Burn after Reading: Spying Secrets of the Regency Period – Guest Post by Sue Wilkes

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I am delighted to have Sue Wilkes, acclaimed author of several social history books and family history guides, as guest writer at Regency Explorer. In her newest book, Regency Spies, Sue explores the secret histories of Britain’s rebels, radicals and revolutionaries during the Regency period. It’s a treat for me to present Sue’s insightful post about spies and revolutionaries’ secret means of communication:

Shoe, Code & Coach: Spying Secrets

Republican cleric Dr. Richard Price spying on Marie Antoinette at Versailles as she is assailed by ruffians. Isaac Cruikshank, c.1790. Courtesy Library of Congress.

Republican cleric Dr. Richard Price spying on Marie Antoinette at Versailles as she is assailed by ruffians. Isaac Cruikshank, c.1790. Courtesy Library of Congress.

The Regency era was one of great paranoia and suspicion. Britain was at war with France, and Ireland was a hotbed of rebellion. So this was a busy time for the government’s spies on the domestic front as well as abroad.

Rebels knew that their mail was likely to be intercepted, so they went to great lengths to circumvent the authorities. Assuming an alias was an obvious trick. Messages between groups were conveyed face-to-face, or letters were sent by trusted couriers. In the late 1790s, it was reported that at least one dissident Irishman took secret messages from England to Ireland using a secret compartment in one of his shoes. The letter was placed in the cavity, and covered in strong paper to protect it. Then the sole of the shoe was sewn back on again. Continue reading →

The World at Home: Furniture Fashion in the Romantic Age

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Roman chair

Chair in Grecian Style (Palace of Caserta, Italy)

The Romantic Age saw a quick succession of trends in furniture fashion. These trends had one thing in common: They were inspired by foreign cultures, and often sparked by exploration and discoveries.
Travelling was expensive. Doing the Grand Tour to see the art treasures of France and Italy was only for the rich. Decorating a room with furniture in the style of the ancient Greek and Roman civilisations demonstrated wealth and education. Later in the age, wars and the Continental Blockade put a stop to private travelling. Nevertheless, furniture inspired by distant countries brought an exotic touch to the home.

Which style was fashionable in which decade of the Romantic Age? When would the hero of a Regency novel buy furniture inspired by the Egyptian culture? Would the heroine be likely to sleep in a lit à la polonais in 1812? Here is a small, chronological exhibition to answer these questions. Continue reading →

The Origin of Now: Part I

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Chemical slide rule devised by W. H. Wollaston, 1814

Chemical slide rule devised by W. H. Wollaston, 1814

Flying, electricity and computers are part of our everyday lives. When their basic principles were explored during the first half of the 18th century, nobody cared about their practical use. The idea that practical use could be made of a balloon ascent, electricity or the binary code was absurd. Science was mainly aimed at understanding the creation and God. Thus, science was practiced in the “ivory towers” of the elite, written down in Latin and kept in libraries of the chosen few.

However, with a series of breakthroughs in astronomy, chemistry and the study of electricity during the Romantic Age, science became popular. It began to spread into the world, as public lectures and subject in schools. People began to ask how scientific progress and inventions could make life better and easier. Inventive persons set out to develop and pursue new ideas. Soon, new machines were introduced to nearly every industry. Some of them were the origin of the world we know today.

In the new series “The origin of Now” Regency Explorer is going to explore the developments, inventions, and concepts of the Romantic Age that laid the foundations of our modern world. I will explore not only scientific and industrial developments, but also innovations in sports, military, the world of finance etc. Find the first set of examples here.

Continue reading →

Leech, Lavender and Laudanum: Medicine in the Romantic Age

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06 Medizinkästchen

Medicine chest for travelling

In the Romantic Age modern medical treatment was still in the fledgling stages. The modern era of medicine began with Edward Jenner’s discovery of the smallpox vaccine at the end of the 18th century. It would take nearly another 100 years until Robert Koch discovered the transmission of diseases by bacteria. Penicillin and Aspirin became reliable drugs only in the early 20th century.

Medical treatment was based on herbalism or the ancient Greek theory of “humourism” of the body. Humourism proposed that a body was in good health when its four humours were in balance. These humours were blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. An imbalance of the humours would cause ill health.

If you fell ill in the Romantic Age, what medical treatment could you expect? Continue reading →

My Writer’s Research Database for Historical Novels

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00 Intro2In this post:

  • Four examples of note-taking software
  • Organising my Historical Research Database
  • Defining my categories (or: Why chocolate matters)

Writing historical novels – be it about the Middle Ages or the Regency – requires access to a lot of historical information. I want the data I have collected as handy as possible. Today I invite you to have a look at the set-up of my Historical Research Database.

Continue reading →

From Noblemen to Servitors: the Student Body at the University of Oxford

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Oxford Kreuzgang FensterIn the Romantic Age only men were allowed to study. But the all-male student body was amazingly diverse: The social structure at the University mirrored society and its class system.
Imagine a young man with a background in trade on his first day in Oxford. He finds himself in the same college with a first-year university student who is the son of a peer. Yet, these two undergraduates are worlds apart – in goals, living conditions, appearance and rules for behaviour. Continue reading →

The Battle & the Man: 10 Quirky Facts about Admiral Nelson and Trafalgar

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insidevictory

On board the HMS Victory

On 21th October we commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar. On this day in 1805, the British fleet defeated the French and Spanish allies west of Cape Trafalgar. 50,000 men were involved in the fighting. 5,000 of them died, among them the commander of the British fleet, Admiral Horatio Nelson. The victory confirmed Britain’s role as “ruler of the waves” and put a stop to Napoleon’s plans to invade Britain.

Being a Regency Enthusiast, you certainly know a lot about Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar. But did you also know these 10 facts about the battle and the private life of its hero, Horatio Nelson? Continue reading →

Adventures for Regency Enthusiasts: The Country House After Dark

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Have you ever wondered

  • how dark it was in an 18th century country house after sunset?
  • what you can see in a room lit only by candles?
  • how it feels to enter a room illuminated by several crystal chandeliers?

You could arrange an experiment at your home by lighting some candles at night. But this wouldn’t quite reproduce the lighting conditions of a country house, as there are less gildings, reflecting mirrors and chandeliers in the average apartment of our times.

chateauI thus set out to experience a historic house after nightfall. My central question: What are the lighting conditions and how can a Historical Novel Writer depict them properly in a novel?
Let me take you to the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, a grand chateau in France. We will wander its rooms and enjoy its park adorned with thousands of torches.

Continue reading →