Thesis Correspondence VII

Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye*

Dear Dr. _____,

I have quickly read over four books under Edward Corp. (Corp wrote the first two books below and edited the last two.) My order for A Court in Exile: The Stuarts in France was canceled, but I think I have plenty from Corp already. He wants to take on the Stuart court as a cultural entity without working it into the details of British Jacobite revolts. As such, he's a bit off my path, but nevertheless someone I need to know. I want to take on the Scottish nobility, and discuss the expectation of British Jacobites before and during the revolts. Corp concentrates on the Continental European cultural connection, emphasizing opera and dance among other art forms.

Wesley

Notes on The Stuarts in Italy, 1717-1766: A Royal Court in Permanent Exile by Edward Corp.

In this work, Corp appears to be occupied with describing the inner dealings of the Jacobite exiled court outside of its immediate Britannic succession context. He explains the ups and downs in Papal support, dependent on relations with the king and queen and subversive Freemason groups. In music, the Stuart court was renowned for being excellent and incorporated many Continental European attributes. The composition of the Court itself included a strong foreign influence until about the 1745 revolt, when British members seemed to take on more of a role. However, when the revolt failed, James settled in for a permanent European court setting. Hanoverian subversion of formally Jacobite Freemason outlets frustrated court stability as even the Pope himself issued a death warrant for those found participating in clubs. Although I admire Corps method for its honesty with the court and Continental emphasis, I miss a certain relevance to its most pressing political goals in Britain among its British following.

Notes on The Jacobites at Urbino: An Exiled Court in Transition by Edward Corp.

Corp discusses the temporary phase of exiled Stuart court life at Urbino, between Avignon and Rome. Within this phase, the court established a common Jacobite love for music and a portrait iconography to inspire loyalty which eventually matured into a firm pro-Jacobite cardinal faction among the papal court at Rome. Pensions were more or less equalized, with prominent Scottish pensioners earning about the same as kitchen staff. Although the Scottish pensioners fought over religious details, they held to a common British identity even in the midst of foreign surroundings. With the new Scottish peers came more ceremony, and they eventually converted the king to Italian Opera. The presence of a Stuart Italian Court coincided with the beginnings of the Grand Tour educational model, and impacted Anglo-Italian relations.

Notes on The Stuart Court in Rome: The Legacy of Exile edited by Edward Corp.

This collection of essays covers Stuart and Jacobite cultural and financial history from the 17^th to 19^th centuries. As Corp introduces, the main thrust of historigraphical direction in the book pushes Jacobitism further from the all too common debate on the political feasibility of the Stuart restoration (and consequently, further from my thesis). In the first essay, Eirwen E. C. Nicholson puts forward an ironic contest between the tree motifs of the houses of Orange and Stuart: featuring the orange and oak tree figures. Both icons deal with the hereditary establishing of each royal house. Daniel Szechi connects English Grand Tourist impressions of the majesty of the Stuart court with morality in Britain. As the Stuart court departed from its moral tradition in Scotland to form a cosmopolitan fashionable Continental European court, Scottish Jacobites like the Earl of Mar grew disillusioned. Edward Gregg uses a cross-examined study of the Hanoverian spy Stosch's accounts of the Stuart court to supplement the Stuart Papers with a more descriptive account of Stuart finances. Jane Clark demonstrates that Stuart courtly support for contemporary European opera influence the tone of music in Europe, even threatening Handle's dominance in England. Victoria Thorpe notes that a change in the Thistle iconography in the Stuart court signals a new significance in Stuart Freemasonry, as Charles hoped to court Scottish and French Freemasons to establish a successful restoration attempt (to me, this seems to break the cultural emphasis of most of these essays, and gets at some political motivations). Peter Piniski relies on unnoticed Polish sources to establish a line derived from Charles' illegitimate daughter. Godfrey Evans hopes to excite some interest in the significance of Classical Baroque imagery of silver artwork pieces belonging to the Dukes of Hamilton, and finally Kathryn Barron describes the Royal collections of Jacobite art before, during, and after Victoria's reign.

Notes on The Stuart Court in Exile and the Jacobites edited by Eveline Cruickshanks and Edward Corp.

This collection is far less consistent in theme than the other. It seemed a little bland; bashing Whig stereotypes or laying groundwork which really doesn't appear to be cutting edge anymore (it was published in 1995). Cruickshanks establishes the first phase of Jacobitism beginning with Louis XIV's failure to help the Jacobite cause after 1689 (many problems with this; first the French did attempt aid afterward, and second, Jacobite pageantry finds its roots before the failed 1689 attempt). Nathalie Genet-Rouffiac contrasts Jacobite refugees with Huguenots, and ends up claiming that Jacobites posed a much larger threat (not a helpful comparative study). P. A. Hopkins outlines Sir James Montgomerie's change from a Whig to a Jacobite, and John Childs points out the rather obvious political point that a French attempt towards restoration in 1692 acted as a diversion, enabling France to conduct a successful siege of Namur. Howard Erskine-Hill describes how Caryll feared a new military Protestantism in his treatment of Protestant/Catholic relations. James McMillan notes how Lewis and Thomas Innes showed support in Paris for the Stuart dynasty. Roger Schmidt explains Mary of Madena's Attorney-General Roger North became the first to debunk the Whig view of history. Monod uses the suppression of the Jacobite press to challenge Macaulay's claim that the press was free after the Restoration (even Monod is bland here). Micheline Kerney Walsh describes how Toby Bourke's influence as the Stuart ambassador to Spain led to Jacobite Patrick Lawless' appointment as Spanish ambassador to London. The only real essay to catch my eye is Murray Pittock's essay on how Jacobite propaganda was Classical in nature, and how the Highlander was perceived as patriotic. I want to pick up on this theme.

* Château de saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines) Photo JH Mora, août 2005 From french wiki, uploader by Spedona 23 août 2005 à 22:29
User Sir Gawain rotated image.