Nationalism, The English

(Jody Gray) when I Googled: National Heroes of England and Britain - (result) 100 Greatest Britons [https://en.wikipedia.], a BBC program based on a television poll conducted to determine whom the United Kingdom public considered the greatest British people in history -mind you, these are “great” people, not “heroes” -here, I’m listing two categories for comparison.

Monarchs and revolutionary leaders: #7. Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) Brought a period of relative internal stability. She is associated with the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Her reign is known as the Elizabethan era. #10. Oliver Cromwell. 1st Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland (1653-1658). Commander of the New Model Army during the English Civil War against King Charles I (who was executed -beheaded). Admired for moving the country to a more democratic stateform, though his nomination was controversial due to allegations of genocide in Ireland. #14. Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (871-899). Encouraged education, proposing that primary education be taught in English, and improved his kingdom’s legal system, military structure and people’s quality of life. #24. Elizabeth II, queen (1952-present). #35. Boudica, Celtic queen of Britannia. Led resistance against the Roman army. #40. Henry VIII, king (1509-1547). #48. Sir William Wallace, knight and resistance leader during the Wars of Scottish Independence. #51. King Arthur, mythical king. #61. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, queen during WWII. #72. Henry V, king (1413-1422). #74. Robert the Bruce, king of the Scots (1306-1329). #82. Richard III, king (1483-1485). #90. Henry II, king (1154-1189). #94. Edward I, king (1272-1307).
Pop music celebrities: #8. John Lennon. #19. Sir Paul McCartney. #29. David Bowie. #46. Boy George. #55. Sir Cliff Richard. #58. Freddie Mercury (Queen). #62. George Harrison. #75. Bob Geldorf (Boomtown Rats). #77. Robbie Williams. #86. Bono (U2). #87. John Lydon (Johnny Rotten, The Sex Pistols).

Also, included in the list, The Unknown Warrior (below); a symbol of nationalism and patriotism -he gave his life for God, King and Country and the sacred cause of just and the freedom of the world.

#76. The Unknown Warrior. [https://en.wikipedia.] a soldier whose remains are buried at Westminster Abbey. -killed on a European battlefield during the First World War, buried 11/11/1920, simultaneously with a similar interment of a French unknown soldier at the ARc de Triomphe in France, making both tombs the first to honor the unknown dead of the First World War. It is the first example of a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier… The guests of honor were a group of about 100 women, chosen because they had each lost their husband and all their sons in the war. Inscription: ...gave the most that man can give life itself for God and for King and Country. For loved ones home and empire. For the sacred cause of justice and the freedom of the world. They buried him among the Kings because he had done good toward God and toward his House… In Christ shall be made alive.

 When Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon married the future King George VI on 4/26/1923, she laid her bouquet at the Tomb on her way into the Abbey, as a tribute to her brother Fergus who had died at the Battle of Loos in 1915… Royal brides married at the Abbey have their bouquets laid on the tomb the day after the wedding…

Google (result): 100 Radical Heroes who changed Britain from Oliver Cromwell to Viv Anderson. The People's’ History Museum in Manchester includes the miner’s leader and the pit axe-woman on a new list of 100 men and women who changed Britain by challenging the existing order… (the list) includes brave champions of working people now largely ignored as well as well-known names.

(Jody Gray) More google "results" (below), show that there has been a debate regarding what to teach British children about their history. David Hipshon laments that children don’t learn about traditional heroes. Personally, I think “hero” mentality is the wrong approach to history - “influential” or “noteworthy” would be a better label. In most cases, commemorative statues and “hero” status were created many years after the person died for a “purpose at hand” (e.g. promoting nationalism) -as such, most “heroes” are controversial.

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*Heroes in British History [http://www.historytoday.] David Hipshon regrets the degree to which our history syllabuses have censored the roles of British heroes.  Where have all our heroes gone? A generation ago history lessons in Britain would have reverberated with stirring tales of native heroes: Boudicca, Alfred the Great, Richard the Lionheart, Francis Drake, Clive of India, Wolfe of Quebec, Nelson and Wellington. Their stories are now untold, their deeds largely forgotten, their memory passed over in silence. If we were to walk into any history lesson in Britain today we would more more likely find ourselves confronted by the Vikings, Black Death, Medicine in the Middles Ages, Elizabethan Costume, Victorian Factories or The Nazis. So effective has the eradication of traditional national heroes been that an 18-year-old in modern Britain, if he or she had not given up history at the age of 14, might well have spent the best part of five years studying Hitler, perhaps with Stalin thrown in for good measure, rather than any iconic figures from Britain’s past.  A generation of history teachers, brought up under the shadow of imperial guilt and determined to give their pupils egalitarian, prejudice-free history, have systematically flattened the historical landscape, ironing out the interesting bits in the process. Armed with a tired and dated ideology and fashionable dogma masquerading as Enlightenment… Egalitarian: relating to or believing in the principle that all people are equal or deserve equal rights and opportunities… “a fairer, more egalitarian society”.

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*Epochs and heroes of British history [http://www.telegraph.] (2005) Andrew Roberts, the historian, who will chair the panel to decide which key events British children should learn about their history, declined to pre-judge his group’s findings when asked yesterday. ...The Daily Telegraph is under no such restraint. Here are our suggestions as the basis for lively debate, of what epochs of history and which heroes of our nation we all should know. 1. Roman-Britons. Autumn AD 43: Emperor Claudius accepts the surrender of 11 Celtic chieftains and establishes Roman rule in Britannia. Arthur: If he existed at all, he was probably a late 5th century Romano-Briton who fought off the Anglo-Saxons and represents the cusp of a hyphenated nation that still exists today. 2. The Anglo-Saxons - The Germans become English. 664 The Synod of Whitby. By settling a dispute between early Christians over the date of Easter in favor of the Roman church, King Oswiu of Northumbria ensured that England would look to Europe instead of the Celtic nations for a community of faith. Alfred: Beat off the Danes and united the Anglo-Saxons in the idea of an English nation that was strong enough to survive the subsequent Normanisation of the aristocracy. 3. The French (or at least the Normans) become English - The Early Middle Ages. 1066 The Battle of Hastings. Changed the course of British history, ensuring that we became a satellite of European affairs rather than an offshoot of a Norse empire. Queen Matilda: Established the precedent of English queenship, united the houses of Normandy and Anjou that provided the foundation of the Plantagenet empire and England’s status in Europe for 400 years. 4. The English become Europeans - The High Middle Ages. 1265 De Montfort’s Parliament, the first stirrings of power from below to limit the activities of the king. It provided the teeth for the Magna Carta of 50 years before. 5. The Welsh become English - The Tudors. 1534 The Act of Supremacy. Henry VIII, annoyed by Rome’s refusal to grant him divorce from Katherine of Aragon, declares a Church of England with him at its head. Elizabeth I: Defended Britain from Spanish conquest and repressive Catholicism and encouraged the adventurers Drake, Frobisher and Raleigh who set England on course for naval dominance and imperial hegemony. 6. The Scots become English and the English become British - The Stuarts. 1603 The Union of England, Scotland and Wales, in the person of James I of England and Wales and VI of Scotland. Oliver Cromwell: English Civil War.

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*Should schools promote “British values” - a debate? [https://educevery.] (2014) One response to the accusations of extremism against some Birmingham schools has been to revive calls for schools to teach “British values”. Michael Gove has issued draft changes to the funding agreement for new schools that would require commitment to “the fundamental British values” of (1) democracy, (2) the rule of law, (3) individual liberty, (4) mutual respect and (5) tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. Already, back in 2011, in its Prevent Strategy, the Home Office defined extremism as active opposition to these values. Note: CONTEST is the name of the United Kingdom's counter-terrorism strategy, first developed by the Home Office in early 2003. The purpose of Prevent is to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. This includes countering terrorists ideology and challenging those who promote it, supporting individuals who are especially vulnerable to becoming radicalized, and working with sectors and institutions where the risk of radicalization is assessed to be high.

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Teaching History in Schools [https://www.parliament.] (2011)  Writers have also argued that histories are subject to the prejudices of the historians who write them and are rooted in the power structures of society. Hence, Munslow claims that histories have been previously shaped by a ―hierarchy of master narratives like liberalism, science, Marxism, socialism, or a view of history that emphasized either the discovery of the past as it actually was, or even the inevitability of progress”... At the universities, as in the schools, the belief that history provides an education, that it helps us understand ourselves in time, or even that it explains something of how the present world came into being, has all but vanished… 4.3 History at Key Stage 3 (11-14 Year Olds)  Key Stage 3 looks to cover significant individuals and events in the history of Britain from the Middle Ages to the 20th century and key aspects of European and world history. Whilst building on chronological understandings developed in Key Stages 1 and 2, pupils are also expected to develop further awareness of: cultural, ethnic and religious diversity; changes and continuities within and across different historical periods; causes and consequences in terms of explaining the reasons for, and results of, historical events, situations and changes; the significance of events, people and developments in their historical context and in the present day; the different interpretations by historians and others and the reasons for them and how to assess their validity. Pupils also need to be able to use different sources of information, using their historical knowledge to analyse the past and explain how it can be represented. The curriculum sets out a number of areas to help utilize these skills focusing on both national and local levels where appropriate. Three of these areas are British: Britain 1066–1500 (e.g. the development of the monarchy, significant events and characteristic features of people‘s lives); Britain 1500–1750 (e.g. crowns, parliaments, key individuals and major political, religious and social changes affecting people); Britain 1750–1900 (e.g. the expansion of trade, colonization, and industrialization and political changes). One area involves study of a significant period or event in the pre-history or history of Europe. Two areas focus on world studies. One before 1900 looks at the cultures, beliefs and achievements of an African, American, Asian or Australasian society in the past (other than those included in the program of study for Key Stage 2). The other after 1900 deals with some of the significant individuals, events and developments from across the 20th century, including the two World Wars, the Holocaust, the Cold War, and their impact on Britain, Europe and the wider world.  Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, in his speech to the Conservative Party Conference in October 2010, set out what he thought was wrong with the current history curriculum: One of the under-appreciated tragedies of our time has been the sundering of our society from its past. Children are growing up ignorant of one of the most inspiring stories I know—the history of our United Kingdom. Our history has moments of pride, and shame, but unless we fully understand the struggles of the past we will not properly value the liberties of the present. The current approach we have to history denies children the opportunity to hear our island story. Children are given a mix of topics at primary, a cursory run through Henry VIII and Hitler at secondary and many give up the subject at 14, without knowing how the vivid episodes of our past become a connected narrative. Well, this trashing of our past has to stop.  It is critical that we ensure that every child has a proper spine of knowledge—the narrative of the history of these islands. Without that, the skills of comparison and of examining primary and secondary sources and drawing the appropriate conclusions, are meaningless. Without that spine, history cannot stand up and take its place properly in the national curriculum.  Simon Schama, writing in the Guardian, set out his views on the deficiencies of the current teaching of history, particularly British history: He thought that this sweep should at the very least include six key areas: the murder of Thomas Beckett and its portrayal of the conflict between ―religious and royal/secular ideas of law and sovereignty; the Black Death and the Peasants Revolt in the reign of Richard II indicating social trauma and social rebellion; the execution of Charles I, the Protectorate and the Restoration; Britain‘s colonial role in India; William Gladstone, Charles Parnell and the Irish wars; and the British Navy, the opium wars and China.  Niall Ferguson, who, as noted above, was asked to help re-write the history curriculum, believed that there ―should be a compulsory chronological framework over the entire period from entering secondary school right through to sixth form. He was critical of the dominance of curriculum that focused on the Nazis: …  Instead he thought that all students at GCSE and A-level should ―cover at least one medieval, one early modern and one modern paper with an ―over-arching story—a meta-narrative called ―western ascendancy. He argued that this should not be seen as an attempt to ―slip covert imperialist apologia into the curriculum, rather as a way of allowing ―students to study world history without falling into the trap of relativism, i.e. arguing as if the Ashanti Empire were in some way the equal of the British Empire: Western ascendancy was not all good, any more than it was all bad. It was simply what happened and, of all the things that happened over the past five centuries, it was the thing that changed the world the most. That so few British schoolchildren are even aware of this is deplorable.  Susie Mesure, writing in the Independent, was also critical of what she saw as the skills-based bias of school history but also of the over-use of empathy: The fault lies in the national curriculum‘s skills-centered obsession, which decrees it more crucial for a pupil to imagine the privations a soldier faced in the trenches than to name any of the battles he fought. It wants students to emerge able to empathize their way through coursework rather than retain any actual knowledge that might serve them in later life.  The prescription to teach history through a politically correct prism—which emphasizes concepts such as slavery and imperialism, instead of dwelling on the feats of those historical figures who make up the narrative that got us to today— has stripped the past of much meaning. Where pupils do pause for breath during the odd isolated era like the Tudors or the Nazis—the ―Henrys and Hitler, as those critical of the current syllabus have dubbed the periods—they wind up only knowing about a handful of events.  Richard Evans, writing in the London Review of Books, has questioned whether the current history curriculum is as deficient as it has been portrayed: The existing national history curriculum, taking children up to the age of 14, aims to give them a grasp of chronology, a knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past, basic principles of historical interpretation and inquiry, and elementary skills of communication, developed through teaching the content relating to local, national, European and world history. Study of a variety of topics is intended to assist children‘s spiritual development, through helping pupils to appreciate the achievements of past societies, and to understand the motivation of individuals who made sacrifices for a particular cause. Children have to learn about the social, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of the societies they study, which include the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, two later periods of British history, Ancient Greece and its influence, and one non-European society selected from among Ancient Egypt, Sumer, the Assyrian Empire, the Indus Valley, the Maya, Benin or the Aztecs.  There seems to be plenty of factual content in all this, and plenty of kings and queens too. The examples the curriculum provides for teaching history to children from seven to 11 make mention of (by my count) 36 significant individuals, ranging from Boudicca and Caractacus to Livingstone and Brunel. From 11 to 14, children study the whole sweep of British history from 1066 to 1900 in three courses.

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(Jody Gray) I’ve learned, in my own research, that the sources of history are biased. Many narratives are “folk tales”. My main source is Wikipedia, I have found their pages to be presented in an unbiased narrative; references (sources) are always included.  (see, Five pillars) So far, I have found only one Wikipedia page to contain an error in the information presented.

 Students need to learn world history to understand how what exists today came to exist. We humans have a shared history, from tribal chieftains to kings (and, it appears, every “society” had slaves). We need to “acknowledge” not “justify” what occurred.

 Nationalism, has negative connotations in that it implies “superiority”. Patriotism, is experienced, by some, in the same manner. Throughout history, the notion of “superiority” and “righteousness” was used as a basis for conquest, genocide, and rulership.

 We, humans, are nowhere near ending violence (justified by “righteousness”), as evidenced by terrorist attacks, road-rage, human-trafficking, genocide, etc. The greatest tools we have are expressed in what Michael Gove presents as “British values”: (1) democracy, (2) the rule of law, (3) individual liberty, (4) mutual respect and (5) tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.

Five Pillars [https://en.wikipedia.] Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view… All articles must strive for verifiable accuracy, citing reliable authoritative sources, especially when the topic is controversial or is on living persons. Editors’ personal experiences, interpretations, or opinions do not belong.

  Minnesota Folk singer, Peter Mayer writes songs about interconnectedness and the human journey; about the beauty and mystery of the world… In college he studied theology and music, and then spent two years in seminary. Afterward he took a part-time job as a church music director… In 1995, he quit his job and started performing full-time. He sells his music independently. (Jody Gray): I attended his solo concert in Zumbrota, MN in 2011. You can listen to and purchase his music at [http://www.petermayer.] CD, Heaven Below (song) All the World is One: You can say that you stand apart. Put a fence around your yard. You can build a tall rampart and guard it with a gun. You can dig yourself a moat. Burn the bridge and burn the boat. You can march in a big parade. Every Independence Day. You can raise your own flag and sing your own anthem. It will ring out in the air. With all the other anthems there. Ask a strand of DNA -it’s written in your blood. One life running in your veins… You can take an outbound train. Try and make a getaway. But earthlings don’t leave town. They just go round and round… (you can try to separate it, but) All the world is one.

 Another of his songs, on the same CD, addresses “accepting change, new knowledge” (e.g. the world is round and evolution versus the biblical creation story) -Do You Really Want to Know: Let knowledge like a breeze. In through the door of your belief. Blow through the rooms and corridors. Knock cherished heirlooms to the floor…

 CD, Million Year Mind (song) Africa: I say to my hands, can you remember Africa? And I say to my feet, do you remember Africa? Even though you arrive. For the very first time. You have a sense of returning. They say there is a dream down in Africa. Dreamt about 5 million years ago. It’s a dream to survive. A dream of standing upright… You can hear a song down in Africa… Rising up from the bones. And it’s telling your story. There is a human heart born in Africa. Beating now for eons, it is your own. A tenacious, ancient will. Quite alive inside you still. And it’s dreaming on..

Related:

*BP: Historians, European History. http://indextoblogposts. *

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