Domestic servants, also known as domestics, are members of a household employed to assist with the running of various aspects of the household. During the 18th century in England servants were commonplace, with almost all employed families able to afford servants, or rather domestic drudges, who were supplied from the workhouses and charity schools and treated little better than slaves for the most part. While in apprenticeship female domestic drudges, or scullery-maids also known as scullions, were not paid and could not leave their mistress. Even less fortunate were charwomen, employed for odd work or single days to assist in the kitchen and paid with just a few scraps of food and a few coals.
Page boys, usually black, were employed by the fashionable women of 18th century London to precede her and hand refreshments to her guests. Footmen were similarly employed more for show than labour to impress the guests and people one met on ones travels, hence they received their slang name of 'fart catchers', from their position of walking behind their master or mistress, dressed up in fancy clothes provided by the household as a form of uniform for the job.
By the 19th century conditions had improved for some servants, though for the lower staff they were still appalling. In the mid-19th century Mrs Beeton, the famous author, lists domestic servants in order of rank as follows:
Households would employ a election of servants varying upon the household income, a very wealthy household employing a full selection of servants, a less fabulously wealthy household maybe just employing a housekeeper, a cook or a maid-of-all-work. A chamberlain being only employed by the king or noblemen of very high position. In the mid-19th century most households which employed servants employed two or three male servants, comprising a servant out of livery, or a butler, a footman and a coachman, or a coachman and a groom where the household had more than two or three horses. A popular mis-conception is that cooks are, and were, always female. Not so. Male cooks were also employed in the 19th century and were paid more than their female counterpart.
Each domestic servant had their own scope of duties or responsibilities, though these overlapped depending upon the number of domestic servants employed. A butler, for example, where only one footman was employed would be required to perform some of the duties of a valet, to pay bills and to superintend the other servants.
19th century English society was warned against abusing its servants, for, as Mrs Beeton puts it; "The sensible master and kind mistress know, that if servants depend on them for their means of living, in their turn they are dependent on their servants for very many of the comforts of life; and that, with a proper amount of care in choosing servants, and treating them like reasonable beings, and making slight excuses for the shortcomings of human nature, they will, save in some exceptional case, be tolerably well served, and in most instances, surround themselves with attached domestics." It was possible for domestic servants to progress up the ranks, usually through leaving one position and seeking a higher appointment at another employer. In order to achieve this a servant required a good reference from their employer, and this encouraged a degree of honesty in a position with a lot of opportunity for misappropriation.
The Great War instigated a great deal more equality in British society and the use of domestic servants greatly reduced, though it was still not extinct in the 21st century. Research Domestic Servants
An epithalamium is a nuptial song or poem in praise of a bride and bridegroom. Among the Greeks and Romans it was sung by young men and maids at the door of the bridal chamber of a new-married couple. Research Epithalamium
Diego Velazquez was a Spanish administrator. He was born about 1460 at Cuellar, near Valladolid and died in 1522. He sailed with Cgristopher Columbus on his second voyage, and in 1511 conquered Cuba, of which he became governor, founding several towns, and remaining there until his death. Velazquez was responsible for an expedition which discovered Yucatan, in 1517, and sent Hernando Cortes to Mexico in 1518. Regretting, however, the extensive powers he had given to Cortes, he sent a force under Panfilo de Narvaez, which was overthrown by Cortes in 1520.
Diego Rodriguez De Silva Y Velazquez was a Spanish painter. He was born in 1599 at Seville and died in 1660. He studied under Francesco Herrera and then, when Herrera's temper got too much for him, under Pacheco whose daughter he later married. Velazquez also came under the influence of Luis Tristan, a pupil of El Greco. Settling in Madrid in 1623, he there painted a portrait of Fonseca, almoner to Philip IV which introduced him to the notice of the king. In the same year he painted a portrait of Philip IV, the first of a very long series which he painted of that king at every period of his life.
In 1628 Velazquez met Rubens, who came to Madrid as ambassador from the regent of the Netherlands. Having then conceived an eager desire to visit Italy, he left Spain in 1629, journeying to Venice, and then to Rome, by way of Ferrara and Bologna, and in 1630 was in Naples. The next year saw him back again at Madrid, and from that time began his long series of notable portraits.
His second visit to Italy was paid in 1649, v/hen his main object was to collect pictures and casts from the antique. On this occasion he painted his celebrated portrait of Pope Innocent X. In 1651, home again in Spain, he was given a high court appointment by the king, which took up much time. His pictures at this period include Maids of Honour, and the Tapestry Weavers.
The main feature of the art of Velazquez is its absolute truth. He was an impressionist in the truest meaning of the word, could seize upon an effect in its momentary force, and represent it in all its bare truth, painting colour as it really was. He had an unequalled command of values. There is never any false lighting or inaccurate incidence of light in his pictures, and he not only understood atmosphere, but grasped the mystery of shadows and darkness. He selected essentials with unerring judgement, and no other works are so near to the effect of nature as are his, or produce like them the true perspective of the atmosphere. Research Diego Velazquez
Henry VIII (nicknamed Copper Nose) was King of England from 1509 to 1547. He was born in 1491 and died in 1547. Henry VIII was the son of Henry VII and was 17 when he became king in 1509. He was soon prevailed upon to join in a league formed against Louis XII of France. Some campaigns in France followed, but the success of the English at the Battle of the Spurs in 1513 was succeeded by no adequate result, the taking of Tournay being the only fruit of this expensive expedition.
Meantime, more splendid success attended the English arms at home, James IV of Scotland being completely defeated and slain at Flodden Field in 1513. Henry, however, granted peace to the Queen of Scotland, his sister, and established an influence which rendered his kingdom long secure on that side. Finding himself deluded by his allies, he soon after made peace with France, retaining Tournay and receiving a large sum of money.
From l515 until 1529 the government was practically in the hands of Wolsey, no parliament being summoned in that period until 1523. After the election of Charles V to the German Empire, both Charles and the French king, Francis I, sought the alliance of England. A friendly meeting took place between Henry and Francis at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, but the interest of Charlea preponderated, and Henry declared war against France, though with no important results.
Now came the determination of the king to divorce his wife Catharine of Aragon, who was older than he, had borne him no male heir - though a girl - and had, moreover, been in the first place the wife of his elder brother. The last of these points was the alleged ground for seeking divorce, though Henry was probably influenced largely by his attachment to Anne Boleyn, one of the queen's maids of honour. Wolsey, for his own ends, had at first been active in promoting the divorce, but drew back and procrastinated when it became apparent that Anne Boleyn would be Catharine's successor. This delay cost Wolsey his power and the papacy its authority in England. Henry in disgust eagerly caught at the advice of Thomas Cranmer, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, to refer the case to the universities, from which he soon got the decision that he desired.
In 1533 his marriage with Catharine was declared null and an anticipatory private marriage with Anne Boleyn declared lawful; and as these decisions were not recognized by the pope, two acts of parliament were obtained, one in 1534 setting aside the authority of the chief pontiff in England, the other in 1535 declaring Henry the supreme head of the church. But although Henry discarded the authority of the Roman Church, he adhered to its theological tenets; and while, on the one hand, he executed Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More for refusing the oath of supremacy, he brought many of the reformers to the stake. Finding that the monks and friars in England were the most direct advocates of the papal authority, and a constant source of disaffection, he suppressed the monasteries by act of parliament, and thereby inflicted an incurable wound upon the Catholic religion in England.
The fall of Anne Boleyn was, however, unfavourable for a time to the reformers. Henry then married Jane Seymour, and the birth of Prince Edward in 1537 fulfilled his wish for a male heir. The death of the queen was followed in 1540 by Henry's marriage with Anne of Cleves, the negotiations of which were conducted by Cromwell. The king's dislike to his wife, which resulted in another divorce, became extended to the minister who had proposed the union, and Cromwell's disgrace and death soon followed.
A marriage with Catharine Howard in 1541 proved no happier, and in 1542 she was executed on a charge of infidelity. In 1543 he married his sixth wife, Catharine Parr, a lady secretly inclined to the Reformation, who survived the king. In the meantime Scotland and France had renewed their alliance, and England became again involved in war. James V ravaged the borders, but was defeated at Solway Moss in 1542, and in 1544 Boulogne was captured, Henry having again allied himself with Charles V. Charles, however, soon withdrew, and Henry maintained the war alone until 1546. Disease now so much aggravated the natural violence of Henry that his oldest friends fell victims to his tyranny. The Duke of Norfolk was committed to the Tower, and his son the Earl of Surrey was executed. Control of Wales was strengthened by the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1542 which united England and Wales administratively and legally, and gave Wales representation in Parliament. Henry died in 1547, leaving his sickly 10-year-old son to inherit the throne as Edward VI.
Henry's nickname of copper nose came about after, having spent the money left him by his miserly father, he minted inferior silver coins. The silver soon wore away from the prominent parts of the coins, notably the king's nose, revealing the base copper below, and the nickname was born. Research Henry VIII
Pierre de Boscobel de Chastelard was a French admirer of Mary Queen of Scots. He was born in 1540 at Dauphine and died in 1563. He was of good family, handsome, with a turn for verse-making, and possessed of all the accomplishments of a gallant of the age. He fell madly in love with Mary Stuart at the court of Francis II, followed her to Scotland, and, being graciously received, had the infatuation to invade twice the royal bedchamber while Mary was being undressed by her maids. He was tried publicly at St Andrews and hanged in 1563, the queen resisting all appeals for pardon. She is said to have encouraged his passion more than was consistent with prudence. Research Pierre de Boscobel de Chastelard
Abbreviations
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