Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors

by English Historical Fiction Authors

  Enter the Curate

  In the Regency period, once installed in a living, a man was there for life. No one less than the bishop could remove him for cause. A vicar could resign his duties to a curate once he obtained the permission of his bishop. Many hired a curate from the beginning of their incumbency. Others only did so when they had to retire.

  A curate was usually a young man just recently ordained, who assisted or sometimes performed the duties of a clergyman. A curate’s wages would be paid from the vicar’s own pocket and typically were very low, as little as £50 per year, not enough to afford a maid. Moreover, a vicar did not have to give up the parsonage house to the curate. He might continue to live in it himself and leave the curate to find his own living quarters somewhere within an easy distance of the church.

  Even at trifling wages, a curacy was not easy to obtain. In the early 1800s curates made up close to half of the clergymen. Even with a position, their future was not secure. The death of the incumbent did not imply the curate would ascend to the living. Moreover, there was no guarantee that the successor would even continue to employ the curate. A curate did not retire unless he had private means of support because the church offered no pensions.

  As members of the clergy, curates were regarded as gentlemen. Despite their official standing, the subservient nature of their position and their paltry incomes caused some of the gentry and peers to hold them in disregard.

  Parish Duties

  The clergyman’s duties in the church included holding service on Sundays and holding Holy Communion at least three times a year. Midweek duties included baptisms, marriages, funerals, and visiting the sick.

  Outside of the church, the clergyman officiated at parish meetings to discuss local affairs including charity, parish employment, care of the poor, repair and maintenance of the church, and election of the churchwardens. The parish was responsible for the administration of the poor laws and elected Supervisors of the Poor who collected the Poor Rate taxes from the wealthier parishioners. The parish also appointed two Surveyors of Highways to supervise the maintenance and repair of the roads. Thus, whether vicar or lowly curate, the clergyman played a major role in the life of his parish community.

  Sources

  Collins, Irene. Jane Austen, The Parson’s Daughter. Hambledon Press, 1998.

  ________. Jane Austen & the Clergy. Hambledon Press, 2002.

  Day, Malcolm. Voices from the World of Jane Austen. David & Charles, 2012.

  Grose, Francis. Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1811 ed. Ikon Classics, 2004.

  Le Faye, Deirdre. Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels. Harry N. Abrams, 2002.

  MacDonagh, Oliver. Jane Austen: Real and Imagined Worlds. Yale University Press, 1991.

  Mayer, Nancy. Nancy Mayer: Regency Researcher. http://www.susannaives.com/nancyregencyresearcher/.

  Sullivan, Margaret C. The Jane Austen Handbook. Quirk Books, 2007.

  A Glimpse of York during the Regency Era

  by Lauren Gilbert

  York is an incredibly ancient city. Romans and Vikings established communities here. (The Roman Ninth Legion set up camp there and called it Eboracum, and in 208 A.D., the Roman Empire was governed from York.) A long Christian tradition carried on in York.

  A great cathedral, York Minster, was built here, with construction beginning on the earliest incarnation of that monumental work in the 7th century. York Minster was (and is) the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second most powerful churchman in the Church of England. The Normans built onto it. The kings Edward I, II, and III held their parliaments there, and the Courts of Justice were held in York for seven years in the 13th century.

  At the end of the Wars of the Roses, the City of York came in squarely on the side of Richard III, recording that:

  …King Richard late mercifully reigning upon us was thrugh grete treason of the duc of Northfolk and many othere that turned ayenst hyme, with many othre lordes and nobilles of this north parties, was pitiously slaine and murdred to the grete hevynesse of this citie, the names of whome foloweth hereafter…

  Clearly, York was an important and powerful city, in the thick of things for centuries.

  By the Georgian era, things had settled down quite a bit. Although other parts of Yorkshire had industrialized, the city of York did not, possibly due to trade restrictions called the “freedom regulations.” However, it remained the county seat and regional administrative center and a center of church matters including an ecclesiastical court.

  Natural waterways and canals made trade and travel easier. The turnpike made it easier, and faster, to get to York from London and other cities. It was a military town, having the Cavalry Barracks, and became an important social center with assembly rooms, horse racing, theater, and other social amenities, attracting local gentry and nobility with seats in the county. These county families included those named Fairfax, Scrope, Bourchier, Carr, and Fitzwilliam, some with illustrious titles. These, in turn, attracted friends from out of town. The horse races attracted the Prince of Wales and his set. Book stores, linen-drapers, mantua makers, milliners, boot makers, and other businesses provided the goods and services required by the fashionable.

  During the Georgian era, some beautiful buildings were constructed, and Fairfax House, built for Viscount Fairfax, was just one of these buildings. Richard Boyle, third Earl of Burlington, was responsible for the elegant designs of the Mansion House and the Assembly Rooms in York. The city became known as a polite and elegant place to live and to visit and was one of the fashionable escapes of the day.

  During the Regency era, theatre, dancing, and other entertainments continued to be very popular in York, as elsewhere, and there was an active social season. Mrs. Jordan (mistress of the Duke of Clarence) performed in The Country Girl in 1811; Edmund Keane performed at the Theatre Royal in 1819.

  The Assembly Rooms (also known as the Burlington Rooms) had their balls, where country dances, quadrilles, and cotillions were still popular, even as the waltz was coming into fashion. If dancing wasn’t one’s preference, one could gamble in the Round Room. In their way, the Assembly Rooms were the Almack’s of the north, as young people were there to see and be seen, to meet and mingle. Madame Tussaud also appeared in York with her wax sculptures in a travelling exhibition during this era. A beautiful tree-lined walk of approximately a mile along the River Ouse, called the New Walk, was a popular place to take the air.

  The York Races were especially popular. Even though the Prince of Wales was no longer interested in horse racing by 1807, many of the nobility and gentry still came to York in May for races and the festivities surrounding them, including the Race Ball held in the Assembly Rooms. Buying and selling of race horses, and gambling on the races themselves (and in the Round Room after the races), made the races an especially costly form of entertainment.

  Unfortunately, the lack of industry that made York such a polite and elegant city in which to live or visit resulted in a decline. By the 1820s, the assemblies were down to six winter meetings and a few special event assemblies. By the 1830s, the races and theatres were in decline, and the city itself was no longer the important social center it had been. The population declined somewhat, and the nobility and gentry that had patronized the racing and social scene were spending more time elsewhere. It wasn’t until later in the 19th century that things improved again.

  Sources

  Bebb, Prudence. Life in Regency York. York, England: Sessions Book Trust, 1992.

  Donnelly, Shannon. “Regency Horses.” Rakehell Blog. January, 2003. http://rakehell.net/article.php?id=152&Title=Regency-Horses.

  “Fairfax House.” York Civic Trust. http://www.fairfaxhouse.co.uk/?idno=4.

  Heap, R. Grundy. Georgian York: A Sketch of Life in Hanoverian England. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1937.

  “History of York: Timeline.” Yor
k Museum Trust. http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/timeline.

  Lang, W. Andrews and Elsie M. Old English Towns. London: Bracken Books, 1965.

  Tillott, P.M. ed. “A History of the County of York: the City of York.” Victoria County History (1961): 266-8. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36358.

  “Transcription of page from York City House Book containing death entry of Richard III.” Society of Friends of King Richard III. http://www.silverboar.org/deathentry.htm.

  Nom nom nom: Regency Style

  by M.M. Bennetts

  With much of the western world so indisputably in the grip of culinary multi-culturalism, it can be hard to imagine an age in which mealtimes weren’t dominated by a need for ready-meals, speed-eating, 24-hour electrical supplies, ease of world transportation, or advertising.

  But so it was in early 19th century Britain.

  To begin with, there was no ready supply of electricity or gas to fuel either household lighting or a stove or open hearth for cooking and baking. Instead there were candles, made of beeswax or tallow, oil lamps, wood and coal—all of which were immeasurably more expensive comparatively than our modern equivalents.

  Hence the beginning of one’s day, obviously depending on social class, came with the rising sun and daylight. Within the prosperous middle class, the gentry, and aristocracy this was probably somewhere between seven and eight.

  The first meal of the day was generally taken at ten. It lasted for about an hour and it was a good solid English breakfast. “Morning” itself then lasted until dinner at perhaps three or four in the afternoon. Dinner went on for about two hours.

  And it’s important to note that the hours at which these meals are served also provide for the greatest amount of natural light in the kitchen for the preparation of the food, and also, the least number of candles required, both upstairs and down.

  London society of the Beau Monde dined at five o’clock, or even later, and generally had their tea or a light supper sometime late in the evening, after returning from the theatre or in the middle of a ball...But in the country, one kept “country hours”, and thus mealtime was dictated by the hours of light and also by the fact that traveling at night was often inconvenient and certainly hazardous even on a moonlit night.

  Dinner, then....

  First off, this is the moment to drop those preconceptions about how many courses served one after another—five or seven or nine—was a sign of wealth and breeding. Because English service didn’t have many courses, one served after another.

  For the most part, there were two courses, often called removes, plus dessert. And the servants didn’t serve each individual from a tray onto their plate either.

  Oh, and there was no allotted placement either, with the exception that the host would be the first into the room, escorting the “senior” lady, and taking his place at the foot of the table, while the hostess sat at the upper end of the table and the guest(s) of honour sat near her.

  When the family or family and guests walked into the dining room, the table would already be spread with an array of dishes of every kind of food—soup, fish, game, poultry, meat, pies, sauces, pickles, vegetables, puddings both sweet and savoury, jellies, and custards. Depending upon the occasion, there might be anything from five to twenty five different dishes, all arranged symmetrically around a centre dish.

  Initially, it was the host who would supervise the serving of the soup and/or carve the joints of meat that might be brought in once the soup tureens were removed. A kind of balance was also maintained with fish—usually with salmon at one end of the table and perhaps turbot at the other.

  After the meat—saddle of mutton, haunch of venison, sirloin of beef—had been carved, the gentlemen at the table helped themselves from the nearest dishes and each offered it to his neighbour, or else a servant was to fetch a dish from another part of the table.

  It does sound like a great deal of food, yes. But generally, one didn’t eat one’s way through everything. It seems to have been more a case of choosing three or four things that one liked from amongst the array.

  To wash it all down, ale, beer, wine, as well as soda water would have been served, though some gentlemen are recorded as having preferred port, hock, or sherry with their food. And importantly—for dining was a very social element in their days—once the soup had been served, both ladies and gentlemen would start drinking everyone’s health round the table—“taking wine” with each other as it’s called.

  Once the family and guests had eaten as much as they wished from that first selection, an intermediate course of cheese, salad, raw celery, and suchlike might be brought round. Then the table was cleared, and a second remove of an equal quantity of different dishes was brought in and arranged on the table, with, just as previously, both sweet and savoury dishes included.

  Finally, the guests and family having eaten their fill, the table would again be cleared and the cloth removed to reveal either the polished table surface or another cloth lying beneath, and the dessert would be laid out. This dessert consisted of fruits and nuts, perhaps ice-cream or sweetmeats. And this was usually accompanied by port or Madeira.

  Once the company had sat over dessert for about a quarter of an hour, the ladies would leave the dining room and retire to the drawing room, where they would embroider, chat, play the fortepiano, or read aloud for about an hour. After which point they would order their tea and coffee to be brought in, and the gentlemen, having discussed the war, the government, the iniquitous price of wheat, their efforts at sheep-rearing, and other such thrilling topics over their wine, would join them.

  Louis Simond, a Franco-American with an English wife, visited England in 1810-11 and left this record:

  There are commonly two courses and a dessert. I shall venture to give a sketch of a moderate dinner for ten or twelve persons—First course [included] Oyster sauce, Fish, Spinage, Fowls, Soup, Bacon, Vegetables, Roast or Boiled Beef, Vegetables. Second course [included] Creams, Ragout a la Francaise, Pastry, Cream, Macaroni, Cauliflowers, Game, Pastry. Dessert [included] Walnuts, Apples, Raisins and Almonds, Cakes, Pears, Oranges.

  Phantasmagoria: Getting Your Fright On in Late Georgian England

  by J.A. Beard

  The lady and her guests have gathered in a sitting room. Only the light of a few candles fights off the choking darkness.

  Suddenly, a rattling chain and the scratching of unearthly talons echo through the room. A skeleton appears, then a ghost! The terrified audience holds their hands in front of them in a feeble attempt to shut out the creatures.

  The English of the late Georgian era appreciated a good fright just as much as we do. The rise of Gothic literature and related novels of fright provided a giddy thrill for many readers, but reading about a phantom lacks the impact of actually seeing one. Though the people in this era lacked television and movies, they did have their own way of experiencing the visceral thrill of laying their eyes on the macabre and supernatural: the phantasmagoria.

  Before we discuss the actual show, we need to discuss the primary tool used for it: the magic lantern. Though historians aren’t completely sure, the magic lantern seems to have been invented in either the 15th or 16th century in northern Europe.

  The magic lantern is a fairly simple device. It is basically just a concave mirror that is placed in front of a light source. The set-up allows the gathering up of light. In the magic lantern, the concentrated light is then passed through a glass slide with an image on it toward a lens. The lens then projects a larger version of the slide image onto another surface. So, what they really had was a simple slide projector.

  In the earliest magic lanterns, candles or a conventional (non-magic as it were) lantern provided the necessary light. As the centuries passed, improved illumination technologies were integrated into the magic lantern to provide for brighter images. Th
ough various types of images were projected when the devices were first introduced, dark images of supernatural creatures were popular from the earliest years. Skilled performers made use of multiple magic lanterns, sound effects, smoke, and other such elements to create a thrilling experience.

  The magic lantern had a history on the Continent before its arrival in England. The quick summary version is that during a period of heightened interest in spiritualism and all things dark and supernatural, particularly toward the end of the 18th century, a well-positioned magic lantern could do a lot to convince people that something supernatural was indeed present, especially in a time where people would rarely encounter such technology.

  By 1801, the phantasmagoria was firmly established in England. At this point, many showmen began to be a bit more honest about the non-supernatural nature of their shows. It’s important to note that not everyone believed they were witnessing supernatural goings-on even before the lantern men fully committed to honesty, but there was enough belief in it to occasionally attract the attention of authorities.

  Coming clean, among other things, also allowed for better integration of other theatrical elements such as live music and guided narration. The displays by this point made use of multiple wheeled projectors. The mobility allowed for the ghosts, devils, and other assorted creatures to move, grow, or shrink during the performance as needed.

  The shows grew in popularity just before and during the Regency period (1811-1820). The Prince Regent, never one to pass up a good time in whatever form, was known to entertain guests and himself with phantasmagoria displays on occasion (along with regular non-horror themed shows as well).

  The magic lantern and phantasmagoria would remain popular through the end of the Georgian era and well into the Victorian era.