What Is an Author to Do? Caught in the Middle of Seller Wars

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Regina Jeffers

The cold war between north American booksellers and Amazon has hotted up this week, with the booksellers joining together to announce that they will not be selling any of the titles published by the online retailer.

The opening salvo was fired last week by America’s biggest book chain Barnes & Noble, when it announced that it would not be stocking Amazon Publishing’s books. The website publishes a large range of titles, with imprints covering everything from romance to thrillers, and major authors including Deepak Chopra and self-help guru Timothy Ferriss.

“Our decision is based on Amazon’s continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent,” said Jaime Carey, chief merchandising officer, in a statement. “These exclusives have prohibited us from offering certain ebooks to our customers. Their actions have undermined the industry as a whole and have prevented millions of customers from having access to content. It’s clear to us that Amazon has proven they would not be a good publishing partner to Barnes & Noble, as they continue to pull content off the market for their own self-interest.”

Barnes & Noble’s 705 stores were quickly joined by Canada’s 247-shop Indigo Books and Music, with vice-president Janet Eger saying to Canadian press that the retailer would also not be stocking Amazon’s books on the grounds that “Amazon’s actions are not in the long-term interests of the reading public or the publishing and book retailing industry, globally”. The US’s second largest bricks and mortar book retailer Books-A-Million followed suit, entering the fray late last week when it told Publishers Weekly that its 200 stores would not carry Amazon Publishing’s titles either.

For the complete article, visit February 9, 2012, article on The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/09/amazon-publishing-bookshop-boycott-grows

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Edward the Confessor, the Last of the Anglo-Saxon Kings

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Regina Jeffers

Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor (Old English: Ēadƿeard se Andettere; French: Édouard le Confesseur; 1003–05 to 4 or 5 January 1066), son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066.
He has traditionally been seen as unworldly and pious, and his reign as notable for the disintegration of royal power in England.
He had succeeded Cnut the Great’s son Harthacnut, restoring the rule of the House of Wessex after the period of Danish rule since Cnut had conquered England in 1016. When Edward died in 1066 he was succeeded by Harold Godwinson, who was defeated and killed in the same year by the Normans under William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings.
Edward was canonized in 1161 by Pope Alexander III, and is commemorated on 13 October by the Catholic Church of England and Wales and the Church of England. He was regarded as one of the national saints of England until King Edward III adopted Saint George as patron saint in about 1350.

Edward’s position when he came to the throne was weak. Effective rule required keeping on terms with the three leading earls, but loyalty to the ancient house of Wessex had been eroded by the period of Danish rule, and only Leofric was descended from a family which had served Æthelred. Siward was probably Danish, and although Godwin was English, he was one of Cnut’s new men, married to Cnut’s former sister-in-law. However, in his early years Edward restored the traditional strong monarchy, showing himself, in Frank Barlow’s view, “a vigorous and ambitious man, a true son of the impetuous Æthelred and the formidable Emma.”

Modern historians reject the traditional view that Edward mainly employed Norman favourites, but he did have foreigners in his household, including a few Normans, who became unpopular. Chief among them was Robert, abbot of the Norman abbey of Jumièges, who had known Edward from the 1030s and came to England with him in 1041, becoming bishop of London in 1043. According to the Vita Edwardi, he became “always the most powerful confidential adviser to the king.”

In the 1050s, Edward pursued an aggressive, and generally successful, policy in dealing with Scotland and Wales. Malcolm Canmore was an exile at Edward’s court after Macbeth killed his father, Duncan I, and seized the Scottish throne. In 1054 Edward sent Siward to invade Scotland. He defeated Macbeth, and Malcolm, who had accompanied the expedition, gained control of southern Scotland. By 1058 Malcolm had killed Macbeth in battle and taken the Scottish throne. In 1059 he visited Edward, but in 1061 he started raiding Northumbria with the aim of adding it to his territory.

Historians have puzzled over Edward’s intentions for the succession since William of Malmesbury in the early twelfth century. One school of thought supports the Norman case that Edward always intended William the Conqueror to be his heir, accepting the medieval claim that Edward had already decided to be celibate before he married, but most historians believe that he hoped to have an heir by Edith at least until his quarrel with Godwin in 1051. William may have visited Edward during Godwin’s exile, and he is thought to have promised William the succession at this time, but historians disagree how seriously he meant the promise, and whether he later changed his mind.

Edmund Ironside’s son, Edward Ætheling, had the best claim to be considered Edward’s heir. He had been taken as a young child to Hungary, and in 1054 Bishop Ealdred of Worcester visited the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III to secure his return, probably with a view to becoming Edward’s heir. The exile returned to England in 1057 with his family, but died almost immediately. His son Edgar, who was then about five years old, was brought up at the English court. He was given the designation Ætheling, meaning throne worthy, which may mean that Edward considered making him his heir, and he was briefly declared king after Harold’s death in 1066. However, Edgar was absent from witness lists of Edward’s diplomas, and there is no evidence in the Domesday Book that he was a substantial landowner, which suggests that he was marginalised at the end of Edward’s reign.

After the mid-1050s, Edward seems to have withdrawn from affairs as he became increasingly dependent on the Godwins, and may have become reconciled to the idea that one of them would succeed him. The Normans claimed that Edward sent Harold to Normandy in about 1064 to confirm the promise of the succession to William. The strongest evidence comes from a Norman apologist, William of Poitiers. According to his account, shortly before the Battle of Hastings, Harold sent William an envoy who admitted that Edward had promised the throne to William but argued that this was overridden by his deathbed promise to Harold. In reply, William did not dispute the deathbed promise, but argued that Edward’s prior promise to him took precedence.

In Richard Baxter’s view, Edward’s “handling of the succession issue was dangerously indecisive, and contributed to one of the greatest catastrophes to which the English have ever succumbed.”

Edward is depicted as the central saint of the Wilton Diptych (c. 1395–99), a devotional piece made for Richard II, but now in the collection of the National Gallery. The reverse of the piece carries Edward’s arms; and Richard’s badge of a white hart. The panel painting dates from the end of the 14th century.

In Act 3, Scene VI of Shakespeare’s Macbeth (c. 1603–06) Lennox refers to Edward as “the most pious Edward,” and in Act 4, Scene III, Malcolm describes his powers of healing those afflicted with “the evil”, or scrofula.

He is the central figure in Alfred Duggan’s 1960 historical novel The Cunning of the Dove.

He is featured in Sara Douglass’ novel God’s Concubine.

On screen he has been portrayed by Eduard Franz in the film Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955), George Howe in the BBC TV drama series Hereward the Wake (1965), Donald Eccles in the two-part BBC TV play Conquest (1966; part of the series Theatre 625), Brian Blessed in Macbeth (1997), based on the Shakespeare play (although he does not appear in the play itself), and Adam Woodroffe in an episode of the British TV series Historyonics entitled “1066” (2004). In 2002, he was portrayed by Lennox Greaves in the Doctor Who audio adventure Seasons of Fear.

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Canute, England’s Viking King

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Regina Jeffers

Coin of Cnut the Great from the British Museum

With Aethelred’s death in 1016, two men stepped forward to claim the throne: Aethelred’s son, Edmund Ironside, and Sweyn Forkbeard’s (King of Denmark) son, Canute. The two fought for control (The Saxons favored Edmund and the Danes chose Canute) of England, but when Edmund died, Canute became King.

Cnut the Great (Old Norse: Knútr inn ríki; c. 985 or 995 – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F. Cantor has made the paradoxical statement that he was “the most effective king in Anglo-Saxon history.”

According to the Peterborough manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, early in September 1015 “[Cnut] came into Sandwich, and straightway sailed around Kent to Wessex, until he came to the mouth of the Frome, and harried in Dorset and Wiltshire and Somerset”, beginning a campaign of an intensity not seen since the days of Alfred the Great.

From 1016 to 1035, Canute was the King of England, the King of Denmark, and the King of Norway.True, he was a Viking, but despite that fact, he led the way in the development of municipal government and the encouragement of the arts. He was known for his strong sense of justice – treating Dane and Saxon alike. He appointed many Englishmen to the Court.

A 13th century portrait of Cnut the Great. It shows him as a king of Christendom.

Cnut died in 1035, at the Abbey in Shaftesbury, Dorset. His burial was in Winchester, the English capital of the time, and stronghold of the royal house of Wessex, whom the Danes had overthrown more or less two decades before.

In Denmark he was succeeded by Harthacnut, reigning as Cnut III, although with a war in Scandinavia against Magnus I of Norway, Harthacnut was “forsaken (by the English) because he was too long in Denmark”, and his mother Queen Emma, previously resident at Winchester with some of her son’s housecarls, was made to flee to Bruges, in Flanders; under pressure from supporters of Cnut’s other son – after Svein – by Ælfgifu of Northampton. Harold Harefoot – regent in England 1035–37 – succeeded to claim the throne, in 1037, reigning until his death in 1040. Eventual peace in Scandinavia left Harthacnut free to claim the throne himself, in 1040, and regain his mother her place. He brought the crowns of Denmark and England together again, until his death, in 1042. Denmark fell into a period of disorder with the power struggle between the pretender to the throne Sweyn Estridsson, son of Ulf, and the Norwegian king, until Magnus’ death in 1047 and restoration of the Danish sovereignty. And the inheritance of England was briefly to return to its Anglo-Saxon lineage.
The house of Wessex was to reign again in Edward the Confessor, whom Harthacnut had brought out of exile in Normandy and made a treaty with. Like in his treaty with Magnus, it was decreed the throne was to go to Edward if Harthacnut died with no legitimate male heir. In 1042, Harthacnut died, and Edward was king. His reign meant Norman influence at Court was on the rise thereafter, and the ambitions of its dukes finally found fruition in 1066, with William the Conqueror’s invasion of England, and crowning, fifty years after Cnut was crowned in 1016.

Had the sons of Cnut not died within a decade of him, and his (only known) daughter Cunigund – set to marry Conrad II’s son Henry III eight months after his death – not died in Italy before she became empress, Cnut’s reign may well have been the foundation for a complete political union between England and Scandinavia.

With Canute’s death in 1035, his two sons (Harold and Harthacanute) assumed the throne. Eventually, it passed to Edward the Confessor (1042), who reigned until 1066.

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Athelstan, King of all England

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Regina Jeffers

The tomb of King Athelstan in Malmesbury Abbey

Athelstan or Æthelstan (Old English: Æþelstan, Æðelstān; c. 893/895 – 27 October 939) was the King of England from 924 or 925 to 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Æthelstan’s success in securing the submission of Constantine II, King of Scots, at the Treaty of Eamont Bridge in 927 and his victory at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937 led to his claiming the title “king of all Britain”. His reign has been overlooked, overshadowed by the achievements of his grandfather, Alfred the Great, but he is now regarded as one of the greatest kings of the West Saxon dynasty. Athelstan was the first king of a unified England from 927, and his reign was of fundamental importance to political developments in the 10th century.

On 17 July 924 Edward died, and confusion surrounds Athelstan’s accession. He immediately became King of Mercia, but in Wessex his half-brother Ælfweard was accepted as king. Ælfweard only outlived his father by sixteen days, but even after this there seems to have been opposition to Athelstan in Wessex, particularly in Winchester, where Ælfweard was buried. According to William of Malmesbury, a certain Alfred plotted to blind Athelstan on account of his supposed illegitimacy, and Ælfweard’s full brother Edwin was allegedly involved in the plot. Athelstan does not appear to have established his authority in Wessex until mid 925, and he was not crowned until 4 September 925.

AÐELSTAN DCCCCXXV on the modern plinth of the Saxon Coronation Stone, Kingston upon Thames

On 17 July 924 Edward died, and confusion surrounds Athelstan’s accession. He immediately became King of Mercia, but in Wessex his half-brother Ælfweard was accepted as king. Ælfweard only outlived his father by sixteen days, but even after this there seems to have been opposition to Athelstan in Wessex, particularly in Winchester, where Ælfweard was buried. According to William of Malmesbury, Alfred plotted to blind Athelstan on account of his supposed illegitimacy, and Ælfweard’s full brother Edwin was allegedly involved in the plot. Athelstan does not appear to have established his authority in Wessex until mid 925, and he was not crowned until 4 September 925.

Political alliances seem to have been high on Athelstan’s agenda. Only a year after his crowning he married one of his sisters to Sihtric Cáech, the Viking King of Northumbria at Tamworth, who acknowledged Æthelstan as over-king, adopting Christianity. Within the year he may have abandoned his new faith and repudiated his wife, but before Æthelstan and he could fight, Sihtric died suddenly in 927. His kinsman, perhaps brother, Gofraid, who had remained as his deputy in Dublin, came from Ireland to take power in York, but failed. Æthelstan moved quickly, seizing much of Northumbria. This bold move brought the whole of England under one ruler for the first time, although this unity did not become permanent until 954. In less than a decade, the kingdom of the English had become by far the greatest power in the British Isles, perhaps stretching as far north as the Firth of Forth.

Like those of his predecessors, Athelstan’s court was in contact with the rest of Europe. His half-sisters married into European noble families. Ædgyth was married to future Holy Roman Emperor Otto, son of Henry I of Saxony. Alan II, Duke of Brittany and Haakon, son of Harald Fairhair of Norway, were both fostered in Æthelstan’s court, and he provided a home for Louis, the exiled son of Charles the Simple.

Detail of Athelstan from a stained-glass window at the chapel of All Souls College, Oxford

Athelstan might have considered his rule in some way imperial: the style basileus is found in his charters, whilst he is the first king to bear the title r[ex] tot[ius] B[ritanniae]. According to William of Malmesbury, relics such as the Sword of Constantine (Emperor of Rome) and the Lance of Charlemagne (first Holy Roman Emperor) came to Athelstan, suggesting that he was in some way being associated with past great rulers.
Although he established many alliances through his family, he does not appear to have married or had children, although there is an uncorroborated allusion in the twelfth century Liber Eliensis to a daughter.

Athelstan was religious and gave generously to the church in Wessex, and when he died in 939 at Gloucester he was buried at his favourite abbey (Malmesbury) rather than with his family at Winchester. Though his tomb is still there, his body was lost centuries later. There is nothing in the tomb beneath the statue, the relics of the king having been lost in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 by King Henry VIII. The remains may have been destroyed by the King’s Commissioners or hidden before the Commissioners arrived to close down the Abbey. In Malmesbury, his name lives on into the 20th and 21st centuries, with everything from a bus company and a second-hand shop to several roads and streets, as well as the Care Home opened in 2008, named after him. His patronage of the abbey, and his gift of freemen status to the town also lives on with the Warden and Freemen of Malmesbury.

He was succeeded by his younger half-brother, King Edmund I of England.

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Alfred the Great’s Son, Edward the Elder

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Regina Jeffers

Edward the Elder

Edward the Elder (Old English: Ēadweard se Ieldra; c. 874–877 – 17 July 924)  became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex. He captured the eastern Midlands and East Anglia from the Danes in 917 and became ruler of Mercia in 918 upon the death of Æthelflæd, his sister.

When Alfred died, Edward’s cousin Æthelwold, the son of King Æthelred of Wessex, rose up to claim the throne and began Æthelwold’s Revolt. He seized Wimborne, in Dorset, where his father was buried, and Christchurch (then in Hampshire, now in Dorset). Edward marched to Badbury and offered battle, but Æthelwold refused to leave Wimborne. Just when it looked as if Edward was going to attack Wimborne, Æthelwold left in the night, and joined the Danes in Northumbria, where he was announced as King. In the meantime, Edward is alleged to have been crowned at Kingston upon Thames on 8 June 900.

In 901, Æthelwold came with a fleet to Essex, and encouraged the Danes in East Anglia to rise up. In the following year he attacked English Mercia and northern Wessex. Edward retaliated by ravaging East Anglia, but when he retreated south the men of Kent disobeyed the order to retire, and were intercepted by the Danish army. The two sides met at the Battle of the Holme on 13 December 902. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Danes “kept the place of slaughter”, but they suffered heavy losses, including Æthelwold and a King Eohric, possibly of the East Anglian Danes.

Relations with the North proved problematic for Edward for several more years. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions that he made peace with the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes “of necessity”. There is also a mention of the regaining of Chester in 907, which may be an indication that the city was taken in battle.

In 909, Edward sent an army to harass Northumbria. In the following year, the Northumbrians retaliated by attacking Mercia, but they were met by the combined Mercian and West Saxon army at the Battle of Tettenhall, where the Northumbrian Danes were destroyed. From that point, they never raided south of the River Humber.

Edward then began the construction of a number of fortresses (burhs), at Hertford, Witham and Bridgnorth. He is also said to have built a fortress at Scergeat, but that location has not been identified. This series of fortresses kept the Danes at bay. Other forts were built at Tamworth, Stafford, Eddisbury and Warwick. These burhs were built to the same specifications (within centimetres) as those within the territory that his father had controlled; it has been suggested on this basis that Edward actually built them all.

Edward extended the control of Wessex over the whole of Mercia, East Anglia and Essex, conquering lands occupied by the Danes and bringing the residual autonomy of Mercia to an end in 918, after the death of his sister, Æthelflæd. Ætheflæd’s daughter, Ælfwynn, was named as her successor, but Edward deposed her, bringing Mercia under his direct control. He had already annexed the cities of London and Oxford and the surrounding lands of Oxfordshire and Middlesex in 911. By 918, all of the Danes south of the Humber had submitted to him. By the end of his reign, the Norse, the Scots and the Welsh had acknowledged him as “father and lord”.[15] This recognition of Edward’s overlordship in Scotland led to his successors’ claims of suzerainty over that Kingdom.
Edward reorganized the Church in Wessex, creating new bishoprics at Ramsbury and Sonning, Wells and Crediton. Despite this, there is little indication that Edward was particularly religious. In fact, the Pope delivered a reprimand to him to pay more attention to his religious responsibilities.

He died leading an army against a Welsh-Mercian rebellion, on 17 July 924 at Farndon-Upon-Dee and was buried in the New Minster in Winchester, Hampshire, which he himself had established in 901. After the Norman Conquest, the minster was replaced by Hyde Abbey to the north of the city and Edward’s body was transferred there. His last resting place is currently marked by a cross-inscribed stone slab within the outline of the old abbey marked out in a public park.

The portrait included here is imaginary and was drawn together with portraits of other Anglo-Saxon era monarchs by an unknown artist in the 18th century. Edward’s eponym the Elder was first used in the 10th century, in Wulfstan’s Life of St Æthelwold, to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr.

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A “Valentine” By Any Other Name – Sara Bennet’s “A Most Sinful Proposal”

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Regina Jeffers

A most wicked education…

Marissa Rotherhild has always behaved exactly as a proper lady should, and it has done absolutely nothing for her. So now she has made a most sinful proposal. She wants to live only for pleasure, and she wants Lord Valentine Kent to instruct her in the ways of love and lust. Caring not for scandal or the whispers of society, she craves his every wanton touch.

It is every rake’s fantasy.

A Most Sinful Proposal by Sara Bennet
Avon, April 13, 2010
ISBN-10: 0061339172
ISBN-13: 978-0061339172
(part of The Husband Hunters Club series)

Book Description
Lord Valentine Kent has never before been so tempted. Though he is every bit the gentleman, from the moment Marissa arrives at his country estate he can think of nothing but her wild, dark curls and luscious curves. But submitting to passion must wait until he completes the search for an ancestral treasure.

It is a most honorable endeavor.

But Kent and Marissa will soon discover that even the best of intentions is no match for a desire as desperate as theirs . . .

I shall begin by saying that I’m a Sara Bennett fan, but this book was not one of my favorites of hers. The story lacks anything to make it stand out from the many other Regency romances on the market. That being said, this novel is not a total waste of the reader’s time. Despite Valentine’s “unlordly” behavior, Bennett develops a believable character. He is an eccentric, but where Bennett truly shines is Valentine’s growing desire for Marissa. Add in Marissa’s bohemian grandmother, and the reader meets a series of characters not often found in historical romances. Perhaps, it’s the fact that they are all gathered in one book is what hurts this piece. Everyone likes a quirky character, but “A Most Sinful Proposal” houses a plethora of them. For Valentine’s Day, however, it could be an easy read. It is quite lusty in parts for those who prefer their novels in a milder strain.

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Meet Valentine Corbett in Suzanne Enoch’s “Sin and Sensibility”

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Regina Jeffers

Okay, it’s Valentine’s Day. So, I’m taking a look at a couple of books who have characters named Valentine. The first is Valentine Corbett, Marquis of Deverill from Sin and Sensibility by Suzanne Enoch. This book is part of the “Griffin Family” series.

Sin and Sensibility by Suzanne Enoch; An Avon Romantic Treasure Book; Copyright December 2004; ISBN 0-06-054325-6

Book Blurb: USA Today bestselling author Suzanne Enoch delights fans once again with this enchanting tale of a young lady determined to have an adventure and the white knight who charges to her rescue.

After yet another beau was chased away by her three over-protective brothers, Lady Eleanor Griffin decides she’s had enough. If she is to become a boring society wife, then she’s going to have some fun first. But when her adventure turns into more than what she bargained for, she is grateful for her knight in shining armour who rescued her from what was sure to become a scandalous situation.

Plot: Young Ladies Just Want to Have Fun… Unfortunately, Eleanor Griffin has three strapping brothers to frighten away any beau they deem unsuitable. She know she’s expected to marry eventually – probably some staid, crusty, old lord – but until that dary day dawns, Nell intends to enjoy herself. However, the Duke of Melbourne isn’t about to let his sister run completely wild, and he asks his best friend, the Marquis of Deverill, to keep a close eye on the spirited lovely.

Could any chaperone be less qualified – yet, more appreciated – than Valentine Corbett? Here is a man as sinful as he is attractive; a notorious rake, gambler, and pursuer of women, whom Nell has fancied since childhood. Alas, the irresistible rogue seems uncharacteristically determined to be honorable, despite the passionate longing in his gaze. And Nell must tread carefully, for she has promised to immediately wed whomever her siblings choose should so much as a hint of scandal arise…

Poor Eleanor has three very overbearing brothers: Charlemagne (Shay), Zachary, and Sebastian (the Duke of Melbourne). Some people who have criticized this book have done so because they saw Eleanor as petulant and spoiled. I, on the other hand, saw her as an adventurous spirit that needed direction. When one considers how restrictive the Regency Period was for women, any woman who demanded her independence could be seen as self-serving. Enoch uses this perception to her advantage in telling this story of the typical rake who is reformed. The “rake” story line is a tried and true element of Regency romances, and Enoch uses it well.

There is no earth shattering moments in this novel. It is simply a well told romance. Its strength lies in the wonderful romantic scenes leading up to Valentine and Eleanor’s coming together, and the wit, humor, and sensuality that fills each of their encounters. Women love the “bad boys,” and I admit to falling in love with Valentine Corbett. He was a charming rascal. So, unlike some who on Amazon left less than a stellar review of this story, I enjoyed this one in the Griffin Family series. In fact, it is Sebastian’s story from the series that I disliked, but we will revisit that novel at a later date.

I give this story 4 out of 5 stars for great romantic scenes.

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The Protocol of Being “At Home”

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Regina Jeffers

the Bennet ladies call on the Bingley household

During the Regency and Victorian Periods, ladies of the aristocracy rigorously made a daily round of social calls, which were governed by strictly adhered to conventions. Precedence and rank defined each of these engagements. However, there was a distinct difference between calls among the mercantile and professional class and those who could count their ancestors among the English nobility.

While in London, ladies of the house drove about town in their carriages, attended by a pair of appropriately attired footmen. When calling upon another, the footman would inquire of the “at home” status at the intended destination. A butler, footman, or hall porter would either admit the lady or inform the footman that his mistress was “not at home to callers.” If no admittance was achieved, the footman would leave three calling cards with the servant who responded to the door knocker: one card from the mistress of the house he served (intended for the lady of the house upon which his mistress called) and two cards from the footman’s master (intended for the mistress and master of the house upon which his mistress called).

the Bingleys survey their Meryton acquaintances

Rules of etiquette also prescribed how the cards were presented. The embossed cards were carried in a gold, silver, or ivory case.  Leaving a card with a turned up corner indicated that the lady had called in person.  A card inscribed with “p.p.c.” (pour prendre congé) indicated that the lady intended to leave town for a period of time.  At a house in mourning, the lady might write the words “to inquire” on the back to indicate she had made a sympathy call.

Even at a country ball, a precedence was strictly adhered to. An exclusive area was corded off for those of the upper ranks to separate them from the everyday riffraff that could attend a country assembly. Do you recall the image of the Bingleys and Mr. Darcy standing apart from the rest of those in attendance at the Meryton Assembly? In the 2005 film, note Mr. Darcy’s (Matthew Macfadyen) near snub of the forward Mrs. Bennet, who drags her daughters through the throng to be presented to Mr. Bingley. 

Tea was served between 4 and 5. With guests in the drawing room, the house’s mistress would ring for tea. A maid would deliver a tea cart that included a hanging silver kettle (often on a stand), a silver teapot, cream and sugar basins, and dainty cups and saucers of fine porcelain. When a guest departed, another maid was dispatched to accompany the person to the door.

From Project Gutenberg Ebook comes the book, Searchlights on Health by B. G. Jefferis and J. L. Nichols. Below are the “Etiquette of Calls” listed on page 56 of this book. (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13444/13444-h/13444-h.htm#page56).

ETIQUETTE OF CALLS.

In the matter of making calls it is the correct thing:

For the caller who arrived first to leave first.

To return a first call within a week and in person.

To call promptly and in person after a first invitation.

For the mother or chaperon to invite a gentleman to call.

To call within a week after any entertainment to which one has been invited.

You should call upon an acquaintance who has recently returned from a prolonged absence.

It as proper to make the first call upon people in a higher social position, if one is asked to do so.

It is proper to call, after an engagement has been announced, or a marriage has taken place, in the family.

For the older residents in the city or street to call upon the newcomers to their neighborhood is a long recognized custom.

It is proper, after a removal from one part of the city to another, to send out cards with one’s new address upon them.

To ascertain what are the prescribed hours for calling in the place where one is living, or making a visit, and to adhere to those hours is a duty that must not be overlooked.

A gentleman should ask for the lady of the house as well as the young ladies, and leave cards for her as well as for the head of the family.

 

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Eccentric Aristocrats

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Regina Jeffers

When we think of the life of the nobility, we rarely think of anything except a life of leisure and decadence. However, there were those who showed their “quirks.” Let us meet a few.

William Thomas Beckford (1 October 1760 – 2 May 1844), was an English novelist, a profligate and consummately knowledgeable art collector and patron of works of decorative art, a critic, travel writer and sometimes politcian, reputed to be the richest commoner in England. He was Member of Parliament for Wells from 1784 to 1790, for Hindon from 1790 to 1795 and 1806 to 1820. He is remembered as the author of the Gothic novel Vathek, the builder of the remarkable lost Fonthill Abbey and Landsdown Tower (“Beckford’s Tower”), Bath, and especially for his art collection.

On 5 May 1783 he married Lady Margaret Gordon, daughter of the fourth Earl of Aboyne. However, Beckford was bisexual, and was hounded out of polite English society when his letters to the Hon. William Courtenay, later 9th Earl of Devon, were intercepted by the boy’s uncle, who advertised the affair in the newspapers. Beckford chose exile in the company of his wife, whom he grew to love deeply, but who died in childbirth at the age of 24. He had an affair with his cousin Peter’s wife Louisa Pitt (c.1755-1791).

At Fonthill Abbey, Beckford refused the use of servants’ bells in the rooms, except the one his daughter, the Duchess of Hamilton, used. Instead, his servants were made to crouch in low, narrow ante-rooms so that they could respond immediately to his command. When traveling, he took his French cook with him to prepare his omelettes, as well as transporting his bed for a good night’s sleep. Although Beckford rarely entertained, he often order an elaborate dinner set for twelve. However, Beckford would dine in solitude, eating only one course and sending back the rest.

William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 1779 – 24 November 1848) was a British Whig statesman who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). He is best known for his intense and successful mentoring of Queen Victoria, at ages 18–21, in the ways of politics. Historians conclude that Melbourne does not rank high as a prime minister, for there were no great foreign wars or domestic issues to handle, he lacked major achievements and enunciated no grand principles. “But he was kind, honest, and not self-seeking.” Melbourne held a great dislike for carrying a watch, but with his position, he must be on time for appointments and other matters of business. Therefore, he would shout out to his servants for the time. 

Adeline Louisa Maria, Countess of Cardigan and Lancastre (24 December 1824 – 25 May 1915) was the second wife of English peer James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade, and later the wife of the Portuguese nobleman Don António Manuel de Saldanha e Lancastre, Conde de Lancastre. She was the author of scandalous memoirs, My Recollections, published in 1909 under the name Adeline Louisa Maria de Horsey Cardigan and Lancastre, though strictly speaking she was not allowed by the rules governing the British peerage to join her former and current titles together. Her book detailed events and people coupled with gossip concerning the establishment of Victorian England. After her marriage to the Earl of Cardigan in 1858, Queen Victoria had refused to have her at court because Cardigan had left his first wife after wooing her away from her husband, Lt. Col. Christian Johnstone, a childhood friend. Adeline liked to “dress” for dinner: she would often appear as a nun or a Spanish dancer. In her final years, she kept her coffin in the hallway. Several times per day, she ordered her butler to lift her into the box to assure herself that she fit.

Henry Cavendish (10 October 1731–24 February 1810) was a British scientist noted for his discovery of hydrogen or what he called “inflammable air.” Cavendish lived the life of a recluse. He would communicate with his housekeeper by scribbling messages that he left on a table outside his bedroom. He was also known to dismiss any female servant to cross his path during the day. The female servants were to be neither SEEN nor HEARD.

George William Francis Sackville Russell, 10th Duke of Bedford (16 April 1852 – 23 March 1893) was a Liberal member of Parliament for Bedfordshire between 1875 and 1885, when the constituency was abolished. He was High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1889. In 1891, Russell inherited the title of Duke of Bedford, together with Woburn Abbey and several other estates, which went with it. Like Cavendish, Bedford was something of a recluse. He would dismiss any female servant he encountered after noon, when her work must be completed.

Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (11 November 1756–11 February 1829), known as Francis Egerton until 1823, was a noted British eccentric, and supporter of natural theology. Egerton was known for giving dinner parties for dogs, where the dogs were dressed in the finest fashions of the day, down to fancy miniature shoes. Each day Egerton wore a new pair of shoes, and he arranged the worn shoes into rows, so that he could measure the passing time. An animal lover, Egerton kept partridges and pigeons with clipped wings in his garden, allowing him to shoot them despite failing eyesight. Egerton never married, and upon his death, his title became extinct.

William John Cavendish Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland (12 September 1800 – 6 December 1879), styled Lord William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck before 1824 and Marquess of Titchfield between 1824 and 1854, was a British aristocrat eccentric who preferred to live in seclusion. He had an underground maze excavated under his estate at Welbeck Abbey near Clumber Park in North Nottinghamshire.

Welbeck Abbey contains none of the normal show of grandeur. The rooms were stripped of portraits and tapestries. The rooms were painted pink and touted bare parquetry floors, with no furniture other than a commode. The Duke lived in 5 rooms in the west wing. They, too, were sparsely furnished. The 22 acres’ kitchen gardens had braziers within the walls to help ripen the fruit. A riding house (396 feet x 108 feet x 50 feet) was lit by 4000 gas jets. The Duke’s stables contained 100 horses, but he never rode them in the riding house. One can also find a roller skating rink.

Underground, one finds a series of tunnels and usable rooms. Totaling 15 miles, the tunnels connected the underground rooms to those above ground level. There was a 1000 yards tunnel that connected the house to the riding house. These were not narrow crawl-through structures. Instead, a person could stand upright within them. One tunnel, 1.25 miles long, ran northeast from the coach house to South Lodge. Reportedly, within, carriages going in opposite directions could pass each other safely. Domed skylights and gaslights illuminated the tunnel.

Like those above ground, those underground chambers were painted pink. A great hall, which served as a chapel, a portrait gallery, and occasionally as a ballroom, was 160 feet long and 63 feet wide. Reportedly, the ballroom was equipped with a hydraulic lift that could carry 20 guests from the surface to the ballroom. The ceiling was painted to represent a setting sun. One could also find a 250 foot long library, an observatory with a large glass roof, and a vast billiards room.

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Alfred the Great, England’s Strong and Righteous Ruler

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Regina Jeffers

19th century depiction of Alfred the Great

The fifth son of Aethelwulf, Alfred was born in 849. He came to the throne in 871. Immediately, he was met with the daunting task of ridding his country of the Vikings. The Viking raids had established many Danish settlements, and in 867, the Vikings seized York and established a kingdom in southern Northumbria. The Vikings had already defeated both East Anglia and Mercia. Finally, in 870, the Danes attacked the only remaining independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom – that of Wessex, whose forces were commanded by King Aethelred and his younger brother Alfred.

In 871, Alfred defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Ashdown, but soon his older brother Aethelred was killed, and Alfred came to the throne. In 878, the Danish king Guthrum seized Chippenham in Wiltshire, providing the Danes with a stronghold in the area. With a small army made up of his royal bodyguards, thegns (the King’s followers) and Aethelnoth, earldorman of Somerset, Alfred withdrew to make a stand in the Somerset tidal marshes.

Queen Osburga reads for her son Alfred, who would become Alfred the Great.

From his fortified base at Athelney in Somerset, Alfred led quick strike raids against the Danish forces. In May 878, Alfred defeated the Danes at the Battle of Edington. However, Alfred realized he could not drive the Danes from the rest of England, so he sought a peace treaty. King Guthrum converted to Christianity with Alfred as godfather to his children.

King Alfred's Tower (1772) on the supposed site of Egbert's Stone, the mustering place before the Battle of Ethandun

“In 886, Alfred negotiated a partition treaty with the Danes, in which a frontier was demarcated along the Roman Watling Street and northern and eastern England came under the jurisdiction of the Danes – an area known as ‘Danelaw.’ Alfred, therefore, gained control of areas of West Mercia and Kent, which had been beyond the boundaries of Wessex.” (The Official Website of the British Monarchy)

Alfred changed how the British army responded to a crisis by developing a “rapid reaction force,” which would respond to immediate attacks from the outside or within the kingdom.  He also encouraged the establishment of well-defended settlements along the southern border. “These well fortified market places (‘borough’ comes from the Old English burh, meaning fortress); by deliberate royal planning, settlers received plots and in return manned the defences in times of war. (Such plots in London under Alfred’s rule in the 880s shaped the street plan, which still exists today between Cheapside and the Thames.)

Statue of Alfred the Great by Hamo Thornycroft in Winchester, unveiled during the millenary celebrations of Alfred's death.

This obligation required careful recording in what became known as ‘the Burghal Hidage’, which gave details of the building and manning of Wessex and Mercian burhs according to their size, the length of their ramparts and the number of men needed to garrison them.

Centred round Alfred’s royal palace in Winchester, this network of burhs with strongpoints on the main river routes was such that no part of Wessex was more than 20 miles from the refuge of one of these settlements. Together with a navy of new fast ships built on Alfred’s orders, southern England now had a defence in depth against Danish raiders.”

Plaque in the City of London noting the restoration of the Roman walled city by Alfred

In 891, Alfred’s greatest fame began. He compiled the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, written in the language of the people, rather than the Latin used by the church, outlines the political, social, and economic events that marked the history of Britain. Later, he translated Orosius’s Historia Adversus Paganos and Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation. Alfred died in 899 at the age of 50. He was the only English king to be called “Great.”

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