I first encountered Mary Pigot while researching Rama’s Labyrinth. Now I want to learn Mary’s story more fully, and where else to begin but at the British Library which holds one of the largest collections relating to British India.

Portrait of George III

The collections at the British Library are composed of many parts. In 1753 Parliament established the library as part of the British Museum. A few years later George II donated the royal library. But the core of the new library was the royal donation of George III’s book collection in 1827.

George III was an avid book collector with agents acquiring volumes from throughout Europe. When George III’s collection became part of the British Library, it was with the stipulation that it could never be broken up. Initially, it was housed in the King’s Gallery of the British Museum. Now the King’s Library Tower is literally at the core of the British Library collection.

British Library courtyard walls with turrets

of St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel in the background.

Over the years the British Library became one of the largest libraries in the world due to the privilege of Legal Deposit which meant that most books, periodicals, newspapers, maps, and printed music produced in what is now the United Kingdom were added to the collection. Other collections, including the India Office Library and Records which includes the entire archives of British India from the foundation of the East India Company in 1600 to Independence in 1947, joined the main collection. Among the national treasures hosted in the British Library and open for public viewing are the Magna Carta, Lindisfarne Gospels, and original Beatles’ lyrics.

Initially access to the collections proved challenging because there was no adequate building in which to house them. In 1972 Parliament passed the British Library Act to establish an entity separate from the British Museum. Two years later the government purchased a derelict goods site near St. Pancras tube station for £6 million. Construction costs were about £445 million. The library opened in 1998.

Dominating the library piazza is Sir Eduardo Paolozzi’s sculpture of Isaac Newton.

William Blake’s 1795 painting inspired the massive sculpture. Blake didn’t approve of Newton and other rational scientists. A display caption from the Tate Modern suggests Blake saw Newton as a man who couldn’t see past his compass. In the painting Newton sits on a rock representing the natural world.

Paolozzi viewed both Blake and Newton as men representative of nature, poetry, and art. The synthesis embodied in the conflicting approaches of these men would, Paolozzi thought, embody the spirit of the knowledge to be found in the British Library.

I find the British Library to be a perfect place to delve into my subjects. When I researched Rama’s Labyrinth, the bulk of the materials were in print. This time the collections I accessed were preserved on microfilm. But the British Library holdings are one of a kind, and well worth the effort to access them.

Next stop in the trail of Mary Pigot – the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Rama’s Labyrinth now in audio format.

While I was engaging with my new project, the final piece of Rama’s Labyrinth fell into place.

Rama’s Labyrinth is now available as an audio-book through Audible, iTunes, and via Amazon Whispersync. Deepti Gupta’s voice brings all the characters to life.

You can listen to the Audible Sample here.

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Featured Image: Entry to British Library. Photo by Author

Pictures:

George III in Coronation Robes by Allan Ramsay. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

British Library with turrets of St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel in the background. Photo by Author.

“Newton” sculpture by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. Photo by Author.

Painting of Newton by William Blake. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

British Library at St. Pancras Receives Highest Listed Building Status. 

Jonathan Glancey. “What Took Them so Long?” Independent. July 10, 1994.

William Blake & Newton. Tate Modern.

Eduardo Paolozzi & Newton. Tate Modern.

The post “MALICE” AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

Last Monday, June 15th, the Magna Carta was 800 years old. Yeah, I know. It’s not a date on the tip of your tongue. But, without the Magna Carta there wouldn’t have been a Declaration of Independence, and without the Declaration we wouldn’t celebrate the 4th of July. And without the 4th of July, we’d miss our summer fireworks. So, it’s worth taking a trip back in time to see what all the fuss is about.

Okay, what’s the Magna Carta? And where did it come from?
So glad you asked.

The colorful story leading up to Magna Carta features some of the most famous players in medieval England, because in medieval England the personal was entirely political. The movers and shakers in our story are Henry II, Eleanor of Acquitaine, their five rebellious sons (including John the Tyrant), and Robin Hood. Well, Robin Hood isn’t actually that important but he is well known.

Henry was an ambitious man. In 1152 he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, the greatest heiress in western Europe. She was a beautiful woman. More importantly, she controlled a great deal of land. In 1153, Henry made good his claim to the English throne and became king in 1154. Turned out he was good at his job. King Henry established the king’s justice and asserted the crown’s claim to rule over the claims of his knightly barons.

Henry’s marriage Eleanor was less than idyllic, though in the early years they produced eight children: five sons and three daughters. As the boys became men, they rebelled against their father, often with their mother’s support. Henry finally placed Eleanor under house arrest.

Relations between the barons and the ruling king began to deteriorate in an elaborate game of Whose got the Power?

When Henry died in 1189, his son Richard became king. Richard left England to join the French king on the Third Crusade, appointing his brother John to serve as regent. This turned out to be an unpopular choice, giving rise to Robin Hood’s career of allegedly robbing the rich to give to the poor.

Although John was not a pleasant regent, the troubles of England weren’t entirely his fault. King Richard managed to be captured and held for ransom twice, which nearly bankrupted England.

In 1199, John got to rule in his own right. He wasn’t a popular king. Indeed, after his death, Matthew Paris famously commented,“Foul as it is, hell itself is made fouler by the presence of King John.” Ouch!

Yet the epitaph wasn’t not without cause. When asked to mediate a dispute involving the engagement of Isabella of Angoulame to Hugh de Lusignan, John divorced his wife and married Isabella himself. This violated the knightly code of conduct. When the French king Philip II called on John to explain his actions, John declined the summons and went to war.

This was a bad choice. By 1206 John lost almost all the English holdings in France. (Normandy, Anjou, Maine and parts of Poitou) No doubt his mother was rolling in her grave. John wasn’t prepared to concede. He needed money to continue the war, so he squeezed the English as never before. Taxes went through the roof, and John began to charge for everything. You want to inherit your father’s land – pay up.

John also annoyed the pope. Pope Innocent III appointed Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury. John refused to accept the appointment. The pope excommunicated John and placed England under and Interdict, which meant no church functions, could take place in England – no baptisms, marriages, funerals. A pretty stiff penalty for everyone in England. And, John’s barons no longer had to obey him. This created a severe threat to John’s job as king. In 1212, John agreed to make England accountable to the pope. This gave John new leverage with the implication that if the barons defied him, God would punish them. This was a more serious threat in the thirteenth century than it would be today.

But John never recognized when it was time to make compromises. He continued to fight in France, trying to regain the lost territories. Under feudal law, John had the right to demand soldiers or gold. When the barons refused to comply, John attacked their castles. Not surprisingly, the barons began to think about taking matters into their own hands. Making a bad situation worse, John lost the war against France a second time and agreed to pay the French king a massive crime in exchange for a truce. John imposed more taxes and fines. By this time the barons had an extensive list of grievances against King John.

Specifically, and not necessarily in order of importance, King John had violated the feudal contract with his barons.

1. He repudiated his first wife, Isabella of Gloucester, in 1200.
2. He married Isabella of Angouleme who was betrothed to his vassal High of Lusignan. This offended King John’s lord, King Philip Augustus of France who confiscated his French holdings.
3. He fought the French king and lost almost all English holdings in France
4. He quarreled with Pope Innocent III.
5. He launched a new unsuccessful war against France and demanded military service and funds to pay for the war.
6. He imposed what the barons viewed as steep, arbitrary fines for alleged violations.

In 1215 the barons did the unthinkable. They rebelled against the king – and they won. Now what?

Next Week: King John capitulates with Magna Carta

Acknowledgements:

Featured Image: John and Barons. 1868. By Joseph Martin Kronheim. US Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

The post Happy Birthday, Magna Carta! first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.