Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i History Extra

“What does progress mean to you? And in which periods of history can we see it most clearly? I expect if you asked the average Briton these questions, they probably wouldn’t point to the medieval era as being a time of transformation. After all, this was long before the advances of the industrial revolution and the digital era. But perhaps we should think again. For as Ian Mortimer argues in our cover feature, we need to “take off our technology-tinted spectacles and look at the world with fresh eyes”. By focusing on society, culture and psychology, as opposed to science and technology, the Middle Ages is revealed as a time of astonishing change. You can read his argument on page 20. Sticking with the medieval theme, this issue were examining…

What does the word “medieval” summon up in your mind? Whether the first thing you imagine is a castle or a monastery, the chances are that the word will come with connotations of violence, ignorance, lawlessness and superstition. You only need to think of Marsellus Wallace’s line in the film Pulp Fiction to know what I mean: “I’m gonna git medieval on your ass.” Even if you’re not a Quentin Tarantino fan, you will have come across the word “medieval” frequently applied by journalists and politicians to the Taliban in Afghanistan or the Russian troops occupying Ukrainian towns. In short, many people today use “medieval” as a synonym for “uncivilised”. Historians have generally been unable to shift these perceptions in the public mind, and a few have sought to exploit…

A history of phobias Terrain of terror Social upheaval has been linked to agoraphobia, which can refer to a dread of open spaces as well as a fear of crowds In 1871, Berlin psychiatrist Carl Otto Westphal found himself treating several men with a terror of traversing the city. One patient, a 32-year-old travelling salesman, had a dread of neighbourhoods in which the streets were deserted and the shops shut. At the edge of the city, where the houses ran out, his nerve would fail him entirely. He was disturbed by busy spaces, too, and experienced palpitations when boarding an omnibus or entering a theatre. Westphal's study of these afflicted men led him to coin a new word to describe the condition: agoraphobia. Derived from the Greek agora, or marketplace,…

Fake fruit During the Second World War, British cooks devised recipes for "mock bananas" - parsnips flavoured with banana essence -as substitutes for the fruit. In 1940, the Minister for Food banned the importation of bananas because they were transported in refrigerated ships that were needed for other wartime purposes. A popular song of the period was 'When Can I Have a Banana Again?' The answer, it seems, was: 'Not Now-You'll Have to Make Do with a BananaFlavoured Parsnip'. Bird-brained idea In the fourth century BC, a Greek inventor reportedly built: a wooden, steam-propelled flying pigeon. Working inTarentum (now Taranto, southern Italy), the mathematician and Pythagorean philosopher Archytas created a bird-shaped machine able to travel 200 metres through the air- to the astonishment of his fellow citizens. If accounts of…

What’s the historical context to your new novel? In the half century or so before Canadian confederation in 1867, there were several historical moments widely considered to have defined our national identity. For In the Upper ^ Country, I chose to focus on two of these: the Underground Railroad and the War of 1812. In 1850, when the Fugitive Slave Act came into effect in the US, many black people could no longer find safety in the northern states, so they ventured into nearby British territory. Thus Canada became the promised land of the Underground Railroad. Four decades earlier, English, French, Indigenous nations and black “loyalists” had banded together to fight off a US military offensive. In so doing, they forged a pluralist Canadian identity. However, it would be easy…

I came across this book when I was at university. It was on the reading list for a course on anthropological approaches to history, and it completely blew my mind. It’s about popular beliefs in 16th and 17th-century England, and how people sought religious and magical remedies to deal with misfortune - disease, fire, floods, harvest failure and so on. Thomas explores the pre-industrial past as if it were a foreign country. He peels off its layers and hangs out with the people as they seek to get a grip on the natural world. We meet the minister of Hitchin, who blamed the plague of 1665 on the local prostitute, and Goodwife Veazy, an expert in combating “ringworm, tetter-worm and canker-worm”. We find the conjurers Bubb and Bostock helping clients…

You might assume that a book about books (more specifically, about their early history) would tell a worthy but somewhat dull tale - a story of aged scholars confined to dusty libraries, perhaps, far removed from the routines and occasional dramas of the real world. That assumption would, however, be wrong. Papyrus is far from dull. Author Irene Vallejo takes the reader on an epic and occasionally dangerous adventure. The story starts in Ptolemaic Alexandria, where the ruthless king of Egypt is prepared to risk lives to create the world's greatest library, and ends with the collapse of the Roman empire. Along the way we visit more-modern libraries, we dip into more-modern literature and we meet a host of forceful characters. These range from the cultured and (allegedly) sensual Cleopatra,…

Across 10 Lizzie Borden 11 Ulundi 12 Speakeasy 13 St Patrick 15 Ossian 17 Sin 18 Langton 21 SOSUS 23 Reading 24 Congo 25 Korczak 26 Assassin 29 Horsa 30 Horatio 32 Angle 33 Plotter 35 UVF 36 Tibet 39 Ordainers 41 Netanyahu 43 Elijah 44 Masonic lodge Down 1 Almshouse 2 Aztecs 3 Silk 4 U-boat 5 Freya Stark 6 Helsinki 7 Blyton 8 RNLI 9 Dickinson 14 Phlogiston 16 Assyria 19 Tenzing 20 Crazy Horse 22 Sukarno 24 Cassatt 26 Act of Union 27 Ship money 28 Gertrude 31 Rousseau 34 Taiwan 37 Brandt 38 Stoic 40 Dail 42 Nile The winner of a bundle of history books: D Hill, Tyne and Wear…

MY HISTORY HERO Novelist Monica Ali chooses IN PROFILE Sir Richard Burton was a British explorer, writer, scholar, soldier and linguist. A one-time captain in the army of the East India Company, he later explored the east coast of Africa, and was one of the first two Europeans to see Lake Tanganyika (see our article on page 8). A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, he was reputed to speak more than 20 languages. He was buried in London in a tomb shaped like a Bedouin tent. “He wanted to explore himself and his surroundings. That’s why his books are greater than his journeys - and why the man is greater than his career” When did you first hear about Burton? Gosh - it was 25 or more years ago, when I…

Lucy Wooding Everyone thinks that they know the story of the Tudors, but away from the glittering world of the court there were millions of ordinary people contending with the challenges of plague, warfare and profound political uncertainty." Lucy reveals what the lives of eight ordinary Tudors can tell us about the era on page 52 James Bulgin “The Holocaust was not the product of a faceless, anonymous machine, but of individual choices, decisions and actions. Examining the early phases of mass murder reveals this with terrible clarity." James examines how the Nazis' brutal campaigns in the USSR paved the way for the Holocaust on page 46 Caroline Dodds Pennock "In my new book, I look at the ways that Indigenous peoples saw Europe and Europeans. For them, this continent…

“The plan at Wythenshawe was to build the world’s largest garden city” IT’S OBVIOUS, I KNOW, BUT HOMES MATTER IN history. For the citizens of a state, they are one of the biggest single influences on a happy life. I recently spoke at the opening of a fascinating exhibition at the Town and Country Planning Association. Founded in 1899, the charity is part of a British utopian tradition that goes back to the 19th-century designer and artist William Morris and the associated Arts and Crafts movement - and, I dare say, long before that. It still lobbies today for the principle of affordable liveable housing. The exhibition explores the creation in the 1920s of the modern-day south Manchester district of Wythenshawe, where I grew up and went to primary school.…

“Olive’s role in the BBC’s earliest days deserves to be remembered” WHEN WE CONSIDER THE BBC’S FIRST 100 YEARS, distinguished director generals come to mind, along with famous presenters and favourite programmes. Yet it’s likely that you have never heard of the wonderfully named Olive Bottle. Bottle arrived at the corporation in 1923 as Olive May. She was one of its original members of staff, becoming its first telephone operator. Her experiences are recorded in two rarely heard interviews that form part of the BBC Oral History Collection, which tells the stories of people who worked at the corporation over the past century. Dr Kate Murphy, an expert in early women’s voices at the BBC, says that the interview is unusual in the collection because Olive “was not from a…

The great 14th-century poet Geoffrey Chaucer frequently shared the wisdom of others in his writing. In his poems, for example, he recommends Homer, Virgil and Ovid, admired authorities in medieval culture. One of his short, personal verses, though, recommends a less well-known counsel. In it, Chaucer advises - indeed, implores - his friend Sir Peter Bukton, when pondering a decision about marriage, to read the words of Alison, the Wife of Bath. She was a peculiarly unlikely source of enlightenment - because she was a figment of his own imagination. The Wife is the only one of Chaucer’s characters whom he treats as an author in her own right. He takes her outside her own text, written in the late 14th century, and writes about this character as if she…

Ellie Cawthorne: Let’s start with the title of your book, On Savage Shores. What can you tell us about the meaning? Caroline Dodds Pennock: People often use the term “savage” as a racial slur to diminish and belittle Indigenous peoples. I wanted to deliberately invert that stereotype. In my book, I follow Indigenous Americans who travelled to Europe after 1492 - from their perspective, Europe was a much more savage place than the Americas. We tend to think of the “Columbian exchange” as a one-way cultural encounter - a story of Europeans going to the Americas. Why is it that we don’t hear much about Indigenous Americans coming to Europe? That’s a good question. It’s not that historians have never written about this; I’m standing on the shoulders of other…

Few human works have inflicted as much misery on the world as the German military. The murderous violence it unleashed across two world wars retains all its power to horrify and fascinate, even a century on. The question of why and how German soldiers committed such crimes remains important, and it is inevitably one of the major themes of Peter H Wilson’s magisterial new book. His greatest contribution, however, is to remind us that there is more to the military history of the German-speaking peoples than that. Wilson goes much further back, to the 16th century, to tell a story that extends far beyond the borders of Prussia and which does not end in the ruins of Berlin. This broader historical context enables him to challenge attempts to explain the…

This massive account of British politics in the pre-First World War period is rich in detail but only partially successful in its efforts at evaluation. The title is a tribute to - or criticism of - The Strange Death of Liberal England (1935) by the journalist George Dangerfield. In that brilliant, breezy telling, progressive, free-trade Liberalism was “reduced to ashes” by the end of 1913. Historians have spent decades debunking this argument. Indeed some have previously noted the “strange survival” of liberal values (if not a healthy Liberal Party) into the interwar era and beyond. For example, the great liberal economists John Maynard Keynes and William Beveridge gained their greatest influence on economic and social policy at a time when the parliamentary Liberal Party appeared in terminal decline. So Bogdanor…

PODCAST The strangest masterpieces in art history EXPLORE Hughenden Manor, Buckinghamshire TRAVEL Bangkok, Thailand VISIT Heavenly hands In the century before Michelangelo cemented his reputation as one of Renaissance Europe’s foremost artists, another Italian’s name had been on everybody’s lips: the sculptor Donatello. Born in Florence in around 1386, he went on to create sculptures for the great and good of Renaissance Italy. Working for the church and the state, he also had close ties to the powerful Medici dynasty, creating numerous artworks for the family. This month, the V&A in London is opening a bold exhibition to celebrate Donatello’s mastery of sculpture. It’s set to feature 130 objects, from reliquary busts to carved religious reliefs. Excitingly, it also includes pieces that have never come to Britain before, such as…

LETTER OF THE MONTH Fact and fiction While I agree with Fern Riddell that we shouldn’t treat audiences of historical dramas as stupid (The Conversation, Christmas), most people in any audience are not as well-versed in the subject as the programme-makers. Period dramas such as The Crown are based on real people and real events. The actors are chosen, in part, because they look like the real people and use the same accents and mannerisms. Audiences are entitled to expect that if what they are watching is not a documentary, then it is at least a reconstruction of those people’s lives. Fictitious storylines involving real people debase such a production. Leave the fiction to Bridgerton and Coronation Street. If I watch a drama about a subject that I know little…

In the winter of 1581, Davy Thurlowe was “strangely taken” with fits. His parents, Grace and John, hired Ursley Kempe, a woman of poor reputation yet renowned as a healer. Ursley helped Davy, but took offence when the pregnant Grace Thurlowe refused to employ her as a nurse. Ursley was angry and insistent, Grace infirm and frightened. The baby, Joan, was born safely, but Grace suffered persistent lameness, and friction between mother and healer intensified. When Joan fell from her cradle and died, Grace blamed Ursley - and witchcraft. The setting for this gripping drama is the Essex village of St Osyth, quiet today but in the 1580s a busy port where people worked in various occupations, from servicing the quay to farming. The hinterland was a damp, misty place,…

Joanna Wolfarth’s new book is a love letter to all women who have cradled an infant close to their breasts. It is a tender story of her own nervousness about breastfeeding, and her dawning awareness that she is not alone: women throughout history have shared the anxieties, dreariness, wonder and delight that accompany breastfeeding. Central to Wolfarth’s reflections is her recognition that there is nothing “natural” about breastfeeding. Human milk-production is a social skill and a political phenomenon as much as it is a physiological experience. To make her arguments, she turns to art and artefacts as well as myths, memoirs, advice manuals and scientific texts. in every period of history there were strong messages about just who was expected to offer their breast milk to hungry infants, and how…

One of the ideas behind Treasures of the World seems to be that archaeologists are uncovering more about the ancient world than non-professionals perhaps realise. Is that how you see the series? That’s absolutely right. The series was conceived initially during lockdown. I was so aware that I knew archaeologists, friends and colleagues across the world, who were discovering extraordinary things, and just were not able to share it with anybody. And so often what they were uncovering was incredible, revelations that put the story of civilisation back not just by centuries, but by thousands of years. Also, the level of exchange, trade and collaboration across borders and boundaries that is being revealed is thrilling. At a time when people were feeling fractured and isolated, this felt like a very…

Otherworldly visions If you’re after more eccentric, evocative and often disturbing artworks, look no further than poet and painter William Blake. “He was mocked as a madman,” John Higgs told me back in 2021, “but Blake saw the world in a different way. His art offers us a way into a more numinous place, and that’s hugely appealing.” I’d recommend looking at some of Blake’s most startling visions - wizened Urizen, say, or The Ghost of a Flea - as you listen. historyextra.com/william-blake-pod Mirror images At a time when women were barred from art academies and prevented from accessing artists’ models, they staged a quiet revolution by painting themselves. Jennifer Higgie guided me through the evolution of women’s self-portraits over the centuries, touching on female sculptors in the ancient world,…