Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i History Extra

“It was while we were putting this issue together that the sad news broke of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Philip was a fixture of British public life for almost three-quarters of a century, and indeed only a minority of Britons can recall a time when he was not the royal consort. Over his 99 years Philip witnessed a huge variety of social and cultural developments, and in a special feature this month Alwyn Turner explores how Philip’s own life embodied many of these changes. You’ll find that on page 58. For our cover story we’re revisiting one of the most important episodes of English history: the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian faith. In the traditional telling this was largely a benign, peaceful affair, but…

EYE-OPENER Lost metropolis These walls emerging from the sand offer the first glimpse of an ancient city long buried beneath Egypt’s desert. The metropolis, found late last year, is the largest ancient city ever discovered in the country. Known as So’oud Atun, it dates from more than 3,000 years ago and was built during the reign of Amenhotep III, a period of cultural and economic prosperity for Egypt. Experts have identified several neighbourhoods in the city, including an administrative area and a residential district. Discoveries so far include a bakery complete with ovens, coloured pottery, and amulets shaped like scarab beetles. Archaeologists are now working to learn more about the residents of this sprawling urban settlement. Betsy Bryan, Alexander Badawy professor of Egyptian art and archaeology at Johns Hopkins University,…

The story of how the Anglo-Saxons came to be converted to Christianity begins in Rome, at some point towards the end of the sixth century. A monk named Gregory (who in 590 became Pope Gregory I) was walking through the market when he noticed some unusual-looking boys being sold as slaves. Struck by their beauty, he asked where they were from and was told they were Angles, prompting a famous pun. “Good”, he reportedly replied. “They have the face of angels, and such men should be the fellow heirs of angels in heaven.” Such at least was the tale told by the Venerable Bede, writing around 150 years after these events, who indicated he didn’t set very much store in its credibility. But, like all good legends, it was grounded…

It is surprising what you can learn from reading medieval romances. One much-loved tale gives this handy tip: if you are a beautiful woman and you are wondering how to keep unwanted suitors at bay, why not put some rotting chicken meat under your armpits? Once admirers get a whiff, all amorous attention is guaranteed to stop. This is probably the first recorded use of a chastity chicken. The chicken is one of the main plot points of Paris and Vienne, a romance that took medieval Europe by storm from the early 15 th century (the best-known version was composed around 1432). It was all the rage at the courts of Burgundy. The famous printer William Caxton translated it into English. Sweden’s last Catholic bishop had a copy, and so…

100mph In the early 1950s, Triumph launchedtheir answer to the market-leading Jaguar XK120 sports car, the TR2. Capable of reaching a top speed of more than 100mph, it cost less than £1,000 and was much loved in Britain and America. By 1913, on the eve of the First World War, there were 20 manufacturers inCoventry, employing more than12,000 workers and turning out 9,000 vehicles a year. There weredozens of component manufacturerstoo – making everything from enginesand car bodies to the nuts and boltsthat held them together. 98 Jaguar test-driver Norman Dewis diedin 2019, aged 98, a legend of the Coventry car industry. In the 1955 Le Mans race, Norman narrowly escaped the tragic accident that killed 83 spectators. The Rootes Group archive sited near Banbury is dedicated to preservingthe memory…

The human and cultural dimensions of penal transportation are the focus of this “collective biography” of convicts sent overseas to Britain’s imperial possessions. Some of these convicts were transported following judicial process. In the period before the arrival of the First Fleet in Botany Bay in 1788, though, others were kidnapped, inveigled or otherwise sent extrajudicially to North America and the Caribbean. According to author Graham Seal, over the four centuries in which the policy was in force, there developed a strong association between poverty and transportation. Alongside dissenters and political enemies, this system came also to ensnare vagrants, idlers, thieves, sex workers, orphans and others in what Seal calls an “empire of chains”. Condemned explores this association, taking readers on a series of journeys alongside a cast of “colourful…

In this immensely enjoyable book, Edmund Richardson takes us on parallel journeys to discover a “lost city”. First, we follow his own journey through the forests of archives, libraries and other hidden treasure troves that he has combed over the past decade. Simultaneously, we trace the mission, painstakingly reconstructed here, undertaken by 19th-century explorer and archaeologist Charles Masson, who deserted the army to hunt for Alexandria. The two journeys intersect in numerous ways. Richardson himself walks in the footsteps of his protagonist, visiting the places where Masson stayed. As a result, the book is pleasingly redolent of the locations it describes. More intriguingly and entertainingly, though, the two journeys collide as the author does battle with Masson’s accounts, trying to unpick the elaborate web of tales, legends and outright lies…

In March 1800, following a tense and divisive conclave that dragged on for more than three months, Barnaba Chiaramonti was elected to the papacy, taking the pontifical name of Pius VII. To many who knew him, he seemed modest and unassuming – in the words of the author of this new book, “a meek Italian Benedictine monk” – but he would soon show a steely and stubborn side to his character. The new pope’s election came at a moment when relations between church and state in Europe had been undermined by Enlightenment humanism and the anticlericalism of the French Revolution, and for most of his pontificate he would face in Napoleon Bonaparte the most ruthless of adversaries. In this enthralling study, Ambrogio Caiani gives a vivid account of the struggle…

IN PROFILE Eric Liddell was a British Olympic gold medallist, Scottish rugby union player and Christian missionary whose story was immortalised in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire (1981). Born in China to Scottish parents, he refused to run on a Sunday at the 1924 Olympic Games because of his religious beliefs, but he went on to win the 400-metre race. He later worked as a Christian missionary in China, where he died in a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War aged just 43. “He had to be very strong-willed to stay true to his Christian beliefs, despite the promise of Olympic glory on the athletic track” When did you first hear about Eric Liddell? I suppose like many people, when I watched Chariots of Fire as a…

Marc Morris I spent the last five years researching and writing a book on the Anglo-Saxons. The process by which a pagan people were converted to Christianity was one I found particularly fascinating. Marc argues that the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons was a brutal affair on page 22 Shushma Malik My current work explores the afterlives of Roman emperors – such as Marcus Aurelius – and how these seemingly familiar political figures have been represented in different places and at different times. Shushma reveals why the man of peace decided to take up the sword on page 50 Scott Ellsworth As a child growing up in the middle of the United States, I had heard stories of my hometown’s hidden tragedy. A century later, we’re still learning more. Scott chronicles…

Dear #medievaltwitter, if you were going to attempt a ‘history of the Middle Ages in 30 objects’ type of tutorial for a student who is getting interested in curatorial studies, what are some of your must-include items?” So tweeted Holly Barbaccia (@TrobadoraB) recently. As ever, fellow users of the social network were quick to oblige. Ahmet D Altunbaş (@Ricoldus) was the first to respond: “I know it’s a bit clichéd, but I’d never go out without my leper bell, which is representative of a certain period.” Carrie Benes (@cebenes2) selected the “[12th-century] Winchester Bible or Gentile da Fabriano’s [1423 painting] Adoration of the Magi”, while other tweeters also highlighted the key role played by medieval documents and their production. Blaise (@blaisepascal2nd) nominated Johannes Gutenberg’s 15th-century printing press, while Jule Meyer…

With the disappearance and death of Sarah Everard in south London in March, women’s safety – and their rights to use public spaces without the fear of coming to harm – have dominated news headlines and social media. Sarah was walking from Clapham to Brixton, a journey that should have taken her 50 minutes. How could a woman go missing simply walking home from a friend’s house? More than 70 per cent of women in the UK say they have experienced sexual harassment in public. Debate about this case has brought forward numerous stories from other women about instances where they have felt threatened in public spaces, together with comments implying that a woman on her own should not have been walking at night in an urban space. Although men…

Fifty years ago, on 17 June 1971, President Richard Nixon declared to the Washington press core that America had a new enemy. For a change it wasn’t the Soviet Union, or China, or even communism more generally: it was narcotics. “America’s public enemy number one is drug abuse,” Nixon claimed. To fight it, it was necessary “to wage a new, all-out offen sive”. Within days, US newspapers took up the metaphor. The United States was now engaged in a “war on drugs”. Using martial metaphors to describe counter-narcotic efforts was nothing new. Harry Anslinger, America’s long-time drug tsar, had claimed that opium poppy fields held “as much potential disaster as an atom bomb”. And during the early years of the Cold War, he portrayed his agency, the Federal Bureau of…

596 Pope Gregory the Great dispatches St Augustine from Rome to convert the Anglo-Saxons. Augustine arrives the following year and soon converts King Æthelberht of Kent. 616 Æthelberht dies, and a pagan reaction follows in both Kent and Essex, with the bishops of London and Rochester chased from their dioceses by new pagan rulers. 627 King Eadwine of Northumbria is baptised by Paulinus, who becomes the first bishop of York, but Eadwine dies in battle six years later. 635 King Oswald of Northumbria (pictured below) founds an abbey on Lindisfarne with Irish monks from the island of Iona. The first abbot is St Aidan. 655 Penda, the last pagan king of Mercia, dies in battle, and the conversion of the midland kingdom begins in earnest. Monks from Lindisfarne also re-evangelise…

United States 1981 Clinical reports began to describe clusters of a rare type of pneumonia and other unusual infections among gay men and then injecting drug users, in California and New York. News of this novel disease was picked up by the gay press. Different names and possible explanations were floated and the term “Aids” was coined in 1982, but the original idea of a “gay plague” proved difficult to dislodge. Cuba 1983 The government set up a National Aids Commission and ordered the destruction of all blood products imported from overseas. Law 41 was passed, giving the Ministry of Public Health power to enforce the quarantining and mandatory treatment of anyone affected by diseases deemed to pose significant community risk. The first case of HIV was diagnosed three years…

1897 The first cars made in Britain are built by Daimler in Coventry. Soon after, Humber and Rover are among the many Coventry cycle companies that switch to making cars. 1931 The Standard Motor Company introduces the mass assembly line to Coventry. Output shoots up from 8,000 to 55,000 cars a year (in 1939). 1935 Having moved his car company from Blackpool to Coventry, William Lyons launches the SS Jaguar (pictured below), a game-changer brimming with design flair. 14 November 1940 The Luftwatte blitzes Coventry, killing hundreds of people, destroying the Triumph and Rover factories, and badly damaging others. 1950s Car production in the city doubles, led by the launch of the Standard Eight in 1953. Priced at under £500, it is Britain’s cheapest car, affordable to many working-class families.…

Nathen Amin on Henry VII’s path to the throne “Henry Tudor was by far the unlikeliest man ever to sit on the English throne. For the majority of his lifetime, no one would have thought that this minor Welsh noble would become king. He certainly beat the odds, and he did so pretty much on the back of his own character and determination – and also thanks to a massive stroke of luck. Ultimately, he was the right man, in the right place, at the right time.” Linda Colley on the rise of constitutions “There have been versions of constitutions in various societies from ancient times. But I wanted to understand why, from around 1750, new kinds of print-based, highly publicised constitutions began to emerge and spread exponentially across continents,…

War has long been understood as men’s business. The memoirs of generals and front-line soldiers compete for shelf space with edited collections of letters from soldiers and military histories largely written by men. This book is a salutary reminder that it is not only men who experience wars, and it is not only men who report on them. War correspondents such as The Sunday Times’ Marie Colvin, killed in Syria covering the siege of Homs in 2012, have brought the realities of war into our homes, bearing witness to human suffering while reporting battles, advances and retreats. Mackrell’s lively book tells the stories of six of the female journalists who reported on the Second World War. Some, such as Martha Gellhorn and Lee Miller, are well known, others, like Virginia…

This passionate historical narrative recounts the lives of Alberta King, Louise Little and Berdis Baldwin, the mothers of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and James Baldwin. As Tubbs notes, whereas those “world-changing men” are easily recognised in historical texts, their mothers have been overlooked, forgotten and nearly erased from histories on the struggle for black equality in the United States. These three women, she contends, not only gave birth to three extraordinary men but also “to the civil rights movement itself”. As well as being a clear and multifaceted biographical sketch, this is also a celebration of black motherhood. Tubbs uses their stories to “celebrate knowledge passed from generation to generation through the bodies and teachings of black women... Because of who Alberta, Berdis and Louise were, Martin, James…

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The announcement of the discovery of what could be a Roman villa complex near Scarborough has created excitement among archaeologists – and highlighted the vulnerability of such sites to criminal activity. Work carried out last year at the site of a new housing development in the village of Eastfield suggests the presence of a large complex of buildings. As well as a circular central room from which a number of other rooms extend, experts also uncovered what’s thought to have been a bath house. It’s the first time that such a layout has been found in Britain, and may also be the first of its kind to be discovered anywhere in the Roman empire. A Historic England (HE) statement described the find as “easily the most important Roman discovery of…

“For the historian Glastonbury is a conundrum, full of invented stories” It’s almost that time of year when fans of Glastonbury Festival would normally be airing sleeping bags and checking the camping stove. We’ve been going for years and are feeling especially sad that it’s off for a second year running. And it’s not just the festival. It’s always great to return to the “Summer Land”, as medieval poets etymologised Somerset. Of all the mythic landscapes of the British Isles, surely this is the most resonant – King Arthur and Avalon, the Holy Grail, Joseph of Arimathea, Blake’s Jerusalem. From the hill above the Pyramid stage, the Tor with its mysterious manmade striations rises like a magic mountain – beckoning. In the town are shops called the Goddess and the…

Christianity had originally been introduced to Britain as early as the third century, when the island was part of the Roman empire. When St Augustine and his companions arrived at the end of the sixth century to convert the Anglo-Saxons, therefore, they were able in some instances to make use of surviving Roman architecture. King Æthelberht of Kent, says Bede, initially let them use a church just outside Canterbury “built in ancient times in honour of St Martin”, previously used by his queen, Bertha, who had been raised as a Christian in her native Francia. Although rebuilt in later centuries, this church still stands, and its walls contain reused Roman material. A little while later, Augustine, with Æthelberht’s assistance, restored another ancient church located within the city walls. This became…

Living the high life Just what does it take to make a hermit? According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it’s “a person who lives alone and apart from the rest of society, especially for religious reasons”. But in reality, these characters can be far more complex. For more than 1,500 years holy, eccentric or billionaire recluses have been figures of fascination – but also of paradox. One example is a monk named Simeon. While he lived in the monastery of Teleda, Syria, in c411 AD, he sparked many complaints. Simeon smelled so bad that no one could bear to stand near him. Further investigation revealed that he had bound a rope around himself beneath his tunic, yanking it so tightly that his flesh had rotted, and his bed was full of…

AD 121 Marcus Aurelius is born to parents Marcus Annius Verus and Domitia Lucilla. 138 Marcus is adopted by Antoninus Pius. Shortly after, on the death of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius becomes emperor. 161 Marcus becomes co-emperor with Lucius Verus. His wife, Faustina, gives birth to twins, one of whom dies in 165. 168 As plague ravages Rome, Marcus and Lucius head north. They station themselves in Aquileia at the tip of the Adriatic. 169 Lucius Verus dies, possibly of plague. Marcus Aurelius is now Rome’s sole emperor. c170 The Quadi and Marcomanni invade north Italy and lay siege to Aquileia. 171-74 Marcus leads a series of campaigns against, and diplomatic negotiations with, groups from the other side of the Rhine and Danube. One of his legions is saved by the…

Petrifying play In January 1926, the BBC interrupted a broadcast from Edinburgh to report that there were riots on London’s streets, the Savoy Hotel had been blown up and a government minister had been hanged from a lamppost in Vauxhall. Many people panicked, thinking red revolution had come to Britain. In fact, as in the case of the 1938 Orson Welles broadcast of The War of the Worlds, listeners had tuned in to a play – a 12-minute parody of a news bulletin. Dung deal The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus reportedly died after he coated himself with cow dung and was attacked by dogs. There are different stories about his death but, according to the historian Neanthes of Cyzicus, Heraclitus, suffering from dropsy, believed that he could effect…

In August 1942, a huge British fleet entered the Mediterranean. It was heading to the island of Malta, which had been enduring relentless air attacks from German and Italian forces and was running desperately short of food, fuel and ammunition. Fourteen merchant vessels were guarded by an armada of warships. But Operation Pedestal, as the action was known, still represented an enormous risk as the fleet would have to navigate waters infested with German and Italian ships and submarines, while enemy bombers circled overhead. Several days of fierce combat in the Mediterranean saw numerous British ships sunk and disabled, with hundreds of lives lost. Yet enough supplies made it through to Malta to enable the island fortress to hold out and remain in British hands for the remainder of the…

There has been a flurry of books in recent years about the female agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), including multiple biographies of Noor Inayat Khan, Christine Granville (Krystyna Skarbek) and Virginia Hall. There have also been a number of general accounts of SOE women working undercover in Nazi-occupied France, with a focus on oft-repeated stories of high adventure and derring-do. Kate Vigurs’ new book takes a different approach. She has investigated the lives and undercover work of all 39 women who served with the SOE in France, including those whose stories have never before been told. In so doing, she provides a fascinating account of the dangers to which they were exposed. SOE started to employ women (about 3,200 in total) in the spring of 1942, two years…

@mojorisingkc Robert Harris’s Fatherland imagines a world in which Germany won the war. Excellent and believable take on what the Third Reich might have appeared like 15 years later. @DiogoMorg The Years of Rice and Salt really goes for it, with the Black Death killing more than 90 per cent of Europe’s population, and the Enlightenment happening in central Asia. @david86788046 Asterix the Gaul! @hextall_lufc The Terror by Dan Simmons. It doesn’t throw real history out the window but, rather, does a great job of blending many of the actual possible events with some obvious fiction. @Uniped1975 The Berkut by Joseph Heywood is a fantastic alternative history about Hitler’s fate in the last days of the war in Berlin. Just brilliant. @Vincent Pate 1632 by Eric Flint is about time…

What are the challenges of depicting characters as familiar as Henry VIII and his wives in fiction? With any subject that attracts a lot of attention and debate, it’s important to keep the narrative moving along. A novelist has to make choices, where a historian would lay out the evidence and suggest theories. Such choices can prove controversial, but there can be perils in whatever path you take. Language is another challenge – how far do you modernise Tudor English, when some of the source material is well known? What popular misconceptions about Katharine Parr have you encountered? Little attention is paid to the fact that she had two husbands before Henry VIII. Those earlier years of her life saw both drama and tragedy, and helped to shape her outlook…

Historian and broadcaster DAVID OLUSOGA tells us about his new four-part series on the breakthroughs that have helped humanity conquer some of the world’s deadliest diseases – and double our life expectancies What story do you tell in Extra Life? It’s traditional in television history to say that everything is the most important story in the world. I try not to say that, but there is an argument that Extra Life tells one of the most important stories in history by talking about some of our great successes. We talk about disasters, we talk about wars, we talk about dynasties, but we don’t tend to talk about the background successes that have changed everyone’s lives. Public health, medicine, vaccines, behavioural changes – these things have absolutely transformed our lives. The…

Across 1 A member of the Gang of Four, the most influential woman in the People’s Republic of China until her downfall in 1976 (5,4) 6 Garry ____, US author and historian, awarded the Pulitzer prize for his Lincoln at Gettysburg (1992) (5) 9 First of the “Five Good Emperors”, the succession of Roman rulers that included Trajan and Hadrian (5) 10 During the Civil War, a ____ soldier was known as a Cavalier (8) 12 City in south-west England, named Aquae Sulis by its Roman founders (4) 13 Dame ___ ___ (left), distinguished English composer. Her close involvement with the suffragette movement inspired her work “The March of the Women” (1911) (5,5) 14 Political philosophy named after the Yugoslav communist leader who maintained his country’s independence from the Soviet…

Male royal consorts through history Prince Philip was royal consort for nearly seven decades, always keeping “two steps behind” his wife and queen. Following the news of his death, Sarah Gristwood explores the lives of male consorts to queens regnant through British history. historyextra.com/royal-consorts Leonardo da Vinci’s private relationships As a new drama starring Aidan Turner portrays the Renaissance polymath’s work and relationships, historian Catherine Fletcher considers what is known about the private, romantic and sexual life of Leonardo da Vinci. historyextra.com/leonardo-relationships HistoryExtra’s 1000th podcast episode For episode 1,000 of our HistoryExtra podcast, medieval historian Dan Jones takes us on a whistle-stop tour through the last millennium of British history. And don’t forget to check out our extensive podcast archive, too. historyextra.com/1000th-episode HistoryExtra newsletters We’ve recently launched a number of…