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England Bath, Bath Abbey, Churches, England, History

Bath Abbey–A Storied History–Part 2

by Indu Sundaresan July 28, 2023 2 Comments

Part 1 here

My kingdom for a wife (and an heir):

In the early 16^th Century, Bath Abbey and England had a new king, desperate for an heir, married to a woman who could not give him a son.

Henry VIII, who had not expected the throne, was a carousing, hard-living man, tilting in yards, hunting, drinking and eating until late hours. And, he had a roving eye. Eventually, he decided that the first wife would not do, and to divorce her, he toppled the entire religious establishment in England.

Ultimately, Henry would have six wives, with a ditty to immortalize their fates: ‘Died, beheaded, died. Died, beheaded, alive.’

England Bath, Bath Abbey, Churches, England, History

Bath Abbey–A Storied History–Part 1

by Indu Sundaresan July 17, 2023 3 Comments

Economics at Bath:

What, you might ask, does the church of Bath Abbey have to do with the study of economics? Follow me here for a bit, please.

Take an Economics 101 class, and you will learn that Adam Smith is the ‘father’ of modern economics. If Smith’s the father, then Thomas Malthus, with his theory on food production and population growth, is surely the ‘son’ of. I’m muddling around here a bit, but what I mean to say is that both Smith and Malthus were hugely influential in their economic philosophies.

The economist, Thomas Malthus, is buried at Bath Abbey — **Thomas Robert Malthus.** Source.

I write fiction now, but I do have three degrees in economics, and when I heard that Thomas Malthus was buried at Bath Abbey, I had to go pay my respects at his memorial.

Malthus’ theory of population explosion is simple and reasonable enough. If food production grows, then it doesn’t necessarily, over time, lead to a better standard of living, because the population growth will eventually eat up all the food surplus.

England Bath, England, History, Jane Austen, Roman Baths

The Roman Baths at Bath–Healing Waters—Part 2

by Indu Sundaresan June 15, 2019 3 Comments

The Roman Baths that were:

The Roman Baths today don’t any longer function as usable baths. Waters are still pumped through ancient lead pipes into the bath, but they’re green with algae (pretty, actually!)–a sign that it’s not a good idea to try drinking it, or even trailing your fingers through it.

**Early excavations unearthed the Great Bath (right) and the circular Cold Water Pool (left).**
Source: *Outlines of European History* by James Henry Breasted. 1914.

England Bath, England, History, Roman Baths

The Roman Baths at Bath–Healing Waters—Part 1

by Indu Sundaresan April 10, 2019 4 Comments

But…not all the credit goes to the Romans, surely:

Before the Romans came to England and built the Roman Baths at Bath, there was good king Lud Hudibras. He ruled over England sometime in the 7^th or 8^th Century BCE, and had both a great sorrow and a terrible dilemma. His son had leprosy, a devastating disease, with no cure in the times in which he lived. Otherwise, this boy, Bladud, was a fine, stalwart young man, engaging of manner, fine of face and form, a splendid heir to a vast kingdom.

But, Bladud could not live at the English court anymore. Over time, this dreaded illness would eat away at his extremities, turning his hands and feet into stumps, causing everyone to recoil from him in disgust. What sort of a future king would Bladud make?

England Authors, Churches, England, History, Jane Austen, Winchester Cathedral

Now I lay me down to sleep—Jane Austen and Winchester Cathedral—Part 2

by Indu Sundaresan March 25, 2019 2 Comments

We last left Jane Austen at Chawton Cottage, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Jane’s most productive writing periods were pre-Bath (before 1801) and after the move to Chawton in 1809. The first produced Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey. During the second, she wrote Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion. She also began publishing in this Chawton period, beginning with Sense and Sensibility first.

Chawton Cottage was the hub of comfort for the extended Austen family. Here, was Mrs. Austen, the mother of Jane and her siblings and grandmother to their children, and the two beloved maiden aunts, Jane and Cassandra. And, the nieces and nephews came to stay, sometimes for a vacation, sometimes for longer when there was a death in the family and they needed a place to be and someone to cheer them up.

**Chawton Cottage, where Jane Austen lived from 1809 until her death in 1817.**
Source: Google Street View

England Authors, Churches, England, History, Jane Austen, Winchester Cathedral

Now I lay me down to sleep—Jane Austen and Winchester Cathedral—Part 1

by Indu Sundaresan January 15, 2019 3 Comments

We blew into Winchester Cathedral at the end of a very long day, and I use that verb advisedly. We had spent the morning and afternoon in Austen country—Steventon where she grew up, and the St. Nicholas Parish Church (Part 1 and Part 2 on the blog) and Chawton Cottage (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) where I wandered around for far too long. So, by the time we got to Winchester Cathedral, there was, it seemed, just a teacup full of time left before the church closed for the day.

But, stepping inside was into a sea of calm. I paid my respects at the grave, and still had time to walk around the cathedral, breathe the air, and dwell on its history. And while Jane Austen is arguably its most important occupant, Winchester Cathedral was there for many centuries before her, and its mellow stones are steeped in legend…and some myth. Read on.

Book Review, England Authors, Book Review, Brontë sisters, Emily Brontë, England, Haworth Parsonage, History, Wuthering Heights

Book Review—Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

by Indu Sundaresan December 6, 2018 4 Comments

The average life expectancy in the mid-1800s, in North Yorkshire, was about 25.6 years. By the time the novel opens, sure enough, most of the characters have gone to their graves, and only the dark, brooding, heathen-ish Heathcliff remains. He’s been made much of (as a hero) over the centuries since Wuthering Heights was first published, but really, he’s not a man you want around. Anytime. Continue Reading

England Authors, Chawton Cottage, Chawton House Library, Edward Knight, England, Historic Homes, History, Jane Austen

At Home at Last: Jane Austen in Chawton Cottage—Part 3

by Indu Sundaresan November 7, 2018 1 Comment

(Part 1 here; Part 2 here)

Jane, her sister Cassandra, and their mother moved into Chawton Cottage in 1809, thanks to her brother Edward Knight’s generosity. One other person came to live with them. Martha Lloyd was a longtime friend, and a few of Jane’s surviving letters are written to her. She was the sister of Jane’s oldest brother James’ second wife, Mary. Got all that? (James took over the rectory at Steventon when their father retired; his son by his second wife, James Edward Austen Leigh, is the one who wrote Jane Austen’s first official biography. So both Martha and Jane were aunts to James Edward Austen Leigh). Continue Reading

England Authors, Chawton Cottage, Edward Austen, Edward Knight, England, Historic Homes, History, Jane Austen

At Home at Last: Jane Austen in Chawton Cottage—Part 2

by Indu Sundaresan October 9, 2018 4 Comments

(Part 1 here)

The front of Chawton Cottage, where Jane Austen spent the last eight years of her life. Source: Jane Austen: Her Homes & Her Friends, by Constance Hill.

How Edward Austen became Edward Knight: Austen’s Emma begins with a marriage between Emma’s governess, Miss Taylor and Mr. Weston, with Emma bemoaning the fact that her companion had now disappeared—moving a whole half mile away to her own house, her own husband, her own occupations. ‘…Emma was aware that great must be the difference between Mrs. Weston only half-a-mile from them, and a Miss Taylor in the house…’ Continue Reading

England Authors, Chawton Cottage, England, Historic Homes, History, Jane Austen, Steventon

At Home at Last—Jane Austen in Chawton Cottage—Part 1

by Indu Sundaresan October 3, 2018 13 Comments

The Bath years, the writing falters, but the research doesn’t

George Austen had had it by 1801. He had been rector of two parishes, Steventon and Deane, for thirty-seven years. He had conducted two, maybe three services a week at the two churches. He had visited the poor, the sick, administered last rites to the dying, and buried them in the churchyards. He had home-tutored pupils who had lived in his house year-round to prepare for the university. His wife had to be their de facto mother, and she had fed them, washed their linens, and tended to their fever and chills. All this, to make extra money to supplement George Austen’s income. Now, his children were grown up, some were married (Jane and her sister Cassandra were not, and were still at home), he was old(er) and in poor health, and he wanted to live the rest of his life out in a relative peace. Continue Reading