Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, a service symbolically made amends:
On 21 May 1650 the royalist hero James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, was publicly executed by hanging on a scaffold at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh, and his body dismembered.
An account of expenses held by National Records of Scotland throws light on how, 10 years later, Montrose’s remains were reassembled with great ceremony, ready for an elaborate funeral.
The former Scottish covenanting commander was captured in 1650. Rather than facing honourable execution by beheading, the Marquess was hanged like a criminal. He went to his death defiantly, maintaining his adherence to the Covenant. He was stylishly dressed in a black suit, a scarlet coat with silver trimmings, and a beaver hat.
In a move designed to inspire fear in the populace, his head was placed on a spike on the Edinburgh Tolbooth next to the High Kirk (St. Giles), his limbs distributed to other Scottish burghs, and his torso buried near the Burghmuir loch, at the east end of the modern Meadows.
For royalists, Montrose became a symbol of loyalty and a martyr for their cause.
After the Restoration, the royalists took revenge on their enemies, including the trial and execution of the Marquis of Argyll in May 1661.
Meanwhile, a grisly piece of theatre was carefully stage-managed to emphasise Charles II’s authority, and the undoing of the covenanting regime’s acts – what Professor David Stevenson has called ‘the most potent ceremonial celebration’ of the king’s restoration in Scotland (‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography’).
In January 1661, 6 ‘grave makers’ were paid £18 Scots for ‘raising’ the corpse.
Robert Johnstone was paid £3 for showing the burial place, where the exhumation took place by torchlight. Surgeons washed the bones, wrapped them in cloth, and placed them in a coffin. The coffin were covered with ‘best velvet mortcloth’, for which John Kniblo, a local merchant, was paid £24, including ‘drink money’, a customary additional payment for work.
Montrose’s heart was missing, having been removed by sympathisers in 1650, embalmed and kept safe.
The accounts also show that 100 planks (‘daills’) were made into scaffolding and a stage ‘for the trumpeters for the down taking of my lord Marques head’ from the spike on the Tolbooth.
After the coffin containing Montrose’s remains lay in state at Holyrood Abbey for 8 weeks, a magnificent funeral took place on 11 May 1661. His remains were buried in St. Giles. (They were disturbed by later alterations, after Queen Victoria expressed astonishment in 1886 on seeing a simple slab inscribed ‘Montrose 1661’.)
"Why do Pepys and his entourage want to go see Captain Thomas Sparling?"
I agree, Terry. Apparently he was at anchor sufficiently far away from the Naseby that the time taken for a side trip ashore would not be too obvious.
And Sparling had a harpist. Music be the nectar of the gods, or something. Apparently he was good enough for a later engagement. But Pepys had to audition him first.
I doubt Pepys et al would go uninvited -- but maybe there were standard invitations from all the Captains, and Pepys just had to let the lucky host know ahead of time that it was their turn? Who knows at this point ...
Pepys doesn't mention this, so I don't have a date to record that Charles II gave Montrose a fitting buriel: Hanged, and with his body mutilated and cut to pieces in 1650, in 1661 James Graham, Marquis of Montrose’s limbs were brought back from Glasgow, Perth, Stirling and Aberdeen, his head removed from a spike, and he was re-buried in Holyrood Abbey.
The first book in 50 years to tell this honorable soldier's story will be released on May 15, 2023.
The King's Only Champion: James Graham, First Marquess of Montrose by Dominic Pearce
And now his R. H. was preparing to go for Spain in the ensuing spring, when that Voyage was happily prevented by the wonderful Changes, which were almost daily produced in England: And when the motion was once begun, it went on so fast, that his Majesty was almost in his own Country, before those abroad, especially the Spaniards, would believe there was any Revolution towards it; for even after Sir John Greenfield was come over to Charles II from Gen. Monck, they yet believed him as far as ever from his Restoration, and were so possessed of that opinion, that they let him go into Holland.
And at last when his Majesty was at Breda not many days before he embarked for England, the Marquis de Caracena endeavored to persuade him to return to Flanders. He pretended he had business of importance to acquaint his Majesty with from England, some persons being come over from thence to Bruxelles, who had great offers to make to him:
291 CAMPAIGNS OF THE DUKE OF YORK 1660
And he sent the Count de Grammont with letters to him on that occasion, desiring his Majesty would be pleased to give himself the trouble of coming but as far as Antwerp, or at least to West-Wesel, he not being able to wait on him (as he knew he ought) anywhere out of his Master's Dominions.
But his Majesty had no inclinations to venture his person in the hands of the Spaniards, not knowing what the consequences might be; And besides he could easily judge, that it must either be a pretense to draw him thither, or indeed a thing not worth his journey, his return to England being then ascertained.
But because his Majesty would give the Marquis of Caracena no reason of complaint, he sent the Duke to Bruxelles, and desired the Marquis to impart the business to him;
When his R. H. came thither, he found it was only Col. Joseph Bampfylde who was come over with some airy proposition from Scott, and some of that Party: From whence the Duke concluded, that his Majesty had done wisely not to stir from Breda,
When his R. H. stayed a day or two with the Marquis of Caracena, he returned to the King his Brother, who some few days after went to The Hague, where he was very well received;
and embarking himself at Schevelin about the latter end of May (23rd) on board the English Navy, commanded then by General Montagu, he landed with his two Brothers, The Duke of York and the Duke of Gloucester, at Dover, the * * * 4 (25th) of the same month,
The 11 September [1659] he [the Duke] reached Cambray, and from thence went straight to Bruxelles: where he found, that notwithstanding the Duke of Gloucester had delivered to the Marquis de Caracena the letters which his R. H. had written from Boulogne for the marching of his Troops. to St. Omer, yet the Marquis would not permit them to stir out of their quarters; tho he was sufficiently pressed to it by the Duke of Gloucester: But he still answered, he did not believe Mr. de Turenne durst let them pass through any part of his King's Dominions, without order, which he knew he could not have. Nor would he suffer them to draw down to the Seaside, to which he was also urged by the Duke of Gloucester, when he found he could not obtain his first point.
What his reasons were for refusing these two requests, the Duke could not learn; but as it happened, the denial proved to be of no prejudice to his Majesty's affaires; Only it gave opportunity to see what was to be expected from the Marquis, if things were left to his man's agreement.
This design being thus blasted, and no hopes left of attempting anything in England at that time, the Duke passed the remaining part of this year at Bruxelles, expecting the King his Brother, who arrived thither from the Conference at Fontarabie a little before Christmas.
And to show here, what little expectation even the most intelligent Strangers had at that time, of those Changes which happened so soon afterwards in England; his Majesty, as he came back from Fontarabie through France, pressed the Cardinal very earnestly for leave to Stay, tho never so privately, with the Queen his Mother, which small favor he was not able to obtain;
and thereupon was forced to return to Bruxelles much against his inclination, having only stayed some few days with the Queen Mother at Colombe (which he took in his way) a civility which could not well be refused him.
290 1660 THE DUKE OF YORK PREPARES TO GO TO SPAIN
The hopes concerning England being now reduced to the lowest ebb, in the beginning of the year, 1660, an offer was made to the Duke, of commanding in Spain against Portugal, and also to be their High Admiral with the Title of Principe de la Mare; which office, the Duke has been told, was never given to any but the King's Sons or near Relations, and whoever enjoys it commands the Galleys as well as Ships, and wherever he lands he commands as Vice Roy of the Country whilst he stays in it; he has also the fifths of all Prizes, and a great Salary, besides other considerable perquisites: So that this was not only a very honorable post, but also a very advantageous one even as to profit, which was what the Duke then wanted. He therefore readily consented to the offer which was made to him, the King his Brother ratifying it with his free permission.
Notwithstanding which reasons, the Duke pressed him to consent that he might go, telling him that he believed Charles II might be landed in the West, or somewhere in Wales, and be there engaged in difficulties and dangers; and that if his conjecture should prove true, there was no other way of saving his Majesty and gaining time for him to attempt anything considerable, but the Duke's going over, and making a diversion:
But these arguments could not prevail on Monsr. de Turenne to give his R. H. the leave which he so earnestly desired; for he replied that he was confident his Majesty was not gone for England, and that if he were, it was not reasonable for the Duke to hazard himself, when there was no probability of Success:
He therefore counselled his R. H. to return to Flanders, and there to expect some news from the King his Brother, and fresh intelligence from England. And when he had concluded with this advice, knowing the Duke wanted money, he lent him 300 pistoles, and gave him a Pass.
And thus an end was put to this design; and the Duke returned to Brussels.
289
IN this way he passed through Peronne; where he privately visited the Governor of that place, the Marquis d'Hocquincourt, an old acquaintance of his, whom he had known in the French Army, who used him with all imaginable civility and kindness.
And that all these preparations might be compassed with more ease and certainty, he offered the Duke to pawn his plate and make use besides of all his interest and credit, to make up such a sum of money as should be thought necessary for the carrying on of the business: Concluding all with this expression, R. H. might easily believe he had no orders from the Cardinal, who was then at the Conference, to perform all this; but what he did was freely of himself, out of no other motive then kindness to the Duke, and to his family.
‘Tis not hard to imagine, that his R. H. accepted of this noble Offer with great joy, and that he lost no time in designing where to land with these forces.
The place resolved on was Rye, and that in case the Country should come in to him, he should march on to Maidstone and Rochester; if not, then to fortify that Town, which by reason of its situation might be made so strong within few days, that Lambert should not easily have forced him out of it; and he would have found him work enough in that Siege, to have divided the forces of the Rebels, and disordered all their methods.
These things being thus resolved, and ordered, the affair was put into a forwardness; and Monsr. de Turenne gave the Duke a letter to (the) Lieut. Governor of Boulogne, wherein he was commanded to furnish his R. H. with all the Vessels, and Fisher-boats which he could get together in all his Government of the Boulonois.
The Duke gave this letter himself to the Lieutenant du Roy, with another from Antoine, Marshal d’Aumont his Governor which the Queen has procured and sent to the Duke from Paris, by which the Lieut. was likewise ordered to assist his R. H. with Vessels, and all things he could desire.
The business was now so far advanced, and in such a readiness, that the Duke of Bouillon, and others of M. de Turenne's nephews, were to have gone as volunteers with the Duke; and the next day was appointed for his R. H. and his Soldiers to embark at Estape, to which place the Troops were already upon their march, when letters from England brought the unwelcome news of Sir George Booth's defeat by Lambert.
Upon which the Duke, being then at Boulogne, went to Mr. de Turenne who was at Montreuil to inform him of it; who in that juncture thought it not advisable for his R. H. to adventure into England, but counselled him to have patience and expect a better opportunity, which could not be long wanting to him, by reason of the disorders and distractions which must of necessity happen amongst them in England:
James II is the only King of England I know of who wrote his autobiography -- several times, partly in French; his spelling was awful; he dictated them to someone in the third person; he edited them all confusingly; and left the lot in some boxes when he fled in 1688
The 'translator', A. Lytton Sells, Professor of French and Italian at Indiana University, added a detailed commentary, and reconciled the best of each manuscript into a book, which was printed, and downloaded, so it also contains scanning errors
I've clean it up so you can read a version of the last few months of James' life in exile as context to the Stuart Brothers' problems. My apologies for any wrong guesses
His Majesty is Charles II. R.H. is His Royal Highness James, Duke of York:
The next morning his R. H. in pursuance of what he had resolved, went for Boulogne, and returned no more to Calais during all the time of his residence in those parts
Sometime after Capt. Thomas Cook came thither from Paris, with letters to the Duke from the Queen Mother, and commands to find his Majesty
These letters likewise informed him, that Monsr. de Turenne who was then about Amiens desired to speak with the King in reference to his affairs in England. Upon which the Duke went immediately to Abbeville, hoping there to have found the King; But his Majesty had departed, and all his R. H. could hear of him was that he was gone towards Dieppe, and thither he sent Capt. Cook after him; who missing of him there also, went in quest of him as far as Rouen, but his Majesty was gone from thence also on his way to St. Malo: Whereupon Cook returned to the Duke, and gave him an account of his fruitless diligence
The business was of too great importance to be neglected, and therefore his R. H. resolved on going privately to Monsr. de Turenne: when he was come to him at Amiens, Monsr. de Turenne told him, He had desired to speak to the King his Brother, but since his Majesty was not to be found, he would do him the same service in the Duke's person: Thereupon he offered him his own Regiment of foot, which he would make up 1,200 men, and the Scots-Gendarmes, to carry over into England with him; That besides this, he would furnish him with 3,000 or 4,000 spare arms, 6 field pieces with ammunition proportionable, and tools, and as much meal as would serve for the Sustenance of 5,000 men for the space of 6 weeks, or 2 months; and farther, would furnish him with Vessels for the conveyance of all this into England, and permit the Troops that his Majesty had in Flanders to march to Boulogne and there embark, with orders to follow the Duke as fast as Vessels could be provided for them; advising his R. H. to send directions to them, that they should march immediately to St. Omers where a pass should meet them
In 1662 the Virginia Assembly passed a law that children should be held, bond or free, "according to the condition of the mother." This was to meet the case of mulatto children, born of black mothers, in the colony.
It was thought right to hold heathen Africans in slavery; but, as mulattoes must be part Christians, a knotty question came up, for the English law in relation to serfdom declared the condition of the child must be determined by that of the father.
The Virginia law opposed this doctrine in favor of the slave-holders. Some of the negroes brought into Virginia were converted to Christianity and baptized. The question was raised, "Is it lawful to hold Christians as slaves?" The General Assembly came to the relief of the slave-holders by enacting a law that slaves, although converted and baptized, should not therefore become free.
It was also enacted that killing a slave by his master by "extreme correction" should not be esteemed a felony, since it might not be presumed that "malice prepense" would "induce any man to destroy his own estate."
It was also enacted, as an evasion of the statute prohibiting the holding of Indians as slaves, "that all servants, not being Christians, imported by shipping, shall be slaves for life." Indian slaves, under this law, were imported from New England and the West Indies.
Freed slaves were then subjected to civil disabilities.
James, Duke of York knew Caracena. They fought together for many months in 1656 at the Battle of the Dunes and Dunkirk against Cromwell.
I'm deciphering James II's autobiographies where he has several paragraphs about this visit to Brussels, and plan to post one of my digests of it shortly.
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And you're right about the South American silver running out. Too much in riches created a Spanish economy based on nothing sustainable, and so they just started spending money and importing.
One paper I read estimated that in 4 generations, the equivilant of South America's riches had transferred to China, which produced goods for export which Europeans wanted. It took the Opium Wars to stop China's entrepreneurial efforts -- and we have apparently thought it a worthy experiment to do again.
On the other hand, "Britain arguably, gained just about the right amount of gold. National hero Sir Francis Drake was really just a pirate. He attacked Spanish ships and took their gold. (It is estimated about 10% of Spanish gold was lost to piracy.) Drake gave a good portion of his stolen gold to Queen Elizabeth, who used this windfall to pay off the national debt. (Is piracy a good way to deal with the national debt?)
"However, Britain never gained enough of the Latin American gold to become just a nation of consumers. The prospect of gold motivated a rapid expansion in naval technology. It was around this time, that Britain’s navy and shipbuilding capacity increased rapidly. This sowed the seeds of Britain’s future Empire. But, it was an Empire which was at least partly based on industry and production." https://www.economicshelp.org/blo…
I am so grateful to you, Stephane, for adding the French point-of-view to our discussions. I'm looking forward to reading your take on the next few years. A consistent supply of scandal sheets would be wonderful. Pepys Diary is the best we get -- and he's pretty good.
James-in-Spain might have been a rumor regenerated by Charles II and/or his advisors as an added "incentive", so to speak, to assist Monck and Parliament to make up their minds?
It certainly is a bizarre rumor -- it's hard to compare the French Gazette to the late News of the World, but we're way beyond April Fools Day, so that's the best I can do.
The sea lamprey, or Petromyzon marinus, looks like something from the depths of hell. Unchanged over the last 360,000,000 years, these 3 ft-long “living fossils” resemble eels or fish, but is neither. These parasites have a gaping suction cup ringed with rows of teeth for a maw. They attach to the sides of cold-blooded swimmers, then use their serrated tongue to rasp away scales and leech away blood, slowly killing their prey
Despite their uncanny resemblance to the Sarlacc from Star Wars, lampreys were a delicacy in England: In the 12th century, Henry I was so fond of them that, according to chronicler Henry of Huntingdon, he died in 1135 in Normandy of a “surfeit of lampreys.” This incident may have been why the citizens of Gloucester opted not to send King John a lamprey pie in 1200. The monarch was so angered that Gloucester “did not pay him sufficient respect in lampreys” that he fined them in revenge
From then on, Gloucester supplied lamprey pies to the royal court for special occasions. By 1229, Henry III was so insistent on getting his cut that he declared, “none shall buy or sell lampreys until John [the King’s cook] shall have taken as much as needed for the King’s use”
In 1917 the monarchy stopped the tradition, only to revive it for Elizabeth II’s coronation
As dams and industrial pollution had destroyed the lamprey’s spawning grounds in the UK, the vampires made their way from the Atlantic into the lakes and rivers of North America via man-made waterways. In Britain, they are protected, but in America they’re an invasive species
Sea lampreys are native to the northern Atlantic, but until humans transplanted them, they had no place in the interior of North America. Starting in the late 1800s, lampreys wormed through the Erie Canal into the Finger Lakes. By 1835, they were in Lake Ontario, where they stayed thanks to Niagara Falls. In 1938, they showed up in Lake Superior and around the Great Lakes
Gaden says. “They’re not picky eaters. There are a lot of fish that they like — trout, walleyes, sturgeon. It’s an open buffet with nothing to keep them in check”
A single female lamprey lays between 30,000 and 100,000 eggs at a time.
By the 1960s, sea lampreys were killing 100,000,000 lbs. of fish in the Great Lakes each year. 85% of the remaining catch bore gashes and circular teeth marks. They started an aggressive culling program, when they got a call from Gloucestrer
Marc Gaden’s lamprey wound up in a masterpiece of architectural pastry shaped like Gloucester Cathedral
Since then, Gaden has visited Gloucester and befriended Kirby. “I am the purveyor of the lamprey to the Court Leet of the City of Gloucester and I have a certificate to prove it,” he says with a laugh
I have to rethink my assumptions about the education Elizabeth and Balty were exposed to. Elizabeth must have been smart enough to take advantage of what she received -- she could speak and read French (I don't remember her writing it). She could also speak, read and write English (even if Pepys complained about her spelling; he was a fine one to speak to that subject IMHO!).
Either she got excellent education at home, or she regularly snuck out to a "petty school", and then she had a couple of months in a French convent, but she made the most of whatever it was.
And she was inquisitive enough to ask Pepys to explain maths to her, and to try to better herself with her hobbies.
For more about the levels of education available to girls in England -- and Elizabeth was not the norm -- admittedly up until the outbreak of the Civil Wars, and I doubt education in Devonshire became more available during wartime when she was young, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
In a village near Newcastle-on-Tyne, where, in the late 16th century, every will surviving for that village was written by the local clergyman: he was the only one who could write.
The records of the village reveal that on one occasion a man was dying, who hadn't made his will, and who sent urgently for the clergyman, but they couldn't find him because he'd gone fishing. A little girl was sent running to the river to find the minister and bring him back. He returned too late; the man had died -- with his dying breath he had told his relatives how he wanted his goods to be distributed. We know this because those who heard his dying wishes had to go to court and declare on oath what his wishes were because there was no one to write them down.
In the same village, by the early 17th century there are so many people capable of writing a will that one loses track of the numbers of people who are acting as scribes for their neighbors; 15, 20 people in different decades, were capable of writing a will. That's the change which took place in obscure country parishes.
The crossing of the literacy threshold opened up new possibilities which had not existed in the past. Late 15th-century society was one of heavily restricted literacy -- restricted to certain social and occupational groups. By the early 17th century we have fairly widespread literacy -- a partially literate society well on the way to mass literacy.
EXCERPTED FROM Early Modern England: Politics, Religion, and Society under the Tudors and Stuarts: Lecture 17 by Professor Keith Wrightson http://openmedia.yale.edu/project…
@@@ The Civil Wars ended this educational thrust -- by the end of the 17th century the Universities had trouble finding a single Latin scholar who could write a dissertation without help from his tutors. The two mass ejections of trusted and educated ministers from their parishes meant there were not enough qualified clergy to go around. Consequently people read their own Bibles, and decided what they wanted to believe. The Church of England had lost control. People like Samuel Pepys founded Mathematical Schools and demanded educational standards in the Navy. The British East India Company had lots of openings for literate young men with good handwriting who could speak other languages. The Inns of Court began to standardize the law, and require experience and accountability. Medicine accepted new ideas and equipment. The Royal Society spurred new industrial models.
The transformation of the education of the elite was a significant step towards the growth of a homogeneous national culture amongst the ruling class, created by a highly standardized pattern of education in which many of them, if not most of them, participated.
They frequently spoke with strong regional accents -- Sir Walter Raleigh and Gen. George Monck was said to have particularly strong West Country accents, noted at the court -- but these men also experienced the assimilation and the capacity to manipulate a generalized system of cultural standards and values conveyed to them through the classical learning they acquired.
Their letters are remarkably homogeneous. There's a common range of reference alluded to -- in a study of a pamphlet written by a country magistrate about witchcraft casually includes classical allusions and biblical references. The author assumes his fellow magistrates will know what he's talking about. They belonged to a common cultural world based on the classics, the Bible, certain forms of Protestant theology and law.
Again the transformation of the education at the level of the clergy is significant. Most parishes by 1640 had what you can reasonably call a resident intellectual. It's a development full of potential implications for the penetration of the countryside by the cultural values of the university, through the contacts between these clergymen and those served in their parishes.
Lower on the social scale, the achievement is more limited, but positive.
A threshold had been crossed. In every parish there were some common people, certainly those of middle rank, who could read, and who could write. Literacy was something people encountered frequently in many contexts of life, something they could use for many purposes.
Now to a big form of differentiation: between gender.
The education of girls was also influenced by their social rank, but at all levels there was the perceived lack of need to educate women.
Amongst the gentry, by the late 16th century it was accepted that gentlewomen should be taught to read and write, to sing, to play instruments, to dance, to sew, perhaps even acquire a little knowledge of French. This education was conducted privately. School was considered too risky to their virtue. They were educated at home by their mothers, by governesses, by the lady of the household if they were in honorable service in a great household, perhaps by the domestic chaplain.
In the early 17th century, there was a little change with the founding of some girls' boarding schools, usually in the London area, but they were few and extremely expensive. So the kind of education gentlewomen received was restrictive, although there are quite a number of examples of individual noble women who were given a full education including classical learning (as Queen Elizabeth received).
One example is Lucy Apsley Hutchinson who tells us that her father believed there was no reason why a daughter should not receive the same education as his sons. This was a rare point of view.
Girls of lower social rank got most of their education either from their mothers or as servants in the tasks of housewifery. A few of them attended a petty school, but there was no question of them going to a grammar school or acquiring a classical education.
The general lack of perceived need for girls' schooling is shown in the high illiteracy figures for women: In the rural area, women were 95% unable to sign, and in the city it was 76%.
These figures may exaggerate female illiteracy, because women were often taught to read for religious reasons, but it was considered unnecessary for them to write, so illiteracy figures for women may be exaggerated.
Overall, girls of the 'middling sort' had a chance of learning to read and occasionally to write, but below that level there was almost total exclusion. ELIZABETH PEPYS COULD WRITE LETTERS BY HERSELF.
Petty schools were more open and suggests a wider intake in local society. Nevertheless, there were still barriers. Fees were charged, even if they were small. Parents had to supply books, paper and pens, and many families couldn't afford that.
Time was also a problem: Children were often sent to school at 5 or 6 but taken away at 7 when they could make a productive role in the family economy. Their working lives began before they'd had an opportunity to learn much.
One 17th-century autobiographer described how his brothers attended school in the winter months, but were busy on the farm for the rest of the year; what they had learned, they soon forgot. He was constantly kept at school by his father who intended to put him into trade, so he gained an education.
The failure of the masses to participate beyond the level of the petty school is strikingly when studying available figures of people putting their names to documents, and distinguishing between those who could sign their names, and those who made a mark.
To be unable to sign your name was not a great social embarrassment. The schooling practice of the time was to learn to write after you were a proficient reader. If you had mastered writing with a quill pen well enough to sign your name, you were a proficient reader. This omits people who could read reasonably, but had not learned to write.
In 1642 adults were required to put their name to the Protestation Oath at the beginning of the English civil wars. Studying the surviving returns, about 30% signed, and 70% made their mark. Some towns were 90% literate, some villages were less than 50% literate. That gives us the broad picture of what had emerged by the mid-17th century.
There is also a hierarchy in both countryside and town going down the social scale; of yeomen in the countryside, only 33% can't sign, if one moves down to laborers in the countryside 100% can't sign. Tradesmen and craftsmen in the rural sample, 42% can't sign (more than half can); but in city only 28% can't sign -- a much higher levels of ability to sign. Even laborers in the city were only 78% illiterate, so some laboring men in the city could sign their names.
This shows that in the course of the later 16th and 17th centuries, illiteracy amongst the social elite was eradicated. Amongst the middling kind of people, yeoman farmers, tradesmen and craftsmen, illiteracy was drastically reduced. Many of these people can read and write by the early 17th century. Down the social scale, there's less change. Nonetheless, some of these people also were beginning to be able to read and write.
It's not surprising that there's a hierarchy of illiteracy in a society structured as this one was. The hierarchy of illiteracy faithfully mirrors the social order. Nonetheless, significant inroads have been made low in the social scale.
So England had a transformation of elite education, a transformation of clerical education, and a vast increase in education available to the common people.
This was a considerable achievement.
At the same time, there were limits to it, most clear seen when one looks at the differences of social rank and gender.
If the period saw a real expansion of educational opportunity, access to it was almost inevitably socially circumscribed.
The Inns of Court were an elite institutions. 90% of the students were of gentry origin.
The universities were dominated by the gentry and the 50% or so of students who were of plebeian birth were not drawn from the poor. (Plebeian just meant non-gentry.) They were the sons of clergymen, of merchants, the urban elite, professional people, and smart kids like Samuel Pepys.
The reasons for this are obvious: That kind of education was costly. Children from relatively humble families could sometimes make it to the university if they had a patron who would help them, pay some of the fees for them. Sometimes talented children were spotted by a local clergyman or a gentleman who would help them on their way, find them a scholarship.
It was also possible to work your way through by acting as a servant for the gentry students. Students who did that were known as servitors or sizars. Interestingly, a study done of them shows that servitors and sizars working their way through University almost invariably graduated, whereas the gentlemen they served rarely did.
Nevertheless, it's obviously the case that university education and education at the Inns of Court was heavily monopolized by the upper reaches of society.
The same was true to a lesser extent in the grammar schools. The sons of the gentry might attend, most of the other students were the children of the clergy and the professional and craftspeople of the towns, with a few sons of yeoman farmers from the countryside attending.
The problems inhibiting the attendance of children at these schools was first of all the costs: the fees, the boarding in the town where the school was, but also, perhaps even more importantly, perceived need. This kind of grammar school education was regarded as appropriate only for people who would be going on to enter the professions or trade at a fairly high level. It wasn't deemed appropriate for farmers' sons to get that level of education.
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Third Reading
About Saturday 11 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, a service symbolically made amends:
On 21 May 1650 the royalist hero James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, was publicly executed by hanging on a scaffold at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh, and his body dismembered.
An account of expenses held by National Records of Scotland throws light on how, 10 years later, Montrose’s remains were reassembled with great ceremony, ready for an elaborate funeral.
The former Scottish covenanting commander was captured in 1650. Rather than facing honourable execution by beheading, the Marquess was hanged like a criminal. He went to his death defiantly, maintaining his adherence to the Covenant. He was stylishly dressed in a black suit, a scarlet coat with silver trimmings, and a beaver hat.
In a move designed to inspire fear in the populace, his head was placed on a spike on the Edinburgh Tolbooth next to the High Kirk (St. Giles), his limbs distributed to other Scottish burghs, and his torso buried near the Burghmuir loch, at the east end of the modern Meadows.
For royalists, Montrose became a symbol of loyalty and a martyr for their cause.
After the Restoration, the royalists took revenge on their enemies, including the trial and execution of the Marquis of Argyll in May 1661.
Meanwhile, a grisly piece of theatre was carefully stage-managed to emphasise Charles II’s authority, and the undoing of the covenanting regime’s acts – what Professor David Stevenson has called ‘the most potent ceremonial celebration’ of the king’s restoration in Scotland (‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography’).
In January 1661, 6 ‘grave makers’ were paid £18 Scots for ‘raising’ the corpse.
Robert Johnstone was paid £3 for showing the burial place, where the exhumation took place by torchlight. Surgeons washed the bones, wrapped them in cloth, and placed them in a coffin. The coffin were covered with ‘best velvet mortcloth’, for which John Kniblo, a local merchant, was paid £24, including ‘drink money’, a customary additional payment for work.
Montrose’s heart was missing, having been removed by sympathisers in 1650, embalmed and kept safe.
The accounts also show that 100 planks (‘daills’) were made into scaffolding and a stage ‘for the trumpeters for the down taking of my lord Marques head’ from the spike on the Tolbooth.
After the coffin containing Montrose’s remains lay in state at Holyrood Abbey for 8 weeks, a magnificent funeral took place on 11 May 1661.
His remains were buried in St. Giles.
(They were disturbed by later alterations, after Queen Victoria expressed astonishment in 1886 on seeing a simple slab inscribed ‘Montrose 1661’.)
Excerpted from Dr Tristram Clarke, Head of Outreach, National Records of Scotland's account: https://blog.nrscotland.gov.uk/20…
About Monday 30 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Why do Pepys and his entourage want to go see Captain Thomas Sparling?"
I agree, Terry. Apparently he was at anchor sufficiently far away from the Naseby that the time taken for a side trip ashore would not be too obvious.
And Sparling had a harpist. Music be the nectar of the gods, or something. Apparently he was good enough for a later engagement. But Pepys had to audition him first.
I doubt Pepys et al would go uninvited -- but maybe there were standard invitations from all the Captains, and Pepys just had to let the lucky host know ahead of time that it was their turn?
Who knows at this point ...
About Monday 30 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
Pepys doesn't mention this, so I don't have a date to record that Charles II gave Montrose a fitting buriel: Hanged, and with his body mutilated and cut to pieces in 1650, in 1661 James Graham, Marquis of Montrose’s limbs were brought back from Glasgow, Perth, Stirling and Aberdeen, his head removed from a spike, and he was re-buried in Holyrood Abbey.
The first book in 50 years to tell this honorable soldier's story will be released on May 15, 2023.
The King's Only Champion: James Graham, First Marquess of Montrose
by Dominic Pearce
About Friday 27 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 5
And now his R. H. was preparing to go for Spain in the ensuing spring, when that Voyage was happily prevented by the wonderful Changes, which were almost daily produced in England: And when the motion was once begun, it went on so fast, that his Majesty was almost in his own Country, before those abroad, especially the Spaniards, would believe there was any Revolution towards it; for even after Sir John Greenfield was come over to Charles II from Gen. Monck, they yet believed him as far as ever from his Restoration, and were so possessed of that opinion, that they let him go into Holland.
And at last when his Majesty was at Breda not many days before he embarked for England, the Marquis de Caracena endeavored to persuade him to return to Flanders. He pretended he had business of importance to acquaint his Majesty with from England, some persons being come over from thence to Bruxelles, who had great offers to make to him:
291 CAMPAIGNS OF THE DUKE OF YORK 1660
And he sent the Count de Grammont with letters to him on that occasion, desiring his Majesty would be pleased to give himself the trouble of coming but as far as Antwerp, or at least to West-Wesel, he not being able to wait on him (as he knew he ought) anywhere out of his Master's Dominions.
But his Majesty had no inclinations to venture his person in the hands of the Spaniards, not knowing what the consequences might be; And besides he could easily judge, that it must either be a pretense to draw him thither, or indeed a thing not worth his journey, his return to England being then ascertained.
But because his Majesty would give the Marquis of Caracena no reason of complaint, he sent the Duke to Bruxelles, and desired the Marquis to impart the business to him;
When his R. H. came thither, he found it was only Col. Joseph Bampfylde who was come over with some airy proposition from Scott, and some of that Party: From whence the Duke concluded, that his Majesty had done wisely not to stir from Breda,
When his R. H. stayed a day or two with the Marquis of Caracena, he returned to the King his Brother, who some few days after went to The Hague, where he was very well received;
and embarking himself at Schevelin about the latter end of May (23rd) on board the English Navy, commanded then by General Montagu, he landed with his two Brothers, The Duke of York and the Duke of Gloucester, at Dover, the * * * 4 (25th) of the same month,
About Friday 27 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 4
The 11 September [1659] he [the Duke] reached Cambray, and from thence went straight to Bruxelles: where he found, that notwithstanding the Duke of Gloucester had delivered to the Marquis de Caracena the letters which his R. H. had written from Boulogne for the marching of his Troops. to St. Omer, yet the Marquis would not permit them to stir out of their quarters; tho he was sufficiently pressed to it by the Duke of Gloucester: But he still answered, he did not believe Mr. de Turenne durst let them pass through any part of his King's Dominions, without order, which he knew he could not have. Nor would he suffer them to draw down to the Seaside, to which he was also urged by the Duke of Gloucester, when he found he could not obtain his first point.
What his reasons were for refusing these two requests, the Duke could not learn; but as it happened, the denial proved to be of no prejudice to his Majesty's affaires; Only it gave opportunity to see what was to be expected from the Marquis, if things were left to his man's agreement.
This design being thus blasted, and no hopes left of attempting anything in England at that time, the Duke passed the remaining part of this year at Bruxelles, expecting the King his Brother, who arrived thither from the Conference at Fontarabie a little before Christmas.
And to show here, what little expectation even the most intelligent Strangers had at that time, of those Changes which happened so soon afterwards in England; his Majesty, as he came back from Fontarabie through France, pressed the Cardinal very earnestly for leave to Stay, tho never so privately, with the Queen his Mother, which small favor he was not able to obtain;
and thereupon was forced to return to Bruxelles much against his inclination, having only stayed some few days with the Queen Mother at Colombe (which he took in his way) a civility which could not well be refused him.
290 1660 THE DUKE OF YORK PREPARES TO GO TO SPAIN
The hopes concerning England being now reduced to the lowest ebb, in the beginning of the year, 1660, an offer was made to the Duke, of commanding in Spain against Portugal, and also to be their High Admiral with the Title of Principe de la Mare; which office, the Duke has been told, was never given to any but the King's Sons or near Relations, and whoever enjoys it commands the Galleys as well as Ships, and wherever he lands he commands as Vice Roy of the Country whilst he stays in it; he has also the fifths of all Prizes, and a great Salary, besides other considerable perquisites: So that this was not only a very honorable post, but also a very advantageous one even as to profit, which was what the Duke then wanted. He therefore readily consented to the offer which was made to him, the King his Brother ratifying it with his free permission.
About Friday 27 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 3
288 1659 THE DUKE RETURNS TO BRUSSELS
Notwithstanding which reasons, the Duke pressed him to consent that he might go, telling him that he believed Charles II might be landed in the West, or somewhere in Wales, and be there engaged in difficulties and dangers; and that if his conjecture should prove true, there was no other way of saving his Majesty and gaining time for him to attempt anything considerable, but the Duke's going over, and making a diversion:
But these arguments could not prevail on Monsr. de Turenne to give his R. H. the leave which he so earnestly desired; for he replied that he was confident his Majesty was not gone for England, and that if he were, it was not reasonable for the Duke to hazard himself, when there was no probability of Success:
He therefore counselled his R. H. to return to Flanders, and there to expect some news from the King his Brother, and fresh intelligence from England. And when he had concluded with this advice, knowing the Duke wanted money, he lent him 300 pistoles, and gave him a Pass.
And thus an end was put to this design; and the Duke returned to Brussels.
289
IN this way he passed through Peronne; where he privately visited the Governor of that place, the Marquis d'Hocquincourt, an old acquaintance of his, whom he had known in the French Army, who used him with all imaginable civility and kindness.
About Friday 27 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2
287 CAMPAIGNS OF THE DUKE OF YORK 1659
And that all these preparations might be compassed with more ease and certainty, he offered the Duke to pawn his plate and make use besides of all his interest and credit, to make up such a sum of money as should be thought necessary for the carrying on of the business: Concluding all with this expression, R. H. might easily believe he had no orders from the Cardinal, who was then at the Conference, to perform all this; but what he did was freely of himself, out of no other motive then kindness to the Duke, and to his family.
‘Tis not hard to imagine, that his R. H. accepted of this noble Offer with great joy, and that he lost no time in designing where to land with these forces.
The place resolved on was Rye, and that in case the Country should come in to him, he should march on to Maidstone and Rochester; if not, then to fortify that Town, which by reason of its situation might be made so strong within few days, that Lambert should not easily have forced him out of it; and he would have found him work enough in that Siege, to have divided the forces of the Rebels, and disordered all their methods.
These things being thus resolved, and ordered, the affair was put into a forwardness; and Monsr. de Turenne gave the Duke a letter to (the) Lieut. Governor of Boulogne, wherein he was commanded to furnish his R. H. with all the Vessels, and Fisher-boats which he could get together in all his Government of the Boulonois.
The Duke gave this letter himself to the Lieutenant du Roy, with another from Antoine, Marshal d’Aumont his Governor which the Queen has procured and sent to the Duke from Paris, by which the Lieut. was likewise ordered to assist his R. H. with Vessels, and all things he could desire.
The business was now so far advanced, and in such a readiness, that the Duke of Bouillon, and others of M. de Turenne's nephews, were to have gone as volunteers with the Duke;
and the next day was appointed for his R. H. and his Soldiers to embark at Estape, to which place the Troops were already upon their march, when letters from England brought the unwelcome news of Sir George Booth's defeat by Lambert.
Upon which the Duke, being then at Boulogne, went to Mr. de Turenne who was at Montreuil to inform him of it; who in that juncture thought it not advisable for his R. H. to adventure into England, but counselled him to have patience and expect a better opportunity, which could not be long wanting to him, by reason of the disorders and distractions which must of necessity happen amongst them in England:
About Friday 27 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
James II is the only King of England I know of who wrote his autobiography -- several times, partly in French; his spelling was awful; he dictated them to someone in the third person; he edited them all confusingly; and left the lot in some boxes when he fled in 1688
The 'translator', A. Lytton Sells, Professor of French and Italian at Indiana University, added a detailed commentary, and reconciled the best of each manuscript into a book, which was printed, and downloaded, so it also contains scanning errors
I've clean it up so you can read a version of the last few months of James' life in exile as context to the Stuart Brothers' problems. My apologies for any wrong guesses
His Majesty is Charles II.
R.H. is His Royal Highness James, Duke of York:
JAMES II
His Campaigns as Duke of York: 1652-1660
http://archive.org/stream/memoirs…
1659 THE DUKE VISITS TURENNE
The next morning his R. H. in pursuance of what he had resolved, went for Boulogne, and returned no more to Calais during all the time of his residence in those parts
Sometime after Capt. Thomas Cook came thither from Paris, with letters to the Duke from the Queen Mother, and commands to find his Majesty
These letters likewise informed him, that Monsr. de Turenne who was then about Amiens desired to speak with the King in reference to his affairs in England.
Upon which the Duke went immediately to Abbeville, hoping there to have found the King; But his Majesty had departed, and all his R. H. could hear of him was that he was gone towards Dieppe, and thither he sent Capt. Cook after him; who missing of him there also, went in quest of him as far as Rouen, but his Majesty was gone from thence also on his way to St. Malo:
Whereupon Cook returned to the Duke, and gave him an account of his fruitless diligence
The business was of too great importance to be neglected, and therefore his R. H. resolved on going privately to Monsr. de Turenne:
when he was come to him at Amiens, Monsr. de Turenne told him, He had desired to speak to the King his Brother, but since his Majesty was not to be found, he would do him the same service in the Duke's person:
Thereupon he offered him his own Regiment of foot, which he would make up 1,200 men, and the Scots-Gendarmes, to carry over into England with him;
That besides this, he would furnish him with 3,000 or 4,000 spare arms, 6 field pieces with ammunition proportionable, and tools, and as much meal as would serve for the Sustenance of 5,000 men for the space of 6 weeks, or 2 months;
and farther, would furnish him with Vessels for the conveyance of all this into England, and permit the Troops that his Majesty had in Flanders to march to Boulogne and there embark, with orders to follow the Duke as fast as Vessels could be provided for them; advising his R. H. to send directions to them, that they should march immediately to St. Omers where a pass should meet them
About Virginia, America
San Diego Sarah • Link
In 1662 the Virginia Assembly passed a law that children should be held, bond or free, "according to the condition of the mother." This was to meet the case of mulatto children, born of black mothers, in the colony.
It was thought right to hold heathen Africans in slavery; but, as mulattoes must be part Christians, a knotty question came up, for the English law in relation to serfdom declared the condition of the child must be determined by that of the father.
The Virginia law opposed this doctrine in favor of the slave-holders. Some of the negroes brought into Virginia were converted to Christianity and baptized. The question was raised, "Is it lawful to hold Christians as slaves?" The General Assembly came to the relief of the slave-holders by enacting a law that slaves, although converted and baptized, should not therefore become free.
It was also enacted that killing a slave by his master by "extreme correction" should not be esteemed a felony, since it might not be presumed that "malice prepense" would "induce any man to destroy his own estate."
It was also enacted, as an evasion of the statute prohibiting the holding of Indians as slaves, "that all servants, not being Christians, imported by shipping, shall be slaves for life." Indian slaves, under this law, were imported from New England and the West Indies.
Freed slaves were then subjected to civil disabilities.
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slav…
About Friday 27 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
James, Duke of York knew Caracena. They fought together for many months in 1656 at the Battle of the Dunes and Dunkirk against Cromwell.
I'm deciphering James II's autobiographies where he has several paragraphs about this visit to Brussels, and plan to post one of my digests of it shortly.
@@@
And you're right about the South American silver running out. Too much in riches created a Spanish economy based on nothing sustainable, and so they just started spending money and importing.
One paper I read estimated that in 4 generations, the equivilant of South America's riches had transferred to China, which produced goods for export which Europeans wanted. It took the Opium Wars to stop China's entrepreneurial efforts -- and we have apparently thought it a worthy experiment to do again.
On the other hand, "Britain arguably, gained just about the right amount of gold. National hero Sir Francis Drake was really just a pirate. He attacked Spanish ships and took their gold. (It is estimated about 10% of Spanish gold was lost to piracy.) Drake gave a good portion of his stolen gold to Queen Elizabeth, who used this windfall to pay off the national debt. (Is piracy a good way to deal with the national debt?)
"However, Britain never gained enough of the Latin American gold to become just a nation of consumers. The prospect of gold motivated a rapid expansion in naval technology. It was around this time, that Britain’s navy and shipbuilding capacity increased rapidly. This sowed the seeds of Britain’s future Empire. But, it was an Empire which was at least partly based on industry and production."
https://www.economicshelp.org/blo…
About Friday 27 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
I am so grateful to you, Stephane, for adding the French point-of-view to our discussions. I'm looking forward to reading your take on the next few years.
A consistent supply of scandal sheets would be wonderful. Pepys Diary is the best we get -- and he's pretty good.
About Friday 27 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
James-in-Spain might have been a rumor regenerated by Charles II and/or his advisors as an added "incentive", so to speak, to assist Monck and Parliament to make up their minds?
It certainly is a bizarre rumor -- it's hard to compare the French Gazette to the late News of the World, but we're way beyond April Fools Day, so that's the best I can do.
About Lamprey
San Diego Sarah • Link
The sea lamprey, or Petromyzon marinus, looks like something from the depths of hell. Unchanged over the last 360,000,000 years, these 3 ft-long “living fossils” resemble eels or fish, but is neither. These parasites have a gaping suction cup ringed with rows of teeth for a maw. They attach to the sides of cold-blooded swimmers, then use their serrated tongue to rasp away scales and leech away blood, slowly killing their prey
Despite their uncanny resemblance to the Sarlacc from Star Wars, lampreys were a delicacy in England:
In the 12th century, Henry I was so fond of them that, according to chronicler Henry of Huntingdon, he died in 1135 in Normandy of a “surfeit of lampreys.”
This incident may have been why the citizens of Gloucester opted not to send King John a lamprey pie in 1200. The monarch was so angered that Gloucester “did not pay him sufficient respect in lampreys” that he fined them in revenge
From then on, Gloucester supplied lamprey pies to the royal court for special occasions. By 1229, Henry III was so insistent on getting his cut that he declared, “none shall buy or sell lampreys until John [the King’s cook] shall have taken as much as needed for the King’s use”
In 1917 the monarchy stopped the tradition, only to revive it for Elizabeth II’s coronation
As dams and industrial pollution had destroyed the lamprey’s spawning grounds in the UK, the vampires made their way from the Atlantic into the lakes and rivers of North America via man-made waterways. In Britain, they are protected, but in America they’re an invasive species
Sea lampreys are native to the northern Atlantic, but until humans transplanted them, they had no place in the interior of North America. Starting in the late 1800s, lampreys wormed through the Erie Canal into the Finger Lakes. By 1835, they were in Lake Ontario, where they stayed thanks to Niagara Falls. In 1938, they showed up in Lake Superior and around the Great Lakes
Gaden says. “They’re not picky eaters. There are a lot of fish that they like — trout, walleyes, sturgeon. It’s an open buffet with nothing to keep them in check”
A single female lamprey lays between 30,000 and 100,000 eggs at a time.
By the 1960s, sea lampreys were killing 100,000,000 lbs. of fish in the Great Lakes each year. 85% of the remaining catch bore gashes and circular teeth marks. They started an aggressive culling program, when they got a call from Gloucestrer
Marc Gaden’s lamprey wound up in a masterpiece of architectural pastry shaped like Gloucester Cathedral
Since then, Gaden has visited Gloucester and befriended Kirby. “I am the purveyor of the lamprey to the Court Leet of the City of Gloucester and I have a certificate to prove it,” he says with a laugh
For a picture of the lamprey pie that looks like Gloucester Cathedral: https://www.atlasobscura.com/arti…
About Elizabeth Pepys (wife, b. St Michel)
San Diego Sarah • Link
I have to rethink my assumptions about the education Elizabeth and Balty were exposed to. Elizabeth must have been smart enough to take advantage of what she received -- she could speak and read French (I don't remember her writing it). She could also speak, read and write English (even if Pepys complained about her spelling; he was a fine one to speak to that subject IMHO!).
Either she got excellent education at home, or she regularly snuck out to a "petty school", and then she had a couple of months in a French convent, but she made the most of whatever it was.
And she was inquisitive enough to ask Pepys to explain maths to her, and to try to better herself with her hobbies.
For more about the levels of education available to girls in England -- and Elizabeth was not the norm -- admittedly up until the outbreak of the Civil Wars, and I doubt education in Devonshire became more available during wartime when she was young, see
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Friday 27 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Good catch, Terry! I still have trouble remembering where I am in the Diary! Double-checking the headline above the preview usually saves me.
About Pepys' education
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 9
In a village near Newcastle-on-Tyne, where, in the late 16th century, every will surviving for that village was written by the local clergyman: he was the only one who could write.
The records of the village reveal that on one occasion a man was dying, who hadn't made his will, and who sent urgently for the clergyman, but they couldn't find him because he'd gone fishing.
A little girl was sent running to the river to find the minister and bring him back. He returned too late; the man had died -- with his dying breath he had told his relatives how he wanted his goods to be distributed.
We know this because those who heard his dying wishes had to go to court and declare on oath what his wishes were because there was no one to write them down.
In the same village, by the early 17th century there are so many people capable of writing a will that one loses track of the numbers of people who are acting as scribes for their neighbors; 15, 20 people in different decades, were capable of writing a will. That's the change which took place in obscure country parishes.
The crossing of the literacy threshold opened up new possibilities which had not existed in the past.
Late 15th-century society was one of heavily restricted literacy -- restricted to certain social and occupational groups. By the early 17th century we have fairly widespread literacy -- a partially literate society well on the way to mass literacy.
EXCERPTED FROM Early Modern England: Politics, Religion, and Society under the Tudors and Stuarts: Lecture 17 by Professor Keith Wrightson
http://openmedia.yale.edu/project…
@@@
The Civil Wars ended this educational thrust -- by the end of the 17th century the Universities had trouble finding a single Latin scholar who could write a dissertation without help from his tutors.
The two mass ejections of trusted and educated ministers from their parishes meant there were not enough qualified clergy to go around.
Consequently people read their own Bibles, and decided what they wanted to believe. The Church of England had lost control.
People like Samuel Pepys founded Mathematical Schools and demanded educational standards in the Navy.
The British East India Company had lots of openings for literate young men with good handwriting who could speak other languages.
The Inns of Court began to standardize the law, and require experience and accountability.
Medicine accepted new ideas and equipment.
The Royal Society spurred new industrial models.
Educational needs had changed again.
About Pepys' education
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 8
To draw some conclusions:
The transformation of the education of the elite was a significant step towards the growth of a homogeneous national culture amongst the ruling class, created by a highly standardized pattern of education in which many of them, if not most of them, participated.
They frequently spoke with strong regional accents -- Sir Walter Raleigh and Gen. George Monck was said to have particularly strong West Country accents, noted at the court -- but these men also experienced the assimilation and the capacity to manipulate a generalized system of cultural standards and values conveyed to them through the classical learning they acquired.
Their letters are remarkably homogeneous. There's a common range of reference alluded to -- in a study of a pamphlet written by a country magistrate about witchcraft casually includes classical allusions and biblical references. The author assumes his fellow magistrates will know what he's talking about. They belonged to a common cultural world based on the classics, the Bible, certain forms of Protestant theology and law.
Again the transformation of the education at the level of the clergy is significant. Most parishes by 1640 had what you can reasonably call a resident intellectual. It's a development full of potential implications for the penetration of the countryside by the cultural values of the university, through the contacts between these clergymen and those served in their parishes.
Lower on the social scale, the achievement is more limited, but positive.
A threshold had been crossed. In every parish there were some common people, certainly those of middle rank, who could read, and who could write. Literacy was something people encountered frequently in many contexts of life, something they could use for many purposes.
About Pepys' education
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 7
Now to a big form of differentiation: between gender.
The education of girls was also influenced by their social rank, but at all levels there was the perceived lack of need to educate women.
Amongst the gentry, by the late 16th century it was accepted that gentlewomen should be taught to read and write, to sing, to play instruments, to dance, to sew, perhaps even acquire a little knowledge of French.
This education was conducted privately. School was considered too risky to their virtue. They were educated at home by their mothers, by governesses, by the lady of the household if they were in honorable service in a great household, perhaps by the domestic chaplain.
In the early 17th century, there was a little change with the founding of some girls' boarding schools, usually in the London area, but they were few and extremely expensive.
So the kind of education gentlewomen received was restrictive, although there are quite a number of examples of individual noble women who were given a full education including classical learning (as Queen Elizabeth received).
One example is Lucy Apsley Hutchinson who tells us that her father believed there was no reason why a daughter should not receive the same education as his sons. This was a rare point of view.
Girls of lower social rank got most of their education either from their mothers or as servants in the tasks of housewifery. A few of them attended a petty school, but there was no question of them going to a grammar school or acquiring a classical education.
The general lack of perceived need for girls' schooling is shown in the high illiteracy figures for women:
In the rural area, women were 95% unable to sign, and in the city it was 76%.
These figures may exaggerate female illiteracy, because women were often taught to read for religious reasons, but it was considered unnecessary for them to write, so illiteracy figures for women may be exaggerated.
Overall, girls of the 'middling sort' had a chance of learning to read and occasionally to write, but below that level there was almost total exclusion.
ELIZABETH PEPYS COULD WRITE LETTERS BY HERSELF.
About Pepys' education
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 6
Petty schools were more open and suggests a wider intake in local society. Nevertheless, there were still barriers. Fees were charged, even if they were small. Parents had to supply books, paper and pens, and many families couldn't afford that.
Time was also a problem: Children were often sent to school at 5 or 6 but taken away at 7 when they could make a productive role in the family economy. Their working lives began before they'd had an opportunity to learn much.
One 17th-century autobiographer described how his brothers attended school in the winter months, but were busy on the farm for the rest of the year; what they had learned, they soon forgot. He was constantly kept at school by his father who intended to put him into trade, so he gained an education.
The failure of the masses to participate beyond the level of the petty school is strikingly when studying available figures of people putting their names to documents, and distinguishing between those who could sign their names, and those who made a mark.
To be unable to sign your name was not a great social embarrassment. The schooling practice of the time was to learn to write after you were a proficient reader.
If you had mastered writing with a quill pen well enough to sign your name, you were a proficient reader.
This omits people who could read reasonably, but had not learned to write.
In 1642 adults were required to put their name to the Protestation Oath at the beginning of the English civil wars. Studying the surviving returns, about 30% signed, and 70% made their mark. Some towns were 90% literate, some villages were less than 50% literate.
That gives us the broad picture of what had emerged by the mid-17th century.
There is also a hierarchy in both countryside and town going down the social scale; of yeomen in the countryside, only 33% can't sign, if one moves down to laborers in the countryside 100% can't sign.
Tradesmen and craftsmen in the rural sample, 42% can't sign (more than half can); but in city only 28% can't sign -- a much higher levels of ability to sign.
Even laborers in the city were only 78% illiterate, so some laboring men in the city could sign their names.
This shows that in the course of the later 16th and 17th centuries, illiteracy amongst the social elite was eradicated.
Amongst the middling kind of people, yeoman farmers, tradesmen and craftsmen, illiteracy was drastically reduced. Many of these people can read and write by the early 17th century.
Down the social scale, there's less change. Nonetheless, some of these people also were beginning to be able to read and write.
It's not surprising that there's a hierarchy of illiteracy in a society structured as this one was. The hierarchy of illiteracy faithfully mirrors the social order.
Nonetheless, significant inroads have been made low in the social scale.
About Pepys' education
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 5
So England had a transformation of elite education, a transformation of clerical education, and a vast increase in education available to the common people.
This was a considerable achievement.
At the same time, there were limits to it, most clear seen when one looks at the differences of social rank and gender.
If the period saw a real expansion of educational opportunity, access to it was almost inevitably socially circumscribed.
The Inns of Court were an elite institutions. 90% of the students were of gentry origin.
The universities were dominated by the gentry and the 50% or so of students who were of plebeian birth were not drawn from the poor. (Plebeian just meant non-gentry.) They were the sons of clergymen, of merchants, the urban elite, professional people, and smart kids like Samuel Pepys.
The reasons for this are obvious: That kind of education was costly. Children from relatively humble families could sometimes make it to the university if they had a patron who would help them, pay some of the fees for them. Sometimes talented children were spotted by a local clergyman or a gentleman who would help them on their way, find them a scholarship.
It was also possible to work your way through by acting as a servant for the gentry students. Students who did that were known as servitors or sizars. Interestingly, a study done of them shows that servitors and sizars working their way through University almost invariably graduated, whereas the gentlemen they served rarely did.
Nevertheless, it's obviously the case that university education and education at the Inns of Court was heavily monopolized by the upper reaches of society.
The same was true to a lesser extent in the grammar schools. The sons of the gentry might attend, most of the other students were the children of the clergy and the professional and craftspeople of the towns, with a few sons of yeoman farmers from the countryside attending.
The problems inhibiting the attendance of children at these schools was first of all the costs: the fees, the boarding in the town where the school was, but also, perhaps even more importantly, perceived need.
This kind of grammar school education was regarded as appropriate only for people who would be going on to enter the professions or trade at a fairly high level. It wasn't deemed appropriate for farmers' sons to get that level of education.