hive · hive | volume 1, issue 1 october 2017 ii table of contents cycling and the origins of the...

Hive | volume 1, issue 1 October 2017

i

The Hive Editorial Team

Dr. Kathryn Hurlock (Editor-in-Chief)

Owen Rees (Editor)

Ian Bass (Book Reviews Editor)

Isabel Taube (Interdisciplinary Officer)

Joshua Butt (Editorial Assistant)

Jo Darnley (Editorial Assistant)

Beatrix Calow (Design)


ii

Table of Contents Cycling and the Origins of the Manchester Motor Industry

-Joshua Butt

1

Manchester and Spice

-Lauren Lowe

13

Remembering Hereward the Wake and Eustace the Monk

-Katrina Ingram

23

Review: Henry the Young King, 1155-1183 -Ian Bass

33

Journal Guidelines 36


1

Cycling and the Origins of the Manchester Motor Industry Joshua Butt

Automobile scholarship has long established the importance of the cycle industry in the origins of motor manufacturing in the UK. This has been clearly demonstrated in the cycle industry’s heartland of Coventry and the Midlands, where by 1913 seventy-five per cent of Coventry’s motor vehicle output came from firms that had a cycle background.1 Scholars emphasise the obvious technical link, reasoning that all the Coventry cycle firms that expanded into automobile production were successful.2 Scholars have also stressed the economic link as many cycle firms entered the motor industry for reasons of alternative income following the end of the cycle boom in the late nineteenth century. 3 More recent scholarship has emphasised the cultural link between cycling and motoring. The established ‘bicycle craze’ created a ready culture that embraced the experience of speed, tinkering and touring that formed the basis of automobile culture.4

1 D. Thoms and T. Donnelly, The Motor Car Industry in Coventry Since the 1890s (London and Sydney: Croom Helm, 1985), p. 14. 2 Ibid., p. 24; S. B. Saul, ‘The Motor Industry in Britain to 1914’, Business History, 6 (1962), p. 26; J. Foreman-Peck, S. Bowden and A. McKinlay, The British Motor Industry (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995), p. 9, this argues that the bicycle industry was an incubator for motor vehicles. 3 Thoms and Donnelly, The Motor Car, p. 26; A. Milward, ‘Factors Contributing to the Sustained Success of the UK Cycle Industry 1870–1939’ (unpublished doctoral thesis: University of Birmingham, 1999), p. 124. 4 G. Mom, Atlantic Automobilism Emergence and Persistence of the Car, 1895–1940 (New York: Berghahn, 2015), p. 63; C. Reid, Roads Were Not Built For Cars (Washington: Island Press, 2015).


2

This article will add to this historiography by connecting these two approaches, considering the impact of the developing bicycle and automobile culture on the early development of the motor industry. This article will argue that cycle culture created a ready consumer group for early automobiles, which local cycle manufacturers and agents very quickly identified. This article will also demonstrate the importance of local influences on the early development of both motoring and motor manufacture, including the actions of local cycle clubs, local trade organisations, social networks and small cycle producers. These small localised clubs and the firms that served them have not previously been explored in scholarship which instead focuses on large manufacturers and national clubs.

An exploration of a local area such as Manchester and its suburbs offers a case study to test these arguments. Manchester’s cycle industry shows a small, but growing, locally significant industry which served the needs of local cyclists in what became a popular local pastime. This paper will begin with an overview of Manchester’s cycle industry before examining the links between cycling and motoring in Manchester.

Manchester’s Cycle Industry

Apart from work by Nick Clayton, scholarship on the cycle industry tends to focus on the Midlands, the industry’s centre. Clayton’s article on the Manchester cycle industry from 1870–1900 provides a history of some of the important Manchester cycle firms and offers an overview of cycling interest in Manchester. However, the emphasis on large manufacturers in previous research led Clayton to conclude: ‘lacking major cycle makers at the end of the century, the region consequently spawned relatively few local motorcar companies.’5 While Manchester certainly lacked major cycle makers, it actually spawned dozens of automobile manufacturers, which had a prior or parallel relationship with the local cycle trade.

McLeay showed that in 1891 eighty-eight per cent of cycle firms were situated in Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Coventry.6 Millward examined data from national trade directories and compiled a database for the number of firms engaged in the cycle industry from every year until 1939. This data is useful for comparative research on a local level. For example, in 1900 there were 3,329 companies listed as manufacturers and agents nationally.7 The Manchester and Salford trade directory shows 191 firms in Manchester for the same year, five per

5 N. Clayton, ‘A Missed Opportunity? Bicycle Manufacture ring in Manchester 1880–1900’ in D. Brumhead and T. Wyke (eds.), Moving Manchester (Manchester: Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 2004), p. 193. 6 P. McLeay, ‘The Wolverhampton Motor Car Industry 1896–1937’, West Midlands Studies, 8 (1974), p. 100. 7 Millward, ‘Factors’, p. 163–64.


3

cent of the national figure, a small but significant percentage. Sources for Manchester’s cycle industry include trade directories, trade periodicals, show catalogues, advertising material and local newspaper reports. Trade directories provide the names, locations and numbers of companies every year which allows for a certain amount of statistical analysis. While the number of firms is a useful indicator of the size of an industry, there are no volume statistics available; therefore, firms producing radically different volumes carry the same weight. This is particularly important when comparing Manchester’s cycle industry to the Midlands. The Manchester Cycle Manufacturing Company, Manchester’s biggest bicycle manufacturers, had a capital of £50,000, significantly less than many Midland producers.8 Also the Manchester and Salford trade directories do not give adequate coverage to surrounding areas such as Oldham, Altrincham or Stockport, although significant producers such as Bradbury, in Oldham, had a salesroom in the city centre.9

Trade directory research shows that the cycle trade in Manchester developed on similar lines to the national industry. While it was small, it was healthy, and had a regional identity. Figure 1 shows the number of firms started to increase rapidly from 1896 to 1900 reflecting the cycle boom of the 1890s. Numbers also appear to be relatively unaffected by the end of the cycling boom at the turn of the century. This is perhaps a reflection of the small size of the Manchester firms. Larger firms struggled due to increasing competition in the export market.10 This saw the demise of Manchester’s biggest firm the Manchester Cycle Manufacturing Company, who relied on their overseas market. It is no coincidence that several surviving models are located abroad in the USA and France.11

Trade directories also show the areas in which the cycle industry was operating in Manchester. Although the majority of businesses were in the city centre, there were significant pockets of firms in Hulme and Salford, and to a lesser extent Ardwick, Chorlton-on-Medlock and Moss Side (Figure 2). The number of firms in ‘other’ locations shows the large dispersal around Manchester, reflecting the wide number of suburban cycle clubs and cyclists, as discussed later. The component and accessory industry was much smaller but numbers increased at the same time as the number of cycle agents and manufacturers (Figure 3).

8 Manchester Guardian, 22 July 1897, p. 11. 9 Slater’s Manchester and Salford Trade Directory (1903). 10 Thoms and Donnelly, The Motor Car, p. 29. 11 Anonymous, ‘Irwell – Manchester Cycle Manufacturing Company Limited’, Elm City Commuter https://elmcitycommuter.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/irwell-%E2%80%93-manchester-cycle-manufacturing-company-limited/ (date accessed 26/01/2017).


4

Figure 1 — Sources: Slater's Manchester and Salford Trade Directory, 1881–1900 (trade directory for 1898 missing).

Figure 2 — Slater's Manchester and Salford Trade Directory, 1900.

020406080100120140160180

18811882188318841885188618871888188918901891189218931894189518961897189818991900

NumberofCycleFirmsinManchester

Manchester23%

Hulme

13%

Salford8%Ardwick

5%

C-o-M

5%

MossSide5%

Other41%

LocationoftheManchesterCycleIndustry1900


5

Figure 3 — Sources: Slater's Manchester and Salford Trade Directory, 1883–1900 (trade directory for 1898 missing).

The Manchester cycle industry was small, but significant enough that in 1896 the Manchester and District Cycle Trades’ Association (MDCTA) was established to protect local interests. The Association organised the Manchester Cycle Show from 1897, which became the Manchester Cycle and Motor Show (MCMS) in 1899. The show was increasingly popular and a catalogue for the 1899 show proudly states that it was ‘over applied for before a single advertisement appeared in any journal’.12 Further demonstrating the health of the industry was a report in the Manchester Guardian during the 1898 show:

One thing the exhibition makes very clear is the extent to which the manufacture of cycles is becoming a Lancashire industry. A large number of Manchester firms are represented, and machines have been sent in from almost every town in the district – in particular from Oldham, Bolton, Bury, Rochdale and Blackburn. The quality of the Lancashire work is extremely good.13

Despite the northern bias, analysis of the exhibitors at the 1899 show demonstrates the strength of local manufacturing. Fifty of the sixty-seven stands for cycles were taken by Lancashire manufacturers.

12 Manchester Cycle and Motor Show Catalogue 1899, p. 6; Manchester, Manchester Central Library, BR629.2Cy1. 13 Manchester Guardian, 19 February 1898.

0

5

10

15

20

25

1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901

NumberofComponentandCycleAccessoryFirms1893-1901


6

Manchester’s Cycling and Motoring Links

Early links are evident when we examine the MCMS and the organisation of the MDCTA. Of the eight companies that had motorised vehicles on show at the MCMS of 1899 (two motorcars, six motorcycles), seven were also exhibiting a variety of cycles.14 Frank Bullock, one such exhibitor, was the owner of the Strangeways Cycle Company, also a committee member of the MDCTA. He showed a very early interest in entering the motor industry, advertising several times in The Autocar during 1896 and 1897, including: ‘All kinds of light autocar and motor work undertaken – F. Bullock, Strangeways Cycle Works’, 15 and ‘Advertiser with workshops situated in Manchester is open to undertake experimental autocar and motor work, or would manufacturer any specialty under contract’.16

Several other individuals involved in 1899 show were also prominent in both the cycle and motor industries. For example, John Newton, committee member of the MDCTA, was an agent for Enfield Cycles, before partnering and becoming motor car agents and then manufacturers. There was also Fredrick Nawell of Hulme who went from ironmonger, to cycle maker and dealer, to motor manufacturer and back again finally to ironmonger. Ralph Jackson, cycle maker from Altrincham, went from making bicycles to manufacturing the Century tandem, which took part in the famous 1900, 1,000 mile trial.

There were also firms far less committed to either industries. Baxendale and Co. exhibited both ‘Beanco’ cycles and motorcycles at the 1899 show, which must have been a brief venture from a company whose ‘Beanco’ trademark covered products from toilet seats to golf balls. The number of firms at the 1899 show exhibiting both motorised and non-motorised cycles was relatively small, under ten per cent of exhibitors. Despite this by 1906 about thirty small firms in Manchester were making both bicycles and motorcycles, most of which would have been based on the same basic cycle frame, with both bicycle and motorcycle having the same name. 17 There are several examples of this in the 1906 trade directory, as highlighted in Figures 4 and 5. The clear technical crossover between cycle and motor manufacturing in these earlier years made it easy for the small Manchester firms to experiment. The customers of these firms probably fuelled this experimentation; local cyclists who wanted to try this new form of mobility. These potential customers were exposed to motoring through the showing of machines at local events such as the MCMS.

14 Manchester Cycle and Motor Show Catalogue 1899. 15 The Autocar, 21 November 1896; The Autocar, 30 October 1897. 16 The Autocar, 30 October 1897. 17 Motor and Cycle Trade Directory (1906), entries under ‘Manchester’, pp. 139–49.


7

Figure 4 — Source: Motor and Cycle Trade Directory, 1906, p. 144.

Figure 5 — Source: Motor and Cycle Trade Directory, 1906, p. 144.

Cycling culture has made a big mark on Manchester in the surviving cycling clubs, active velodrome and notable sports personalities like Chris Boardman (Manchester Wheelers), Adam Yates (Bury Clarion) and Jason Kenny. In the late Victorian period cycling was probably even more popular than it is today. One of the most popular forms was weekend touring with friends or family. Suddenly it became possible to leave the city’s suburbs and go many miles and back in an afternoon. This weekend exodus was observed by the Manchester Guardian ‘Cycle Notes’ journalist in May 1896. In one hour around 1,500 riders left Manchester on Chester and Wilmslow Road, most in social groups or attached to clubs.18 By 1899 Manchester had forty-nine cycling clubs, representing Manchester and its suburbs, the third highest

18 The Manchester Guardian, 11 May 1896.


8

number nationally after London and Birmingham.19 It is worth noting that cycling during this period was an upper and middle-class activity, largely dominated by men. It was not until the inter-war period that cycling became associated as a working-class activity.20 It is this market that was also particularly susceptible to the arrival of the automobile, although not all could afford it. We shall see in the evidence below how these thousands of cycling enthusiasts interacted with the arrival of the automobile. By exploring the early motoring and cycling culture we can begin to understand why local manufacturers might adapt to the motor industry.

From 1896 cyclists were gradually exposed to automobiles through friends and clubs. The Manchester Wheelers tested out a very early motorcycle in 1896.21 In 1899 a prominent member of the Anfield Bicycle Club who turned up with a motor tricycle ‘was an object of much envy.’22 This ‘motor envy’ was often created by the novelty value of early automobiles, but it also manifested itself in the relative protection from the elements that a high driving position provided in slushy winter conditions: ‘Motor cars were to be seen, and drivers were envied by many a cyclist as he laboured through the mud’,23 and ‘had the weather been better I should have envied the two men on a motor quadricycle whom I met on the Holmes Chapel road on Tuesday. Indeed as it was, I am a little sorry that I was not one of them.’24

Both cycling and motoring was a weekend, touring activity and thus cyclists were very susceptible to exposure to automobiles through both friends, clubs and random encounters on country roads. The great source for this exposure is the ‘Cycling Notes’ weekly column in the Manchester Guardian began in 1893 and continued until 1904. This column kept cyclists up to date with race results, cycle gossip and shared touring routes around the nearby countryside. The ‘Cycling Notes’ columns regular nature allows us to track the journalist’s gradual exposure. From conversations with friends who have bought a machine, to taking a ride as a passenger. In a column in November 1898 the author noted:

at first a cyclist who mounts a motor cycle is fascinated and enthusiastic [...] the pastime soon palls. A friend of mine who was motor-bitten now tells me he has learnt all there is to on his machine, and is bored by having no work to do.25

19 Clayton, ‘A Missed Opportunity?’, p. 183. 20 Reid, Roads Were Not Built For Cars, p. 134. 21 The Automotor and Horseless Carriage Journal, November 1896, p. 75. 22 Manchester Guardian, 10 March 1899. 23 Manchester Guardian, 22 January 1900. 24 Manchester Guardian, 27 November 1899. 25 Manchester Guardian, 21 November 1898.


9

The author used the phrase ‘motor-bitten’ to describe his friend, and was himself ‘bitten’ a year later when he acknowledged the pastime is not such a fad:

my most regular riding chum has lately gone in for motoring, I have so far had only one ride—about forty miles—on a motor car; and then I was simply a passenger, not a driver. But the sport was so exciting that I have a positive longing for more.26

The experience of this cyclist is evidence of how cycling merged with motoring, through indirect and then direct exposure as more and more club mates and ‘riding chums’ had a go on a motorcycle or motorcar. This exposure manifested itself officially in the creation of motoring sections of cycling clubs, such as the Manchester Wheelers’ Motoring Section which began in 1899 and held join runs for several years afterwards, such as a run to Over Peover in 1904 attended by thirty-seven bicycles, three motor cars and two motor bicycles.27

It was not just through touring that motor vehicles were introduced to cyclists, but at racing events too. In Manchester the most popular venue was the Fallowfield Track. Cycle racing was incredibly popular with large crowds recorded over several years during the period, and slowly motoring was introduced. One such example was a Manchester Wheelers race meeting at the Fallowfield Track which included a combination of cycle and motorcycle races with a large crowd of 12,000 people. 28 The popularity of cycling as a spectator sport also provided the foundations for the popularity of motor racing in the North West at places such as Blackpool and Southport.

Conclusion

This article has demonstrated the need to look beyond national businesses and organisations when exploring a technology’s emergence. The ready acceptance and enthusiasm of local individuals and firms to experiment with motor vehicle manufacture demonstrates the intrinsic link between the Manchester cycle industry and local cycling community and the development of the early motor industry; confirming the important influence of not just technology and finance in the cycle industry, but of the ‘bicycle craze’ on early motor manufacture. Evidence of this can be seen in the MDCTA which later became the Manchester District Motor Trades Association, providing a centre for both cycle and motor traders in the city. More importantly perhaps for the establishment of the motor industry in Manchester was the city’s cycling culture and its similarities with the fledgling automobile culture, both in its instruments: clubs, journals, and newspaper columns, and its appeal to

26 Manchester Guardian, 27 November 1899. 27 Manchester Guardian, 23 March 1903. 28 Manchester Guardian, 16 July 1900.


10

individuals through touring and racing. This strong link, on a local level, where Mom professes a transnational level, perhaps more than anything can lead us to understand why a large number of Manchester cycle producers both persisted in the cycle trade and diversified into the motor trade so early during the Victorian era.29

29 Mom, Atlantic Automobilism, pp. 61–64.


11

Bibliography

Secondary Sources

Clayton, N., ‘A Missed Opportunity? Bicycle Manufacture ring in Manchester 1880–1900’ in D. Brumhead and T. Wyke (eds.), Moving Manchester (Manchester: Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 2004).

Foreman-Peck, J., S. Bowden and A. McKinlay, The British Motor Industry (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995).

McLeay, P., ‘The Wolverhampton Motor Car Industry 1896–1937’, West Midlands Studies, 8 (1974).

Mom, G., Atlantic Automobilism Emergence and Persistence of the Car, 1895–1940 (New York: Berghahn, 2015).

Reid, C., Roads Were Not Built For Cars (Washington: Island Press, 2015).

Saul, S. B., ‘The Motor Industry in Britain to 1914’, Business History, 6 (1962).

Thomas, D. and T. Donnelly, The Motor Car Industry in Coventry Since the 1890s (London and Sydney: Croom Helm, 1985).

Newspaper and Magazine Articles

The Autocar, 21 November 1896.

The Autocar, 30 October 1897.

The Automotor and Horseless Carriage Journal, November 1896.

The Manchester Guardian, 11 May 1896.

Manchester Guardian, 22 July 1897.

Manchester Guardian, 19 February 1898.

Manchester Guardian, 21 November 1898.

Manchester Guardian, 10 March 1899.

Manchester Guardian, 27 November 1899.

Manchester Guardian, 22 January 1900.

Manchester Guardian, 16 July 1900.

Manchester Guardian, 23 March 1903.


12

Catalogues and Directories

Manchester Cycle and Motor Show Catalogue 1899.

Motor and Cycle Trade Directory (1906).

Slater’s Manchester and Salford Trade Directory (1903).

Website Articles

Anonymous, ‘Irwell – Manchester Cycle Manufacturing Company Limited’, Elm City Commuter

https://elmcitycommuter.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/irwell-%E2%80%93-manchester-cycle-manufacturing-company-limited/ (date accessed 26/01/2017).

Unpublished Theses

Milward, A., ‘Factors Contributing to the Sustained Success of the UK Cycle Industry 1870–1939’ (unpublished doctoral thesis: University of Birmingham, 1999).


13

Manchester and Spice Lauren Lowe

At the start of April 2017, Manchester city centre made headlines across the UK. Images of people frozen like statues and slumped over bins were plastered over newspapers and Twitter feeds. The author of this article has been researching ‘Spice’ for over two years; this article aims to educate the reader about this drug, debunk some myths about ‘Spice’ and provide information about what to do if you see someone overdosing on it.

(Image: MEN)


14

What is ‘Spice’?

The weekend starting Friday, 7 April 2017 saw Greater Manchester Police (GMP) called out over fifty times over the course of three days.1 The drug that caused all this chaos is known as ‘Spice’ in Manchester but that is simply just an umbrella term. ‘Spice’ is a type of synthetic cannabinoid (SC), which is a form of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). NPS’s are a group of substances that mimic the effects of illicit drugs by affecting the central nervous system of the human body.2

The headlines that came from the weekend of madness indicate that this drug is a new in the city of Manchester. This is not true. ‘Spice’ or SC has been on the UK drug scene for around four years. Up until 26 May 2016, ‘Spice’ was a legal high and could be purchased in corner shops, head shops, on the internet and even petrol stations. It is important to note that ‘Spice’ is an umbrella term and that there are many different brands. Before the ban of SC, the drug was available to purchase in brightly coloured packages that had image of skulls, marijuana leaves and even Scooby Doo. These packages each had a name attached to it, Spice was one others include but are not limited to K2, Black Mamba, Cherry Bomb and Happy Joker. SCs are being used across the UK, each town or city that has SC use tends to call SCs by a different brand name. Normally a brand that happened to be popular in that place; for example, in Manchester SCs are known as ‘Spice’ as that the name that has been attached to it. In Wolverhampton, SC known as Black Mamba, so the point is that although SC is known as ‘Spice’ in Manchester is does not mean that it is all the same, there are hundreds of SC compounds known. Each type of ‘Spice’ can be either one or multiple compounds mixed together.

.

(Image: Authors’ own)

1 The Guardian, 10 April 2017, ‘Manchester police attend 58 spice-linked incidents in one weekend’, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/10/manchester-police-calls-linked-zombie-drug-spice (date accessed: 06/10/2017). 2 Spice | NIDA for Teens, https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/spice (date accessed: 06/10/2017).


15

The Psychoactive Substance Act 2016

On 26 May, 2016, the ‘Psychoactive Substance Act 2016’ came into law.3 This meant that overnight a drug that could once be purchased in a corner shop was now illegal. Of course, the initial intent of any drug ban is to make it more difficult to purchase and thus stop people using the drug, unfortunately that very rarely happens, as ban will usually drive the drug underground. This is what has happened on the streets of Manchester.

The fact that ‘Spice’ went underground made it become more popular and more dangerous. A major issue with a drug being pushed underground is that the dealers and manufactures do not care what goes into the drug, this means that a drug that was one somewhat regulated has now become a concoction of different chemical compounds. It is this chemical romance that is causing such adverse reactions in the people who are using this drug. This is not to say that the drug was safe before the ban, but it was manufactured in large chemical laboratories mostly in China, meaning that the drug was made in a controlled environment. The laboratory conditions were not perfect; however, they were better than bathtubs, which is where some ‘Spice’ is now being made.

As much as the media has portrayed Manchester as the only place with a ‘Spice’ problem, this is not fact. Towns and cities all over the UK are reporting issues coming from ‘Spice’ use, with reports are coming from Newcastle, London, Glasgow, Middlesbrough and Wrexham (just to name a few). In fact, some of the images plastered on the front of the newspapers from back in April were from Wrexham, not Manchester. Recently a newspaper in Middlesbrough reported about the hell that ‘Spice’ is causing in a prison up north.4 The article speaks about how the prison officers have seen nothing like this drug before, how it is being dealt ‘professionally’ within the prison, and how the mental health of users within the prison is being affected. A spokesman for the prison service spoke of the men who use the drug turning from ‘happy go lucky lads’ into people who ‘lose all cognitive skills’, the same picture can be seen across prisons across the UK and also within homeless communities.

3 ‘Psychoactive Substances Act 2016’, https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/psychoactive-substances-bill-2015 (date accessed: 06/10/2017). 4 The Evening Gazette, 25 July 2017, ‘He doesn’t know his own mind – wife of Holme House prison officer speaks of dangers of Spice’, http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/he-doesnt-know-mind-wife-13385638 (date accessed: 06/10/2017); The Evening Gazette, 26 July 2017, ‘Psychoactive drug Spice is “leaving prisoners with permanent brain damage”, union claims’, http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/psychoactive-drug-spice-leaving-prisoners-13388482 (date accessed: 06/10/2017).


16

The effects of ‘Spice’

So, what does ‘Spice’ actually do to the human body? As mentioned above, ‘Spice’ is a synthetic cannabinoid which is a member of the psychoactive substance family—psychoactive means that it affects the central nervous system of the human body.

With there being so many different types of SCs there are many different types of effects from the drug. At the time of writing this is it not currently possible to connect a certain type of SC with a certain reaction. There are too many variables that affect that reaction, first there is the chance that the SC has been laced with something, secondly there is the possibility that each bag of SC is not the same and so has a different potently, the final point is that every human body is different.

The actual effects of ‘Spice’ lie on a very large spectrum, many cases involve the instant feeling of ‘being high’, head rushes, nausea, vomiting, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, chest tightening, loss of cognitive functions, loss of bodily functions, collapsing, unconsciousness, hallucinations, psychotic episodes and overheating. The list could go on but they are the most common side effects of ‘Spice’ use. These effects can last anywhere from fifteen minutes up to eighteen hours, this does not include the effect on mental health which has the potential to be permanent.

Why do people use ‘Spice’?

Over the two years of undertaking this research the popularity of SCs has soared. The initial problem with ‘Spice’ and prevalence came from prisons, as with many drugs ‘Spice’ has gripped the most vulnerable members of the community; these being prisoners and the homeless. Many months before the April weekend in Manchester City Centre—which saw police and ambulance services pushed to breaking point with ‘Spice’ incidents—the prison and ambulance service were already dealing with the horror that SC use brings. One Manchester prison dealt with that many incidents involving SCs that prison inmates renamed the ambulance the ‘mambulence’, a direct nod to ‘Black Mamba’.

So, with the effects from this drug being so awful and damaging to the human body why are people using it? This drug is used mostly by vulnerable groups for example members of the homeless community and prisoners, as it is a drug that will cause you to lose hours in a day, due to the fact that it gets you high to a point where you can no longer function. An ideal setting in which losing a few hours a day would be great is prison; it is a time killer and through research it is also being found to be a source of entertainment within prison walls with footage of people on ‘Spice’ appearing on the internet for years now. One video came to light last October from a prison in Manchester that showed two inmates naked and pretending to be fighting


17

dogs.5 The use of ‘Spice’ in prisons is not going to go away anytime soon due to the fact that is can knock hours off a day stuck in a cell.

The reasons why the homeless community use ‘Spice’ is a mixture. Firstly, the drug is very cheap, reports from members of the homeless community has shown that cigarettes laced with ‘Spice’ are being sold for as low as 50p, with the average price of a gram being £8 to £10. This money can easily be earned in a mornings begging, research is also showing that groups of homeless people are pooling their money together and sharing the drug. Another reason is the effect of using ‘Spice’, the high that comes from the drug is very strong, in a world where you have no home or job to go to then knocking a few hours off the say does not seem so bad. This is a similar reason to why prisoners use it, just in a different setting. From interviewing members of the homeless community in Manchester it is apparent that sleeping rough on a night in the city centre is a terrifying experience and the effect of ‘Spice’ aids sleep in that situation. A final reason why people are using this drug is the fact that it is so readily available. You can scroll through GMP’s twitter feed and see them regularly arresting ‘Spice’ dealers in the city centre, however even with their hard work the dealers and in turn the ‘Spice’ keep coming. There is simply too much money to be made.

Who made ‘Spice’ in the first place?

Where did ‘Spice’ come from, why was it synthesised and who did it? A chemist called John W. Huffman was the first to successfully synthesise SC or ‘Spice’. In the early 1990’s Huffman was conducting an experiment into how cannabis affects the brains receptors, he and his team created synthetic cannabinoids to carry out the research which was later published in a book called The Cannabinoid Receptor during his research Huffman also published papers and journals as many academics do.6 The first successful synthetises of a cannabinoid was named JWH-018, the initials of Huffman and the number experiment it was. In these journals and papers, he published how the method of how to synthesise the cannabinoids, the publication of a scientists methodology is standard practice. However, the wrong people got their

5 Manchester Evening News, 12 October 2016, ‘Forest Bank Prison: Shocking prison footage shows drug-fuelled violence and naked inmates pretending to be fighting dogs.’ 6 The Washington Post, 9 August 2015, ‘How this chemist unwittingly helped spawn the synthetic drug industry’, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/how-a-chemist-unwittingly-helped-spawn-the-synthetic-drug-epidemic/2015/08/09/94454824-3633-11e5-9739-170df8af8eb9_story.html?utm_term=.ba992b43bcc6 (date accessed: 06/10/2017); John W. Huffman, ‘Cannabimimetic Indoles, Pyrroles, and Indenes: Structure-Activity Relationships and Receptor Interactions’, in Patricia H. Reggio (ed.), The Cannabinoid Receptors (New York: Humana Press, 2009), pp. 49–94.


18

hands on the methods and turns Huffman’s research into the drug that we see on the streets today.

As Huffman initially start to see his work being used as a recreational drug he found it amusing but then news and blogs started reporting people overdoing on the SC’s and how people were having psychotic episodes whilst using. Huffman himself described it as ‘someone opening Pandora’s box’, which ironically was a popular brand of SC before the ban. Huffman is now eighty-four and receives threats from people who have lost loved ones to SC use or users themselves asking why he created such a thing. The answer is that he was researching how cannabis affects the brain, he successfully completed that research and published it as all researchers do to add to the knowledge known about that area, to help better understand drug use. It was not his fault that people took his research and twisted it into the Frankenstein monster that is currently on the streets.

After the Huffman’s research was used to create the early versions of the drug that is used currently, the usage of it spiked quickly. This use was first seen in the UK by Police forces, drug councillors, the ambulance service and homeless charities around four years ago. Back then the drug was legal and advertised as a legal high which works just like cannabis, only it cheaper and you will not get in trouble with the law for using it. The advertising could not have been more wrong in terms of the affects, even before the 2016 ban people were collapsing and having psychotic episodes whilst using. However, the affects were that intense that users soon came to prefer using ‘Spice’ then to use cannabis which has a weaker affect, was more expensive and was of course illegal.

The future of ‘Spice’ use and what do to if you see someone overdosing

The future of ‘Spice’ use in the UK is unclear, the Psychoactive Substance Act 2016 is still in its infancy; however, it is currently still a very popular drug both on the streets and in prisons. The fact that prison are still having to phone ambulances and that GMP are still arresting ‘Spice’ dealers on a regular basis shows evidence for this. A huge problem that could be predicted about the future of ‘Spice’ use is that it has the potential to further grow in popularity. This could result in more dealers and manufactures creating the drug and caring less about what they put into it, thus making the drug more dangerous. As it becomes more popular the dealers and manufactures will care less what is in the drug and more about mass production and selling in order to gain more profit.

Harm reduction is a step forward in the case of ‘Spice’ use, using this strategy has the potential to lower the risk of death and serious injury from using ‘Spice’. The following leaflet was created by Manchester Health and Care commissioning. Its aim


19

was to raise awareness of the issue and also inform the people of what to do if you see someone overdosing from ‘Spice’.

(Spice leaflet, Manchester Health and Care Commissioning, 2017)

This leaflet has been handed out to the homeless community in Manchester, academics and health care professionals, as well as shown on social media. These professionals include but are not limited to nurses, paramedics, social workers, police officers, drug and alcohol services and homeless charities. Perhaps a step forward towards harm reduction would be to raise more awareness of what to do in this situation. The more people know about how to help in these situations the more people could be saved. Other ways to help is to support homeless charities. Charities such as Lifeshare, Coffee4Craig, Shelter and Barnabus are always welcoming volunteers and donations. These charities and many more are helping the homeless


20

to get off the streets and off substances such as ‘Spice’, these charities are very easily found on Facebook, Twitter and through a simple google search.

Conclusion

In conclusion ‘Spice’ is not going away anytime soon unfortunately. This is due to its popularity and the money to be made by the manufacturers and dealers. Spreading awareness of what to do during a ‘Spice’ related incident and how to help the homeless is a vital battle in the war on ‘Spice’. ‘Spice’ is a problem in Manchester but that’s not the only place as stated earlier the problem is across the country. The problems that surround ‘Spice’ use are being tackled by homeless charities and support workers. The problems that surround ‘Spice’ are vast and it is important to remember that each ‘Spice’ user is a human being that needs individual support with getting off the streets and off drugs. With the help of homelessness charities helping people, the police investigating and punishing those who deal and manufacture ‘Spice’, and the support of the general public we have a fighting chance to tackle ‘Spice’ on the streets.


21

Bibliography

Secondary Sources

Huffman, John, W., ‘Cannabimimetic Indoles, Pyrroles, and Indenes: Structure-Activity Relationships and Receptor Interactions’, in Patricia H. Reggio (ed.), The Cannabinoid Receptors (New York: Humana Press, 2009), pp. 49–94.

Newspaper Articles

The Evening Gazette, 25 July 2017, ‘He doesn’t know his own mind – wife of Holme House prison officer speaks of dangers of Spice’, http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/he-doesnt-know-mind-wife-13385638 (date accessed: 06/10/2017).

The Evening Gazette, 26 July 2017, ‘Psychoactive drug Spice is “leaving prisoners with permanent brain damage”, union claims’, http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/psychoactive-drug-spice-leaving-prisoners-13388482 (date accessed: 06/10/2017).

The Guardian, 10 April 2017, ‘Manchester police attend 58 spice-linked incidents in one weekend’, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/10/manchester-police-calls-linked-zombie-drug-spice (date accessed: 06/10/2017).

Manchester Evening News, 12 October 2016, ‘Forest Bank Prison: Shocking prison footage shows drug-fuelled violence and naked inmates pretending to be fighting dogs.’. The Washington Post, 9 August 2015, ‘How this chemist unwittingly helped spawn the synthetic drug industry’, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/how-a-chemist-unwittingly-helped-spawn-the-synthetic-drug-epidemic/2015/08/09/94454824-3633-11e5-9739-170df8af8eb9_story.html?utm_term=.ba992b43bcc6 (date accessed: 06/10/2017).

Websites

Spice | NIDA for Teens, https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/spice (date accessed: 06/10/2017).


22

‘Psychoactive Substances Act 2016’, https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/psychoactive-substances-bill-2015 (date accessed: 06/10/2017).


23

Remembering Hereward the Wake and Eustace the Monk Katrina Ingram

The idea of the English having a national identity in the medieval period is a hotly debated topic among historians, with some arguing that any form of nationalism was not present until the nineteenth century.1 However, other scholars state that Bede’s work proves that there was an English national identity as early as the eighth century.2 This paper will add to this debate by looking at the treatment of two medieval outlaws by English monastic chroniclers. The first is Hereward ‘the Wake’, an English outlaw active in the eleventh century. After being banished by King Edward the Confessor (1042–66), Hereward returned to lead a rebellion against the new king, William the Conqueror (1066–87), in 1070. Upon his return, he joined a fleet of Danes and together they sacked Peterborough Abbey, stripping it of all the treasure inside.3 The justification given for this act by many chroniclers was that King William had just

1 Krishan Kumar, The Making of English National Identity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 29. 2 Ibid., p. 42. Other scholars that discuss national identity: David Crouch, Medieval Britain 1000–1500, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), pp. 61–64; Hugh Thomas, The English and the Normans: Ethnic Hostility, Assimilation, and Identity, 1066–1220 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); Andrea Ruddick, ‘Becoming English: Nationality, Terminology, and Changing Sides in the Late Middle Ages’, Medieval Worlds, 5 (2017), pp. 57–69. Another example given is Magna Carta (1215), as, regardless of the selfish and limited intentions, it was written to represent the whole country, showing some idea of national unity at that time. Kumar, National Identity, p. 50. 3 Maurice Keen, The Outlaws of Medieval Legend (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Inc., 1987), p. 10.


24

appointed a new Norman abbot who they did not trust with the church’s valuables.4 After the sack, the Danes left England and Hereward held off a siege at Ely for almost a year.5

The second outlaw being considered is Eustace, a Benedictine monk who left the monastery of St Samer near Calais in the late twelfth century to avenge his father’s death.6 He accused Hanfrois de Heresinghen of murdering his father and demanded trail by combat, which Hanfrois won. Eustace fled after the trial fearing reprisals from his lord, the count of Boulogne.7 After a period in the forest as an outlaw, Eustace became a pirate, travelled to England, and offered his services to King John (1199–1216). In 1212, King Philip of France (1180–1223) invaded Normandy, which unsettled the other French barons and caused some of them to take drastic action. The count of Bologne, paid homage to King John which angered Eustace and caused him to return his allegiance to France.8 In 1215 Eustace invaded England with a French fleet and in 1217 fought in the Battle of Sandwich, where he was killed.9 Both of these outlaws were active during a period of conflict between England and France, with one rebelling against the Norman king, William the Conqueror, and the other commanding a French fleet at the Battle of Sandwich (1217). The embellishments in the accounts and the choice of wording in these chronicle entries shows that there was, at least, an understanding of a national identity by the monastic chroniclers at that time.

Hereward

The only contemporary sources to allude to Hereward and his actions are two manuscripts of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. The D-text was written at Worcester in 890, and was continued by various scribes up to the mid-twelfth century.10 This version does not mention Hereward being present at the Sack of Peterborough (1070), simply stating the ‘minister of Peterborough was raided’.11 The E-text, written at Peterborough in 1121 but based on an earlier Canterbury manuscript, offers a little

4 For chroniclers that offer this justification see The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, ed. and trans. Michael Swanton (London: Phoenix Press, 1996), p. 205; Ingulf’s Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland, trans. Henry T. Riley (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854), p. 143. 5 Ann Williams, The English and the Norman Conquest (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2000), p. 51. 6 Glyn Burgess, Two Medieval Outlaws: Eustace the monk and Fouke Fitz Waryn (Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 1997), pp. vii, 9. 7 Ibid., pp. vii, 13. 8 Ibid., p. 27. 9 Keen, The Outlaws, p. 55; Henry Lewin Cannon, ‘The Battle of Sandwich and Eustace the Monk’, English Historical Review, 27 (1912), p. 665. 10 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, p. xxv. For a more comprehensive edition see: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles: A Collaborative Edition, 7 MS. E, ed. Susan Irvine (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2004). 11 Ibid., pp. 204–6.


25

more detail on the event.12 It says that the monks tried to hold Hereward and his men off but they ‘laid fire to (the town) and burned down all the monk’s buildings’.13 Here it does mention Hereward, though does not offer an opinion on him at this point. Neither manuscript version goes into detail about the siege at Ely (1071) but both say that in the end all outlaws surrendered ‘except Hereward alone, and all who could flee with him, and he courageously led them out’.14 So, while the contemporary accounts are sparse of information, they do describe him as courageous.

In the twelfth century, lengthier and more detailed accounts of the sack of Peterborough and the siege of Ely began appearing in English chronicles. Hugh Candidus, a monk at Peterborough writing in the mid-twelfth century, described the sack of Peterborough in more detail using very emotive language in his version of The Peterborough Chronicle.15 He clearly did not view Hereward as a hero, calling him and his men ‘evildoers’.16 However, though it is clear that Candidus did not agree with the way in which Hereward carried out the sack he believed he was ‘doing it out of loyalty to the church as the Danes would guard these things (treasures) better than the Frenchmen’.17

The Liber Eliensis, a chronicle written at Ely Abbey at the end of the twelfth century, is a history of the abbey and contains a section that goes into great detail on the siege of Ely.18 It is thought to have been written by Richard, a monk at Ely, using a variety of sources including a book written by Leifric, Hereward’s priest and a source written from a pro-Norman perspective.19 Unlike previous scribes, the chronicler heaps praise onto Hereward, calling him ‘the most brave warrior.’20 It is also the only work to speak against the king, saying he ‘plotted evil against the holy place,’ and that he wanted to ‘destroy the men who had shut themselves up in Ely, and plunder the monastery.’21 The wording here is depicting the king as the villain of the story and

12 Ibid., p. xxvi. 13 Ibid., p. 205. 14 Ibid., p. 208. 15 Paul Dalton, ‘The Outlaw Hereward “the Wake”: His Companions and Enemies’, in John Appleby and Paul Dalton (eds.), Outlaws in Medieval and Early Modern England (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), p. 9; Hugh Candidus, The Peterborough Chronicle of Hugh Candidus, trans. Charles and William Mellows (Peterborough: Peterborough Museum Society, 1997), p. 35. 16 Hugh Candidus, The Peterborough Chronicle, p. 35. 17 Ibid., p. 35. The ‘Frenchmen’ Candidus is referring to are the Norman’s who had been placed in positions of power, in particular the Norman abbot placed at Peterborough. This shows that Candidus was not merely xenophobic in his comments as he trusted the Danes over the French, perhaps Candidus did not view the Danes as a threat. 18 Liber Eliensis: A History of the Isle of Ely from the Seventh Century to the Twelfth, ed. and trans. Janet Fairweather (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005), p. xiii; Cyril Hart, ‘Hereward the Wake’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 65 (1974), p. 33. 19 Williams, The English, p. 49; Dalton, ‘The Outlaw Hereward’, p. 12. 20 Liber Eliensis, p. 205. 21 Ibid., pp. 205, 210.


26

Hereward as the hero. He goes further in describing him as a leader of the English resistance, claiming that Hereward said to his men: ‘be zealous for the liberty of your country’.22 The chronicler is trying to suggest that Hereward and his men were fighting against the Norman king for all Englishmen and the freedom of the country, depicting him as a national hero rather than a local rebel. This is a marked difference from earlier treatment of Hereward where he was not discussed in a national sense, suggesting that by the end of twelfth century dissatisfaction at Norman rule was still sufficient to be voiced in a monastic work.

By the late fourteenth century, Hereward had morphed into a legendary character. This was reflected in the way he was now described. Whereas earlier works, in-keeping with their overall style, concentrated on events, the author of the Pseudo-Ingulf, writing at Crowland Abbey at the end of the fourteenth century, took time to describe Hereward for his audience. He called Hereward beautiful, tall and strong, qualities reflective of his image as a hero.23 As well as this, the chronicler describes the end of the siege with Hereward reconciling with the king, stating that he ‘made peace with the king […] and ended his days in peace’,24 a common ending for a romantic tale. The Pseudo-Ingulf also comments on the longevity of Hereward’s fame, saying ‘he earned lasting praise because he upheld the falling condition of his ruined country as long as he could’.25 In common with the Ely work, this portrays him as a national hero, fighting for his country against the Norman invasion. While the contemporary chronicles did describe Hereward as brave, the story became embellished over time with Hereward being moulded to fit the traditional heroic stereotype, with more emphasis being placed on him being an English rebel against the Norman king.

Eustace

Eustace, the second medieval outlaw considered here, was not looked upon so favourably by English chroniclers. Most of the focus on him in the English chronicles surrounds his death at the Battle of Sandwich. The Dunstable Annals includes a short entry on the Battle of Sandwich in 1217 which names Eustace as one of the dead. The line reads ‘Eustace the Monk, who had proved to be dishonest, was killed’.26 While this is only a short entry, the chronicler uses the word ‘dishonest’ to describe Eustace,

22 Ibid., p. 205. 23 Ingulf’s Chronicle, p. 135. 24 Ibid., p. 136. 25 Ibid., p. 142. 26 Annales Monastici, ed. Henry Richards Luard, 5 vols (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green, 1846–69), III: Annales Prioratus de Dunstaplia (A.D. 1–1297), Annales Monasterii de Bermundeseia (A.D. 1042–1432) (1866), p. 50. ‘Eustachium Monachum occiderunt qui utriusque partis praevaricator extiterant’.


27

showing at the very least the chronicler did not favour him. Ralph of Coggeshall (fl. 1208–18), abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Coggeshall writes a brief paragraph about the Battle of Sandwich in his chronicle including a line on Eustace’s death: ‘Those who were first to meet Eustace the Commander, destroyed him and seized the rest on the ship before sinking it’.27 Ralph does not use any negative words to describe Eustace; what is interesting is that he refers to him as Eustace the Commander rather than Eustace the Monk. This change in epithet could be Ralph making it clear that Eustace was in charge of the ship, or he could be not wanting to associate his monastic order with a pirate. As with Hereward, this contemporary source does not offer much detail or expressive language when discussing the outlaw.

However, another English chronicler writing in 1217 was very descriptive when discussing Eustace. Roger of Wendover (d. 1236), Benedictine monk at the abbey of St Albans, wrote the longest and most detailed description of Eustace’s death. After writing for a page about the Battle itself he ends with, ‘that traitor to the King of England and wicked pirate, Eustace the Monk, after long being searched for was at length found and dragged from the hold of one of the ships.’28 His wording shows a clear dislike of Eustace and interestingly shows he viewed him as a traitor to the English king. At no point does Wendover mention that Eustace is French and, therefore, by working for King John during a period when England and France were in conflict, was primarily a traitor to his own king. The depiction of Eustace as a traitor rather than a foreign enemy is reinforced by the following sentence in Wendover’s description: ‘when he found himself a prisoner he offered a large sum of money for his life and promised for the future to fight faithfully under the English king. Richard, the illegitimate son of King John […] drew his sword and cut off his head.’29 In this period, it was customary to accept a ransom from an external prisoner in wartime and to refuse him would have been viewed as shocking. This was not the same for internal prisoners or mercenaries.30 As Wendover clearly states that Eustace offered to pay a ransom and remain faithful to the English king, but was refused and instead beheaded, he shows that Eustace was commonly viewed as an internal rebel or mercenary not a French commander.

Matthew Paris (d. 1259), another Benedictine monk at St Albans writing his chronicle in the mid-1230s, used Wendover’s work for his chronicle up to 1234. 27 Antonia Gransden, Historical Writing in England 1: c.550–1307 (London: Routledge, 1998), p. 323; Ralph of Coggeshall, Chronicon Anglicanum – Radulphi De Coggeshall, ed. Joseph Stevenson (London: Longman & Co., 1875), p. 185. ‘interfectus est Eustachius doctor caeterorum qui primus cum sua navi congressus est, atque omnes sunt qui navi illa fuerunt, partim submerse’. 28 Roger of Wendover’s Flowers of History comprising the History of England from the descent of the Saxons to A.D. 1235 formerly ascribed to Matthew Paris, trans. J. A. Giles, 2 vols (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849), II, p. 400. 29 Ibid., p. 400. 30 Matthew Strickland, War and Chivalry: The Conduct and Perception of War in England and Normandy, 1066–1217 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 199.


28

Therefore, it would be reasonable to expect his description of the Battle of Sandwich to be almost identical to Wendover’s.31 Paris, however, does not call Eustace a traitor and does refer to him as a Frenchman, showing that within twenty years the view on Eustace had changed.32 There are further slight differences in Paris’s later account that highlight how stories can morph as time progresses. One example is where Wendover refers to Eustace as a wicked pirate, Paris instead calls him the ‘pirate king’ (piratae regis).33 This was in a time when the term pirate was changing meaning, as prior to the thirteenth century the term ‘pirate’ was used by chroniclers in a neutral way, with ‘malefactor’ added to show that it was meant to be a negative term.34 By the end of the thirteenth century, the term ‘pirate’ clearly defined a seaborne robber.35 Therefore, Wendover may have added the word ‘wicked’ as the term ‘pirate’ was still neutral, however by the time Paris was writing his chronicle the meaning of the term was changing, and so adding a negative prefix was unnecessary.

The term pirate king was still being used by the end of the thirteenth century. Walter of Guisborough (fl. 1290–1305), an Augustinian canon at St Mary’s priory, used this title when discussing the Battle of Sandwich. He wrote: ‘they killed the Pirate King and many of his nobles at sea’.36 This is only a short entry written in an annalistic style, and is the latest English chronicle entry relating to Eustace. This shows that unlike Hereward, Eustace had received a lot of attention from his contemporaries but interest in him and his story had waned by the fourteenth century.

National Identity

So, why was Eustace disliked so much for rebelling against the king when Hereward was hailed a hero for the same act? The obvious answer is that he was a Frenchman. However, Eustace was disliked by contemporary chroniclers, not due to his nationality but because he had worked for King John until it served him better to return his allegiance to France.37 Eustace drew a lot of attention at the time, but within a century of his death chroniclers had ceased writing about him. By contrast, Hereward’s story was flourishing in the fourteenth century. This could be due to a rise in an English

31 Gransden, Historical Writing, p. 359. 32 Matthew Paris, Matthaei Parisiensis, Monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica Majora, ed. Henry Richards Luard, 7 vols (London: Longman & Co., 1872–83), III (1876), p. 26. 33 Wendover, Flowers, II, p. 399; Paris, Chronica Majora, III, p. 26. 34 Thomas K. Heeboll-Holm, Ports, Piracy and Maritime war: Piracy in the English Channel and the Atlantic, c.1280–c.1330 (Leiden: Brill, 2013) p. 21. 35 Ibid., p. 9. 36 Walter of Guisborough, The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, ed. Henry Rothwell (London: Royal Historical Society, 1957), p. 154. ‘Pirate tamen regis multos ex suis et magnates aliquos in mari peremerunt.’ 37 Ruddick discusses how foreigners can ‘become English’ by switching allegiance in her article: Ruddick, ‘Becoming English’, pp. 57–69.


29

national identity at this time, possibly linked with the continued conflict with France during the Hundred Years War.38 There was certainly an increase in written English at this time, especially in works produced for lay entertainment, such as the poems of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Langland.39 It was also during the fourteenth century that the stories of outlaw heroes began to flourish: this was when the first references to Robin Hood started to appear and the Romance of Fouke Le Fitz Waryn, another romantic outlaw tale, was written.40 It would seem that literary writers in this period were looking for a national hero. This could be why the writer of the Pseudo-Ingulf chose to focus on Hereward, he may have been looking to the past to write about a real English hero who fitted this ideal.

This goes some way towards explaining the later depiction of Hereward; however, the twelfth-century chroniclers also displayed Hereward in a heroic light. The Liber Eliensis in particular portrayed Hereward as an English leader rather than a local rebel or an outlaw. As previously stated this shows that there was still some dissatisfaction of Norman rule at this time but also shows that there was some understanding of what we would recognise as national identity. This is not to say that the nation as a whole was unified at that time, merely, that the writers were thinking on a broader scale than just their own abbey or region. The author of the Liber claimed Hereward used the line ‘be zealous for the liberty of your country.’ While this line was a later invention it indicates that, at the time of writing at least, there was some sense that Hereward was fighting for the good of everyone in the nation. Even Hugh Candidus, who used negative wording when describing Hereward’s actions, believed him to be doing so out of loyalty. It would seem that Candidus was torn between disdain for Hereward and his actions against the abbey and an understanding, perhaps even admiration for his rebellion against the Normans. A dislike of foreign ‘invaders’ clearly influenced the opinions of the chroniclers, which can be seen with both Hereward and Eustace.41 Whilst this cannot be said to be

38 The difference between English and French was brought to the fore after John lost Normandy in 1204. The French were also trying to invade during John’s reign defining nationality more at that time. Duncan Hardy, ‘The Hundred Years War and the “Creation” of National Identity and the Written English Vernacular: A Reassessment’, Marginalia, 17 (2013), p. 19. 39 The turn towards written English rather than Latin or Norman French shows the English people were moving away from languages that were more widespread and back to the vernacular. Ibid., pp. 20–1; Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, ed. Jill Mann (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2005); William Langland, Piers Plowman, ed. Elizabeth Robertson and Stephen H. A. Shephard (London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006). 40 Not only did literary authors of the fourteenth century write romantic outlaw tales but it was also at this time that Robin Hood first began to appear in the chronicles showing how popular the ballads and early tales had become. Langland, Piers Plowman; for more on Robin Hood, James Clarke Holt, Robin Hood (London: Thames & Hudson, 2011); for the Romance of Fouke Le Fitz Waryn, Burgess, Two Medieval Outlaws, pp. 132–183. 41 It was not just foreign invaders that the chroniclers disliked but also any non-English church officials, such as the Norman abbot placed at Peterborough by William I in 1070 causing Hereward’s attack,


30

patriotism in the form it is today, the depictions of these outlaws in the chronicles show there was some sense of togetherness in the medieval period. This furthers the idea that some form of national identity was present earlier than the nineteenth century.

and Peter des Roches, the French Bishop of Winchester during the Battle of Lincoln in 1217. Nicholas Vincent, Peter Des Roches: An Alien in English Politics 1205–1238 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 6–7.


31

Bibliography

Printed Primary Sources

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, ed. and trans. Michael Swanton (London: Phoenix Press, 1996).

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles: A Collaborative Edition, 7 MS. E, ed. Susan Irvine (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2004).

Annales Monastici, ed. Henry Richards Luard, 5 vols (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green, 1846–69), III: Annales Prioratus de Dunstaplia (A.D. 1–1297), Annales Monasterii de Bermundeseia (A.D. 1042–1432) (1866).

Candidus, Hugh, The Peterborough Chronicle of Hugh Candidus, trans. Charles and William Mellows (Peterborough: Peterborough Museum Society, 1997).

Chaucer, Geoffrey, The Canterbury Tales, ed. Jill Mann (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2005).

Coggeshall, Ralph of, Chronicon Anglicanum – Radulphi De Coggeshall, ed. Joseph Stevenson (London: Longman & Co., 1875).

Guisborough, Walter of, The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, ed. Henry Rothwell, (London: Royal Historical Society, 1957).

Ingulf’s Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland, trans. Henry T. Riley (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854).

Langland, William, Piers Plowman ed. Elizabeth Robertson and Stephen H. A. Shephard (London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006).

Liber Eliensis: a history of the Isle of Ely from the seventh century to the twelfth, ed. and trans. Janet Fairweather (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005).

Paris, Matthew, Matthaei Parisiensis, Monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica Majora, ed. Henry Richards Luard, 7 vols (London: Longman & Co., 1872–83), III (1876).

Wendover, Roger of, Roger of Wendover’s Flowers of History comprising the History of England from the descent of the Saxons to A.D. 1235 formerly ascribed to Matthew Paris, trans. J. A. Giles, 2 vols (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849), II.

Secondary Sources

Burgess, Glyn, Two Medieval Outlaws: Eustace the monk and Fouke Fitz Waryn (Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 1997).

Cannon, Henry Lewin, ‘The Battle of Sandwich and Eustace the Monk’, English Historical Review, 27 (1912), 649–70.


32

Crouch, David, Medieval Britain 1000–1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).

Dalton, Paul, ‘The Outlaw Hereward “the Wake”: His Companions and Enemies’, in John Appleby and Paul Dalton (eds.), Outlaws in Medieval and Early Modern England (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), 7–36.

Gransden, Antonia, Historical Writing in England 1: c.550–1307 (London: Routledge, 1998).

Hardy, Duncan, ‘The Hundred Years War and the “Creation” of National Identity and the Written English Vernacular: A Reassessment’, Marginalia, 17 (2013), 19–31.

Hart, Cyril, ‘Hereward the Wake’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 65 (1974).

Heeboll-Holm, Thomas K., Ports, Piracy and Maritime War: Piracy in the English Channel and the Atlantic, c.1280–c.1330 (Leiden: Brill, 2013).

Holt, James Clarke, Robin Hood (London: Thames & Hudson, 2011).

Keen, Maurice, The Outlaws of Medieval Legend (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Inc., 1987).

Kumar, Krishan, The Making of English National Identity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).

Ruddick, Andrea, ‘Becoming English: Nationality, Terminology, and Changing Sides in the Late Middle Ages’, Medieval Worlds, 5 (2017), 57–69.

Strickland, Matthew, War and Chivalry: The Conduct and Perception of War in England and Normandy, 1066–1217 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).

Thomas, Hugh, The English and the Normans: Ethnic Hostility, Assimilation, and Identity, 1066–1220 (Oxford: OFxford University Press, 2003).

Vincent, Nicholas, Peter Des Roches: An Alien in English Politics 1205–1238 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).

Williams, Ann, The English and the Norman Conquest (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2000).


33

Review

Henry the Young King, 1155–1183, by Matthew Strickland (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2016), 496pp. £30.

The Yale English Monarchs series, for a long time, has marked the apogee of

scholarship on various kings and queens of England from Athelstan (924–39) onwards,

and Matthew Strickland’s biography of Henry, the Young King, would (or does) make

a worthy edition to be held in regard of that series.

This is the first full-length biography of the Young King since the 1920s. Other historians, such as Wilfred Lewis Warren and David Crouch, have often agglomerated Young Henry’s life into biographies of Henry II, Richard, John and William Marshal. This, however, leaves Young Henry’s biography faltering. To Warren, who wrote the Yale Monarchs biographies of Henry II and John, Young Henry was ‘shallow, vain, careless, empty-headed, incompetent, improvident and irresponsible’ and ‘a charming, vain, idle spendthrift’.1 Crouch’s conclusions, meanwhile, have changed since the first edition of his biography of William Marshall in 1990, and, whilst more nuanced, Young Henry is ultimately portrayed as an idle and feckless playboy.2

1 W. L. Warren, Henry II (London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), pp. 118, 480. 2 David Crouch, William Marshal, third edition (London: Routledge, 2016), pp. 41–46.


34

Young Henry died at the age of 28; a squalid death caused by dysentery in the midst of a rebellion against his father and brother. He had been associate king to the Old King, Henry II, since 1170, yet never truly reigned at all. As such, he was only included in Matthew Paris’s portraits of the Angevin kings as ‘Rex Iunior’ in a small window between Henry II and Richard: a footnote at the bottom of England’s history, and England’s forgotten king. From Strickland’s extensive bibliography of publications, however, it becomes clear that this biography has been a long time in the making. Biography in itself is notoriously tricky, since it attempts to reconstruct personal character not necessarily evident in the sources, but Strickland has risen admirably to the challenge. Young Henry’s life is therefore thrown into sharp relief against the careers of the towering monoliths of the twelfth century: his tutor, Thomas Becket and mentor of arms, William Marshal. After all the ink spilled on both of these men, Strickland still manages to provide a fresh insight. In particular the implications drawn from Becket’s martyrdom in Canterbury on 29 December 1170, setting the stage for Young Henry’s rebellion of 1173–74, is a considered and well-reasoned argument, open for further debate.

More telling about the quality of writing is that there is ample anecdote and human history to make this book of interest to even the most casual reader. Absorbing and richly narrated stories jump from the page providing some diversions. For example, one such tale has Gervase of Tilbury (one of Young Henry’s entourage) wandering through a vineyard and striking up conversation with a pretty girl. She, however, rebuffed him with tragic consequences. Upon following the paper trail left by Strickland we find that she and Gervase entered into a debate about spirituality and sexual intercourse. The local bishop wandered through and joined the debate, eventually trying her for heresy and burning her at the stake as a Cathar heretic. Here the biography excels, tempting the reader with a piece of information, leaving them wanting more and making them research into the sources.

This brings me to the major, unfortunate flaw to the structure of the book: the use of endnotes rather than footnotes. Strickland’s mastery of both the literary and chronicle sources he employs is enviable and his referencing is meticulously detailed; however, the book requires the use of two bookmarks in order to make adequate use of the comprehensive notation. On their own the endnotes account for nearly 100 pages of the book (around a fifth), and when combined with the bibliography this makes up an entire third of the book (pp. 327–496). Perhaps the wish to focus on narrative and not to distract the casual reader from this accounts for their employment, but in doing this, they have created an even bigger distraction for those wanting to know more.

Ultimately, Strickland’s biography of the Young King is a benchmark of historical biography that will stand for decades to come. It is commendable to a wide range of audiences and immerses you within the lively anecdotes, courtly intrigue,


35

Machiavellian politics, murder, religious tension, and fraught military campaigning of the period. Henry, the Young King, is not necessarily redeemed from the damning verdicts of William Stubbs, Warren, and Crouch, but he is portrayed as a much more nuanced character, a victim of circumstances easily manipulated by those around him. In Strickland, the Young King has found his biographer, and there is a remarkable, sparkling zest for life and enjoyment invested in these pages making England’s forgotten king, forgotten no more.

Ian Bass


36

Journal Guidelines Please read the Style Sheet carefully. Submissions which do not adhere to these guidelines will be returned to authors for correction.

Submissions should be a maximum of 2,500 words, excluding references.

Referencing

§ Works should be cited in full in the first instance; subsequent references should use a shortened form, e.g. Alison Rowley, Helen Frankenthaler: painting history, writing history (London: I.B. Taurus, 2007), p. 72. Becomes Rowley, Helen Frankenthaler p. 72.

§ Book: S. Wolfram, In-Laws and Outlaws (London: Croom Helm, 1987), p. 34.

§ A chapter in an edited collection: Rosemarie Zagarri, ‘The postcolonial culture of early American women’s writing’ in Dale M. Bauer and Philip Gould (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Writing (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 19.

§ Journal article: C. Davey, ‘Birth control in Britain during the interwar years’, Journal of Family History, 13 (1988), pp. 329-46.

§ Newspaper: Daily Telegraph, 17 October 1889, p. 7.

§ Website: Jan-Carlos Kucharek, ‘Mayfair’s Treasure Box’, RIBA https://www.ribaj.com/products/st-james-market-pavilion (date accessed 03/12/16)

Presentation

§ All papers should use British spellings, except in direct quotations § Where foreign language sources are quoted, the translation should be given

in the body of the work, with the original language in the accompanying reference

hive · hive | volume 1, issue 1 october 2017 ii table of contents cycling and the origins of the...

Documents