Bristish civilization
I) Introductory class: Victoria, Victorians, Victorianism
II) Politics: the question of Reform
III) Politics: the emergence of political parties
IV) Politics: the Irish question
V) Gender: women in Victorian Britain
Introductory class
Victorian: «Adjective relating to the reign of Victoria (1837-1901) which is used in many contexts: morality, values, furniture, architecture. Victorian taste was essentially eclectic, scouring the past for ideas and details. Ground was Middle Ages rather than 18th century (classical)»
Queen Victoria was central to Victorianism, even though she didn't define it by herself.
Was born on 24th May 1819 as Princess Alexandrina Victoria. Parents were Edward, Duke of Kent, and Princess Victoria Mary Louisa of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg.
Her uncle, the King, died in 1837, and she was the only heiress (her dad had died in 1820). She was crowned in 1838.
Married Prince Albert, her cousin (eeeewwwww), in 1839. They had 9 children.
Great Exhibition in 1851; purchased Balmoral Castle in 1852; her husband Prince Albert died in 1861 → great shock for her; she withdrew almost completely from the political life until the 1870s. They were very attached to each other (being, you know, married AND cousins)
1877: given the title of Empress of India; Victoria decided to come back to political and public life.
1901: Queen Victoria dies at Osborne House on 22 January at the age of 81.
Victoria holds the record of the length of reign for British monarchs.
Many historians believe that the Victorian era isn't limited by the reign of Victoria. It started before, and continued after.
Possible starting points:
→ 1832 (Great Reform Act)
→ 1830: beginning of the railway age/first railway connection between Liverpool and Manchester (GLORY GLORY MAN UNIIIITED)
Possible ending points:
→ 1896 (creation of The Daily Mail – le tabloïd tellement pourri qu'il réussit à mettre fin à une ère-; first public screening of a movie)
→ between 1893 and 1900 (birth of the Labour party)
→ between 1898 and 1902 (second Boer War)
→ replacement of railways by car at the turn of the century (no precise date)
→ 1914 (beginning of WWI)
There was a kind of continuity between the Georgian period and the Victorian period (no rupture).
The Victorian era was a long period marked by considerable political, social, economic and cultural changes (as well as ups and downs). There was a huge contrast between the beginning and the end of this historic era.
3 distinct periods within the Victorian period:
→ the early Victorian era (1830-1848):
– a “bleak age” (a time of economic depression)
– Vote of the Great Reform Act (1832)
– Thomas Carlyle's Condition of England
– D'autres trucs mais la prof va trop vite
→ the mid-Victorian period (1848-1867/1875/1887)
– “Age of Equipoise” (WL Burn) = Age of Balance
– Economic recovery
– 1851 Great Exhibition
– Books: Origin of Species (Darwin); On Liberty; Self Help (Smiles)
→ the late Victorian period
– “Age of powerful contradictions”, “period of doubt”, “moment of crisis and relative economic decline”
– British Empire at a climax
– British money and British culture were spread everywhere, and prevailed
– But: real economic competition from abroad
– rising poverty
– new Labour movement
– Boer War (1899-1902)
– Women had more visibility in public life
The term “Victorian” appeared in 1851. It was coined by Edwin Paxton Hood (a writer): “the Victorian Commonwealth [was] the most wonderful picture on the face of the earth”
Victorians shared a number of moral imperatives, ideals and values. Victorianism was a “state of mind” (now you're in New Yooooooork).
Values included: self-help, hard work, seriousness of behaviour, respectability, religion; domestic ties of family; moral responsibility.
This coexisted with poverty, idleness (or the idea of idleness), or prostitution (doesn't go against “hard work” though...).
II) Reforms
In the early 1830s, Britain was not a democracy (far from it). The political power was held by a minority of rich merchants and landowners belonging to aristocracy.
Only 13% of adult men had the right to vote in 1831 in England + Wales. In Scotland, 1%.
The House of Commons was not representative of the country. Certain categories of people were still excluded from the right to vote – did not own land or property, did not pay enough taxes, did not have an Adam's apple. The House of Commons was very similar to the House of Lords: represented aristocracy.
As a result, government was made up of aristocats. Wait, no, aristocrats.
Elections could be controlled in some constituencies and boroughs, by wealthy landowners: corruption. Electors were bribed or intimidated into voting. Some seats were uncontested (only one candidate for the election). No secret ballot.
England, and in particular Southern England, was over-represented in the Houses. England had 54% of the population but 72% of MPs. Scotland had 10% of pop, but 8% of MPs. Ireland: 32 → 16. Wales didn't matter as usual: 4% to... 4%.
Cities that were increasingly populated were not enough represented, such as Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
Furthermore, women couldn't vote, and were excluded from politics and political debates.
Universal suffrage wasn't introduced in one day: there was a slow progression, evolution towards it. First step was in 1832.
1832 Reform Act:
Not a revolution, but progress and break-through.
Had a number of flaws, anomalies and limits.
Voted on June 7th, 1832 after debates between 1830 and 1832.
Required three separate Bills for England and Wales to be introduced and examined.
→ Polling = limited for two days + number of polling places. Increased + a registration system for voters was established. Genre avant ça ils le faisaient carrément à l'arrache.
→ Right to vote was extended (rule of property ownership as a requirement was modified). The number of people allowed to vote increased:
– by about 50% in England and Wales, thus reaching 18% of the adult men
– 65 000 (compared to 4500 before) in Scotland
→ Seats were redistributed:
– a total of 142 seats = abolished + new seats were created in both counties and boroughs
– separate Reform Bills were voted for Scotland and Ireland (number of seats increased in both countries)
But:
The number of seats in the House of Commons remained 658.
The composition of the House did not fundamentally change (the aristocracy was still in control).
The secret ballot was not implemented (corruption, bribery, intimidation remained); the right to vote was still subject to property and tax: 82% was excluded from the vote in England/Wales.
A geographical imbalance remained in the country (South England prevailed). Ireland was still very under represented.
In summary, the middle class was allowed to vote, but not the working class. So aristocracy controlled power, with the support of middle class.
The middle classes were unorganized and did not form alliances in their own ranks. They did not have time to send their peers to represent themselves, as they were too much occupied with their commercial and industrial activities.
Progress, but limits => people were disappointed.
This explains the movement known as Chartism (parce qu'à l'époque, quand ça allait pas, ils se bougeaient le cul)
It was a radical movement composed of middle class and working class representatives. They asked for broader political rights and representation for the working class.
May 1838: publication of the People's Charter by a group of MPs and artisans, which had emerged two years before: the London Working Men's Association.
6 claims:
– universal male suffrage; even though some women were chartists, Chartism was not promoting women's vote.
– secret ballot
– annual parliaments
– creation of electoral districts of equal size to ensure fair representation
– wages for MPs
– abolition of the property qualification for MPs
Movement born in London; popular in North England and Scotland.
Their claims were progressively adopted, except for the annual parliaments.
February 1839: General Convention of the Industrious Classes gathering 53 delegated in London, ending with...
June 1839: … the petition to Parliament with 1 280 000 signatures. Rejected by the Parliament by 235 votes to 46 (hoooou la tanche) in a context of growing tensions – Chartists and the working classes were growingly frustrated.
Chartists were divided on the way to make theses changes (violent or non-violent? By force or by law? Tea or coffee?)
July 1839: the Police used force to break up a meeting in Birmingham
Riots ensued. 20 Chartists were killed in November during riots in Newport (Wales)
Over 500 leaders were arrested and detained by the Government.
July 1840: reorganization of the movement. National Charter Association established; leader: Feargus O'Connor (je pense que c'est un irlandais)
By the summer of 1842, it had over 400 branches and a membership estimated between 50 000 and 70 000.
May/July 1842: second Convention; presentation of a second petition to Parliament with at least 3 000 000 signatures.
Petition once more rejected by Parliament, 287-46, in a context of renewed outbreaks and riots.
After 1842, Chartism declined quickly.
However, there was a rebirth of Chartism in 1848, in response of the revolutionary movements on the Continent.
Final and 3rd Petition, with a claimed 5 million signatures (established by a 3rd Chartist convention)
Meant to be presented to Parliament, but the government refused: troops, policemen and 85 000 special constables was sent to break up the meeting. The meeting was banned and the Queen was evacuated to the Isle of Wight.
The meeting still took place, peacefully, et là va falloir chercher sur Moodle ou chez quelqu'un d'autre parce que la prof va abusément vite.
The Parliament considered most signatures (about 3 millions) were fake.
In winter 1848, Chartism was effectively dead.
The 1832 Reform Act was a 1st step towards democracy. It “opened the door to change. It made further reform logical and inevitable. Change could take place peacefully.” (Monica Charlot)
Reform Bills introduced in the House of Commons in 1851, 1852, 1854, 1859 and 1860. All were withdrawn or rejected...
1860s: organisations pleading for a widening of the franchise were set up:
– National Reform Union (Manchester, 1864)
– Reform League (February 1865)
The Liberal Party (open to reform) won the general elections of July 18655 against the Conservatives, and their leader, Lord Palmerston. He was a strong opponent of reform, and died in October 1865.
New Reform Bill introduced by the Liberal government headed by William Gladstone in 1866.
But a vote in Parliament on an amendment to the Bill ended up with a defeat for the government (315-304)
Gladstone and his ministers resigned, as a result → new Conservative government (in July 1866) headed by Benjamin Disraeli.
However, there was a popular pressure for reform, outside of Parliament (riots in Hyde Park in July 1866) → the Conservatives had no other choice but to introduce a Reform Bill of their own in early 1867.
Also, Disraeli saw he could won the lower classes by passing a Reform Bill. So he did.
Bill eventually passed by both Houses:
1867 Reform Act
Franchise was modified: the number of male voters was further increased: 36% of the adult males in England/Wales; number of borough electors in Scotland were multiplied by 3.
Redistribution of seats.
But some flaws remained. Still only 36% of the adult male pop could vote; geographical imbalances were not completely eradicated; property requirement for MPs was removed, but MPs still didn't have wages: only those who could afford living in London were able to run for elections.
And still no secret ballot!
History of English Litterature
Old English, Middle English and Chaucer
Old English
English, as we know it, descends from the language spoken by the north Germanic tribes who settled in England from the 5th century A.D. onwards. They had no writing (except runes, used as charms) until they learned the Latin alphabet from Roman missionaries. The earliest written works in Old English (as their language is now known to scholars) were probably composed orally at first, and may have been passed on from speaker to speaker before being written. We know the names of some of the later writers (Cædmon, Ælfric and King Alfred) but most writing is anonymous. Old English literature is mostly chronicle and poetry - lyric, descriptive but chiefly narrative or epic. By the time literacy becomes widespread, Old English is effectively a foreign and dead language. And its forms do not significantly affect subsequent developments in English literature. (With the scholarly exception of the 19th century poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, who finds in Old English verse the model for his metrical system of "sprung rhythm".)
Middle English and Chaucer
From 1066 onwards, the language is known to scholars as Middle English. Ideas and themes from French and Celtic literature appear in English writing at about this time, but the first great name in English literature is that of Geoffrey Chaucer (?1343-1400). Chaucer introduces the iambic pentameter line, the rhyming couplet and other rhymes used in Italian poetry (a language in which rhyming is arguably much easier than in English, thanks to the frequency of terminal vowels). Some of Chaucer's work is prose and some is lyric poetry, but his greatest work is mostly narrative poetry, which we find in Troilus and Criseyde and The Canterbury Tales. Other notable mediaeval works are the anonymous Pearl and Gawain and the Green Knight (probably by the same author) and William Langlands' Piers Plowman.
Tudor lyric poetry
Modern lyric poetry in English begins in the early 16th century with the work of Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547). Wyatt, who is greatly influenced by the Italian, Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) introduces the sonnet and a range of short lyrics to English, while Surrey (as he is known) develops unrhymed pentameters (or blank verse) thus inventing the verse form which will be of great use to contemporary dramatists. A flowering of lyric poetry in the reign of Elizabeth comes with such writers as Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), Edmund Spenser (1552-1599), Sir Walter Ralegh (1552-1618), Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) and William Shakespeare (1564-1616). The major works of the time are Spenser's Faerie Queene, Sidney's Astrophil and Stella and Shakespeare's sonnets.