Historical Fiction: New York, by Edward Rutherfurd

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17th century, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century, books, historical fiction, New York, reading

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“I’m gonna make a brand new start of it, New York, New York”, sang Frank Sinatra and Liza Minelli in what has become the city’s anthem. As he did for England, Ireland, and Russia, Edward Rutherfurd has undertaken to relate the history of New York City in novel form. My favorite of all his works is Sarum, told the story of the evolution of Salisbury Cathedral, though his other titles are also well worth reading. From Manhattan’s earliest years to the decade following 9/11, Rutherfurd traces the experiences of the fictional Master family as New York grows in size, prominence, and status. Along the way, he deftly weaves in the stories and contributions of slaves, Dutch and English settlers, Native Americans, and members of the various immigration groups, all of whom have played such important roles in the making of one of the world’s greatest cities.

If the novel conveys a theme, it would be that of the ongoing effort to build a socially just community. The first third of the book, covering the period from the settling of New Amsterdam to the War for Independence, is perhaps the most compelling section, and the most detailed. From then on, the author is forced by the vast scope of his topic to skipping entire decades and eras in order to focus on what he views as the city’s most formative events, including the draft riots during the Civil War, the prejudices and struggles affecting each immigrant group as they attempt to assimilate, the Great Depression, and second half of the 20th century. His characters are well drawn, though in my view, the later Master descendants lack the depth and vitality of the earliest ones. Particularly vivid are the portrayals of Quash, one of the family’s slaves, and his family. And Rutherfurd successfully depicts that vibrant ambience of this crowded and multicultural place, only fourteen miles long and two wide, and surrounded by water and smaller islands.

Read the book and you’ll “want to be a part of” New York too.

Cats in Folktales – Puss in Boots

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17th century, animals, fiction, folklore, France, literature

Puss in Boots is a very old European folk tale, known in many variations in many countries. The best known version is  that recounted by Charles Perrault in his 1697 collection of Mother Goose Tales in French. Basically, it is the story of a clever and magical cat who helps his poor master become rich by means of trickery. Folklorists believe that Puss in Boots originated as a tale in the oral tradition, and was first written down in Italy during the 1500′s.

Puss in Boots

Once upon a time a poor old man died and left his only three possessions to his three sons. The oldest boy got his mill, the second got his donkey and the youngest one got his cat.

The young boy was disappointed, and consoled himself by thinking he could always eat the cat. To save himself, the cat began to speak to him and struck a bargain: if the boy would give him a bag and a pair of boots, the cat would repay him by making him rich. The boy agrees, and the cat put on his new boots, grabbed his new bag, and went out to catch a rabbit. Carrying it in the bag, Puss in Boots brought the rabbit to the King in his palace, saying that it was a present from his master, the Prince of Carabas. After that the cat caught many more animals, and each time offered them to the King with the same message.

One day the King went for a ride in his coach near the river, and Puss in Boots, knowing this, told the miller’s son to go for a swim. While he was in the water, the cat hid his clothes, and then ran to the road and told the King that his master, the Prince of Carabas, was swimming when some thieves had stolen his clothes. The King wrapped the boy in a rich robe, and took him into his fabulous coach, seating him next to his daughter, the beautiful Princess.

Puss in Boots sprang into action, running ahead and threatening all of the farmers he encountered that if they did not tell the King that the all the fields belonged to the Prince of Carabas, they would all be chopped into pieces. Naturally, hearing this, the King believes the miller’s son is very rich indeed.

In reality, however, the lands were the property of a great and terrible ogre. Puss in Boots confronted the ogre at his castle, challenging him to prove the rumor that the ogre could turn himself into any animal he chose. Unable to resist showing off, the ogre changes himself into several different creatures. When he turned into a mouse, Puss in Boots pounced upon him and ate him up. As the King’s coach rolled onto the castle grounds, Puss in Boots greeted the royal party, presenting the ogre’s castle and all of his land as that of the miller’s son. The King was so impressed that he offered the boy the hand of the princess in marriage. So they were married and lived happily ever after. As for Puss in Boots, according to Perrault, he “became a personage of great importance, and gave up hunting mice, except for amusement”.

Great Nonfiction: 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, by Charles C. Mann

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17th century, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century, books, History, nonfiction

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m familiar with the phrase “the Columbian Exchange”, but never spent much time working out all its nuances. Charles C. Mann takes up the topic in 1493. In a nutshell, the Exchange is the process through which the combination of old world and new world elements has interacted to form the global culture of today. Mann, not a historian himself, synthesizes a generation’s worth of research and literature into a lively, readable exposition on the political, cultural, and biological forces that were unleashed. Most such chronicles focus upon technology as the driving force in economic and social development. The Europeans, for instance, had superior weaponry and therefore easily conquered the New World’s indigenous peoples. But Mann argues that biological forces were much more influential in determining outcomes.

Opening with the first prolonged contact between cultures along the Atlantic coast, Mann describes how micro-organisms from the Europe, Asia, and Africa hitched free passage to the Americas, causing a myriad of problems that could not have been foreseen and were poorly understood at that time. The colonies nearly failed until a profitable commodity crop, tobacco, was established. It was a micro-organism that enabled an American victory in the war for independence, and other micro-organisms fostered the enslavement of Africans in many countries. Mann then moves on to the Pacific, where he looks at silver, corn, and piracy, and their effects on both sides of that vast ocean. His discussion of the food that enabled China’s population growth is particularly fascinating. Finally, he moves on to Europe and Africa, and provides an overview of the economy underlying the slave trade from the African point of view. Many men who were sold into slavery were prisoners of war, soldiers with military training, who put that experience to good use fomenting successful rebellions in Central America.

It’s daunting to review a book of this size and scope, so rich in facts and detail. But it’s not dry detail. There were streets in South America, for example, that really were paved, not in gold, but silver. Europeans “drank” tobacco, and had elaborate rules and rituals surrounding the practice. And that the influence of the lowly sweet potato has been enormous. 1493 is not a polemic or a sales pitch. It is a thoughtful, fair, and balanced tour de force with the power to change how we view the world.

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Embroidery by Mary, Queen of Scots

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17th century, England, needlework, tradition

Mary’s first experience with embroidery and needlework took place in France, when she was married to Francois II, the Dauphin. Her first mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici was very skilled in the art as were most women in those days of the Renaissance. When she returned to Scotland, she would embroider while participating in her Council’s meetings, but until her period of imprisonment in England, Mary had little time to devote to needlework. During her first years of imprisonment, she spent many hours in the company of Bess of Hardwicke, her jailer’s wife, helping her to design new hangings for her properties. Mary drew her inspiration from sources such as emblem books, with their Latin double-meaning mottoes, natural history books, and fables, many published in other countries. Fluent in Scottish English, French, Latin, Greek, Italian and Spanish, she would have taken pleasure in translating those and playing with the words. The pictures below are some of her most famous works which were put together into a large tapestry known as the “Marian Hanging”, which contains 37 of her motifs. Many contain hidden meanings, some of which are explained below. The examples shown are by no means her only works. Mary also made a beautiful dress and night coifs for Queen Elizabeth, her rival, riding reins for her son James, bed covers, and many others.

A Byrd of America – toucan, probably Brazilian

Pheasant

Marigold turning toward sun

Latin inscription: “Non Inferiora Secutus” (Not following lower things). This motto, adopted by Mary as her own, was originally that of Marguerite, sister of Mary’s first husband.

Phoenix – rising from the flames. This was the impresa of Mary’s
mother, Marie de Guise, symbolising how she had created a new life for herself after being twice widowed.This was to become one of Mary’s favorite mottoes: In my End is my Beginning.

Delphine In the bottom left half of the Hanging appears a dolphin leaping over a crown, an allusion to her first husband, also known as the “Dauphin”.

Mary Stuart – Superimposed with the queen’s cipher, the royal crown, the thistle and the anagram motto “Sa virtu m’atire”.

Elizabeth and Mary – The letters of the names Elizabeth and Mary superimposed with a thistle, marigold and another flower at the side. The motto is “Virtutis Vincula Sanguinis Arctiora” (The bonds of virtue are straiter than those of blood). Another allusion to Queen Elizabeth.

Hand and Pruning Hook – “Virescit Vulnere Virtus” (Virtue flourishes by wounding). Sent by Mary as a gift to Norfolk at the time of their marriage plans and most certainly intended to be a message to him: the unfruitful branch of the royal house (Tudor) would be pruned while the fruitful branch (Stewart) remained. Norfolk’s incentive for this marriage was to behusband to the heiress to England’s throne should Elizabeth die childless, which appeared likely.

Palm tree and tortoise – similar to a coin produced during Mary’s reign in Scotland, containing the messages: “Expurgat Deus et Dissipentur Inimici Eius” (Arise Lord and scatter thine enemies) and This was a direct insult at Darnley whose sole aim in life was to acquire the Crown Matrimonial. The design represents a tortoise (Darnley) climbing up a crowned palm tree (Mary).

A Catte – Large ginger cat (Elizabeth was a red head) toying with a mouse (Mary?). This is my personal favorite. I saw this, or one like it, at Holyrood House in Edinburgh.

If you wish to learn more about the cat and mouse game that ended with Mary Stewart’s execution, I can recommendElizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens, by Jane Dunn. Mary’s embroidery is the subject of The Needlework of Mary Queen of Scots by Margaret Swain.

History News: Roger Williams’s Secret Code Cracked

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17th century, History, New England, news

“It’s like something out of Harry Potter, but Harry Potter set in Rhode Island”, according to Ted Wilmer, director of the library at Brown University. Wilmer was referring to a book owned by religious dissident Roger Williams, the man who founded Rhode Island Colony in the 1600′s. The library possesses a book, entitled An Essay Towards the Reconciling of Differences Among Christians, in which Williams painstakingly transcribed the text of two other books, but in code.  He also added personal notes having to do with his theological philosophy. Last spring, a group of Brown undergrads under took a project to crack this code, and Eureka!,  the Providence Journal now reports that they’ve done it. Exciting news indeed: ”To have a major new source, a major new document, from Roger Williams is a big deal.” For further details, refer to the article here.

Congratulations to the intrepid team of students who accomplished this daunting task. History never was and never will be set in stone!

Buttolph Williams House and The Witch of Blackbird Pond

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17th century, 18th century, Connecticut, History, reading, witch

One look at the Buttolph-Williams house is enough to transport the imaginative viewer straight back to America’s earliest century. Built in 1711, this first period building is typically medieval-English in style, with its massive posts and beams, its overhangs and finials, and its small leaded paned windows. It represents the most authentic restoration of a 17th century style dwelling in the CT River Valley, and contains a lovely collection of early furniture, kitchenware, and ceramics.

Few people are aware, however, that the Buttolph-Williams House was a source of inspiration, and the partial setting, for the Newbery Medal-winning book The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare. This fictional classic is based upon the story of Kit Tyler, an orphaned adolescent girl forced by necessity to live with her uncle’s family in Connecticut, who becomes involved in a case of suspected witchcraft when she befriends Hannah Tupper, a local woman who does not conform to Puritan standards of the day. Author Speare witnessed the restoration of the Buttolph Williams house in the 1950′s, and learned at the same time about the witchcraft trials and executions that took place in Wethersfield in the 1660′s, a full three decades before Salem.

Today the house is operated as a museum, and the rooms have been arranged to reflect various scenes in The Witch of Blackbird Pond. To see enlargements of photos, click on each image.

Kitchen hearth with settle and flax wheel. In this location, Mercy did her spinning, Kit spoiled the hasty pudding, and the Dame School was taught. Mercy, who had difficulty walking, slept by the fireside.

The hall, or best room, where the John and William called upon Kit and Judith. The young people knitted, ate popcorn, and

did some reading while “courting.”

 

The second floor chamber shared by Kit and Judith.

 

The Buttolph Williams House is owned by Connecticut Landmarks. To learn more or plan a visit: http://www.ctlandmarks.org/index.php

Links to info about real Connecticut witchcraft trials:

http://yourehistory.wordpress.com/2007/05/15/before-salem-first-to-die/

http://yourehistory.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/before-salem-first-to-confess/

Before Salem – First to Confess

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17th century, Connecticut, History, New England, religion, witch

Part of a series of posts on the 17th century Connecticut witchcraft trials.

Alse (Alice) Young of Windsor was the first individual executed for the crime of witchcraft in the English New World. link

The first recorded confession for familiarity with the devil was given under duress in 1648 by Mary Johnson, only a year after the hanging of Alse.

Mary Johnson was a servant whose legal troubles began around 1646, when, accused of theft, she was publicly whipped in Hartford. The incident was repeated a month later at Wethersfield.

On December 7, 1648, Mary was indicted by a jury as guilty of “familiarity with the Deuill (sic).” Under pressure from minister Samuel Stone, she fuly described her crimes. Cotton Mather tells us (Magnalia Christ Americana, 1698, VI 71-78): “her confession was attended with such convictive circumstances that it could not be slighted.”
So, what exactly did Mary admit to doing? Her contact with devils came about because of her discontent with her work as a servant. “A Devil was wont to do her many services, she said. For example, when her master once blamed her for not carrying out the ashes, “a Devil did clear the Hearth for her afterwards.” When her master sent her “into the Field to drive the Hogs that used to break into it, a Devil would scowre (sic) them out, and make her laugh to see how he feazed ‘em about.” Mary also admitted that she was guilty “of the Murder of a child” and of “Uncleanness with Men and Devils.”

For some reason, odd in this theocracy, Mary Johnson was not indicted for murder or adultery. But the charge of familiarity with the devil stuck, and on the strength of her confession, was sentenced to death.

For several months prior to the execution of her punishment, Mary was imprisoned in Hartford, under the care of the jailer, William Ruscoe. She gave birth to a baby boy while in jail, giving proof to her admission of “uncleanness with Men.” It is not known if her hanging was deferred specifically due to her pregnancy, but this often happened when criminals were pregnant. The jailer’s son, Nathaniel, offered to bring up the child and educate him, and this arrangement was later sanctioned by the court.

It was reported that, before she died, Mary Johnson repented. The jailer was paid six pounds, ten shillings for twenty four weeks of services, ending June 6, 1650, which is assumed to be the date on which her sentence was carried out. According to Mather, she died in “a frame extremely to the satisfaction of them that were spectators of it.”

Great Nonfiction: The Vanishing People, by Katherine Briggs

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17th century, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century, England, France, literature, supernatural

The Vanishing People: Fairy Lore and Legends by Katharine Mary Briggs

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“The fairy people in the British Isles, not to say all over the world, vary so much in character, size, appearance and powers, that it is not surprising to find that they inhabit all kinds of places on land and water, under the earth and above it”. So writes Katherine Briggs in a chapter introduction, and in this exhaustive study, she draws upon folklore, oral history, and scholarly research to illustrate the extraordinary range of “others” once believed to live along side humans, though usually invisible. As in many things, different cultures all over the world held amazingly similar beliefs about this topic, considered rather esoteric today. This collection of tales and traditions is fascinating, but perhaps even more valuable is the appendix to The Vanishing People, in which she includes a glossary of the types of fairies (woodwives, water horses, and their like), an index of tale types (visits to fairyland, changelings, etc.), and an index of motifs (taboo, transformation, and magical substances, for instance.) Interesting reading and a great reference as well.

Great Nonfiction: Circles and Lines, by John Demos

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17th century, 18th century, 19th century, books, literature, nonfiction

The way we were, and how we got to where we are now

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What an interesting book. Author Demos, an expert on colonial and early American society, brings insights gained from a long career to illustrate how everyday life was impacted by the absence of things we now take for granted and depend upon. Anyone who lived through last October’s New England snowstorm can relate, because, although it was only for a week, life was rather primitive for those of us without electric power. Demos describes how dark it was outdoors in the absence of artificial light sources; as a result, life constricted at night, as people retreated to their own firesides for comfort and safety. It’s hard to imagine today going to bed at 6 PM on winter evenings and not rising until the sun appeared 10 hours later. Your house was your world for those hours. With respect to lifestyle, there was no conception of adolescence or middle age. People were young, kids treated like small adults, and after 40 or 50 years, if you were fortunate, you’d be old. These are just a few examples of how our views and expectations have changed, radically, over the centuries. Circles and Lines is a scholarly work but eminently readable and appealing. Recommended for anyone with an interest in American history and the evolution of everyday life.

Monday Morning Poem: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day

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17th century, England, literature, poetry, seasons

Sonnet XVIII, by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,                         
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.