the rosary. Some church sources claim that the ultimate source for the rosary as a prayer form is the Book of Psalms, part of the Jewish heritage of the Christian Church. The psalms were replaced by praying the Our Father at intervals. Other sources say the Ave Maria took precedence but in either case antiphons (in the form of short verses) connecting the lives of Mary and Jesus to the psalms were devised as part of the recitation. Eventually the psalms fell away and the antiphons remained providing direction for meditation on a specific aspect of the life of Mary or of Jesus.

4.) One Church reference, Dominican Father Frederick M. Jelly, writes that in the early 15th century the devotion was 50 Hail Marys linked to 50 phrases about Jesus and Mary. “This is the origin of the word rosary since the 50 points of meditation was called a rosarium (rose garden.) Rosary came to refer to the recitation of 50 Hail Marys.

5. The Ave Prayer (Hail Mary Full of Grace) was an early core of the rosary. Anecdotes from the twelfth and thirteenth century tell of pious individuals who recited the Ave Maria in chains of 50, 60, 100 or 150 repetitions, believing that upon hearing these words the Holy Virgin would experience delight recalling the joy of the Incarnation. The faithful might also experience bliss. There exists a report (circa 1200) of a matron who, upon reciting 50 Hail Marys experienced a taste of wonderful sweetness in her mouth.

6.) As the prayer developed, various methods for meditation were introduced. One was the recitation of rhymed quatrains to help with memorization and provide focus for meditation. These meditations would be interspersed with Hail Marys. Since the meditations were based on the stations of Christ’s life they were considered particularly good for the layperson (who was supposed to be incapable of higher-order imageless contemplation.) Thus the rosary was dispersed freely and even actively to the laity. The prayers were recited in the vernacular so they could be recited quietly by laypersons even during a service at which the priests used Latin.

7.) Social brotherhoods called confraternities were established for various purposes throughout Europe during the middle ages. Women were not admitted to most of these, but the confraternity of the rosary welcomed women into its ranks. Members of the rosary confraternity could participate as a group in processions (for which indulgences were granted) and worship at rosary altars in chapels in their mother tongue. This was worship outside the official liturgy and was also associated with the granting of indulgences for recitation of the rosary – that is, a member could pray his or her way out of certain punishments for sin, e.g., by shortening time spent in purgatory. In addition a member could also enroll dead family members in order to help pray them out of purgatory. This practice opened the rosary to criticism, as it was claimed the interest of participants was not really in praising Mary or Jesus, but rather in obtaining personal gain through early release from purgatorial suffering.

8.) Despite criticisms the rosary was an enormous success and part of that success was due to the methods by which it was popularized. Broadsides and pamphlets provided testimony to the miraculous effects of saying the prayer. One broadsheet (c.1530) says: “Whoever wants to be of the family of Mother Mary let him enroll himself in the brotherhood of the rosary, for I tell you, she will protect him from the pain of hell. Indeed she can free him from it eternally.”

A further attraction of the confraternity of the rosary was its lack of class distinction. People of all stations could enroll. Those of you who study these times can imagine how radical that would be. Analysis of the rolls of one confraternity shows its members to include monks, nuns, artisans, children and six lepers.

9.) Another aspect of the rosary’s popularity was that literacy was not required. “How-to” books were block-printed and the most successful of these were entirely pictorial. Just as the murals painted inside cathedrals instructed the illiterate in the life of Christ and in the pleasures of heaven and the pain of hell, picture books detailing an aspect of Jesus’s life told the non-reading devout what to meditate on at various points in the recitation of the rosary prayers. There were at least three picture texts designed for this purpose and distributed before 1490 (and in regions as distant from one another as Ulm, Barcelona and Florence.) These had the further advantage that they could be “read” in any language as you needed neither Latin or a particular vernacular to understand them.

10.) Perhaps one of the most entertaining disputes regarding the rosary involves Dominic of Prussia and Alain de la Roche. Dominic called the prayer cycle a “rosary” but Alain adamantly opposed this label and insisted on calling it a “psalter.” He states clearly that his objection is based on the profane associations attached to the rose – claiming it has “vain and worldly connotations.” The rose had long been associated with Roman spring festivals and Aphrodite. Further “rose gardens” were part of other folktales as “love gardens.” Finally there was the “obscene” usage of “rose garden” and “rose-bush” to refer female genitalia. However strong de la Roche’s argument, the masses adopted rosary with enthusiasm. There is Christian iconography to support their choice (e.g.,“Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming” ) but we will never know definitively why Dominic’s terminology won out. In his promotional material for the rosary he writes “We live as though we were in Mary’s rose garden, all of us who occupy ourselves with the roses.”

11.) The rosary devotion became inextricably bound to the string of prayer beads that came to represent it. These were made from diverse materials, pebbles, precious stones, bones, glass, horn, coral, mussel shell, amber and even polished brown coal. A flourishing rosary trade developed and as early as 1277 makers of “paternosters” are recorded in London (even today Paternoster Row and Ave Maria Lane can be found.) I was surprised to learn that the creation of rosaries was a trade Jews participated in.

12.) Rosaries were an acceptable adornment for the devout, and were often so beautiful that ostentation had to be curbed. Fifteenth century Nuremburg passed an ordinance that “no unmarried woman shall any longer wear a Pater Noster (meaning rosary) which is valued at more than twenty Rhenish guelders.” There were other regulations governing just how they could be worn (around the neck, on the arm but not down the back where they might touch the buttocks.) These often beautiful strings could also be displayed in the home, and were something that could be cherished and passed from generation to generation. This may have been especially important for converts to Christianity as the display of rosaries, religious pictures and, of course, the cross was considered by the Inquisition to be “further evidence” of true Christian devotion.

13) The beads were also thought by some to have the power of an amulet to ward off evil. In 1496 one author wrote:

If you will keep the devil’s wiles at bay
Then you should have this chain and wear it.
If you would not fall prey to the devil’s tricks,
Never let it leave your side.
For if you wear it on your arm,
It will protect you from sin and harm.

It was also believed that if you kept the rosary near a picture of the Virgin the beads gained strength. Rosary manuals even describe cures of illness and insanity effected by placing the beads around the neck of an afflicted person.

14.) Mary as a loving, helpful figure may have contributed to the popularity of the rosary. Over time the church worked to make changes to the rosary to shift its focus to a more “Christo-logical” one. For those who have studied Marianism and the Church’s response to religious devotion outside official channels this will not come as a surprise.

This is a highly incomplete account of facts about the rosary that relies heavily on sources I will list below. I am most indebted to Anne Winston-Allen’s wonderful book, Stories of the Rose. I recommend this as a most fascinating and insightful read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deborah Bogen is the author of two historical novels, The Witch of Leper Cove and The Hounds of God. About Witch Justkindlebooks writes: “The Witch of Leper Cove transports readers to a small river-bend hamlet in thirteenth-century England. Here, three recently orphaned siblings are getting by one day at a time, and soon have to fight against injustice. This is an enchanting, atmospheric and heart-rending book that richly examines true strength and courage in life. Highly recommended!”
Available through Amazon: The Witch of Leper Cove and The Hounds of God.

Pope Day in Boston 250 Years Ago: Turning a Day of Hate into a Day of Union

by Allen Woods

On November 5, 1765, colonial Boston celebrated a public spectacle unthinkable in modern America. The carnival atmosphere of 250 years ago hinged on a long-standing and widely-supported hatred and fear of Catholicism. In colonial Boston, gangs from the North End and South End looked forward to a traditional day of drinking and fighting on "Pope Day." Crowds in the street vented their hatred for Catholics in general, and specifically the Pope, with resounding cheers and jeers. Just as in previous years, the spectacle enjoyed nearly unanimous support.

But in 1765, Samuel Adams and John Hancock seized the anger in the crowds and managed to turn some of it in another direction. In the following years, the Pope and the Catholic Church were still ridiculed and reviled in Boston and many other colonies on November 5, but political leaders found a way to redirect some of the customary violence between the gangs. The newly-added targets were the villainous British officials who tried to enforce the Stamp Act and any loyalists who supported them.

"Pope Day" (often called Pope Night) was a tradition in Boston brought by its earliest settlers. English immigrants had a long memory for the Catholic Guy Fawkes and his fellow plotters who hoped to blow up Parliament in 1605. English Catholics had hoped that King James I might reduce government actions against them compared to those under Queen Elizabeth I just a few years before, but they were sorely disappointed. Fawkes' name and "the Gunpowder Plot" became the symbols for a national holiday after he was arrested on November 5 in the basement beneath the House of Lords, intent on igniting the 36 barrels of gunpowder for a grand explosion. Effigies of Fawkes and other Catholics were happily burned each year across England as crowds celebrated around the bonfires. The torture and execution of Fawkes had delighted English Protestants.

It was the Americans who began calling it "Pope Day" although it was celebrated on the same day and employed many of the same customs. It was especially important in excitable Boston, where neighborhood crowds in the North and South Ends planned elaborate parades and built huge puppets or costumed figures mounted on what today would be called "floats." The largest had wheels over six feet tall and needed up to six horses to drag them through the muddy streets. The rougher residents of each area formed what we might call "gangs" today (although they weren't directly intent on criminal deeds or control) and each found pride in their construction. They built wagons with a monstrous caricature of the Pope, animated by a small boy hidden inside, with another figure nearby that was just as large and fearsome–the Devil himself–and who obviously controlled the Pope and his actions.

1768 sheet sold on Boston streets:
An image of one of the floats and verses
so people can sing along with the songs
of ridicule. Library of Congress

Boston's Pope Day parade always ended with a bonfire as well, but the North and South End gangs had established a yearly competition, probably fueled by a day of rum: they fought to capture their rivals' figures and burn them in triumph. Many in the neighborhoods looked forward to the brawl, and oft-told stories in the taverns celebrated the strength of young men who were especially able to protect their prized creations. But over the years, the Pope Day parades and brawls began to turn more dangerous, as each side added sticks and stones to their attacks. It was essentially a riot that couldn't be controlled by the Sheriff and just a few men. In 1764, one of the floats veered into a large crowd on the street and killed a child by running over its head. The brawl that year also took a toll: injuries were widespread and Henry Swift, leader of the North End, remained in a coma for days afterwards.

Massachusetts Historical Society

John Hancock probably supplied the 

money to clothe the gang leaders in fancy 

uniforms on November 5, 1765 and to help 

persuade them to make peace over special 

dinners for them and their men.

Samuel Adams, one of the best community organizers in history, quickly seized an opportunity. With money that probably came from wealthy John Hancock, Adams gave the leaders of the unruly gangs brilliant new, military-style uniforms and fed the crowds with great feasts before and after Pope Day. These were the same men who had recently trashed and torn down the mansion of the Lt. Governor who was trying to enforce the Stamp Act. He persuaded the two leaders, Henry Swift and Ebenezer Mackintosh, to march together in a show of unity against the British officials.

In 1765, they stilled burned the Pope figure in a bonfire, but there was no brawl between the neighborhoods. The violence would now be reserved for the British government and their supporters. They joined the Pope and the Devil on the Pope Day floats in the coming years. The patriot leaders capitalized on the raw violence and hatred of Pope Day, redirecting the gangs when they needed to threaten violence against British officials and their families. These threats, along with the destruction of windows, buildings, and other property (sometimes principled and sometimes wanton), put America and the British on the road to an armed conflict that neither could turn away from.

Pope Day died a political (and possibly moral) death in 1775 when General George Washington and the Revolutionary movement were trying to gain French Canadian Catholics as allies in Canada as well as looking towards what became the turning point in the war itself: an alliance with Catholic France. Early in his command, Washington banned all the customary anti-Pope celebrations by his army and stood strongly against them by other Americans. Eventually, the popularity of Halloween banished Guy Fawkes and fully-expressed hatred of the Pope from American memory.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Allen Woods is the author of the historically-accurate novel The Sword and Scabbard: Thieves and Thugs and the Bloody Massacre in Boston, www.theswordandscabbard.com, that details events of the time, including those leading up to the Boston Massacre. The documented arrival of British Customs officials by coincidence on Nov. 5, 1767 is a part of the action, as well as the union of the gangs beginning in 1765.

Anglo Saxons and Their Horses

Part One 

by Helen Hollick

Until recently, it was widely accepted that Anglo-Saxon armies consisted solely of infantry formation, horses being used only for transportation. But as Ann Hyland points out, "...this seems a complete waste of potential energy and resources" suggesting that while it is unthinkable that entire armies were mounted, wealthier men were more than capable of undertaking mounted fighting and of utilising the horse in a variety of offensive tactics, as circumstances of battle, terrain etc., dictated.

Mounted warfare during the Anglo-Saxon period is shown in sculpture and referred to in manuscripts. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 937 is a record of Aethelstan's triumph over the Scots - the corresponding Croyland Chronicle on this campaign is very clear: "... and Singin unhorsed the Scottish king."

The Native British pony (the present-day breeds of Welsh, Fell, Dales, Exmoor etc.,) were enhanced during the Roman occupation by the cross breeding of new stock and bloodlines, introduced into Britain through cavalry regiments raised from countries holding established equestrian cultures and known for breeds of superior quality. The most priced war horses being the Frisian, Burgundian and Thuringian. These Roman imports would have rapidly improved British stock by adding height, bulk and speed to the already established stamina, intelligence and ability to survive a poor winter climate and sparse food. Britain had - and still has - a rich wealth of these strong and hardy ponies, some around the 12 - 13 h.h. (hands high) mark, others reaching 14.2 h.h. It is significant that the modern day Fell and Dales breeds resemble the modern Frisian, a breed of horse that was much valued in antiquity and remained highly prized in later Medieval times.

Exmoor Pony 12.2 hands *
a breed thought to be more
 than 2000 years old

Some degeneration of breeding must have occurred as the Anglo-Saxon period initially developed, once deprived of the organised resources of knowledge and trade of the Roman administration and army. But horses were still required, if not for riding, then as pack ponies and vehicle pulling. References to horses and riding run throughout the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and are scattered among the Welsh laws of Hywel Dda (died 950) reflecting the importance of the equine among Welsh society.

Welsh Pony
 (Section C 13.2 hands *)

Giraldus (c1146 - 1223) comments that the Welsh interest in life consists of "caring for their horses and keeping their weapons in good order" and that their leaders "ride into battle on swift mettlesome horses."

Bede (died 735) relates an anecdote about Bishop Aiden, who apparently gave a gift from King Oswine, a well bred horse, to a beggar. Annoyed, the king exclaimed that a common bred horse was the more suitable offering. The love of racing among young clerics was also remarked upon by Bede.

The laws of King Ine (688 - 726) comment that the horse-wealh was held in high regard, and that he had charge of the king's stud. The position of horse-weard, the watcher of the king's horses, is also mentioned. He appears also in Æthelberht's laws (860-6). These references suggest that the horse-wealh managed a self-contained stud, where controlled breeding was practised, while the "free-range" system, stallions running freely with mares, were under the management of the horse-weard.

There are indications of the size of such studs under the Welsh laws and Anglo-Saxon wills. A brief reference from the time of Athelstan (924 - 39) mentions that he had received as a gift, 300 fine coursers and their trappings. This more than adequately shows the extent of a king's wealth in horse-flesh and implies that acquiring new blood and different breeds occurred much earlier than assumed. Previously it has been accepted that serious horse-breeding and the introduction of quality stock was a result of the Norman Conquest.

Adult riding an Exmoor
Kathy Hollick Blee riding aside
(permission of copyright granted)

Horses appear in several references in the poem Beowulf written between 680 - 800. Racing is mentioned as Danish warriors spur their bay horses renowned for speed and stamina and:

     "Then, as a sign of victory, Hrothgar, son of Healfdene

     Presented to Beowulf ....

     Eight war-horses

     With glancing bridles, one with a saddle

     Studded with stones - battle seat of the Danes."

Not to be outdone by the generosity of Hrothgar's gift, Beowulf presents four matching bays and three graceful horses, complete with brightly coloured saddles.

* a hand - unit of measurement 1 hand = 4 inches

PART TWO – THE HORSES OF 1066  - click here

Sources:

Anthony Dent and Daphne Machin Goodall

  A History of British Native Ponies  J.A.Allen 1988

  (first published 1962 under the title of The Foals of Epona)

Julian Glover (adaptation from translation by Michael Alexander and Edwin Morgan)

  Beowulf Alan Sutton 1987

Ann Hyland

  The Medieval Warhorse  Sutton Publishing 1994

Stephan Morillo

  Warfare under the Anglo-Norman Kings 1066 - 1135  Boydell Press 1994

Tim Severin:

  Crusader - By horse to Jerusalem Hutchinson 1989

Dorothy Whitlock ed and Trans

   Anglo-Saxon Wills  Oxford University Press 1930

I  explore the use of horses in the post-Roman period quite extensively in my Arthurian Pendragon's Banner Trilogy

Book One

Amazon Author Page 

The Kingmaking

Helen's Website