How the Great Fire of London can be linked to Modern London

I read a very interesting piece on the BBC website today all about the Great Fire of London. This was prompted by the upcoming Channel 4 programme on the subject.

The gist of the article was that at the time of the fire and in its immediate aftermath, many people believed it to have been started by foreign agents. England was at war with both France and the Netherlands at the time. In fact the Royal Navy had recently sailed into a Dutch port and burned it, so many believed the London fire was stared deliberately in retaliation.

Such was the paranoia before the fire that England was going to be the target of a revenge attack that this view took hold for a while and immediately after the fire many foreign people in the capital were attacked and lynched and some were killed. The paranoia led to many acts of violence against anyone who was, or looked and sounded, foreign.

All of this was later dispelled, but the parallels with London in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings are very interesting. Again I can see that there can be great value in bringing this to the table when teaching this subject - it is an interesting story and gives a very different slant on the story of the Great Fire of London, a slant that could help students to understand the London of 1666 far better than they might otherwise.

Elizabethan Parliaments

I have just finished reading Michael A R Graves, Elizabethan Parliaments 1559 - 1601 (a Seminar Studies book). This was actually a very interesting little book and not at all dry as I had anticipated. the most interesting aspect of this was the exploration of the historiography of Elizabethan parliaments.

There are two main themes. The first is that during Elizabeth's reign parliament grew in confidence and stature, especially the Commons while the Lords declined in relative terms. This is shown in the political opposition Elizabeth and her council faced particularly in regard to religion. This opposition was in itself nothing new for a monarch but was novel during Elizabeth's reign because it was more organised and indeed because there was an element of pre-parliament planning about it. This growth of strength and confidence in the Commons is seen as part of a linear process which was to lead to armed conflict in the English Civil War less than 40 years after Elizabeth's death. This is the traditional view of Elizabethan parliaments and is one which for the most part Elton seems to espouse in his book "England under the Tudors".

The second theme is that of the so-called Revisionists. They have looked at the workings of Elizabeth's parliaments from a process and institutional standpoint , rather than from a political one as the traditional view did. In short, this turns much of the traditional view on its head. The House of Lords is seen as retaining its strength and position as the primary legislative house and in part this is because it contain more experienced legislators and because the patronage system (see below) remained in effect so that many members of the House of Commons owed their positions in Commons and society to the patronage of the Lords. The revisionist view argues that both houses frequently worked together and both were managed by Elizabeth's council to perform their primary function - the raising of taxes and the enactment of vital legislation. Occasionally the council used them as a subtle means of applying pressure to the Queen to make decisions, for example on settling the succession and on dealing with Mary Queen of Scots. The view argues that Parliament was always loyal even if it did not always agree with the Queen or the council. Tensions, debates and arguments will always exist in such forums, everyone wants to achieve the same goal but not everyone can agree on how to get there - just like modern business and politics today.

While both themes have their merits and demerits, the revisionist theme appears to provide a much more balanced view even if it does tend to disregard political arguments during the period. Certainly the revisionist theme has advanced our understanding of the development of Parliament during the Elizabethan period even if it is unlikely to have uncovered the entire truth.

Patronage is the system whereby people of a lower social standing look to their social superiors for advancement through the procurement of lucrative offices and titles. In the middle ages this was a key aspect of feudalism and was often based around military might and support. By Elizabeth's reign it had become more peaceful being based more on politics and government.

Next I need to move onto Dr Ruth Lee's recommended texts, the two books on Elizabeth I by John Warren. I hope to get hold of these early next week.

Teaching the Spanish Armada

I was at the Rogate village BBQ in the woods last night, down in Sussex, no photos thankfully. One of my old University mates lives there and helps organise the event every year. It tends to turn into a kind of Warwick Graduates reunion of sorts.

I was talking to an old friend and we came up with a great way to teach the Spanish Armada. Get the class to make lots of paper boats. Then arrange them a little like the Armada and English fleets were on some open space on the floor. Next get a select few pupils to simulate the destruction of the armada through various means - perhaps throwing a hacky sack at them of representing the violent storms which beset the Armada after it was scattered.

What I liked most about this idea was that it was active learning and it struck me as a great way to get the students really involved in the story. I think this would be a really neat way of teaching this topic to year 7, 8 and perhaps 9. I need to look at this as a tactic for other subjects too. Whilst I was thinking about this method of teaching the Spanish Armada I also started thinking about Elizabethan fashions, following on from my last post. Now fashion is not now, nor has it ever been, something that interests me. That said, I think that a way to cover this topic would be to get the students to have a go at designing their own outfits for Elizabeth and for her favourite, Dudley. Again, it is active and gets them thinking about what the outfit needs to say and why.

Pictures of Elizabeth

I am certainly no artist and frankly I find it difficult to analyse art, rather I prefer to appreciate it largely at face value. However, I will attempt to analyse now.

I have found two pictures of Elizabeth that I want to talk about. The use of pictures in teaching can be very powerful. Images tell a thousand words as the saying goes. The trick with teaching is to encourage the students to think about what the picture is trying to depict. Before the explosion of media in the modern world pictures, especially portraits, were the primary means of propaganda. So we cannot afford to take them purely at face value.

The first picture is the so called Armada Portrait, painted in or just after 1588 to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The portrait shows Elizabeth in all her majesty and greatness, both beautiful and awe inspiring. Behind her, out of the windows, can be seen the Armada being defeated by the English Navy and by the storms. This shows English naval power and the belief that God is on England's side, her cause is righteous and Godly. In the bottom left, Elizabeth's hand rest on a globe. This symbolises the international reach of Elizabethan power. In 1588 such a depiction is optimistic and misleading at best, but the very fact it is there shows the growing international and worldwide pretensions of England and the English monarchy.

The second picture is called the Rainbow Portrait and was painted in 1600 only 3 years before the queen died. At this point Elizabeth is in her 60's. The picture does not show this, instead it shows Elizabeth as essentially ageless. Realistic pictures of Elizabeth towards the end of her reign are hard to find, if they even exist. It is this agelessness that I wanted to mention.

Other points to note are that the fashions have changed in the intervening 12 years. The first picture shows some very ornate and uncomfortable looking clothes. The second photo, whilst no less ornate, shows clothing that is more comfortable. Perhaps this is a sign of my age, as well as a sign of Elizabeth's age. Nevertheless, both show something of the extravagance of Elizabethan fashion.

Finally, in the second painting Elizabeth is depicted wearing a very low cut dress, or at least the section between the neck ruff and the breast line is of a very thin and transparent material. Perhaps this is where the myths of Elizabeth wearing dresses that exposed her breasts came from. Apparently, exposed breasts were a sign of virginity and Elizabeth was the "Virgin Queen" for whom the state of Virginia in the USA is named.

How Do we Teach Pupils about Elizabeth I

I have finished reading Elton and about to start Michael A R Graves' Elizabethan Parliaments 1559-1601, a seminar studies book. I thought about what I could put in my blog about Elizabeth's reign. I have learned a lot from Elton, even if mostly it is narrative I have found him hugely informative. However, rather than writing about what I have learned about Elizabeth, because I have already been doing lots of that and because I am no longer sure where I would start, I have decided to try to voice my thoughts about how we might teach the topic at school.

This is where I am currently much less sure of myself and my knowledge. I think that the topic could be complex and so breaking it down into smaller themes would be very useful; provide the learning in smaller chunks so it appears less daunting, that is always a good start in my experience. I have already talked about three key themes to Elizabeth's reign and I believe that the key to teaching them is to give each some reference to the modern world and thereby help students to understand the topic better through association with their own experience and terms of reference. For example, the current economic crisis and with it the austerity budget are a good modern reflection for the poverty of the crown and government of Elizabeth.

We are still at war , in Afghanistan, and this can provide the link to the state of war which existed from about 1588 to the end of the Reign in 1603. However, I am not so sure this link stands up so well except as a "compare and contrast". The religious theme can also link to our present experience. Although we are very much more a secular people religion continues to arouse and divide us. Now the religious divide is not between Catholic and Protestant, Church of England and Puritan, it is primarily between Christian and Muslim. These tensions, the perceived threat we feel other religions pose to our way of life, are the modern equivalent of the threat Catholicism and to a lesser extent Puritanism posed to Elizabethan England's way of life in the minds of ordinary people. It can arouse passions now, but 450 years ago the passions aroused were much stronger. There is the perceived threat to national security now and the link to the "War on Terror"; during Elizabeth's reign there was the very real threat of war with Spain and other catholic powers. In fact so real was the threat that it became a reality, the Spanish Armada being one of the results of this.

There are other themes to Elizabethan England, lesser themes to my way of thinking. The growth of popularity and arrogance, if not of real power, of Essex towards the very end of the reign, is a throwback to the politics of Kingmakers and overmighty subjects and their use of personal adherents and retainers to influence. That Essex failed shows how far England had come since the Tudor dynasty came to the throne in 1485.

The problem of Mary I think is a hard one. How do you get young adults to understand the jealousies and plots and rivalries between to relatives? To be fair, I think many will already understand some of this. The key here is to tell a story of two ambitious people, each similar but at the same time very different. One of them, Mary, apparently coveting the throne of the other, Elizabeth. Mary also turns out to be more beautiful, though beauty is in the and I struggle to see it personally, and is a focus point for the much feared Catholic insurgency. What is remarkable is Elizabeth's great tolerance for she resisted all attempts to execute Mary for nearly 20 years.

When we talk about the great spirit of oceanic adventure in Elizabethan times we can really bring stories to the party. Drake and Hawkins et al are a rich vein and shouold strike a cord with many. Driven by the thoughts of "get rich quick" schemes to rob Spanish treasure fleets and the desire for fame through magnificent discovery only to be tempered later by the demands for maturity that the war brought. This is much like life in an allegorical way.

The key to all this then is to link the period to students' modern terms of reference, their experiences and motivations, and to tell stories.

Some things I have yet to do are, watch a video of Elizabeth, perhaps one of the Cate Blanchett films, look at some portraits and visit Kenilworth Castle.

Elton's Old Fashioned Views

I have nearly finished reading Elton on Elizabeth I. I have found him to be a pleasurable read, though I cannot vouch for the accuracy of his narrative, having nothing to compare it to. The writing is a little old fashioned though that is to be expected for a book published in the 1950's. One thing I noticed when reading Elton today was how prejudiced he is against the Gaelic and Celtic culture. This is evident in the section on Ireland. He descibes the troubles as "the struggle of one form of civilisation (if it deserved the name) against the superior power of another". This, to me, is a very inflamatory statement. Elton goes on to describe Ireland as "virtually ungoverned and heather" and compounds his prejudice by declaring the "tribes lived in conditions reminiscent of 'heroic' poetry and perhaps more familiar from the Scottish Highlands where a similar mode of life endured even longer." Now I am no expert, but I do regard myself as an interested party where Scottish Gaelic/Highland history is concerned and I am aware of the more modern thinking on the subject that Gaelic/Celtic culture was in many ways very advanced and sophisitcated. Certainly by 1550 it was very much in decline in the Scottish Highlands, where the monarchy had stripped the McDonald Lordship of the Isles of real power and the resulting vacuum, which the crown had declined to fill had fuelled a descent into the clan anarchy which is so often popularised in film and book. But throughout the middle ages the Gaelic/Celtic Lordship of the Isles (the Hebrides and West Highlands ruled from Islay) had a sophisticated culture that included an elaborate legal and judicial system and the written word. This was far in advance of the feuding medieval states of Western Europe.

Now I know that Ireland had travelled further down the path of Anarchy than the Highlands by 1550, but Elton describes a land totally alien to his own value system and I think that is where his problem, and those of many others, lies in that it appears to have clouded his ability to be objective. He seems to have forgotten that the Celtic/Irish church rivalled Rome for dominance of the Catholic Church in the early Middle Ages until the Synod of Whitby (?) settled in favour of Rome.

Reading Elton I am struck by the thought that Elizabeth's reign was dominated by 3 themes. The first was religion, specifically the violent counter reformation and attempts by Mary to return England to Rome and the demands of a vociferous minority who wanted to purify the English church and make it even more vigourously protestant on the model of Calvin. Elizabeth's own preference and inclination was for a moderate church, on Henrician lines.

The second theme was European politics and the threat, and subsequent reality, of war which this brought. European politics was dominated by the reformation and counter-reformation and by the rivalry between the houses of Valois and Hapsburg (France and Spain). Rebellion in the Spanish Netherlands led to over over 30 years of protracted war in which England was at first only unnofficially involved. Later England's involvement became formal and saw such events as the burning of Cadiz by Drake and the Spanish Armada in 1588. England maintained a small army in the Netherlands and an armed presence in Ireland, to deny it to Spain.

The third theme was the poverty of the crown and government. Elizabeth, as I have already mentioned previously, had to deal with all that these intractable issues brought with very few funds. This meant she had to rely on parliament to grant subsidies and as a consequence her reign saw a growth in the power and priveledges of parliament.

All three themes were inextricably linked, one fed the other ad infinitum and all contrived to make each more complex and difficult than perhaps they needed to be. Ultimately, the fact that England emerged from Elizabeth's reign more powerful than it began, and Elizabeth survived all the troubles is a testament to her skills and achievements as a monarch.

Some thoughts on teaching History

I am in the middle of working on a major change programme at work. I am working on a 1 day training intervention or workshop for a series of senior and middle managers to help them lead their teams through this big change. One of the things I have been reminded of by this is the power of story telling in learning.

As humans we seem preconditioned to learn better through reference to stories because they:

• help us to make sense of the world and our place within it
• help create emotions and an emotional involvement
• reduce ambiguity
• provide continuity.

We remember stories much better than strings of plain old facts. In fact cognitive psychological research shows that it is difficult to remember strings of facts without linking them, typically we remember 7 (plus or minus 2). Interestingly, a US study (not sure of the details I am sorry to say) looked at the difference in test performance between history sturdents in high school. The study showed that students who learned by reviewing newspaper accounts of events were much more successful than those who learned from the text books.

Ultimately, stories help us to link what we hear and learn to our existing experience, memories and values. They help to define the relationships, sequence, cause and effect and priorities of facts.

One thing I need to develop and incorporate into my teaching is storytelling. I need to collect and develop stories to weave around the syllabus items I teach. This is something I try to do in my current work and the training courses I facilitate and deliver, I just need to link it with history.

Elton Continued

I am continuing to read Elton and discover more about Elizabeth I.

The Tudor period, and Elizabeth's reign especially, were a period of inflation, something which had been lacking for the previous century at least. It seems various reasons are given for this, but two of the chief reasons appear to be the influx of New World Silver into Europe via Spain. This resulted in more money floating around and therefore a natural rise in prices resulting from people paying more for goods to ensure they got them. The second reason, at least in England was the frequent debasing of the coinage. At least Elizabeth put a stop to it.

However, part of the consequence of this inflation was the relative impoverishment this caused for many land owners. Landed income tends to be fixed to a certain degree and therefore more difficult to increase as a counter to rising prices and costs of living. As one of the largest Landowners in the country, and with many diverse estates, the Crown was not in a position to increase its rents easily. This fact greatly facilitated the growing impoverishment of the Crown. Elizabeth has often been accused of parsimony and to be fair she struggled for money throughout her reign. According to Elton, when she died the Crown owed some £400,000, a huge some in today's money.

OK so this is a fairly basic fact and to many might be rather meaningless. To understand the significance of this poverty we need to dig deeper. The Crown represented the government of the country, indeed in many respects it was, unlike today. In order to conduct it's business the Crown and hence the government required money. If the Crown had independent means then that government business could be conducted more easily. Without that independent means the Crown and government had to rely on the good will of parliament to grant subsidies through taxes. In effect this was the fore-runner of our budgetary and tax system today. So Elizabeth's poverty meant she had to rely on parliament more than she would have liked in order for her government to conduct it's business. This meant to some extent she was a hostage to the demands of an often puritanical, and certainly strongly protestant, House of Commons.

Again you might be thinking "so what". Well this was a time of religious uncertainty and dubious national security. Elizabeth's reign came hard on the heels of an increasingly fervent reformation followed by and violent, though brief, counter-reformation during the previous two short reigns. Stability was needed and Elizabeth knew it. Unfortunately, continental Europe wanted to see England return to the fold of the Roman church whilst a well organised and vociferous minority group of puritans wanted England to move in the direction of Calvinist Protestantism.

Elizabeth had to tread a delicate tight-rope of domestic and foreign policy to keep these two poles from destroying her realm and her position. The lack of money and frequent need to treat with parliament made this tight-rope all the more delicate. Perhaps what is so admirable about Elizabeth I is that she succeeded, in spite of all the difficulties and dangers, and when she died, England was already in a position to become a strong player in European politics, though this was perhaps not obvious yet.

It is truly awesome and infinitely interesting how History moves in cycles, even if it does not exactly repeat itself. We can look at Elizabeth's reign and see many parallels with our own political times. The economic crisis we are suffering currently is placing similar constraints on the Government. The politics are different, but similarities exist. Our government is only in being because a delicate coalition of differing interests keeps it there. That very same government is being forced into painful measures of growing parsimony that will be felt by the whole country and yet it still needs to meet both it's foreign and domestic obligations.

It strikes me that a good way to help anyone, including school students understand history is to relate it to the modern world, the world to which they can relate. That must surely be the key to opening up history for people. After all that is a huge part of the value of studying history, the insights it gives us of the present and the clues it can give us to the near future.

Started Reading Elton

So I have started reading up about Elizabeth I, starting with G R Elton's "England under the Tudor's". I have skipped roughly the first half of the book and started with "Mary and the Failure of Reaction".

What is evident straight away from the language and tone of the book is it's age. First published in 1955, this book certainly feels and reads as though research and historical thought has move on. Nonetheless it does not feel overly imbalanced.

The first link is the fact that Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower after Wyatt's conspiracy of 1554 during which Charles Wyatt led some 3000 men of Kent to the capital in an attempt, apparently, to prevent England joining with Spain. The conspiracy, or perhaps it is better described as a rebellion ended when the late Northumberland's supporters defeated it. According to Elton, Elizabeth nearly met the fate of her mother. At this stage I do not know enough of teh story to know how close to the truth this is.

The rebellion failed and England did indeed side with Spain. Perhaps this was to be expected given that Mary was Catholic and wanted to return England to Rome and that she was marrying Philip of Spain. The result of this was to leave Elizabeth with an expensive and embarrasing legacy from the moment she ascended the throne. At Spain's side England went to war with France and in January 1558 Calais, English held for over 200 years and the last English possession in France, was recaptured by the French.

Next I hope to post some knowledge I have gained about the economic and social issues of Elizabeth's reign. These draw some comparisons with what we are experiencing today and it is always worth looking to other factors when considering why certain events happened, be those causes economic, social, or more fundamentally still, climatic.

History from a Bus

Continuing the theme of the bus tour, I started thinking about how much tours and field trips really bring learning to life. A simple field trip opens up so many more learning opportunities by involving more of the senses. It helps develop a spatial awareness not possible from a mere map. It allows touch and sight and smell. One of my favourite experiences was a trip to York with the family. We took in Jorvik which is a veritable assault on the senses. I also took my son to Towton Field where we got a sense of the scale and terror of a medieval battle.

This is something we try to include in corporate learning and development too. Use of more of the senses, for instance a simple walk through which involves learners moving from one place to another in the training room, will help to embed the learning. In children, as well as embedding the learning this kind of activity can help to develop a deeper understanding and ultimately even a love of the subject. I think!

First History Post

Well, Ruth has assigned me Elizabeth I as my first reading topic. Excellent, the books, when I finally get hold of them from the library, will be rather easier to read than David Glantz' Stalingrad Trilogy, which whilst being absolutely fascinating is neither quick nor easy to read.

However, I have decided not to let the delays in getting hold of my assigned books stop me. Last weekend we had a family trip to London. We all had a great time especially my son who got to see the practice run for the Trooping of the Colour. Neither my wife nor I'd ever seen it before either so this was a real treat. My son was fascinated by all the uniforms in their bright finery and it helped bring to life for him all the discussions he and I have had about the battle of Waterloo.

We spent much of Saturday on an open topped bus tour of London. The route took in the Tower of London, which I have walked past on several occasions whilst working in the capital, though I've never been in. The tour guide informed us that it is a popular misconception that many traitors have been executed within the grounds of the Tower; in reality only about 6 people have been, at least 3 of them during the reigns of Henry VIII and Mary. One of those was of course Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I's mother. So my first link to Elizabeth. The second link was provided by my son, who reminded me that Elizabeth was kept as a prisoner in the Tower of London for a time by her half sister Mary. So now I could explain to him that in those days the tower was quite a luxurious royal apartment and so imprisonment there was not all that bad, though scientific progress in the Tudor period meant Nintendo DS's and television wouldn't have been available.

The final link to Elizabeth I was the Trooping of the Colour itself. The event marks Elizabeth II's birthday. Elizabeth II was named after Elizabeth I.

In all, the trip made for a great weekend.

First post

OK, so this is my first post on my first ever Blog. New territory for me so this may be a bit wobbly and uncertain first.

Lets start with a little bit about me by way of introduction.

I am nearly 40 and about to start a History PGCE to realise my ambition of becoming a History Teacher. So a big career change but exciting. I have always been interested in History and have continued to read about it since I graduated, too many years ago to reveal without embarassment, though my reading is general not reflected by the syllabus, possibly because I am interested in the history of conflicts. So far my History Teaching has all been informal - I am helping my primary school age son develop a love of the subject.

Anyway, that's enough about me to be going on with, as I am sure we will all findout more about each other once the course starts.