Fun A Day 18 -20: The Golden Generation of England

As a nerd there is nothing better than drawing while listening to history podcasts. I would like to share some of my favorite history podcasts on my blog, accompanied with illustrations. One of my favorites is David Crowthers's History of England Podcast.

David is an excellent story teller and I am fortunate to live in an age where I can listen to hours of his lecturing on medieval England. This is coming from an American whose father was a third generation Presbyterian Minister and has a French last name. There is a lot of Scottish and French defeats, especially around the 100 Years War, where the podcast is right now, but hey it was about 700 years ago, so I'm not bothered.

I decided to do a series of portraits of different English historical figures that were (or blieved to be) born between 1327 - 1343. To make arbitrary dividing lines to divide people into history is not necessarily an accurate way of describing history, but for me, it is helpful in understanding events in their context of time and peoples' age location surrounding events. There are also a lot of names, and spending some time drawing their faces really helps remember them.

I decided to name this generation, even if the name is only useful for keeping track of the time map in my head and having the names register. I named them The Golden Generation as for the numerous mentions of the "golden boys" in David's podcast, the young men described during the time these men and women were young.

These individuals were part of a generation that were born after the miserable rein of Edward II, being born in a more prosperous period immediately following it. They would be leaving childhood and entering young adulthood just as the onset of the Plague in 1348, then from middle age to elder-hood around the Peasants Revolt of 1381. The remaining elders would have probably all pass away by the 1420.

If you are interested in learning more about these people's times, check out David's podcast. The figures being represented in this entry do not enter the fray until episode 106 or so, with a couple of mentions before hand. As of this blog entry, the podcast is at episode 114, where they would be around middle age now in the early 1370's. Below is a time line of which this group would have lived with important historical events that would have happened during their life time.

Time line, those born 1327 - 1343 in England, and their age range
age 0: 1327: Before they can remember King Edward III has just become King of England, his father's rein was a period of economic decline and famine, and he would enter a period with a least lip service to the will of the people. The Wool Trade was growing, and the Flemish began training the English on linen and wool refinement, rather than raw exporters. There were some disagreements with Parliament, but compromise was made between them and the king so that he would have the funds to wage his 100 Year War in France. Young men like the Black Prince would just be coming of age and part take in the Battle of Crecy, famed for the employment of the English Longbow. This battle set the stage for several decades of English success.

ages 5 - 21: Rising to Adulthood 1348, The Black Death Comes to England, as David puts in episode 107, the death rate is hard to pin down, but it was severe none the less. Children and the elderly were the most susceptible to the plague. This was a growing period of questioning the church.

20 - 37: Entering Middle Age 1363, King Edward the 3rd passes the sumptuary laws. The short term gains made by the peasants with a reduction in the supply of labor were reversed as Edward III forced the common man to stay in their station. There was a growing interest in fashion among the nobility at this time. As far as the podcast is concerned, this is about how far it is in (episode 114). below are the events that David will be getting to at some point.

38 - 54: 1381, The Peasants Revolt

57 - 73: 1400, the vast majority of character featured here did not make it this far.

Below are specific characters English figures born during this time period. There were several others on wikipedia that I didn't get to. The next series I will be posting are some of their northern European counter parts.

John Wycliffe 1326 - 1384; John Wycliffe was an English Scholastic philosopher, theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformer and university teacher at Oxford in England, who was known as an early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century. He is yet to be in the History of England podcast, see post episode 114.

William de Monacute 1328 - 1397; He was an English nobleman and commander in the English army during King Edward III's French campaigns in the Hundred Years War. He succeeded his father as earl in 1344. Montacute was contracted to marry Joan of Kent, and did so without knowing that she had already secretly married Thomas Holland. After several years of living together, her contract with Montacute was annulled by the Pope in 1349.

In 1348 Montacute was one of the knights admitted at the foundation of the Order of the Garter. He was a commander of the English forces in France in many of the following years, serving as commander of the rear guard of the army of Edward the Black Prince's army in 1355, and again at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, and further serving in 1357, 1359 and 1360. Later in 1360 he was one of the commissioners who negotiated the Treaty of Brétigny.

During the quieter years that followed the treaty, Montacute served on the king's council. But in 1369 he returned the field, serving in John of Gaunt's expedition to northern France, and then in other raids and expeditions, and on some commissions that attempted to negotiate truces with the French. Montacute helped Richard II put down the rebellion of Wat Tyler. In 1385 he accompanied Richard on his Scottish expedition.

His son was killed in a tournament leaving him no heirs. The elder William Montacute died in 1397.

Joan of Kent 1328 - 1385; was the first post-conquest Princess of Wales as wife to Edward, the Black Prince. The French chronicler Jean Froissart called her "the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving". The illustration is based on a doll that is supposed to be her, I'm not sure if her dress is accurate to the fashion of the time period.

Roger Mortimer 1328 - 1360; As a young man he distinguished himself in the wars in France, fighting at Crécy and elsewhere in the campaign of 1347. He was one of the knights admitted at the foundation of the Order of the Garter, and was summoned to parliament as a baron both in 1348. In 1359, and continuing into 1360, he was Constable of Edward III's invasion of France, fighting in the failed siege of Reims and capturing Auxerre. The English forces then moved into Burgundy, where Roger died suddenly at Rouvray near Avallon.

Robert de Crull 1329 - 1378; was Clerk of the King's Ships (former title 'Keeper and Governor of the King's Ships and Warden of the Sea and Maritime Parts') under Edward III of England, the first English monarch to declare England to be "the Sovereign of the Seas", and during the first year of Richard II's reign. There were no good references to draw him, so I drew some ships of the time in the midst of battle.

The Black Prince 1330 - 1376; was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault. His brothers and one of his sisters are below. He was an exceptional military leader, and his victories over the French at the Battles of Crécy and Poitiers made him very popular during his lifetime. In 1348 he became the first Knight of the Garter, of whose Order he was one of the founders. Edward died one year before his father, becoming the first English Prince of Wales not to become King of England. Richard Barber comments that Edward "has attracted relatively little attention from serious historians, but figures largely in popular history."

William Langland 1332 - 1386; is the conjectured author of the 14th-century English dream-vision Piers Plowman. The illustration was based off of his poem.

Joan of England 1333 - 1348; this horrible illustration is supposed to be Joan of England. She was a daughter of Edward III and Queen Philippa. She grew up together with her brother Edward (The Black Prince) and their cousin Joan of Kent. Joan died in the Black Death that struck Europe in 1348.. She is featured in episode 108 of the History of England podcast.

Thomas de Vere 1336 - 1371; Thomas took part in several of the military campaigns of Edward III.

Jean Frolissart 1337 - 1405; David talks about Frolissart in episode 99. He was a medieval French author, who wrote several works, including Chronicles, the Meliador, a long Arthurian romance, and a large body of poetry, both short lyrical forms, as well as longer narrative poems. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century Kingdom of England and France. His history is also an important source for the first half of the Hundred Years' War.

John Neville 1337 - 1388; fought against the Scots at the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346 as a captain under his father, was knighted about 1360 after a skirmish near Paris while, and fought in Aquitaine in 1366, and again in 1373-4.
From 1367 on he had numerous commissions issued to him, and in 1368 served as joint ambassador to France. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1369. In July 1370 he was Admiral of the North, and in November of that year a joint commissioner to treat with Genoa. He was Steward of the King's Household in 1372, and in July of that year was part of an expedition to Brittany. For the next several years he served in Scotland and the Scottish Marches. In 1378 he had licence to fortify Raby Castle, and in June of the same year was in Gascony, where he was appointed Keeper of Fronsac Castle and Seneschal of Gascony. He spent several years in Gascony, and was among the forces which raised the siege of Mortaigne in 1381. On his return to England he was again appointed Warden of the Marches. In May 1383 and March 1387 he was a joint commissioner to treat of peace with Scotland, and in July 1385 was to accompany the King to Scotland.

John Ball c 1338 - 1381; was an English Lollard priest who took a prominent part in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.

Lionel of Antwerp 1338 - 1368; He is a son of Edward III and a prince of England. A theatrical conception is depicted in episode 99. Having been named as his father's representative in England in 1345 and again in 1346, Lionel joined an expedition into France in 1355, but his chief energies were reserved for the affairs of Ireland. Appointed governor of that country, he landed at Dublin in 1361, and in November of the following year was created Duke of Clarence, the second Dukedom created in England, while his father made an abortive attempt to secure for him the crown of Scotland. His efforts to secure an effective authority over his Irish lands were only moderately successful; and after holding a parliament at Kilkenny, which passed the celebrated Statute of Kilkenny in 1366, he dropped the task in disgust and returned to England. The poet Geoffrey Chaucer was at one time a page in Lionel's household.

John V, Duke of Brittany 1339 - 1399; John played both sides of England and France during the 100 Years War to hold control to Brittany. He was a member of the Oder of the Garter and involved with the Breton War of Succession.

Antepope Alexander V c 1339 - 1410; was Antepope from 1409 - 1410, he was not an Englishman but studied at Oxford and the tradition is that he started the Pope's Drinking club at Greyfairs, Oxford.

John of Gaunt 1340 - 1399; When he became unpopular later in life, scurrilous rumours and lampoons circulated that he was actually the son of a Ghent butcher, perhaps because Edward III was not present at the birth. As a younger brother of Edward, Prince of Wales (Edward, the Black Prince), John exercised great influence over the English throne during the minority of his nephew, Richard II, and during the ensuing periods of political strife, but was not thought to have been among the opponents of the king.

Edmund of Langley 1341 - 1402; This is Edward III's forth son. The illustration is inspired on the episode on fashion.

Julian Norwich 1342 - 1416; was an English anchoress who is regarded as one of the most important Christian mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Roman Catholic Church, probably because so little is known of her life aside from her writings.

Geoffrey Chaucer 1343 - 1400; The guy who wrote Canterbury Tales. Father of English literature.

Fun a day 14 - 17; Awakening Generation

The Awakening Generation - This is a collection of illustrations, predominately of those born in the American Colonies from 1700 to 1723. In Strauss and Howe's book, they say this was a generation born during a period of colonial prosperity, then came of age challenging the morality of their elders. After the Seven Years War they entered middle age with growing unrest from British rule. During the Revolution and up to the Signing to the Constitution were elders.

Time line

9 - 32: First Great Awakening in the Colonies

31 - 54: The beginning of the Seven Years War

40 - 63: The Treaty of Paris, under which France ceded much of its North American territory to Great Britain.

47 - 70: Boston Massacre: The massacre took place.

53 - 76: Second Continental Congress: The Congress approved the written United States Declaration of Independence.

John Wesley 1703 - 1791; was an Anglican cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement.

Gilbert Tennet 1703 - 1764; was a religious leader, born in County Armagh, Ireland. Gilbert was one of the leaders of the Great Awakening of religious feeling in Colonial America.

Jonathan Edwards 1703 - 1758; was a Christian preacher and theologian. Edwards "is widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical theologian," and one of America's greatest intellectuals.

Ben Franklin 1706 - 1790; Here's a guy that pretty much every American will recognize.

Henry Fielding 1707 - 1754; was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones, a book I've never read.

Jonathan Trumbull 1710 - 1776; was one of the few Americans who served as governor in both a pre-Revolutionary colony and a post-Revolutionary state. He was the only colonial governor at the start of the Revolution to take up the rebel cause. His feet are cold.

Jupiter Hammon 1711 - c 1806; was a black poet who in 1761 became the first African-American writer to be published in the present-day United States. Born into slavery, Hammon was never emancipated. A devout Christian, he is considered one of the founders of African-American literature.

Thomas Hutchinson 1711 - 1780; was a businessman, historian, and a prominent Loyalist politician of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in the years before the American Revolution. A successful merchant and politician, Hutchinson was active at high levels of the Massachusetts government for many years, serving as lieutenant governor and then governor from 1758 to 1774. He was a politically polarising figure who, despite initial opposition to Parliamentary tax laws directed at the colonies, came to be identified by John Adams and Samuel Adams as a proponent of hated British taxes. He was blamed by Lord North (the British Prime Minister at the time) for being a significant contributor to the tensions that led the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.

Fredrick the Great 1712 - 1786; was King in Prussia (1740–1786) of the Hohenzollern dynasty.[1] He is best known for his military victories, his reorganization of Prussian armies, his innovative drills and tactics, and his final success against great odds in the Seven Years' War.

Rousseau 1712 - 1778; was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological, and educational thought. He argued that private property was the start of civilization, inequality, murders and wars.

Anthony Benezet 1713 - 1784; was a French-born American abolitionist and educator who was active in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the early American abolitionists, Benezet founded the first anti-slavery society of world's History.

George Whitefield 1714 - 1770; also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican preacher who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally.

Maria Theresa 1717 - 1780; was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg.

Pontiac 1720 - 1769; was an Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's War (1763–1766), an American Indian struggle against British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War. Pontiac's importance in the war that bears his name has been debated. Nineteenth century accounts portrayed him as the mastermind and leader of the revolt, but some subsequent scholars argued that his role had been exaggerated. Historians today generally view him as an important local leader who influenced a wider movement that he did not command.

John Woolman 1720 - 1772; was a North American merchant, tailor, journalist, and itinerant Quaker preacher, and an early abolitionist in the colonial era. Based in Mount Holly, New Jersey, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he traveled through frontier areas of British North America to preach Quaker beliefs, and advocate against slavery and the slave trade, cruelty to animals, economic injustices and oppression, and conscription; from 1755 during the French and Indian War, he urged tax resistance to deny support to the military. In 1772, Woolman traveled to England, where he urged Quakers to support abolition of slavery.

Samuel Hopkins 1721 - 1803; was an American Congregationalist, theologian of the late colonial era of the United States, and from whom the Hopkinsian theology takes its name.

Roger Sherman 1721 - 1793; was an early American lawyer and politician, as well as a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic. He was the only person to sign all four great state papers of the U.S.: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson said of him: "That is Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, a man who never said a foolish thing in his life."

Peyton Randolph 1721 - 1755; was a planter and public official from the Colony of Virginia. He served as speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, chairman of the Virginia Conventions, and the first President of the Continental Congress.

Samuel Adams 1722 - 1803; The guy the beer is named after.

Eliza Pinckey 1723 - 1793; changed agriculture in colonial South Carolina, where she developed indigo as one of its most important cash crops. Its cultivation and processing as dye produced one-third the total value of the colony's exports before the Revolutionary War. Manager of three plantations at age 16, Pinckney had a major impact on the economy. She was the first woman to be inducted into South Carolina's Business Hall of Fame.

John Witherspoon 1723 - 1794; was a Scots Presbyterian minister and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Jersey. As president of the College of New Jersey (1768–94; now Princeton University), he trained many leaders of the early nation and was the only active clergyman and the only college president to sign the Declaration. He's pissed.

Samson Occom 1723 - 1792; was a member of the Mohegan nation, from near New London, Connecticut who became a Presbyterian cleric. Occum was the first Native American to publish his writings in English, and also helped found several settlements, including what ultimately became known as the Brothertown Indians. Together with the missionary John Eliot, Occom became one of the foremost missionaries who cross-fertilised Native American communities with Christianized European culture.

Crispus Attucks 1723 - 1770; was an American slave, merchant seaman and dockworker of Wampanoag and African descent. He was the first casualty of the Boston Massacre, in Boston, Massachusetts, and is widely considered to be the first American casualty in the American Revolutionary War.

William Livingston 1723 - 1790; served as the Governor of New Jersey (1776–1790) during the American Revolutionary War and was a signer of the United States Constitution.

Fun-A-Day 12 &13

Enlightenment Generation, born 1674 - 1700

bio info was taken from Wikipedia

William Byrd II 1674 - 1744; Colonel William Byrd II was a planter, slave-owner and author from Charles City County, Virginia. He is considered the founder of Richmond, Virginia. Byrd's life showed aspects of both British colonial gentry and an emerging American identity.

James Logan 1674 - 1751; a statesman and scholar, was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, Ireland, of Scottish descent and Quaker parentage. In 1689, the Logan family moved to Bristol, England where, in 1693, James replaced his father as schoolmaster. In 1699, he came to the colony of Pennsylvania aboard the Canterbury as William Penn's secretary.

Alexander Spotswood 1676 - 1740; Alexander Spotswood was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a noted Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.

Dr. Zebdiel Boylston 1679 - 1766; Zabdiel Boylston, FRS was a physician in the Boston area. He apprenticed with his father, an English surgeon named Thomas Boylston. He also studied under the Boston physician Dr. Cutler, never attending a formal medical school.

Daniel Dulany the Elder 1685 - 1753; Daniel Dulany the Elder was a prominent lawyer and land-developer in colonial Maryland, who held a number of colonial offices.

Cadwallader Colden 1688 - 1776; Cadwallader Colden was a physician, farmer, surveyor, botanist, and a lieutenant governor for the Province of New York.

Thomas Lee 1690 - 1750; Thomas Lee was a leading political figure of colonial Virginia. He was a member of the Lee family, a political dynasty which included many figures from the pre-American Revolutionary War era until the late 20th century.

Mann Page 1691 - 1730; Mann Page was an American lawyer and planter from Spotsylvania County, Virginia. He was a delegate for Virginia to the Continental Congress in 1777. He was the brother of Virginia Governor John Page.

Nathaniel Appleton 1693 - 1784; Nathaniel Appleton was a Congregational minister. Appleton was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He was educated at Harvard, taking his degree in 1712, studied theology.

William Shirley 1694 - 1771; William Shirley was a British colonial administrator who was the longest-serving governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and then Governor of the Bahamas in the 1760s.

Samuel Johnson 1696 - 1772; was a clergyman, educator, and philosopher in colonial British North America. He was a major proponent of both Anglicanism and the philosophy of George Berkeley in the colonies, founded and served as the first president of the Anglican King's College (the predecessor to today's Columbia University), and was a key figure of the American Enlightenment.

Sir William Pepperrell 1696 - 1759; was a merchant and soldier in Colonial Massachusetts. He is widely remembered for organizing, financing, and leading the 1745 expedition that captured the French garrison at Fortress Louisbourg during King George's War. During his day Pepperrell was called "the hero of Louisburg," a victory celebrated in the name of Louisburg Square in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood.

Thomas Foxcroft 1697 - 1769; born on February 26, 1697 in Boston to "Colonel Francis Foxcroft, warden of King's Chapel" and "Elizabeth Danforth, daughter of Governor Danforth." He was educated at Harvard. He joined the ministry of Boston's First Church in 1717 and remained there for the remainder of his career. "In 1736 Mr. Foxcroft was attacked by paralysis, which left him in an enfeebled condition. He continued to preach until the day of his death, but by no means as effectively as before his illness." He died in Boston.

James Franklin 1697 - 1735; was an American colonial author, printer, newspaper publisher, and almanac publisher. James published the New England Courant, one of the oldest and the first truly independent American newspaper. His brother was Benjamin Franklin.

Peter Zenger 1697 - 1646; was a German American printer, publisher, editor and journalist in New York City. Zenger printed The New York Weekly Journal. He was a defendant in a landmark legal case in American jurisprudence, known as "The Zenger Trial", in which his lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, established that truth is a defense against charges of libel. In late 1733, Zenger began printing The New York Weekly Journal to voice his opinions critical of the colonial governor, William Cosby. In November 1734 Zenger was arrested by the sheriff on the orders of Cosby and after a grand jury refused to indict him was charged with libel in August 1735 by the attorney general Richard Bradley.

John Bartram 1699 - 1777; was an early American botanist, horticulturist and explorer. Carolus Linnaeus said he was the "greatest natural botanist in the world."

International Peers

Robert Walpole 1676 - 1745; was a British statesman who is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Although the position of "Prime Minister" had no recognition in law or official use at the time, Walpole is nevertheless acknowledged as having held the office de facto because of his influence within the Ministry. A Whig who was first elected to parliament in 1701, Walpole served during the reigns of George I and George II. Some sources date his tenure as "Prime Minister" from 1730 when, with the retirement of Lord Townshend, he became the sole and undisputed leader of the Cabinet. But his premiership is normally dated from 1721, when he became First Lord of the Treasury; this was generally upheld by the contemporary press, most notably that of the opposition, who focused far more attention on Walpole than on Townshend. Walpole continued to govern until 1742; he was not only the first but also the longest serving Prime Minister in British history.

Bishop George Berkeley 1685 - 1753; was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism" (later referred to as "subjective idealism" by others). This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects like tables and chairs are only ideas in the minds of perceivers, and as a result cannot exist without being perceived. Berkeley is also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for immaterialism.

George Frederick Handel 1685 - 1759; was a German-born British Baroque composer famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Born in a family indifferent to music, Handel received critical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in London (1712) as a naturalized British subject in 1727. By then he was strongly influenced by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.

Voltaire 1694 - 1778; was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day.

James Oglethorpe 1696 - 1785; was a British general, Member of Parliament, philanthropist, and founder of the colony of Georgia. As a social reformer, he hoped to resettle Britain's poor, especially those in debtors' prisons, in the New World.