Ponderings

Tag: england

  • The Hero King

    On the 13th November, 1312 King Edward III was born. At the tender age of fourteen, he was crowned King. His accession was marked with a three day tournament. This celebration was a stark contrast to the decidedly dour attitude of his father and predecessor, Edward II, who actually banned such festivities.

    The young Edward III certainly proved himself to be a master of the joust. However this was just a foretaste of his long, magnificent and extraordinary rule. He was the personification of the age of knights, fantasy castles, honours, arms, pageantry and jousts. England’s national identity became steeped in the semiotics of war, and Edward was the warrior in chief leading his tribe in glory.

    However Edward’s ascendance as King was not seamless. His father, Edward II was deeply unpopular, except for one particular member of his household with whom he lavished flattery and favour, to the exclusion of his trusted advisers and even his long suffering wife. Piers Gaveston was the King’s favourite, provoking understandable suspicion, jealousy and contempt. Faced with growing pressure from the barons, and his wife’s family he sent Gaveston into exile. Edward’s wife, Queen Isabella, came from an illustrious Royal house in France, and his emotional detachment from her was enough to cause consternation and disquiet from the French Monarchy.

    Medieval England had only a semblance of stability. There was always a hint of tension between the Crown and the noble ranks, particularly amongst the barons. This was enough to disturb and endanger the cohesion of the Kingdom. In addition to this, England had an almost intractable dispute with the rival Kingdom of Scotland, and the borderlands of Wales (known as the Marches). Edward II proved himself to be a disaster on both accounts. His attempts to reconcile these factions ended in tragedy.

    The King was evidently lacking in any resolve to improve hostilities, so the bullying barons decided the direction for him. Gaveston was murdered in grisly circumstances and his estranged wife began an affair with the notorious Marcher Lord, Roger Mortimer. Edward was humiliated, and his authority was weakened. He sought sanctuary in Wales, but he was later captured and then murdered at the behest of Mortimer.

    The Kingdom was effectively relinquished to Mortimer, who seized land and power for himself. However, in spite of his age, the new King used cunning to thwart the tyrannical influence of Mortimer. A meeting was due to take place at Nottingham Castle to debate the affairs of state. While Mortimer slept, Edward III and his troops entered the Castle via an underground tunnel. Mortimer received a sudden and rude awakening, as he was accosted, arrested, condemned and eventually executed at Tyburn as a traitor.

    Edward III was determined not to repeat the mistakes of his father. England had been left in a perilous state, and the King’s legacy was characterised by degeneracy and ignominy. He was keen to reverse the negative reputation of the office of King and acquired a deeper insight into the actual workings of the court, and worked hard to earn back the respect of the nobles.

    A unique and distinct aristocratic culture was cultivated by the King, inspired by the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. However in spite of all of these romantic allusions, nothing could ever disguise the fact that this was a society that glorified violence and conquest. Edward pursued both, with successful military campaigns in Scotland and France.

    The new soldier-King instituted St. George as the patron saint of England, supplanting native born saints particularly St Edmund. George was the saint of nobles and soldiers, and it seemed suitably apt and pertinent to adapt his legacy as an honourable example to follow for all true English gentlemen.

    The art of war almost became a personal obsession for him. Edward realised that a new weapon was proving to be a major success on the battlefield, namely the longbow. Consequently he enacted a law banning all sports, except archery. This one act consolidated England as a formidable and fearsome military power, as victory was guaranteed with a highly skilled army.

    The English people responded to the King’s prowess as a military leader with a renewed feeling of confidence, which was observed by the French chronicler Jean Froissart. He noted that, “the English will never love and honour their king unless he be victorious and a lover of arms and war against their neighbours and especially against such as are great and richer than themselves”. The campaign in France, in particular, was a source of pride, after the tribulations of the Norman Conquest.

    Edward’s impressive fifty year reign left an important legacy, chiefly in terms of England and its military capability. He was responsible for raising the standard of the English soldier, marching courageously under the banner of St. George. This is something which we must be thankful for, as he alone represents dignity and honour.

  • Who Killed Cock Robin?

    On the 26th August, 1676 the renowned British statesman Sir Robert Walpole was born. In 1721 he became the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was the longest serving Premier in our history. He established the Whig ascendancy in this country, reducing Tory dominance and influence for decades. He left an important legacy, and altered the course of British politics. He ultimately defined the role of Prime Minister, and was a model for those who succeeded him in office.

    His impressive reign was known colloquially as the “Robinocracy”. Walpole himself epitomised the era of excess, materialism and global ambition. His imposing appearance and personality symbolised the culture of this period. He was both literally and metaphorically larger than life. He had a gargantuan appetite for food, drink, sex, work, money and power.

    His prominence in public life began auspiciously. He quickly grasped the dark arts of politics and was an expert with all of the tricks and tools of manipulation. Politics was, and still is a game, and he could play other people to acquire the things that he wanted. He could be charming, but devious as well. Walpole’s rise to power could have only been achieved after the seismic events of the “Glorious Revolution”. This changed the fundamental character, and conduct of the nation.

    The Revolution helped to create modern public finance, and new concepts and innovations like the stock market, speculation, boom and conversely, bust. The most notorious example of this new phenomena was the controversy which became known as the “South Sea Bubble”. The South Sea Company was a joint stock company trading in overseas colonies. It was granted a monopoly to provide African slaves to Spanish America. These were considered assets, but to encourage investment profits were exaggerated.

    Spain and Britain were bitter rivals, and profits accrued in this trade were actually minimal. However the enmity between two major European trading powers did not curb the personal ambitions of the investors, who were convinced that this could be an easy path to riches. When the inevitable crash happened, eminent figures lost entire fortunes. This included the King, who was appointed governor of the company. At the peak of the crisis, one Parliamentarian died of a heart attack, another took his own life and one poor unfortunate was sent to the Tower.

    Walpole successfully navigated the country out of the crisis, he removed the company directors, seized 82% of their wealth and the money was returned to their victims. The stock of the South Sea Company was then divided between the Bank of England and the East India Company. His adept handling of this left a great impression upon the King, who was relieved that a major crisis had been averted. A lesser person could have led the country to ruin.

    Walpole in turn flattered the Court, as he knew that friends in high places could be used for his own gain. In the summer of 1727, King George I died, and his son George II ascended to the throne. Walpole was politically adroit and cultivated a set of distinct strategies in order to win trust, and to avoid critical challenges from his enemies.

    He enacted a spectacular coup within the Commons. He inveigled the MPs to agree to vote in favour of a bigger Civil List, which gave the new KIng more of a personal income than his father. In a cynical move, he also ingratiated himself with Queen Caroline in a bid to influence her husband and to look upon him, and his policies more favourably.

    He commented on this tactic in a typically boorish fashion. He had developed a manner of blunt speaking which reflected the crudity of his character. He said to his supporters, “I have the right sow by the ear”. The Queen agreed to meet with Walpole in secret to discuss government policy. When the King arrived for his official meeting with the Prime Minister, his familiar reticence was sufficiently mellowed. He became much more congenial, and eager to accept government proposals.

    Walpole believed that had a special kind of insight into feminine wiles and boasted that the Queen “can make him propose the very thing as his own opinion which a week before he had rejected as mine”. His powers of cunning and subterfuge were enviable, and the key to his prowess as a politician.

    However many of his fellow Whigs regarded him as a traitor and a man who wilfully sacrificed the democratic and anti-monarchical principles of his party solely to maintain power, and the favour of the King and his court. They believed that he had effectively sold out and become a Tory. Walpole was in fact exploiting the emotional weaknesses of the King, and attempting to appeal to his good nature. He used false flattery as a bribe, and the King in turn was extorted to bestow honours on to Walpole’s ministers. It was obvious that the Whigs owed an immense debt to the King’s generosity, as it consolidated Whig supremacy in Parliament.

    Domestically, Walpole’s position was assured but the French were threatening to wage war again. The Whigs were originally established to counter French dominance and aggression, but Walpole and the King sought peace. The odds were stacked against him. There was a perception that Walpole had put personal ambition before political conviction, and sacrificed the nation, its status and reputation just to maintain his dubious alliance with the King and his court.

    In 1742 the party took a vote of confidence, 253 voted in his favour, 250 against. However this was not a ringing endorsement, and three weeks later he resigned. Three years later, adrift in a political wilderness, he died. His impact upon British politics, culture and the way this country continues to conduct its economic affairs is incalculable. However the methods he utilised to secure his place in our history can also be read as a salutary tale of power, greed and corruption. In the realm of politics this is a tale which is all too familiar, and predictable.

  • The Traitor King

    On the 28th May 1972, the exiled and disgraced Duke of Windsor and former King, Edward VIII died. He ascended to the throne in 1936, but abdicated within the same year. His rapid accession, abdication and banishment was just a misfortune in a series of misfortunes which almost threatened to topple the British Monarchy itself. Within four decades the status of the Crown appeared to be diminishing into insignificance.

    At the turn of the twentieth century, the United Kingdom made a decision to forge alliances with European powers. However the result of this was far from inconsequential. Unwittingly, this decision plunged the Kingdom into the First World War. It fought a bitter, bloody and protracted campaign against Germany. The once close cultural connection between these two countries was severed, and the warmth, affinity and familial affection that the British public felt for the partly German Royal Family waned to an alarming degree.

    In 1917, at the height of war, the Kingdom was in a fragile state, it was far from united. It was in a frayed position, riddled with strikes, mutiny and increasing political radicalisation. King George V was forced to divest the Family of its foreign associations, and he decided to rebrand it for a more modern and progressive age. His first decision was to anglicise the Royal Family. He renamed the Royal Dynasty “The House of Windsor”. His German relations who still resided in the Kingdom were no longer Battenbergs, but became Mountbattens instead.

    Although George had foreign ancestry, he remained culturally English, despite the leftist author H.G Wells’ complaints about “an alien and uninspiring court”. However these words were brushed off by an unruffled King.

    Wells’ strident admonitions seemed harsh and unfair but were met with the King’s firm and witty riposte, “I may be uninspiring but I’ll be damned if I am an alien!”. George’s second decision was to reform the honours system, which was regarded as elitist and undemocratic.

    He established the Order of the British Empire, which acknowledged the achievements of both women and men from across the social classes. In an astounding break from tradition, he arranged his first investiture within the grounds of Ibrox stadium in Glasgow, the home of Rangers football club. The first recipient of the award was the humble khaki clad Lizzie Robertson, who was rewarded by the King “for devotion to duty in a national projectile factory”. He also established the Companions of Honour, which paid tribute to those who worked hard to protect the rights of ordinary British workers.

    It seemed for a time that the Crown was secure. With these new measures, he managed to stave off the dangers of socialist revolution which had cost the lives of his cousins in Russia. King George V was truly the “people’s King”. The silver jubilee celebrations brought a feeling of national unity while the continent was tearing itself apart. However six months later, on the 20th January, 1936, the beloved King died.

    The old continental alliances were fracturing once more. An embattled and humiliated Germany was on a dark path towards totalitarianism. The British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin believed that the political and religious settlement encapsulated by the presence of the constitutional monarchy was an essential bulwark against dictatorship in this country.

    Baldwin paid tribute to the late King, commending his legacy. He said that he was responsible for “bringing in the moral authority, honour and dignity of the throne”. Edward’s accession did nothing to allay the fears of a population that had barely recovered from the last war.

    Unlike his father, Edward revealed a shocking lack of empathy for the poor and the unemployed. While on an official engagement to the poverty stricken villages of South Wales, he uttered with spectacular insensitivity that “something must be done” but offered no words of comfort to those without work. His affair with the American socialite Wallis Simpson was common knowledge, but despite protestations he refused to relinquish it. One year after his abdication they married.

    Edward’s actions looked increasingly selfish, arrogant and disloyal. He alienated himself from his family, who were appalled that he put his own feelings first, rather than serve the interests of his country. He was marooned in self-imposed exile in France. In October 1937, he added insult to injury when he toured Nazi Germany with the Duchess. His visit was promoted and published as vital propaganda by the German media. He was filmed meeting Hitler at his Bavarian retreat, and Edward performed a Nazi salute. Edward made no secret of the fact that he favoured Nazism as a political ideology, which he perceived as preferable to Communism.

    Edward’s blatant admission made him a profound liability to the British state at the height of the Second World War. There were rumours swirling around that he was a spy and leaking secrets to the German military. There were even suggestions that he was about to revive the days of imperial Prussia and was about to be parachuted in as the new Kaiser. In 1940 he was appointed governor of the Bahamas, but he disliked the role and resigned after five years.

    At the end of the war, the Duke and Duchess returned to France. They were feted as a celebrity couple by the French, but the British public never forgave their treachery. The duke died from complications following heart surgery at his home in France. His legacy as the traitor King has never been forgotten.

  • Shame On Evil Thinkers

    St. George has been an integral part of English identity since the fourteenth century. The adoption of George as England’s patron saint has helped to bring new meaning and insight into our native culture and traditions. The legends that surround him remain a source of pride, in spite of the detractors.

    It is lamentable that in our postmodern society many people have chosen to forget this essential part of our foundation story. Every nation is founded on a series of myths and legends. These intricate and elaborate tales of heroes and villains are symbolic manifestations of the nation’s character and sensibility. King Edward III recognised this, and he found inspiration in the mythology of a legendary Knight

    Edward cultivated an idiosyncratic and aristocratic culture at court. The King and the nobles were brought together in a complex system based on chivalric custom, including honours, arms and pageantry. Chivalry originated from a military culture, and described the strict codes of behaviour mandated on the battlefield. War was deeply embedded within the culture of this country. However, warfare was not just about consolidating the power and influence of the Crown. The nation as a whole depended upon military strength to enable it to survive.

    St. George was the patron saint of soldiers and nobles, and the epitome of a chevalier. The tale of his Knightly conduct was appropriated by the King and woven into an earlier legend surrounding King Arthur and his court. The legend states that the King was in attendance at a court ball when a lady accidentally dropped her garter. When everyone except the King erupted into laughter, he admonished the crowd. He retrieved the garter and said, “shame to him who thinks evil of it”. Henceforth Edward established the Order of the Garter and dedicated it to St George.

    It is a strange paradox that the profoundly Christian order of Knights was nonetheless perennially engaged in war. It is difficult to reconcile a sense of righteousness with the eternal compulsion for battle. However it is justified as the moral aspect is entwined with the notion of defending the honour of a nation from evil. Medieval England, and Europe as a whole faced the imminent threat from violent and hostile outsiders who sought to usurp Christianity with a contrary religion and set of values that were in direct opposition. The story of St George slaying the dragon is a metaphorical depiction of this righteous battle, and it has been revived throughout the centuries.

    The warrior spirit of the English has never truly died, even in times of relative peace. This is something which we must always hold on to, despite the evil thinkers who continue to project their shame upon us.