Poet Laureate

2009-07-13T19:27:36Z

Schrehgd: Created page with 'Poet Laureate A poet voted by the Royal Court to write poems and hymns to praise the recent king or queen., usually for state occasion or national days of glory. First time this…'

Poet Laureate

A poet voted by the Royal Court to write poems and hymns to praise the recent king or queen., usually for state occasion or national days of glory.
First time this title was bestowed upon a poem was in the 1590s, when Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene to praise Queen Elizabeth I.
In restoration period the best known poet laureate was John Dryden. He was the fifth poet that got this title, but he was the first, who got the official title that was instituted in 1668 by letters patent granting the office during pleasure. (Look at: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43805#n1 ). He lost the title for political reasons after the Glorious Revolution.
The title was adopted from the Greek and Roman custom of crowning successful men with a wreath of laurel.
There is a list of duties of the crowned poet:
“The English Poet Laureate is the realm's official poet.
• The Poet Laureate is a member of the royal household
• The Poet Laureate is charged with writing verses for court and national occasions such as the monarch's birthday, royal births and marriages, coronations and military victories
• The Poet Laureate was originally awarded the position for life, however, from 1999 the post is limited to 10 years
• The Poet Laureate is chosen by the British reigning monarch from a list of nominees that the Prime Minister compiles after the death of a poet laureate
• It is the Lord Chamberlain who appoints the poet laureate by issuing a warrant to the laureate-elect
• The life appointment is always announced in the London Gazette.”
(http://www.love-poems.me.uk/a_poet_laureate.htm

Nowadays there is also a poet laureate in the USA. Look for details of voting and payment at
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/about_laureate.html .
Todays English poet laureate is Andrew Motion. This position is now given by the prime minister and a poet stays usually for ten years in office until the next one is elected.

New Model Army

2009-07-07T08:52:32Z

Schrehgd: Created page with 'New Model Army Founded in 1644 by Oliver Cromwell. The first two years of the civil war (roughly king and old gentry vs. Puritans, industrial areas and London ) were in the favo…'

New Model Army

Founded in 1644 by Oliver Cromwell. The first two years of the civil war (roughly king and old gentry vs. Puritans, industrial areas and London ) were in the favour of the king. After a speech in the House of Commons, where Cromwell asked for a better armed and educated force, the New Model Army was formed as Army of the Parliament. It should “comprise 11 regiments of horse of 600 men each, 12 regiments of foot of 1,200 men each, and 1,000 dragoons (mounted infantrymen)”. And it should also fix an error in the already existing army, the lack of unified command. The idea was to build a “national army with no regional affiliations”
Sir Thomas Fairfax was designated as Commander in Chief and was responsible for the military education and training of the New Model Army. The cavalry of this army were taken from the army of Manchester, Earl of Essex, and Sir William Waller. The training was very successfully and so they won against the royal army at Naseby (June 14, 1645). The king, Charles I, surrendered to the Scots, who handed him over to Parliament. He was beheaded on 30 January 1649.
The New Model Army remains successful and under Cromwell it won the battles of Dunbar and Worcester against Charles II. and the Scots.
Interestingly enough there is a scientific work , published in Innsbruck that compares the Civil War in England with the Hussitenwar 1419 – 1434 . It is claimed that the strong belief of the soldiers gave them a strong foundation. A word of Edward Hyde, 1 Earl of Clarendon, cited by the author of the mentioned work
“And that difference was observed shortly from the beginning of the war, in the discipline of the King’s troops and of those which marched under the command of Cromwell, … that though the King’s troops prevailed in the charge, and routed those they charged, they never rallied themselves again in order, nor could be brought to make a second charge again the same day: which was the reason that they hat not an entire victory at Edgehill: whereas Cromwell’s troops, if they prevailed, or though they were beaten and routed, presently rallied again, and stood in good order till they received new orders”
So it seems that the victories of the New Model Army could not only be explained by a special training and organization, but also by the strong belief that they fight on the right god-supported side.

F.E.Halliday: A concise history of England. London 1991 p.115-118
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/411846/New-Model-Army (01/07/09)
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/new-model-army.htm (01/07/09)
Robert Rebitsch (Universität Innsbruck) Innsbrucker Diskussionspapiere zu Weltordnung, Religion und Gewalt,Nummer 06 (2006) Glaube und Krieg. Gedanken zur Antriebsmotivation zum Krieg bei den Hussiten und in der New Model Army
Cited from Rebitsch, p.12f.

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Poet Laureate

New Model Army