Guest Blog Post
‘The English Ape’: Barbarous Brits and the Culture of Climate in early modern England
Tayler Meredith
‘Pray don’t talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me quite nervous.’ – Oscar Wilde
For Oscar Wilde, nothing was more excruciating to bear than talk of the weather – ‘the last refuge of the unimaginative’, in his words. During these drab English winter months, we too may empathise with Wilde’s cynicism. For ahead of excessive tea-drinking, professional queuing, and ill-advised foreign invasions, the English are perhaps best known for their tedious obsession with the weather. If the Inuit people have one hundred words for snow (technically they don’t), then the English have just as many expressions to describe ‘light-drizzle’. Call it a social prop, or just mindless small talk, this trait (combined with our stifling national awkwardness) naturally engenders the kind-of paranoia Wilde describes. Surely there must be some substance behind such throwaway babble: perhaps it’s the dreary repression of imperial guilt? A self-deprecating reminder of Britain’s industrial decline? Is it Cameron’s fault? Or Blair? No, Thatcher! Definitely Thatcher.
Bloody Thatcher and her brazen deregulation of the met-office
Almost certainly, it is none of the above reasons (and I’ll leave this debate – and potential PhD proposal – for the social anthropologists in our midst). As for our Elizabethan antecedents – equally obsessed with the changing seasons – talk of the weather did mean something else. In fact, it meant quite a lot of things. From physical and mental health, to providence and religious identity, the weather informed a gamut of social, scientific, and cultural practices. Most striking, however, is the curiously common attribution of national characteristics to the English climate.
‘As the air is, so are the inhabitants,’ wrote Robert Burton of the English temperament. The English, like their intemperate climes, were thus ‘dull, heavy, witty, subtle, neat, cleanly, clownish, sick, sound.’ Quite literally, the English were a product of their (rather unfavourable) environment. As the climate varied or worsened, as it so often did during the so-called ‘Little Ice Age’, so too did the very character of its inhabitants; for ‘the clime changes not so much customs, manners, wits … as constitutions of their bodies, and the temperature itself.’ This was bad news for the English. Like their barbarian forebears, they had inherited an intemperate, ‘northern’ climate that bred an inferior national complexion. Mary Floyd-Wilson, in her 2003 monograph English Ethnicity and Race, dubs this genre of ethnological thought ‘geo-humoralism’: i.e. the prevalent belief that ethnic and racial distinctions were drawn along environmental, rather than biological lines. National theories of climate (based on a set of classical texts by Aristotle, Galen, Pliny and Hippocrates) proposed the existence of three main climatic zones (the North, Middle, and South), of which the conditions determined the humoral disposition of its inhabitants. As opposed to the temperate middle-zone, praised by said classical thinkers as an incubator of civility, the men of the North (and therefore Britain) were ‘of great strength and little policie, much courage and small shift, because of the weake abode of the sunne with us … are white of colour, blockish, uncivill, fierce and warlike.’
See what I did there? Eh?
With Geography emerging as the dominant ‘scientific’ discipline, England’s literal position in the world became ever more significant. Moreover, having divorced herself from Rome and being separated by sea, England had become abruptly and distinctly northern. Automatically lacking the moderation of the Latin temperament, the English were also diametrically opposed to the peaceable and contemplative disposition of those bred in the hot, arid climes of eastern Africa. Though indeed strong and courageous, to those versed in classical and contemporary climate theory, it was clear that the English suffered from a debilitating mental inferiority. As Richard Helgerson has elsewhere shown, to be English in this period was to be the denigrated ‘other’ – the ‘sick man of Christendom’, so to speak. These discourses, Wilson has argued, extended to weather-talk. As Nathanael Carpenter admits in his Geography of 1625, the English – lacking the brainpower to govern effectively and amiably – were perhaps best suited ‘to Mechanicall works and martial endeavors.’ Patronising stuff indeed, but nothing compared to William Rankin’s 1588 diagnosis of the English complexion. ‘The English Ape’, Rankin said, was the product of an ‘inferior climate neither governed by religion nor virtue’ and ‘should make theé so brutish, as … to be transformed to a savage beast.’
‘Damn this English complexion of mine’
As disparaging as these accounts sound, they formed a fairly consensual idea of English ethnicity during the Elizabethan period. However, this is not to mistake the complexion of the English as inherently ailed, but constantly intemperate. Like the wavering climes of the British Isles, the English temperament was deemed to be unruly, erratic and severely changeable. Theoretically, this worked both to the advantage and disadvantage of the English. On one hand, and as alluded to above, they were unfortunately suited to barbarism, and were ‘wanting in the site of beauty.’ But, at the same time, the changeable constitution of the English body lent itself to self-improvement and ‘seasoning’ (i.e. the belief that one’s temperament can be changed by a change in air, diet, etc.) For Burton, the author of arguably the first self-help book, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), there was nothing more beneficial to an ailing temperament than a sudden change of climate (or ‘air’). Even better, a trip to one of England’s nascent colonies could redeem their lack-lustre complexion. This said, the issue of climatic change (in the contemporary sense) also triggered negative anxieties about the susceptibility of the English to external, climatic influence. Will their essential ‘Englishness’ be lost or exaggerated in response to changing weather?
Adapting to new climatic realities not only became a question of material subsistence, but of mental and emotional fortitude. Early modern Englanders, in light of their inferior climate, were forced to revaluate their ‘northern’ disposition: to embrace, alter, or reject the implications of classical climate theory. Consequently, this understanding of England’s culture of climate can cast potential doubt on the chauvinistic character of England’s early national identity. This is not to deny the xenophobic trends inherent in geographical discourse in the period, but an attempt to reassess the ‘English Ape’ in all his brutal glory.
Tayler Meredith is a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Birmingham. His current research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, is based on the popular understanding of the English climate during the so-called ‘Little Ice Age.’ Amongst other themes, his thesis will examine the climatic influence on an early English identity.
Twitter: @taylermeredith / Website: https://bham.academia.edu/TaylerMeredith
Works Referenced:
Mary Floyd Wilson, English Ethnicity and Race in Early Modern Drama (Cambridge, 2003)
Richard Helgerson, Forms of Nationhood: The Elizabethan Writing of England (Chicago, 1994)
Robert Burton, ‘Air rectified’ in The Anatomy of Melancholy (London, 1621)
William Harrison, A Description of Britain (London, 1577)
William Rankin, The English Ape, the Italian Imitation, the footsteepes of Fraunce (London, 1588)
Nathanael Carpenter, Geography (London, 1625)
Monday 30th November
Come along to our first Research Presentation Session of the academic year, as usual from 4pm in the Seminar Room of Westmere House.
Tom Rochester will be speaking on:
‘A Worthy Successor to Cuthbert: The Miracles of John of Beverley in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History V.2-6’
As always, wine and nibbles will be provided!
Guest Blog Post
Adam Freeman’s Dublin trip
On my family weekend trip to Dublin in August 2015 I tried to take in as much history as much as I could, with a special focus on its medieval past. Dublin was invaded by the Vikings in the ninth century, with a date of 841 being given as the foundation of the city of Dublin. After the Norman invasion of England in 1066, when they quickly and effectively conquered the Irish lands, Dublin became the centre of English power in Ireland after the Norman invasion of the southern half of Ireland.
Euros packed and camera ready…
On a warm (ish) day, my visit started with a walk down the river Liffy.
I found the National Museum of decorative arts, located at a former army barracks.
Can’t complain about a free museum (already having noted the Archaeology and Painting Museum in my guidebook).
Dodging modern trams, I stuck to my walking, so as not to miss places of historical interest.
Walking towards Dublin castle and surrounding areas I noticed a lot of great architecture….
Christ Church Cathedral is easily seen from the riverfront…
Finding this cathedral shut I went looking for the twelfth century St Patrick’s Cathedral…
And enjoyed some nice views as I queued up behind many tourists
I found the similarity between an ‘English’ Norman cathedral startling
Next stop Dublin Castle! Nice round tower, a large range of ages and periods between the buildings, i.e tower, nave and entrance gallery
A more modern looking entrance; eighteenth century. The castle looks like it’s been dropped into a modern estate, expensive offices behind the photo, and a road
Time to consult the map, it has changed a lot since its foundation by King John, and I thought all he did was sign the Magna Carta…
Time to take a rest in the old inner walls, still feels odd how close the new apartments are on the site. As the sun starts to set a good day of visiting, travelling back home tomorrow.
Monday 23rd November
Join us next Monday at 4pm in the Seminar Room of Westmere House to learn about digital tools. As always, wine and nibbles will be provided!
Monday 16th November
Monday 16th November 2015 4pm
Seminar Room, Westmere House
Blogging the Medieval
Want to know more about finding useful medieval blogs and writing your own posts?
In this session EMREM will discuss finding different types of blogs (based at Birmingham, written by PhD’s and ECR’S, focused on particular topics and general interest), and writing your own posts (about your research, sources, trips etc).
If you have experience or questions you would like to share, please come along!
As always, wine and nibbles will be provided!
Our First Guest Post, Courtesy of Adam Freeman
Annual Ironbridge lecture 2015
The Urban Splash Story – How Celebrating Heritage is Consistent with Celebrating the Best in Original Modern Design
Presented by Tom Bloxham MBE
Chairman and co-founder of Urban Splash
Chancellor of The University of Manchester
Trustee of Manchester United FC Foundation
The 2015 Annual Ironbridge lecture in partnership between the University of Birmingham and the International Ironbridge Institute was held at Ironbridge and Gorge Museum on Tuesday 20th October. The talk was given by Tom Bloxham MBE, founder of Urban Splash a heritage regeneration company founded in 1993. Urban Splash’s literature comments that, ‘together they wanted to bring back into use the ample stock of wasted empty buildings lying around at that time in Liverpool and Manchester; with an ambition of filling them with the growing band of post-punk kids looking for cool spaces to live in and trade from’. Over time this has spread to all major cities around the UK, and Urban Splash has become a national leader of regeneration in its field.
The talk was very informative; Tom made note of previous success stories, I have yet to hear from one that failed! and also commented on current projects. These centred on Sheffield, Bristol and most excitingly Birmingham. The Sheffield project is one of the company’s most ambitious to date, seeing the regeneration of the quarter of the city that aims to create a hub for northern businesses, and a go to place for the young; the University of Sheffield has recently opened a campus there.
The Birmingham project was confirmed to the press only days before the lecture and Urban Splash hopes to follow on from the success of the previous regeneration of Ford Dunlop in the city. Urban Splash comments, ‘Birmingham City Council and the Canal & River Trust have chosen us as preferred development partner for Icknield Port Loop alongside Places for People. The huge 43 acre canal side site, sits close to the city centre and will deliver in excess of 1,000 homes’ (urbansplash.co.uk/news/newsletter). This is an indication of the company’s progress over twenty years since its foundation, that it has the ambition to pull off a regeneration project this large.
During his lecture Tom noted the impact of the 2007/8 recession on the company. The downturn in profits necessitated a change in emphasis, but the overall message of continuing to invest and stay true to the founding principles of the company is a positive message we can all hope to learn from.
The use and preservation of former industrial buildings and heritage sites is of significance to all historians, to preserve our past and as an education tool for the next generations. The prospect of losing our past, whether industrial, early modern or even medieval remains in a building, is a possibility. It is only through concerted attempts to save it and try to find modern uses that it can then survive into the twenty first century. Leaving buildings and artefacts to decay should not be an option.
Monday 9th November
Monday 9th November 2015 4pm
Seminar Room, Westmere House
Conference Workshop
Writing an abstract for a conference and don’t know where to start?
Want to submit a panel with a group of friends but struggling to make your papers tie together?
In this session EMREM will give you tips in conferencing:
How to find conferences and choose which to attend, what organisers are looking for, what to expect when chairing a panel, and practical advice for presenting a paper.
CALL FOR BLOG POSTS
In addition to our open Call For Papers, EMREM has opened a Call For Blog Posts.
If you would like the chance to contribute to this blog, perhaps in the form of a book review, conference report or short account of your research, please get in touch! We are looking for posts of 500-800 words, but are open to suggestions if you have a longer post to pitch!
Notices
Hi everyone!
Thank you to everyone who came to last week’s session on funding. You can see the slides again here: Funding-with-updated-slides
Just a reminder that there is no session in Westmere this Monday as it is Reading Week.
There has also been a change to the programme. Week 7’s session on ‘Digital Wizardry’ will now run in Week 9. This means that our next session will discuss conferences and abstracts.
Finally, in addition to the open call for papers, there is now a call for blog posts. If you would like to write something about your research or sources, a book review, conference report, or anything else, please get in touch!
