Facts of the Day

1. Edward I wasn't crowned for two years after he became king because he was off on crusade.

2. I'm only a couple of inches taller than the average medieval Englishwoman.

3. A knight was killed at the coronation of Edward II after the collapse of a wall.

All from Michael Prestwich Plantagenet England (Oxford, 2005)

Edouard Perroy

I just want to laud one of my academic heroes for a moment. Edouard Perroy wrote the fantastic The Hundred Years War (in his own words:) 'uninterruptedly, during the winter of 1943-4, thanks to the precarious leisure granted to me during an exciting game of hide and seek with the Gestapo'. I have added the emphasis on the end so that we can all appreciate the that he wrote this without the benefit of a library or an office or anything "academic"; just previously-made notes and his memory and in a place occupied by invaders. The book was revised for publication but I maintain that Perroy is an incredible writer. That, and the fact that he used the word 'pettifogging' (see p.52).

Fourteenth Century families and Consanguinity

So with Edward's family have a lot of consanguineous marriages. I've been drawing little diagrams and working out how people were related and how many degrees of consanguinity that would be.

This is the table which I've been using - so helpful to work it out! 

So, what did I come up with?

These are some of the fruits of my labours!

So the royal family is a bit of a mess in this period! Not only is the heir to the throne married to his first cousin once removed (which is the fifth degree and therefore not prohibited) but Joan's granddaughter marries Joan's husband's brother! That was prohibited... 

Well done fourteenth century aristocracy!!

Connections

I've managed to get my first love (twelfth century queenship and Matilda of Scotland) into my thesis about Edward III! Success.

We are all one big happy, connected historical family...

Why are chronicles so expensive to buy?

9 June Review

Today I have:

• submitted expenses forms
• tracked down boxes for the clearout of the office on the weekend
• agreed a time for the clean up
• posted a note about the clean up on the office door
• written a blog post about the conference
• continued laundry
• food shopping
• started applying for the job at Buckingham Palace

• added an introduction to the Number of Children section

Not an impressive work day. I'll be going shopping, home and then doing some more. Slightly embarrassed - but that's the point of doing this...

Gender and Transgression Review

Attending my first conference felt like a big step, let alone giving a paper! I know when something has been built up as a life experience, "your first _________", I've rarely felt that it was as special as it had been made out. In this case however I feel different today compared to before I left on Thursday. I feel like I'm now within the hallowed group of academics who are "on the circuit" of conferences and that I'm a more mature scholar now that I have absorbed other people's research so intensely and been put under scrutiny for my own work.

My paper was on the second day in the last session. I was with Tom O'Donnell who talked about lactating male saints and Nick Mayhew who talked about eunuchism in early Rus. Both were fantastic talks and I really enjoyed them, especially having already done mine. I was terrified of the questions and of getting one which I couldn't answer. I felt like I don't know as much about my topic as other people know about theirs. I got a question from Prof Robert Bartlett, which was so exciting (his programme about the Plantagenets is one of my favourites in recent times), about Henry II but it was gentle and discursive and allowed me to use what I know. I got another question about comparisons with other kings which was pretty straight-forward so my fears dissipated quickly! It also led to an idea for a comparison with Robert II of Scotland which may or may not be fruitful.

The experience of going to a conference was a great one too. I got the chance to talk to people in the same or similar situation as I'm in - just starting out and we got to make connections which I wouldn't have made on my own. Helpfully I got to ask questions about the departments of St Andrews and Kings, both of which I'm applying to for my PhD (hopefully). I also got to talk to people who are a bit further on and to gain their experience.


Things I learned

• I want to be like the keynote speaker Dion Smythe who seemed to do his paper without notes and made everyone laugh. He made his topic (Byzantine eunuchs) seem so accessible which is no mean feat as I've never done anything about the topic ever and I feel like I understand it even a little now. Fluency and comfort behind the lectern are only available through practice. 

• Pictures are great. I really enjoyed the papers which were specifically visual such as Emily Savage's analysis of wheelbarrows in marginalia or Sarah Griffin's look at a schematic uterus design, or even Pavla Drapelova's analysis of Byzantine empresses on coins. 

• Papers read from a script sitting down are the least interesting. Continue doing what you're doing by having notecards and standing up

• Having some time in the city before or after the conference is fine. Everyone else does it and it's your opportunity to see the world. Also it's rubbish having to rush off when everyone else is enjoying a final cup of tea. 

• Practice paleography - sit in front of the tv and make the motions. This will help you to figure out minims when reading Latin. 

• Bring spare batteries; you never know when the clicker will run out of juice!

• Bring clothes which are suitable for the pub afterwards; you might end up dancing the night away!

• A lot of academics are a bit socially awkward; being a sociable and outgoing person really helps no matter how painful it is initially.

I'm lucky that my first conference was a graduate conference and that it was somewhere so small. It gave me the confidence to know that I can manage my own affairs and that I am good enough.

Now I just have to submit the expenses form...

To Do on Kingly Father chapter 8 June 2014

The Kingly Father

• rearrange whole chapter into a section on Edward, Isabella, Joan, Lionel, and John; and a section on Edmund, Mary, Margaret and Thomas. 

Number of Children

• Revise numbers of children for John of Gaunt, counting the Beauforts as illegitimate, using the ILLs - particularly the Issue of the Kings of England book I copied before coming out. 
• Continue the discussion of the amount of children being important and the table of amounts of children

Military Conquests

• Link the lack of connection between the military conquests and the children's births to Edward's policy on family and honour and so on. 
• Check out the ODNB of Edward of Woodstock (save all the relevant articles to the sources folder for later use) 
• Develop paragraph about Edward allowing/ not allowing Edward of Woodstock to rule - find the differing opinions and synthesise them

Edward and his Dynasty

• Make notes from the Ormrod article 'Monarchy, Martyrdom and Masculinity: England in the Later Middle Ages' in Holiness and Masculinity and add them here

Management of Sons/Children

• Develop the section about Edward's policy about the sons' roles - did it work?
• Provide primary evidence that Edward tried to make his sons demi-kings and then add secondary sources
• I'm repeating the stuff about Edward of Woodstock and Aquitaine here - should they be combined here? Elsewhere?
• Balance the opinions on Edward and Edward and Aquitaine - did he let him have control?
• Be more clear about the timeline of events regarding the births of his children and potential heirs. When would he have felt secure? Link to Black Death problems - is it repetitive? 

To-Do 20/5/2014

SPLIT TO-DO LIST INTO MANAGEABLE SECTIONS!

Introduction:

• Which historians have presented the rebellion of royal sons as inevitable?
• Check historiography of Henry II, William the Conqueror, Edward II, Henry IV (?)
• Which historians have demonstrated the good father/ruler dichotomy? 
• Historiography of Edward I, what about Louis the Pious? 
• Read the William Aird article on Robert Curthose in D M Hadley Masculinity in Medieval Europe (305.310940902 MAS)
• Use it for: 
• example of fatherhood
• Oedipus complex historiography
• Good father/ruler

Masculinity/Historiography:

• Read Josh Tosh's The Pursuit of History 
• add the notes I took from JT's books before I left for history of masculinity studies
• Angela V. John - check her position on masculinity studies
• what has she written?
• Expand on the R. W. Connell section - check notes in Zotero
• Ibid. that of Karras
• Add in the stuff from the EMods Alexandra Shepard
• Research Elizabeth Foyster's work

Kingship Masculinity Historiography

• Rewrite, particularly about the way in which kings are treated in the historiography compared with queens. 
• In the queenship historiography whose work am I aiming for with this about Edward?

Other Masculinities:

• Rewrite the other masculinities section to get rid of the holy men bit as discussed with Pat
• Decide if I think other "masculinities" or "masculinity" on a spectrum 

Edward Historiography

• Add in Ormrod book and Ormrod article about family
• Add in Mortimer book
• Etc

Examples of Fatherhood

Henry II

• Continue shaping the discussion about Henry's sons and so on
• Research Charlemagne's policy regarding sons - Michael's essay? 
• French policy - which French king did it? 

Richard II

• Develop section on comparison between Henry and Richard
• Role as non-father as a factor of his deposition. 
• Chris Given-Wilson article in 1990s about Richard?
• Bibliography of Chronicles of the Revolution?

Edward's Practice of Fatherhood

The Fatherly King

• Add in anecdotal evidence of interaction with the children from Ormrod
• Discuss Edward's grief at the death of his children
• Tombs discussion - William of Hatfield, Blanche and William
• Joan - the letter to Alfonso - develop this into a more sustained discussion
• Was he Father of the Nation in any way? 
• Develop the section about travelling with his children, as Beth Anderson postulated as a measurement of desire to keep them close, into a more complete and synthesised discussion

The Kingly Father

Number of Children

• Revise numbers of children for John of Gaunt, counting the Beauforts as illegitimate, using the ILLs - particularly the Issue of the Kings of England book I copied before coming out. 
• Add in references to the Issue book in the footnotes
• Continue the discussion of the amount of children being important and the table of amounts of children

Military Conquests

• Link the lack of connection between the military conquests and the children's births to Edward's policy on family and honour and so on. 
• Check out the ODNB of Edward of Woodstock (save all the relevant articles to the sources folder for later use) 
• Develop paragraph about Edward allowing/ not allowing Edward of Woodstock to rule - find the differing opinions and synthesise them

Marriages

• Develop the bit about marriages being part of the policy - use the stuff I got just before I went from the Calendar Rolls (?) about betrothals etc.
• Read more of the Rolls for more evidence

Edward and his Dynasty

• Read PC's article Give Me Chastity (saved in Sources) about Edward the Confessor
• Make notes from the Ormrod article 'Monarchy, Martyrdom and Masculinity: England in the Later Middle Ages' in Holiness and Masculinity and add them here

Tombs

• Find somewhere which says that Edward I wanted to be in Westminster Abbey.

Management of Sons/Children

• Develop the section about Edward's policy about the sons' roles - did it work?
• Provide primary evidence that Edward tried to make his sons demi-kings and then add secondary sources
• I'm repeating the stuff about Edward of Woodstock and Aquitaine here - should they be combined here? Elsewhere?
• Balance the opinions on Edward and Edward and Aquitaine - did he let him have control?
• Be more clear about the timeline of events regarding the births of his children and potential heirs. When would he have felt secure? Link to Black Death problems - is it repetitive? 

New To-Dos:

• Review the notes made by PC and KL on my thesis. 
• Search PRO for titles granted to sons (daughters too?)
• Write up meeting online

Conference Paper To-Do List

So I'm speaking at a conference in June and I have yet to pull together my conference paper.

Left to do:

• read Thomas of Walsingham about Henry IV as a prince
• find my notes on Vita Henrici Quinti
• add in the stuff about Edward's marriage policy
• ask for a meeting with PC and KL to practice before I go
• print reimbursements form for supervisor signature
• create powerpoint

Updated To-Do List 19 May 2014

Since I've come back from Australia I've tidied up my thesis and done some of the niggling jobs which I've been putting off for ages. I've been through my Zotero to add in the stuff which I'd saved for later but never got round to. I'm up to about 'p' so not much more left to do. I've also done some of my to-do list which I made whilst I was there!

Introduction:

• Which historians have presented the rebellion of royal sons as inevitable?
• Check historiography of Henry II, William the Conqueror, Edward II, Henry IV (?)
• Which historians have demonstrated the good father/ruler dichotomy? 
• Historiography of Edward I, what about Louis the Pious? 
• Read the William Aird article on Robert Curthose in D M Hadley Masculinity in Medieval Europe (305.310940902 MAS)
• Use it for: 
• example of fatherhood
• Oedipus complex historiography
• Good father/ruler

Masculinity/Historiography:

• Read Josh Tosh's The Pursuit of History 
• add the notes I took from JT's books before I left for history of masculinity studies
• Angela V. John - check her position on masculinity studies
• what has she written?
• Expand on the R. W. Connell section - check notes in Zotero
• Ibid. that of Karras
• Add in the stuff from the EMods Alexandra Shepard
• Research Elizabeth Foyster's work

Kingship Masculinity Historiography

• Rewrite, particularly about the way in which kings are treated in the historiography compared with queens. 
• In the queenship historiography whose work am I aiming for with this about Edward?

Other Masculinities:

• Rewrite the other masculinities section to get rid of the holy men bit as discussed with Pat
• Decide if I think other "masculinities" or "masculinity" on a spectrum 

Edward Historiography

• Add in Ormrod book and Ormrod article about family
• Add in Mortimer book
• Etc

Examples of Fatherhood

Henry II

• Continue shaping the discussion about Henry's sons and so on
• Research Charlemagne's policy regarding sons - Michael's essay? 
• French policy - which French king did it? 

Richard II

• Develop section on comparison between Henry and Richard
• Role as non-father as a factor of his deposition. 
• Chris Given-Wilson article in 1990s about Richard?
• Bibliography of Chronicles of the Revolution?

Edward's Practice of Fatherhood

The Fatherly King

• Add in anecdotal evidence of interaction with the children from Ormrod
• Discuss Edward's grief at the death of his children
• Tombs discussion - William of Hatfield, Blanche and William
• Joan - the letter to Alfonso - develop this into a more sustained discussion
• Was he Father of the Nation in any way? 
• Develop the section about travelling with his children, as Beth Anderson postulated as a measurement of desire to keep them close, into a more complete and synthesised discussion

The Kingly Father

Number of Children

• Revise numbers of children for John of Gaunt, counting the Beauforts as illegitimate, using the ILLs - particularly the Issue of the Kings of England book I copied before coming out. 
• Add in references to the Issue book in the footnotes
• Continue the discussion of the amount of children being important and the table of amounts of children

Military Conquests

• Link the lack of connection between the military conquests and the children's births to Edward's policy on family and honour and so on. 
• Check out the ODNB of Edward of Woodstock (save all the relevant articles to the sources folder for later use) 
• Develop paragraph about Edward allowing/ not allowing Edward of Woodstock to rule - find the differing opinions and synthesise them

Marriages

• Develop the bit about marriages being part of the policy - use the stuff I got just before I went from the Calendar Rolls (?) about betrothals etc.
• Read more of the Rolls for more evidence

Edward and his Dynasty

• Read PC's article Give Me Chastity (saved in Sources) about Edward the Confessor
• Make notes from the Ormrod article 'Monarchy, Martyrdom and Masculinity: England in the Later Middle Ages' in Holiness and Masculinity and add them here

Tombs

• Find somewhere which says that Edward I wanted to be in Westminster Abbey.

Management of Sons/Children

• Develop the section about Edward's policy about the sons' roles - did it work?
• Provide primary evidence that Edward tried to make his sons demi-kings and then add secondary sources
• I'm repeating the stuff about Edward of Woodstock and Aquitaine here - should they be combined here? Elsewhere?
• Balance the opinions on Edward and Edward and Aquitaine - did he let him have control?
• Be more clear about the timeline of events regarding the births of his children and potential heirs. When would he have felt secure? Link to Black Death problems - is it repetitive? 

New To-Dos:

• Review the notes made by PC and KL on my thesis. 
• Search PRO for titles granted to sons (daughters too?)
• Write up meeting online

Master To Do List (return from Australia edition)

So it's been hard to remember what I'm up to since I've been able to work so infrequently so I thought a To Do list would be super useful.

Introduction:

• Which historians have presented the rebellion of royal sons as inevitable?
• Check historiography of Henry II, William the Conqueror, Edward II, Henry IV (?)
• Which historians have demonstrated the good father/ruler dichotomy? 
• Historiography of Edward I, what about Louis the Pious? 
• Read the William Aird article on Robert Curthose in D M Hadley Masculinity in Medieval Europe (305.310940902 MAS)
• Use it for: 
• example of fatherhood
• Oedipus complex historiography
• Good father/ruler

Masculinity/Historiography:

• Read Josh Tosh's The Pursuit of History 
• add the notes I took from JT's books before I left for history of masculinity studies
• Angela V. John - check her position on masculinity studies
• what has she written?
• Expand on the R. W. Connell section - check notes in Zotero
• Ibid. that of Karras
• Add in the stuff from the EMods Alexandra Shepard
• Research Elizabeth Foyster's work

Kingship Masculinity Historiography

• Rewrite, particularly about the way in which kings are treated in the historiography compared with queens. 
• In the queenship historiography whose work am I aiming for with this about Edward?

Other Masculinities:

• Rewrite the other masculinities section to get rid of the holy men bit as discussed with Pat
• Decide if I think other "masculinities" or "masculinity" on a spectrum 

Edward Historiography

• Add in Ormrod book and Ormrod article about family
• Add in Mortimer book
• Etc

Examples of Fatherhood

Henry II

• Continue shaping the discussion about Henry's sons and so on
• Research Charlemagne's policy regarding sons - Michael's essay? 
• French policy - which French king did it? 

Richard II

• Develop section on comparison between Henry and Richard
• Role as non-father as a factor of his deposition. 
• Chris Given-Wilson article in 1990s about Richard?
• Bibliography of Chronicles of the Revolution?

Edward's Practice of Fatherhood

The Fatherly King

• Add in anecdotal evidence of interaction with the children from Ormrod
• Discuss Edward's grief at the death of his children
• Tombs discussion - William of Hatfield, Blanche and William
• Joan - the letter to Alfonso - develop this into a more sustained discussion
• Was he Father of the Nation in any way? 
• Develop the section about travelling with his children, as Beth Anderson postulated as a measurement of desire to keep them close, into a more complete and synthesised discussion

The Kingly Father

Number of Children

• Revise numbers of children for John of Gaunt, counting the Beauforts as illegitimate, using the ILLs - particularly the Issue of the Kings of England book I copied before coming out. 
• Add in references to the Issue book in the footnotes
• Continue the discussion of the amount of children being important and the table of amounts of children

Military Conquests

• Link the lack of connection between the military conquests and the children's births to Edward's policy on family and honour and so on. 
• Check out the ODNB of Edward of Woodstock (save all the relevant articles to the sources folder for later use) 
• Develop paragraph about Edward allowing/ not allowing Edward of Woodstock to rule - find the differing opinions and synthesise them

Marriages

• Develop the bit about marriages being part of the policy - use the stuff I got just before I went from the Calendar Rolls (?) about betrothals etc.
• Read more of the Rolls for more evidence

Edward and his Dynasty

• Read PC's article Give Me Chastity (saved in Sources) about Edward the Confessor
• Make notes from the Ormrod article 'Monarchy, Martyrdom and Masculinity: England in the Later Middle Ages' in Holiness and Masculinity and add them here

Tombs

• Find somewhere which says that Edward I wanted to be in Westminster Abbey.

Management of Sons/Children

• Develop the section about Edward's policy about the sons' roles - did it work?
• Provide primary evidence that Edward tried to make his sons demi-kings and then add secondary sources
• I'm repeating the stuff about Edward of Woodstock and Aquitaine here - should they be combined here? Elsewhere?
• Balance the opinions on Edward and Edward and Aquitaine - did he let him have control?
• Be more clear about the timeline of events regarding the births of his children and potential heirs. When would he have felt secure? Link to Black Death problems - is it repetitive?