History: Europe at the end of the 16th century

 There are a number of things to note about this map. Starting in the east, we have the massive kingdom of Poland-Lithuania, (pale blue with a red border) and to the south of it the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire (purple), the most powerful state in Europe. The Turks had overrun the Balkans and attacked as far as Vienna, and in addition ruled Syria, the Near East and Egypt. These two huge states blocked the westward expansion of Russia (pale green) for another century, after which they both began to decline.

By contrast, Germany was then a chaotic mess of more than three hundred independent states, some of which were Protestant and some Catholic. They were all nominally subject to the Holy Roman Emperor, who was always a member of the Habsburg family (whose ancestral lands are shown in dark green). Within a few years Germany was to collapse into the appalling slaughter of the Thirty Years' War.

   Italy was also disunited, with the Popes ruling the centre and Naples and Sicily to the south being part of the Spanish empire (in orange). Spain also ruled what is now Belgium, but had recently lost control of the Protestant-dominated provinces to the north (pale green) which had become the Dutch Republic. The proud Spanish Empire was entering a long period of decline. By contrast France was smaller than today, but was about to embark on the "splendid century" which would see French frontiers expand to the Rhine and the Alps, and French culture dominate Europe.

  England and Scotland were shortly to be united under King James I (James VI of Scotland). Fifty years earlier, Henry VIII had given himself the title of "King of Ireland", but as the map shows, large areas of Ireland were not yet under English control.   

Literature: Orwell and Connolly at Eton

 

The author and critic Cyril Connolly, who was a pupil at Eton in the 1920s, wrote the following musings on the school's influence at the conclusion of his book, "Enemies of Promise":-

   "Were I to to deduce any system from my feelings on leaving Eton, it might be called The Theory of Permanent Adolescence. It is the theory that the experiences undergone by boys at the great public schools, their glories and disappointments, are so intense as to dominate their lives and arrest their development."

George Orwell, who was Connolly's contemporary and friend at Eton, reacted to this with scorn in "Inside the Whale", his long essay on writing between the wars:-

   "When you read this passage, your natural impulse is to look for the misprint. Presumably there is a "not" left out, or something. But no, not a bit of it! He means it! And what is more, he is merely speaking the truth, in an inverted fashion. 'Cultured' middle-class life has reached such a depth of softness at which a public-school education - five years in a lukewarm bath of snobbery - can actually be looked back upon as an eventful period".

Connolly went on to say, "... it results that the greater part of the ruling class remains adolescent, school-minded, self-conscious, cowardly, sentimental, and in the last analysis homosexual". I doubt if Orwell would have disagreed with this!

   It is not widely know that Orwell originally went from his prep school to Wellington College in Berkshire (where he is, of course, registered under his real name of Eric Blair) before transferring to Eton after a few weeks. Cyril Connolly in "Enemies of Promise" admits that, as a socialist, he feels guilty about having enjoyed life at Eton, but then reflects "If you wanted retarded development in unfriendly surroundings, you should have gone to Wellington." When I taught at Wellington, about 20 years ago, the then headmaster asked me to look up literary references to the college for his use, but I doubt if he used this one!