Cultural History of Britain
Some definitions
“Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning ‘to cultivate’) generally
refers to patterns (mód) of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity
significance (jelentőség). Different definitions of “culture” reflect different theoretical bases
(elméleti alap) for understanding, or criteria for evaluating (értékel) human activity. In
general, the term culture denotes (jelöl) the whole product of an individual, group or society
of intelligent beings. It includes technology, art, science, as well as moral systems and the
characteristic behaviors and habits of the selected intelligent entities.”
/Wikipedia.com/
“Culture is the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behaviour that depends
upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.”
/Marriam Webster Dictionary/
“Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving,
interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them” (9).
/Lederach, J.P. (1995). Preparing for peace: Conflict transformation across cultures.
Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. /
“Culture: learned and shared human patterns or models for living; day- to-day living patterns.
these patterns and models pervade (beleivódik) all aspects of human social interaction.
Culture is mankind's primary adaptive mechanism” (367).
/Damen, L. (1987). Culture Learning: The Fifth Dimension on the Language Classroom.
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley./
“A culture is a configuration (alakzat) of learned behaviors and results of behavior whose
component elements (alkotóelem) are shared and transmitted by the members of a particular
society” (32).
/Linton, R. (1945). The Cultural Background of Personality. New York./
“Culture is the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and
all other products of human work and thought.”
/The Free Dictionary/
As the above definitions suggest culture stands for the cumulative deposit of knowledge,
experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion acquired and shared by a
group of people in the course of generations through the individuals and institutions. Culture
consists of patterns of and behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols. It is constituted
upon the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artefacts.
The essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values.
Culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other hand,
as conditioning influences upon further action.
Culture is the sum of total of the learned behaviour of a group of people and is transmitted
from generation to generation. It is thus a collective programming of the mind that
differentiates (megkülönböztet) the members of one group or category of people from
another.
Manifestations of Culture
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Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular meaning which
is only recognized by those who share a particular culture. New symbols easily
develop, old ones disappear. Symbols from one particular group are regularly copied
by others. This is why symbols represent the outermost layer of a culture.
Heroes are persons, past or present, real or fictitious, who possess characteristics that
are highly prized in a culture. They also serve as models for behaviour.
Rituals are collective activities, sometimes superfluous in reaching desired objectives,
but are considered as socially essential. They are therefore carried out most of the
times for their own sake (ways of greetings, paying respect to others, religious and
social ceremonies, etc.).
The core of a culture is formed by values. They are broad tendencies for preferences
of certain state of affairs to others (good-evil, right-wrong, natural-unnatural). Many
values remain unconscious to those who hold them. Therefore they often cannot be
discussed, nor can they be directly observed by others. Values can only be inferred
from the way people act under different circumstances.
Symbols, heroes, and rituals are the tangible or visual aspects of the practices of a
culture. The true cultural meaning of the practices is intangible (meg nem fogható);
this is revealed only when the practices are interpreted by the insiders.
(from http://www.tamu.edu/classes/cosc/choudhury/culture.html)
Figure 1. Manifestation of Culture at Different
Levels of Depth
Layers of culture
People even within the same culture carry several layers of mental programming within
themselves. Different layers of culture exist at the following levels:
 The national level: Associated with the nation as a whole.
 The regional level: Associated with ethnic, linguistic, or religious differences that
exist within a nation.
 The gender level: Associated with gender differences (female vs. male)
 The generation level: Associated with the differences between grandparents and
parents, parents and children.
 The social class level: Associated with educational opportunities and differences in
occupation.
 The corporate level: Associated with the particular culture of an organization.
Applicable to those who are employed.
(http://www.tamu.edu/classes/cosc/choudhury/culture.html)
Origins of Theories of Culture
In the next section I will overview early theoretical reflections on culture, with special
attention to Anglo-Saxon authors.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was a pre-eminent poet of the Victorian era, a lifelong
educator, a pioneer in the field of literary criticism, a government official (Inspector of
Schools), and an influential public figure. But one of his most enduring legacies is his
extensive body of writing on the topic of culture. Arnold saw culture – “contact with the best
which has been thought and said in the world" (basically as high culture) – as the crucial
component of a healthy democratic state.
Arnold’s view of culture as involving such characteristics as beauty, intelligence, and
perfection is a Neoplatonic one – that is, it tends to assume that these values exist in the
abstract and are the same for all human societies. His argument, then, is openly political: he
feels that if more people will share and pursue his notions of beauty, truth, and perfection – of
culture – that the world will be a better place.
Quote from Culture and Anarchy, 1869:
“The disparagers (becsmérlő) of culture make its motive curiosity; sometimes, indeed, they
make its motive mere exclusiveness and vanity (hiúság). The culture which is supposed to
plume itself on (büszkélkedik) a smattering (felszínes ismeret) of Greek and Latin is a culture
which is begotten by nothing so intellectual as curiosity; it is valued either out of sheer vanity
and ignorance (tudatlanság) or else as an engine of social and class distinction, separating its
holder, like a badge or title, from other people who have not got it. No serious man would
consider all this culture, or attach any value to it, as culture, at all.
But there is of culture another view, in which not solely the scientific passion, the sheer desire
to see things as they are, natural and proper in an intelligent being, appears as the ground of it.
There is a view in which all the love of our neighbour, the impulses towards action, help, and
beneficence (jótékonyság), the desire for removing human error, clearing human confusion,
and diminishing human misery (szenvedés), the noble aspiration (törekvés) to leave the world
better and happier than we found it, come in as part of the grounds of culture, and the main
and pre-eminent (kimagasló) part. Culture is then properly described not as having its origin
in curiosity, but as having its origin in the love of perfection; it is a study of perfection. It
moves by the force, not merely or primarily of the scientific passion for pure knowledge, but
also of the moral and social passion for doing good.
***
The Greek idea of “a finely tempered nature” gives exactly the notion of perfection as culture
brings us to conceive it: a harmonious perfection, a perfection in which the characters of
beauty and intelligence are both present, which […] “the two noblest of things, sweetness and
light.” The man with a finely tempered nature is the man who tends toward sweetness and
light.”
(http://www.wsu.edu/gened/learn-modules/top_culture/culture-index.html)
It was at the era of Arnold that the modern academic discipline of anthropology was born. The
birth occurred when the British founder of anthropology, E. B. Tylor, transformed the
concepts of civilization and culture. Tylor was concerned with the general question of how
“the conditions of culture” developed in various societies. Like most social theorists of his
time, he accepted a developmental model of change, which has its own suppositions and
logic. In our present context, this means that Tylor understood the task of anthropology (or as
he preferred to say, ethnography) in terms of a single linear sequence from less to more
complexity.
Quote from Tylor’s Primitive Culture, 1873/1958:
“Culture or Civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which
includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities (képességek)
and habits acquired (elsajátít) by man as a member of society. The condition of culture among
the various societies of mankind, in so far as it is capable of being investigated on general
principles, is a subject apt (alkalmas) for the study of laws of human thought and action … By
simply placing nations at one end of the social series and savage (primitív) tribes at the other,
arranging the rest of mankind between these limits ... ethnographers are able to set up a rough
scale of civilization — a transition from the savage state to our own.” (1).
Raymond Williams was an early pioneer in the field of “cultural studies” – in fact, he was
doing cultural studies before the term was even coined (megalkot). The following excerpt is
from an essay Williams wrote in 1958, entitled Culture is Ordinary. According to one of his
editors, Williams he “forced the first important shift into a new way of thinking about the
symbolic dimensions of our lives. Thus, ‘culture’ is wrested from that privileged space of
artistic production and specialist knowledge [e.g. high culture], into the lived experience of
the everyday” (Gray and McGuigan 1).
Quote from Moving from High Culture to Ordinary Culture, 1958:
“Culture is ordinary: that is the first fact. Every human society has its own shape, its own
purposes, its own meanings. Every human society expresses these, in institutions, and in arts
and learning. The making of a society is the finding of common meanings and directions, and
its growth is an active debate and amendment (módosítás) under the pressures of experience,
contact, and discovery, writing themselves into the land. The growing society is there, yet it is
also made and remade in every individual mind. The making of a mind is, first, the slow
learning of shapes, purposes, and meanings, so that work, observation (megfigyelés) and
communication are possible. Then, second, but equal in importance, is the testing of these in
experience, the making of new observations, comparisons (összehasonlítás), and meanings. A
culture has two aspects: the known meanings and directions, which its members are trained to;
the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested. These are the ordinary
processes of human societies and human minds, and we see through them the nature of a
culture: that it is always both traditional and creative; that it is both the most ordinary
common meanings and the finest individual meanings. We use the word culture in these two
senses: to mean a whole way of life – the common meanings; to mean the arts and learning –
the special processes of discovery and creative effort. Some writers reserve the word for one
or other of these senses; I insist on both, and on the significance (jelentőség) of their
conjunction (kapcsolat). The questions I ask about our culture are questions about deep
personal meanings. Culture is ordinary, in every society and in every mind.” (6)
(http://www.wsu.edu/gened/learn-modules/top_culture/culture-index.html)
Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) is best known for his ethnographic studies of Javanese culture
(Java is an Indonesian island south of Borneo) and for his writings about the interpretation of
culture. The most influential aspect of Geertz’s work has been his emphasis on the importance
of the symbolic – of systems of meaning – as it relates to culture, cultural change, and the
study of culture. The function of culture is to impose (megszab) meaning on the world and
make it understandable. The role of anthropologists is to try (though complete success is not
possible) to interpret the guiding symbols of each culture. Geertz is an example of the great
transition (átmenet) which has taken place regarding the concept “culture” in Western thought
over the past century; Raymond Williams’ perspective might be taken as a middle ground in
this transition.
In attempting to lay out the various meanings attached to the word culture, Clifford Geertz
refers to Clyde Kluckhohn’s Mirror for Man, actually hopes to understand culture that
possesses all of the following characteristics suggested by Kluckhohn:
1.
the total way of life of a people
2.
the social legacy (örökség) the individual acquires from
his group
3.
a way of thinking, feeling, and believing
4.
an abstraction from behaviour
5.
a theory on the part of the anthropologist about the way
in which a group of people in fact behave
6.
A “storehouse of pooled learning
7.
a set of standardized orientations (tájékozódás) to
recurrent (ismétlődő) problems
8.
learned behaviour
9.
a mechanism for the normative regulation of behavior
10.
a set of techniques for adjusting both to the external
environment and to other men
11. a precipitate (üledék)of history
12. a behavioral map, sieve (szita), or matrix
Quotes from The Interpretation of Cultures, 1973:
“The concept of culture I espouse (felkarol) … is essentially a semiotic one. Believing, with
Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended (függ) in webs of significance (jelentésháló) he
himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an
experimental science in search of law but an interpretative one in search of meaning. It is
explication (magyarázat) I am after”. (4-5)
Geertz compares the methods of an anthropologist analyzing culture to those of a literary
critic analyzing a text: “sorting out the structures of signification ... and determining their
social ground and import…Doing etnography is like trying to read (in the sense of ‘construct
a reading of’) a manuscript…”
“Once human behavior is seen as … symbolic action – action which, like phonation
(hangképzés) in speech, pigment in painting, line in writing, or sonance (hangzó) in music,
signifies – the question as to whether culture is patterned conduct or a frame of mind, or even
the two somehow mixed together, loses sense. The thing to ask [of actions] is what their
import (jelentés, jelentőség) is” (9-10).
Geertz argues that culture is public because systems of meaning are necessarily the collective
property of a group. When we say we do not understand the actions of people from a culture
other than our own, we are acknowledging our “lack of familiarity with the imaginative
universe within which their acts are signs” (12-13).
(http://www.wsu.edu/gened/learn-modules/top_culture/culture-index.html)
John H. Bodley is Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Washington State University.
In this excerpt from his textbook on cultural anthropology entitled Cultural Anthropology:
Tribes, States, and the Global System (1994) Bodley discusses the history of anthropological
conceptions of culture and argues that contemporary views about culture are descriptive,
inclusive, and relativistic. He furthermore discusses the theoretical debate among
anthropologists over the most useful attributes that a technical concept of culture should
stress. He refers to the work of Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn, American
anthropologists, who in 1952 published a list of 160 different definitions of culture. In the
table below you will find a list indicating the diversity of the anthropological concept of
culture. The specific culture concept that particular anthropologists work with is an important
matter because it may influence the research problems they investigate, their methods and
interpretations, and the positions they take on public policy issues.
TABLE:
Diverse
Definitions of Culture:
Topical:
Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or
categories, such as social organization, religion, or
economy
Historical:
Culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on
to future generations
Behavioral:
Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life
Normative:
Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living
Functional:
Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting
to the environment or living together
Mental:
Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that
inhibit impulses and distinguish people from animals
Structural:
Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas,
symbols, or behaviors
Symbolic:
Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that
are shared by a society
For an overview of how the concept of culture was understood in the past two centuries see:
The Strange Career of the Concept of Culture by Thomas Wren at:
http://www.luc.edu/faculty/twren/phil389&elps423/wren1.htm
As the above definitions and (anthropological) approaches suggest culture is present in almost
every aspect of life. It is undoubtedly an important factor in the establishment and
maintenance of individual and collective identities. The following theories, concepts and
models hopefully contribute to the better understanding of identity-formation and the
problems/solutions inherent cross-cultural understanding and communication.
Theory of Cultural Determinism
The position that the ideas, meanings, beliefs and values people learn as members of society
determines human nature. People are what they learn. Optimistic version of cultural
determinism place no limits on the abilities of human beings to do or to be whatever they
want. Some anthropologists suggest that there is no universal “right way” of being human.
“Right way” is almost always “our way”; that “our way” in one society almost never
corresponds (egybeesik) to “our way” in any other society. Proper attitude of an informed
human being could only be that of tolerance.
 The optimistic version of this theory postulates (feltételez) that human nature being
infinitely malleable (alakítható), human being can choose the ways of life they prefer.
 The pessimistic version maintains that people are what they are conditioned to be; this
is something over which they have no control. Human beings are passive creatures and
do whatever their culture tells them to do. This explanation leads to behaviorism that
locates the causes of human behavior in a realm that is totally beyond human control.
Cultural Relativism
Different cultural groups think, feel, and act differently. There is no scientific standards for
considering one group as intrinsically (lényegét tekintve) superior or inferior to another.
Studying differences in culture among groups and societies presupposes (előfeltételez) a
position of cultural relativism. It does not imply normalcy for oneself, nor for one’s society.
It, however, calls for judgment when dealing with groups or societies different from one’s
own. Information about the nature of cultural differences between societies, their roots, and
their consequences should precede judgment and action. Negotiation is more likely to succeed
when the parties concerned understand the reasons for the differences in viewpoints.
Cultural Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own culture is superior to that of other cultures. It is a
form of reductionism that reduces the “other way” of life to a distorted version of one’s own.
This is particularly important in case of global dealings when a company or an individual
believes that methods, materials, or ideas that worked in the home country will also work
abroad. Environmental differences are, therefore, ignored.
(http://www.tamu.edu/classes/cosc/choudhury/culture.html)
Cultural imperialism is closely connected to cultural ethnocentrism and refers to the practice
of promoting, distinguishing, separating, or artificially injecting the culture or language of one
nation into another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily
powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, less important one. Cultural imperialism can take
the form of an active, formal policy or a general attitude. The term is usually used in a
pejorative (elítélő) sense, usually in call with a call to reject foreign influence.
‘Cultural imperialism’ can refer to either the forced acculturation of a subject population, or to
the voluntary embracing of a foreign culture by individuals who do so of their own free will.
Since these are two very different referents, the validity of the term has been called into
question. The term cultural imperialism is understood differently in particular discourses.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_imperialism)
MODELS:
The Monocultural Nation-state (Europe)
Especially in the 19th century, the ideology of nationalism transformed the way Europeans
thought about the state. Existing states were broken up and new ones created; the new nationstates were founded on the principle that each nation is entitled to its own sovereign state and
to engender (megteremt), protect, and preserve its own unique culture and history. Unity,
under this ideology, is seen as an essential feature of the nation and the nation-state – unity of
descent (leszármazás), unity of culture, unity of language, and often unity of religion. The
nation-state constitutes a culturally homogeneous society, although some national movements
recognised regional differences. None, however, accepted foreign elements in culture and
society. Multilingual and multi-ethnic empires, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the
Ottoman Empire, were considered oppressive, and most Europeans did not accept that such a
state could be legitimate.
Where cultural unity was insufficient, it was encouraged and enforced (rákényszerít) by the
state. The 19th-century nation-states developed a range of policies – the most important was
compulsory primary education in the national language. The language itself was often
standardized by a linguistic academy, and regional languages were ignored or suppressed
(elnyom). Some nation-states pursued violent policies of cultural assimilation and even ethnic
cleansing (etnikai tisztogatás).
The 'Melting Pot' ideal (USA)
In the United States, continuous mass immigration had been a feature of economy and society
since the first half of the 19th century. The absorption of the stream of immigrants became, in
itself, a prominent (kiemelkedő) feature of America’s national myth. The idea of the Melting
pot is a metaphor that implies that all the immigrant cultures are mixed and amalgamated
(egybeolvad) without state intervention. The Melting Pot implied that each individual
immigrant, and each group of immigrants, assimilated into American society at their own
pace. An Americanized (and often stereotypical) version of the original nation’s cuisine, and
its holidays, survived. Note that the Melting Pot tradition co-exists with a belief in national
unity, dating from the American founding fathers.
Multiculturalism
The term multiculturalism generally refers to a state of both cultural and ethnic diversity
(sokféleség) within the demographics of a particular social space. Some countries have
official, or de jure (törvényszerinti) multiculturalism policies aimed at preserving the cultures
or cultural identities – usually those of immigrant groups – within a unified society. In this
context, multiculturalism supports a society that extends fair status to distinct cultural and
religious groups, no one culture predominating (túlsúlyban van). However, the term is more
commonly used to describe a society consisting of minority immigrant cultures existing
alongside a predominant, indigenous (őshonos) culture.
Adoption of multiculturalism as national policy
Multiculturalism was adopted as official policy, in several Western nations from the 1970s
onward, for reasons that varied from country to country.
Government multicultural policies included:
 recognition of multiple citizenship (the multiple citizenship itself usually results from
the nationality laws of another country)
 government support for newspapers, television, and radio in minority languages
 support for minority festivals, holidays, and celebrations
 acceptance of traditional and religious dress in schools, the military, and society in
general
 support for music and arts from minority cultures
 programs to encourage minority representation in politics, SET (Science, Engineering
and Technology), Mathematics, education, and the work force in general.
Cultural Pluralism
Closely connected to the idea of multiculturalism is the concept of cultural pluralism a
situation in which small groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural
identities. In a pluralist culture, unique groups not only coexist side by side, but also consider
qualities of other groups as traits worth having in the dominant culture. The current
contemporary art world in the 21st century is an example of cultural pluralism. For another
example, a community centre in the United States may offer classes in Indian yoga, Chinese
calligraphy, and Latin salsa dancing. That community may also have one or more synagogues,
mosques, mandirs, gurudwaras, and/or Buddhist temples, as well as several churches of
various Christian denominations (felekezet). The existence of such institutions and practices
are possible if the cultural communities responsible for them are protected by law and/or
accepted by the larger society in a pluralist culture. Cultural pluralism is a necessary
consequence of a flourishing and peaceful democratic society, because of its tolerance and
respect for cultural and ethnic diversity.
Post-multiculturalism
Following the collapse of the consensus on multiculturalism, several European Union
countries have introduced policies for ‘social cohesion’, ‘integration’, and (sometimes)
‘assimilation’. They are sometimes a direct reversal of earlier multiculturalist policies, and
seek to assimilate immigrant minorities and restore a de facto (tényleges) monocultural
society. The policies include or propose:
 compulsory language courses in the national language, accompanied by a compulsory
language test for immigrants
 compulsory courses and/or tests on national history, on the constitution and the legal
system, see Life in the United Kingdom test
 official campaigns to promote national unity, and individual identification with the
nation
 official lists of national values, and tests of acceptance of these values
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restriction on spouses (házastárs) or children joining immigrants already in the
country, and age and income restrictions on non-western marriage partners, sometimes
with language tests for potential spouses, in their country of origin
official declarations specifying that only the national language may be spoken in
certain areas
language prohibitions (tilalom) in schools, universities, and public buildings.
Language bans have also been proposed for public transport and hospitals
prohibitions on Islamic dress
introduction of an oath of allegiance or loyalty oath for immigrants, usually following
naturalisation and during a compulsory ceremony.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoculturalism)
FURTHER CONCEPTS
High Culture
Thomas Inge in the introduction to The Handbook of Popular Culture puts it well:
The function of high culture is to validate the experience of the individual.
Creation is a purely aesthetic act in pursuit (törekszik vlmire) of truth and
beauty, and, that being so, therefore self-justifying (önigazoló). ‘Art for art’s
sake’ is a phrase generally applied to allow for creations that are nonrepresentational and totally without use or even meaning. […] The art piece is
designed aggressively to confront us, to challenge our assumptions and beliefs
about art and life, and to identify the unanswered questions about existence.
Theoretically, creators of high culture create not for financial success but rather for the
timeless recognition of their having introduced to the world a new way of seeing, hearing,
feeling, or experiencing life. The high culture audience is small, hence the creator is usually
easily associated with their work.
(http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/popculture/Phome1.html)
Folklore/Folk Culture
The creations of folk culture are communal and anticipated. They are communal because the
creator and their audience belong to the same small societal (társadalmi) division – the social
distance between them is negligible (elhanyagolható) if even present. They are anticipated
because the creator draws from the traditional knowledge and the everyday experience of their
societal group. Those who create folk culture work with and within the tried and true patterns
of experience, and those who are its audience expect that their experiences will reflect the
conventions of what has gone before and served them well in the past. Folk culture,
accordingly, is a culture of continuity, governed by traditions and the expectation that the
experience of daily life, lived as most people do most of the time, will continue largely as it
has gone before. Like high culture, folk culture audiences are small, limited to the group in
which the folk creation is made. Folk culture of course consists of folk music, folk art,
folktales, folkdance, folk costumes, but also localised jokes, oral literature and history, home
remedies, old wives’ tales, and superstitions, among others.
In this respect folklore is closely connected to popular culture. In pre-industrial times, mass
culture equalled folk culture. This earlier layer of culture still persists today, sometimes in the
form of jokes or slang, which spread through the population by word of mouth and via the
Internet. By providing a new channel for transmission, cyberspace has renewed the strength of
this folk culture.
(http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/popculture/Phome1.html)
Popular Culture
Popular culture (earlier called mass culture) can be deemed simply as what is popular within
the social context – that of which is most strongly represented by what is perceived to be
popularly accepted among society. Otherwise, popular culture is also suggested to be the
widespread cultural elements in any given society that are perpetuated through that society’s
vernacular language or lingua franca. It comprises the daily interactions, needs and desires
and cultural ‘moments’ that make up the everyday lives of the mainstream. It can include any
number of practices, including those pertaining to cooking, clothing, consumption, mass
media and the many facets of entertainment such as sports and literature. Popular culture often
contrasts with a more exclusive, even elitist “high culture”. The earliest use of “popular” in
English was during the fifteenth century in law and politics, meaning “low”, “base”, “vulgar”,
and “of the common people” till the late eighteenth century by which time it began to mean
“widespread” and gain in positive connotation (értelem).
There are numerous examples of crossovers between the three cultures to confound the issue.
The music of Mozart is classified as high culture for all the reasons it should be, but also
because of the socio-economic class that patronised him in eighteenth-century Vienna. But his
audience was not limited to that class; if a tune caught on, it was whistled in the streets,
thereby becoming ‘popular’. How should Mozart’s music’s appearance on a “Greatest
Classical Hits” mass produced CD be classified? Likewise, how do we define the use of
Mozart's music on a film soundtrack? Is the medium the means for classification?
Questions of similar importance could be posed in relation to Shakespeare, who did not only
play to the elite; he was widely popular and wrote to a popular audience. Many of his plays
seek to capture popular currents of the day. The sixteenth-century English were very
interested in the Italian Renaissance. Likewise, there was a renewed sense of nationalism, if
we can call it that, following the defeat of the Spanish Armada, consequently Shakespeare
wrote a number of plays that dealt with English history, particularly focussing on great kings.
Today, the difficulty of the early-modern English may alone relegate Shakespeare to high
culture, but his audience is vast. Again we are faced with such problems as mass-production,
of his plays in print as well as his plays on stage, of film versions, and film adaptations, as
well as the fact that some lines from his plays – like “Something’s rotten in the state of
Denmark”, and of course, “To be or not to be” – have become so common that their origins
are sometimes forgotten.
In short,
 POPULAR CULTURE IS WHATEVER IS WIDELY POPULAR
 POPULAR CULTURE IS MASS COMMERCIAL CULTURE
 POPULAR CULTURE IS CREATED BY THE PEOPLE
 POPULAR CULTURE AS A CULTURAL BATTLEFIELD
 ALL CULTURE IS COMMERCIAL CULTURE
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_culture)
and
(http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/popculture/Phome1.html)
Subculture
In cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture (whether distinct or
hidden) which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong. If a particular
subculture is characterized by a systematic opposition to the dominant culture, it may be
described as a counterculture. Subcultures can be distinctive because of the age, race,
ethnicity, class, and/or gender of the members. The qualities that determine a subculture as
distinct may be aesthetic, religious, political, sexual or a combination of factors. Members of
a subculture often signal their membership through a distinctive and symbolic use of style.
The study of subcultures often consists of the study of symbolism attached to clothing, music
and other visible affectations by members of subcultures, and also the ways in which these
same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture.
The neologism urban tribe was coined in 2001 by Ethan Watters in a New York Times
Magazine article. Watters defines urban tribes as groups of never-married's between the ages
of 25 and 45 who gather in common-interest groups and enjoy the urban lifestyle, which
offers an alternative to traditional family structures.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subculture)
ARTS AND SCIENCES IN BRITAIN
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF BRITISH CULTURAL HISTORY
PREHISTORIC
 Prehistoric monuments in Britain consist of long barrows, passage graves, stone
circles, henges, barrow mounds and hill forts.
 Newgrange is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world and the most
famous of all Irish prehistoric sites. Newgrange appears to have been used as a tomb.
The recesses in the cruciform chamber hold large stone basins into which were placed
cremated human remains. There are spiral and lozenge (rombusz) motifs engraved on
the entrance slab (kőlap), one of the most famous stones in the entire repertory of
megalithic art.
 Primitive Neolithic houses were found at Skara Brae on the mainland which were
grouped into a village linked by low passageways, and date from about 3000 BC to
2500 BC. Pottery found here is of the grooved ware style. For illustrations see
Appendix 1, Section A.
ROMAN
 When the Romans invaded Britain in the first century AD they made little attempt to
adapt their architecture to the traditions of their new Roman province of Britannia.
Rather, they imposed their own Mediterranean style of architecture and town planning.
One of the most visible remnants of that style in England is the Roman villa.
 The Romans built the first cities and towns, which included Chester, St. Albans,
London and Bath. Many fine examples of Roman architecture remain: of special note
are the ruins of the spa in Bath. Following the Roman’s departure architecture seems
to have regressed and little remains of the period immediately after the Roman
withdrawal.
 The Romans probably occupied Aquae Sulis (today Bath) shortly after their invasion
of Britain in AD 43, attracted by the large natural hot spring which had been dedicated
to the goddess of Celtic Brythons, Sulis. This spring was a natural mineral spring
found in the valley of the Avon River in Southwest England. The Romans identified
the goddess with their goddess Minerva and encouraged her worship. The similarities
between Minerva and Sulis helped the Celtics adapt to Roman culture. The spring was
built up into a major Roman Baths complex associated with an adjoining temple,
decorated by mosaic. Exquisite mosaic was found in one of many Roman villas
discovered in Gloucestershire occupied between the early second and late fourth
centuries AD.
 The earliest English gardens that we know of were planted by the Roman conquerors
of Britain in the 1st century AD. The Roman gardens that we know the most about are
those of the large villas and palaces. The best example of the latter is probably
Fishbourne Roman Palace in Sussex, where an early garden has been partly
reconstructed. Fishbourne shows a carefully symmetrical formal planting of low box
hedges (törpe puszpáng sövény) split by gravelled (kavicsos) walks. The hedges are
punctuated (tagol) by small niches (fülke) which probably held ornaments like statues,
urns, or garden seats. The formal garden near the house gave way to a landscaped
green space leading down to the waterside below. There is also a small kitchen garden
which is planted with fruits and vegetables common in Roman Britain.
MEDIEVAL
 Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England, and
parts of Wales, from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. AngloSaxon buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber
with thatch for roofing. The only buildings the Anglo-Saxons tended to build in more
permanent stone were their monasteries and churches. Generally preferring not to
settle in the old Roman cities, the Anglo-Saxons built small towns near their centres of
agriculture. In the towns, there is evidence of main halls, and other forms of buildings.
After the Synod of Whitby (664) swung the pendulum of power towards Roman
Christian observance, the northern churches developed in the form of basilica, for
example at Brixworth. See Appendix 1 Section B.
 Saxon churches are generally small in scale, showing none of the inclination towards
grandeur exhibited by the later Norman builders. Doors and window openings are
extremely simple, with very few decorative elements. The Anglo-Saxon's put a lot of
energy into tower building in their church architecture, and often Saxon towers are the
earliest surviving part of English parish churches. The towers began as a defensive
structure; they enabled inhabitants of a village to gain a high lookout point and an
easily defensible position to ward off attacks.
 As mentioned above, most domestic structures in the Saxon period were built in wood.
Even the halls of nobles were simple affairs, with a central fire and a hole in the roof
to let the smoke escape. Even the largest buildings rarely had more than one floor, and
one room. Even the best archaeological remains of domestic buildings from the
Anglo-Saxon period offer little more than post holes to view. Buildings vary widely in
size, from 10 x 12 ft to as much as 75 x 260 feet. Most are square or rectangular,
though some round houses have been found. Frequently these buildings have sunken
floors; a shallow pit over which a plank floor was suspended. The pit may have been
used for storage, but more likely was filled with straw for winter insulation. Roofing
materials varied, with thatch being the most common, though turf and even wooden
shingles (zsindely) were also used. Windows were rare, but when they were used they
would have been covered with thin animal skins to allow light to penetrate. See
Appendix 1 Section B.
 Insular art, also known as the Hiberno-Saxon style, is the style of art produced in the
post-Roman history of the British Isles. Most insular art originates from the Irish
monasticism of the Celtic church, or metalwork for the secular elite, and the period
begins around 600 AD, merging in England into Anglo-Saxon art around 900, whilst
in Ireland the style continues until about 1200, when it merges into Romanesque art.
Surviving examples of Insular art are mainly illuminated manuscripts, metalwork and
carvings in stone, especially stone crosses.
 In general it is clear that most existing insular metalwork survived only by chance, and
that we have only fragments of some types of object - in particular the most portable.
The highest quality survivals are either secular jewellery, much probably for male
wearers, or tableware or altar ware in what were apparently very similar styles. In
general it is clear that most survivals are only by chance, and that we have only
fragments of some types of object - in particular the most portable. The highest quality
survivals are either secular jewellery, much probably for male wearers, or tableware or
altar ware in what were apparently very similar styles.
 The Cathach of St. Columba is an Irish Psalter of the 7th century, perhaps the oldest
known Irish manuscript of any sort. It contains only decorated letters, at the beginning
of each Psalm, but these already show distinctive traits. In the Book of Durrow after
large initials the following letters on the same line, or for some lines beyond, continue
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to be decorated at a smaller size. Dots round the outside of large initials are much
used. The figures are highly stylised, and some pages use Germanic interlaced animal
ornament, whilst others use the full repertoire of Celtic geometric spirals. Each page
uses a different and coherent set of decorative motifs. The Book of Celts survives
nearly intact but the decoration is not finished, with some parts in outline only. It is far
more comprehensively decorated than any previous manuscript in any tradition. See
Appendix 1 Section B.
A characteristic feature of insular art is the High Cross, a standing cross with a circle,
made of stone and often richly ornamented. High Crosses exist from the 7th century in
Ireland, and were later seen in Scotland and in Wales; the Irish High Cross has
become more famous because of its distinctive shape (the ringed Celtic Cross), the
amount of ornamentation, and for the quality of their decoration. The ring initially
served to strengthen the head and the arms of the High Cross, but it soon became a
decorative feature as well. The High Crosses were status symbols, either for a
monastery or for a sponsor or patron. See Appendix 1 Section B.
Another common Anglo-Saxon element is the stone cross. These crosses were often
used to mark points where paths intersected, though they were later used as a
gathering place for religious observance. Crosses may have been put up at sites which
were already regarded as sacred in pagan worship. Later on, churches were built at the
same spots, preserving a continuity of worship.
Art in the Middle ages was inseparable from religion. It was infused with spiritual
symbolism and meaning. The purpose of art was to awe and inspire the viewer with
the grandeur of God. It also served to symbolize what people believed. Pope Gregory
the Great, for example said, that “painting can do for the illiterate what writing does
for those who read.” He might have added that sculpture could serve the same
purpose.
As far as church sculpture is concerned, the mission of the sculptor, whose work was
seen almost exclusively adorning church buildings, was to educate as well as decorate.
He brought Biblical tales and moral lessons to life in stone. Carvings were not just
religious, however. Everywhere you look there is evidence of pre-Christian
symbology in church sculpture. Sculpture burst forth gloriously in the Romanesque
era, with little regard for classical conventions of proportion of figures.
At the beginning of the Norman era the style of architecture that was in vogue was
known as Romanesque, because it copied the pattern and proportion of the architecture
of the Roman Empire. The chief characteristics of the Romanesque style were barrel
vaults, round arches, thick piers, and few windows. The easiest point to look for is the
rounded arch, seen in door openings and windows. In general the Romanesque
churches were heavy and solid, carrying about them an air of solemnity and gloom
Durham Castle and Cathedral is a good example of early Romanesque style. See
Appendix 1 Section C
These early Norman churches were not always as stark as they seem today, however.
In their heyday the church walls were hung with tapestries or painted richly. The
statues of the saints were gilded (on some you can still see traces of the paint if you
look closely), and the service books were inlaid with gold, jewels, and ivory.
Beginning in 12th century France a new style of architecture and decoration emerged.
At the time it was called simply “The French Style”, but later Renaissance critics,
appalled (meghökken) at the abandonment (feladás) of classical line and proportion
(arány), derisively called it “Gothic”. This was a reference to the imagined lack of
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culture of the barbarian tribes, including the Goths, which had ransacked Rome in the
twilight of the Roman Empire.
Gothic architecture is light, spacious, and graceful. Generally speaking, it emphasized
strong vertical lines, high vaulted ceilings, minimal wall space, pointed window and
door openings, and buttressed walls. Heavy Romanesque piers were replaced by
slender clusters of columns. Window sizes grew enormously, as did the height of
vaults and spires.
Gothic architecture in Britain has been neatly divided into 4 periods, the following
styles:
Norman Gothic 1066-1200
Early English Gothic 1200-1275
Decorated Gothic 1275-1375
Perpendicular Gothic 1375 - 1530+
The Norman Gothic period (1066-1200) was not a whole lot different from Gothic
elsewhere in Europe. The British temperament had yet to stamp its own mark on the
new “French style”. The buildings of this time are transitional – many still have the
thick piers and rounded window openings of the earlier Romanesque style. Vaulting
and decoration are simple; there is little sign of the elaborate stonework to come.
Some good examples of the Norman Gothic period are Wells Cathedral which in many
aspects is very similar to Durham Cathedral. See Appendix 1 Section C.
It is in the Early English period (1200-1275) that the Gothic style became truly
adapted by English craftsmen/architects. This period is also called “Lancet”, referring
to the pointed lancet windows (csúcsíves ablak) that characterize it. Form is still
austere and proportion is magnificently simple. The main points of Early English are:
quadripartite ribbing in vaults, slender towers topped with spires (csúcsos
templomtorony), lancet windows – both single and grouped – and piers (támpillér)
with narrow, clustered shafts (oszlopfüzér). The finest example of Early English is to
be found at Salisbury Cathedral. See Appendix 1 Section C
Decorated Gothic (1275-1375) – AKA Geometric, Curvilinear, and Flamboyant –
These terms describe primarily the fanciful tracery (lángnyelvszerű kőfaragás) and
ornamentation found in the window heads during this time. Windows were wider than
the earlier lancet openings. Improved vaulting techniques also helped take the strain of
supporting the building’s weight off the walls, which could then become little more
than shells with broad window openings. Stone decoration was rich and varied, and
window glass more colourful. Stone carvings and paintings abound. The best example
of the Decorated period you can visit today is at Exeter Cathedral. See Appendix 1
Section C
The final flourishing of Gothic in Britain was the Perpendicular period (13751530+). The name suggests its chief characteristic – strong vertical lines in window
tracery and wall panelling. Vaults were elaborate fan (legyező) shapes, and the flying
buttress became a flowing (kecsesen hajló), decorative feature as well as supplying its
essential supporting strength. Towers in particular were elaborately decorated and
windows became massive, traceried (csipkézett) spider-webs of stone like lace. Wall
space was at a minimum, which had the effect of introducing a wonderful feeling of
light and spaciousness (tágasság) into the interior of these buildings. Some of the
many excellent Perpendicular Gothic buildings to see today include King’s College
Chapel, Cambridge (1446-1515), Henry VII’s chapel at Westminster Abbey (150319), and The Abbey Church of Saint Peter, Bath (1501-39). The naves of Canterbury
Cathedral and Winchester Cathedral were also rebuilt in the Perpendicular style during
this time. See Appendix 1 Section C.
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All of the examples cited in this article are cathedrals. This is because it was generally
only in the great churches that the architects of the time were given creative license
(jogosítvány). But there are also less lofty (magasztos) examples to be found. Most
parish churches in Britain date from the Medieval Gothic period, and it can be a
fascinating exercise to trace the changes in style as the church was remodelled over
time. You can often find simple Early English elements mixed with Decorated and
Perpendicular additions.
In the Middle Ages churches were a point of civic (városi) pride, and towns competed
to outdo (túlszárnyal) each other in the glory of their churches. Money for the church
was raised by the sale of indulgences (búcsúcédula), fund raising caravans of relics
(ereklye), parish contributions, and donations from nobles. Many times a guild (céh)
would pay for a stained glass window (festett üveg) depicting their trade. Often people
would offer their labour to the construction, though much of the work was carried on
by skilled workmen under the watchful eye of the head mason (“építésvezető”) and the
architect.
Churches were often sited on pre-Christian sites of spiritual importance, taking
advantage of peoples’ existing devotion to a particular place. Worship was carried on
in the same place, just with a Christian orientation. Speaking of orientation, churches
are nearly always oriented so that the main altar is at the east end of the church, facing
Jerusalem and the rising sun. Even if the altar end of the church is not literally in the
east, that end is still referred to as the east end. In theory, then, the east end of an
English church could face west.
Beside cathedrals and parish churches the other main field of Medieval architecture
was castle architecture. Since we have discussed these in detail in at the previous
seminar (“Society and Culture”) we will not repeat it. Part of Medieval architecture
was the invention of the “manor house” referring to a whole range of buildings, but at
its most basic refers to the house of a local lord/landowner: the late medieval country
house. The house itself was most often arranged around a central courtyard, with
domestic buildings of one to three stories in height. With more space devoted to
comfort, private bedrooms and reception rooms became common, as well as family
areas like the solar (emeleti lakószoba). Materials varied with the locale; half-timber,
stone, brick, and flint (kvarckavics) were all used. See Appendix 1 Section C.
In the Middle Ages that gardens once more became important in British life.
Monasteries had both kitchen gardens and herb gardens to provide the basic material
of food and medicine. The monastery cloister (kerengő) provided an open green space
surrounded by covered walks, generally with a well, or fountain at the centre. Castles
sometimes made room for small courtyard gardens, with paths through raised flower
beds. Other common features of medieval castle gardens include turf seats
(gyepülőke) and high mounds, which provided a view over the castle walls. Manor
houses in the later medieval period also came with a garden: a simple green space
surrounded by hedges or fences. Games like bowls or tennis took place on the lawn.
From the 10th or 11th century stained glass began to flourish as an art, glass factories
were set up where there was a ready supply of silica (kovaföld), the essential product
of glass manufacture. Glass was usually coloured by adding metallic oxides to the
glass while in a molten (olvadt) state in a clay pot (cserépüst) over a furnace
(kemence). Copper oxides were added to produce green, cobalt for blue, and gold was
added to produce red glass. The term stained glass refers either to the material of
coloured glass or to the art and craft of working with it. Throughout its thousand-year
history the term “stained glass” was applied almost exclusively to the windows of
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churches, cathedrals and other significant buildings. The coloured glass is crafted into
stained glass windows in which small pieces of glass are arranged to form patterns or
pictures, held together (traditionally) by strips of lead and supported by a rigid (merev)
frame. Painted details and yellow stain are often used to boost the design. The term
stained glass is also applied to windows in which all the colours have been painted
onto the glass and then annealed (kiéget) in a furnace.
The first stage in the production of a window is to make, or acquire from the architect
or owners of the building, an accurate template of the window opening that the glass is
to fit. The subject matter of the window is determined to suit the location, a particular
theme, or the whim (rigolya) of the patron. A small design called a Vidimus is
prepared which can be shown to the patron. A traditional narrative window has panels
which relate a story. A figurative window could have rows of saints or dignitories.
Scriptural texts or mottoes are sometimes included and perhaps the names of the
patrons or the person as whose memorial the window is dedicated. See Appendix 1
Section D.
As far as visual art is concerned scenes from the Bible were depicted, framed with the
ancient patterns. Some ancient symbols were redefined, such as the many Celtic
symbols that can easily be interpreted as referring to the Holy Trinity. One new form
of art that was introduced was mural (freskó) paintings. Christianity provided two
elements needed for this art form to take root: monks who were familiar with the
techniques, and stone churches with white-chalked walls suitable for murals. As the
artists were often foreign monks, or lay artists trained on the continent, the style is
very close to that of continental art. As far as medieval secular painting is concerned,
the “The Wilton Diptych” – painted on two panels of Baltic oak – is a representative
of the International Gothic style.
Very little is known about secular drama during the early medieval time. There
certainly existed some performances that were not fully fledged theatre; they may
have been carryovers (maradvány) from the original pagan cultures (as is known from
records written by the clergy disapproving of such festivals). It is also known that
mimes (pantominszínész), minstrels (trubadúr), bards (dalnok), storytellers, and
jugglers (zsonglőr) travelled in search of new audiences and financial support. Not
much is known about these performers’ repertoire and no written texts survive.
Liturgical drama would encompass (magába foglal) many stories from many parts of
the Bible and be performed at diverse times of the year, according to local custom. By
about 1250 the plays would move outdoors into the churchyard and into open fields,
town squares, or the city streets. As geographically further from the church, the clergy
had less control over the content. The plays were also presented in the local vernacular
languages, instead of in Latin, as was the mass. This allowed the message of the Bible
to be more accessible to the illiterate audience who wanted to have it but who were
also unable to speak Latin. These new plays in the vernacular based on Bible stories
are called mystery plays. In England they would sometimes be performed in day-long
festivals in groups of dozens of plays that travelled through town on wagons. Secular
dramas were usually performed in winter indoors, and were often associated with
schools, universities, and nobility, who would have the resources, time, and space to
perform organized plays.
By the late medieval period several genres had developed in theatre. Morality plays,
such as Everyman, personified Christian virtues and vices as they battled with one
another for control of a mortal’s soul. These plays were explicitly designed to teach a
moral and improve the behaviour of their audience.
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Stone carvings in the East of Scotland support the theory that the harp (hárfa) was
present in Pictish Scotland well before the 9th century and may have been the original
ancestor of the modern European harp. Pictish harps were strung (húroz) from
horsehair. The instruments apparently spread south to the Anglo-Saxons, who
commonly used gut strings (bélből készült húr), and then west to the Gaels of the
Highlands and to Ireland. Until the end of the Middle Ages it was the most popular
musical instrument in Scotland, and harpers were among the most prestigious cultural
figures in the courts of Irish/Scottish chieftains and Scottish kings and earls. In both
countries, harpers enjoyed special rights and played a crucial part in ceremonial
occasions such as coronations and poetic bardic recitals.
Later, the Great Highland Bagpipe appeared on the scene. Initially, pipers played
traditional pieces, which consist of a theme and a series of developments. Later, the
style of ‘light music’ including marches, reels, jigs, and hornpipes (matróztánc),
became more popular. In the 18th century the British army adopted piping and spread
the idea of pipe bands throughout the British Empire. The piping tradition is strongly
connected to Gaelic singing, stepdance (the traditional dance meters determine the
rhythm of the tunes), and fiddle, which appeared in Scotland in the 17th century.
These components are part of today’s dance music as well, which is played across
Scotland at country dances, Highland balls and frequently at weddings.
Little survives of the early music of England, by which is meant the music that was
used by the people before the establishment of musical notation in the medieval
period. Some surviving folk music may have had its origins in this period, although
the melodies played by morris dancers and other traditional groups can also be from a
later period. Some of the earliest music to remain is either church music, or else is in
the form of carols (örömének) or ballads dating from the 16th century or earlier.
Troubadours carried an international courtly style across Western Europe. It was
common in times before copyright for melodies to be interchangeable (felcserélhető),
and the same melodies have often been used (with differing words) for secular and
religious purposes.
MEDIEVAL SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES
 There were many different kinds of schools in medieval England\, though few children
received their sometimes dubious benefit. There were small, informal schools held in
the parish church, song schools at cathedrals, almonry schools attached to monasteries,
chantry (alapítványi) schools, guild (céhes iskola) schools, preparatory grammar
schools, and full grammar schools. The curriculum of theses schools was limited to
basics such as learning the alphabet, Psalters (zsoltár), and religious rites (liturgia) and
lessons such as the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins. The grammar
schools added to this Latin grammar, composition, and translation. In addition to these
schools there were also privately maintained schools like Winchester and Eton. The
most famous public school, Eton, was founded by Henry VI in 1440. Although
“public” in its name Eton was anything but public. They were, and still are, elite
boarding schools for the rich or ambitious. A grammar school was exactly what it
sounds like; a place for teaching Latin grammar.
 Most schools had no books and the students were taught by rote and the skill of
individual masters. Most masters were minor clergy, who themselves were often
uninterestedly educated. Classes at some of the larger schools could be as large as 100
or more boys (no girls, though they were accepted at some of the small local schools),
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and the school day lasted as long as 13 hours with breaks for meals. And to top it
students could expect to be beaten regularly with a birch rod (nyírfavessző).
Britain is a pioneer of higher education. The University as we know it actually began
in the 12th century as gatherings of students around popular masters. The university
consisted of people, not buildings. The buildings came later as a recognition of
something that already existed. In a way, Oxford was never founded; it grew.
Cambridge University was founded by students fleeing from Oxford after one of the
many episodes of violence between the university and the town of Oxford. University
students chose their own course of studies, hired their own professors, and picked their
own hours of study. They were free to leave one professor if they were tired of him,
and join another, attending several lectures before deciding whether to pay him or not.
The only books were the professors, and students wrote notes on parchment
(pergamenbőr) or, more commonly, on wax tablets.
Most classical scientific treatises of classical antiquity (in Greek) were unavailable,
leaving only simplified summaries and compilations. Even though, with the beginning
of the Renaissance of the 12th century, interest in natural investigation was renewed.
Science developed in this golden period of Scholastic philosophy focused on logic
and advocated empiricism, perceiving nature as a coherent system of laws that could
be explained in the light of reason. With this view the medieval men of science went
in search of explanations for the phenomena of the universe and achieved important
advances in areas such as scientific methodology and physics, among many others.
Prominent British representatives of Scholasticism were Rogert Bacon, Robert
Grosseteste, Joh Duns Scotus and William of Occam.
Grosseteste is best known as an original thinker for his work concerning what would
today be called science or the scientific method. He wrote about astronomy, the
“metaphysics of light”, mathematical reasoning in the natural sciences, on tides and
tidal movements and also on the rainbow. Roger Bacon, the author of Opus Majus,
placed considerable emphasis on empiricism, he is sometimes credited as one of the
earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method. Duns Scotus is
considered one of the most important Franciscan theologians and was the founder of
Scotism, a special form of Scholasticism. He began the systematic examination of
what differentiates theology from philosophy and science began. He was one of the
most influential theologians and philosophers of the High Middle Ages, nicknamed
“Doctor Subtilis” for his penetrating manner of thought. William of Occam was one
of the major figures of medieval thought and found himself at the center of the major
intellectual and political controversies of the fourteenth century. Although commonly
known for Occam’s Razor, the methodological procedure that bears his name, he also
produced significant works on logic, physics, and theology.
RENAISSANCE
 The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from
the early 16th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European
Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the
fourteenth century. This era in English cultural history is sometimes referred to as “the
age of Shakespeare” or “the Elizabethan era”, taking the name of the English
Renaissance’s most famous author and most important monarch, respectively;
however it is worth remembering that these names are rather misleading: Shakespeare
was not an especially famous writer in his own time, and the English Renaissance
covers a period both before and after Elizabeth’s reign.
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The English Renaissance differs from the Italian Renaissance in several ways. First,
the dominant art forms of the English Renaissance were literature and music, and the
Visual arts were much less significant than in the Italian Renaissance. The English
period began far later than the Italian, which is usually considered to begin with
Dante, Petrarch and Giotto in the early 1300s, and was moving into Mannerism and
the Baroque by the 1550s or earlier. In contrast, the English Renaissance can only be
said to begin, shakily, in the 1520s, and continued until perhaps 1620.
The notion of calling this period “The Renaissance” is a modern invention, having
been popularized by the historian Jacob Burckhardt in the nineteenth century. The idea
of the Renaissance has come under increased criticism by many cultural historians,
and some have contended that the “English Renaissance” has no real tie with the
artistic achievements and aims of the northern Italian artists (Leonardo, Michelangelo,
and Donatello) who are closely identified with the Renaissance. Historians have also
begun to consider the term as an unnecessarily loaded word that implies an
unambiguously positive “rebirth” from the supposedly more primitive Middle Ages.
Some historians have asked the question “a renaissance for whom?” pointing out, for
example, that the status of women in society arguably declined during the
Renaissance. Many historians and cultural historians now prefer to use the term “early
modern” for this period, a neutral term that highlights the period as a transitional one
that led to the modern world, but does not have any positive or negative connotations.
Despite such doubts the Italian and English Renaissances were similar in sharing a
specific musical aesthetic. In the late 16th century Italy was the musical center of
Europe, and one of the principal forms which emerged from that singular explosion of
musical creativity was the madrigal. Soon it arrived to England. English poetry was
exactly at the right stage of development for this transplantation to occur, since forms
such as the sonnet were uniquely adapted to setting as madrigals. Composers such as
Thomas Morley, the only contemporary composer to set Shakespeare, and whose
work survives, published collections of their own, roughly in the Italian manner but
yet with a unique Englishness. Other composers of the English Renaissance music
scene include John Taverner and Thomas Tallis.
By the middle 16th century there were distinct styles of music enjoyed by the differing
social classes. Renaissance influences made the acquisition of musical knowledge an
almost essential attribute for the nobleman and woman, and the ability to play an
instrument became an almost mandatory (kötelező) social grace. The Renaissance
influence also internationalised courtly music in terms of both instruments and
content: the lute (lant), dulcimer (cimbalom) and early forms of the harpsichord
(csembaló) were played; ballads and madrigals were sung. For other social classes
instruments like the pipe, tabor (tamburindob), bagpipe, shawm (nádsíp), and hurdy
gurdy (forgólant) accompanied folk music and community dance. The fiddle gradually
grew in popularity. Differing regional styles of folk music developed in
geographically separated areas such as Northumbria, London and the West Country.
Renaissance architecture arrived in England during the reign of Elizabeth I, having
first spread through the Low Countries where among other features it acquired
versions of the Dutch gable, and Flemish strapwork in geometric designs adorning the
walls. The new style tended to manifest itself in large square tall houses. The first
great exponent of Renaissance architecture in England was Inigo Jones (1573–1652),
who had studied architecture in Italy. Jones returned to England full of enthusiasm for
the new movement and immediately began to design such buildings as the Queen’s
House at Greenwich in 1616. These works, with their clean lines, and symmetry were
revolutionary in England. See Appendix 1 Section E.
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The Tudor period also saw new development in the building of town houses and
country houses. The Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII meant that there
were large areas of land freed up for exploitation by the newly wealthy gentry class.
New farms were built upon former monastic lands, and labourers’ cottages for tenants
who worked the land. Curiously, changes in architectural style resulted in buildings
shrinking; becoming more intimate. Rather than the move towards spaciousness so
evident in the late Gothic period, Tudor architecture focussed on details. Windows and
doors were smaller, but more ornately decorated, more complex.
Chimneys and enclosed fireplaces became common for the first time. Indeed, the
Tudor chimney is one of the most striking aspects of this period. One of the reasons
for the increased use of chimneys was the widespread adoption of coal as fuel. The
second noticeable characteristic of Tudor architecture was the use of brick – a luxury
item at that time – in building. Some bricks were imported into England, brought back
in ships that exported English wool to the continent. Others were made in brickyards
established in East Anglia by Dutch immigrants. In several areas of England, notably
Cheshire, Lancashire, and Warwickshire, wooden houses, generally in oak, are more
numerous than brick. Wood was used to create a skeleton which was filled in with
brick or plaster.
After the Reformation many landowners enclosed common land to create parks for
keeping deer or cattle. This ‘natural’ landscape gave way to formal gardens near the
house, still sheltered from the outside world by hedges or walls. The Tudors followed
Italian influence in creating gardens which mirrored the alignment of the house,
creating a harmony of line and proportion that had been missing in the medieval
period. For the first time since the Romans left, statues were once more popular
garden ornaments. But the most prominent contribution of the Tudors to gardening
was the knot garden. Knots were intricate patterns of lawn hedges, usually of box,
intended to be viewed from the mount, or raised walks. The spaces between the
hedges were often filled with flowers, shrubs, or herbs. See Appendix 1 Section E.
From the Renaissance until the early 18th century the best painters working in
England were imported, often from Flanders. These included amongst others Hans
Holbein the Younger, Van Dyck and Rubens. The only exception is for the portrait
miniature, where a strong English tradition began with the Elizabethan Nicholas
Hilliard, who had learnt from Continental artists, and continued with Isaac Oliver and
many other artists. By the following century a number of significant English painters
of full-size portraits began to emerge, and towards the end of the century the other
great English speciality, of landscape painting, also began to be practiced by natives.
Both were heavily influenced by Anthony Van Dyck in particular. Whereas the
Renaissance painting never established itself in the British Isles English literature,
Elizabethan stage and Restoration comedies was deeply affected by the fresh
intellectual impetus of the Renaissance. You will find considerable information on
these in your literature notes.
Beside poets and playwrights the most important author of the time was Sir Thomas
More and Francis Bacon. Sir Thomas More was an English lawyer, author, and
statesman. During his lifetime he earned a reputation as a leading humanist scholar
and occupied many public offices, including that of Lord Chancellor. More coined the
word “utopia”, a name he gave to an ideal, imaginary island nation whose political
system he described in a book published in 1516. He is chiefly remembered for his
principled refusal to accept King Henry VIII’s claim to be supreme head of the Church
of England, a decision which led to his execution for treason. In 1935, four hundred
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years after his death, More was canonized in the Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI,
and was later declared the patron saint of politicians and statesmen.
Francis Bacon was one of the leading figures in natural philosophy and in the field of
scientific methodology in the period of transition from the Renaissance to the early
modern era. As a lawyer, member of Parliament, and Queen's Counsel, Bacon wrote
on questions of law, state and religion, as well as on contemporary politics; but he also
published texts in which he speculated on possible conceptions of society, and he
pondered questions of ethics (Essays) even in his works on natural philosophy To the
present day Bacon is well known for his treatises on empiricist natural philosophy
(The Advancement of Learning, Novum Organum Scientiarum) and for his doctrine of
the idols, which he put forward in his early writings, as well as for the idea of a
modern research institute, which he described in Nova Atlantis.
William Gilbert was an English physician and a natural philosopher. He was an early
Copernican, and passionately rejected both the prevailing Aristotelian philosophy and
the Scholastic method of university teaching. Scientifically, Gilbert is known for his
investigations of magnetism and electricity. Gilbert is credited as one of the
originators of the term electricity, and many regard him as the father of electrical
engineering or father of electricity.
An outstanding natural philosopher (natural scientist) of the Renaissance period was
William Harvey, English medical doctor/physician, who is credited with being the
first to correctly describe in the Western world and in exact detail, the systemic
circulation and properties of blood being pumped around the body by the heart.
Harvey based most of his conclusions on careful observations recorded during
vivisections made of various animals during controlled experiments, being the first
person to study biology quantitatively. He did an experiment to see how much blood
would pass through the heart each day. Harvey further concluded that the heart acted
like a pump that forced blood to move throughout the body instead of the prevailing
theory of his day that blood flow was caused by a sucking action of the heart and liver
THE BAROQUE
 The origin of the term “baroque” is uncertain, though it may have evolved from the
Portuguese barocco, meaning a grotesque or deformed pearl. The term was originally
applied cynically, much as the term “Gothic” was initially one of contempt. What
characterises Baroque as an architectural style? Baroque utilizes bold masses of
curved shapes, strong lines, and rich colours. Above all, Baroque is sensual;
decorative elements appeal almost viscerally (zsigerileg) to the senses in a way no
other style can match. Yet that appeal is theatrical, intensely three-dimensional, almost
grotesque in its lavish (gazdag) use of curves and embellishment (ékesség). Little
attention is paid to proportion, indeed it could be said that the only proportion
observed is one of overwhelming the viewer with exaggeration.
 Baroque architecture, though extremely popular on the European continent, had
arrived late and enjoyed only a brief flowering in England. It was Sir Christopher
Wren who spearheaded the birth of the English Baroque style, which differed from
the continental models by clarity of design and subtle taste for classicism. Within days
of the Great Fire of London (1666) Wren presented a plan to Charles for rebuilding the
entire city of London along classical lines, with broad tree-lined avenues cutting
through the former warren of twisting streets and alleys. His plans were however too
costly, thus rejected. Nevertheless Wren rebuilt fifty three churches and the St Paul
Cathedral, where Baroque aesthetics are apparent primarily in dynamic structure and
multiple changing views. The height of Baroque architectural forms comes with Sir
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John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. Each was capable of a fully developed
architectural statement, yet they preferred to work together, most notably at Castle
Howard (1699) and Blenheim Palace (1705). See Appendix 1 Section F.
If the Tudors were heavily influenced by Italian ideas the Stuarts were slaves to the
French fashion for formal gardens. The chief feature of this French style is a broad
avenue sweeping away from the house, bordered by rectangular parterres (ágyás)
made of rigidly formal low hedges. The prime survivors of this style can be seen at
Blickling Hall (Norfolk). An offshoot of the French style was provided by the Dutch,
who advocated more water, flower bulbs (virághagyma), trees planted in tubs (dézsa),
and topiary (nyesett bokrú kert). Westbury Court (Gloucestershire) shows this Dutch
style.
Baroque music in England is equal to the genius in Henry Purcell, who despite dying
at age 36, produced a profusion of music and was widely recognized in his lifetime.
He was familiar with the innovations of the Italian style composers; however, his
patrons were different, and his musical output was prodigious. Rather than being a
painstaking craftsman, Purcell was a fluid composer who was able to shift from simple
anthems and useful music such as marches, to grandly scored vocal music and music
for the stage. His catalogue runs to over 800 works. The composition of his chamber
opera Dido and Aeneas forms a very important landmark in the history of English
dramatic music and is considered the first genuine English opera. Purcell was also one
of the first great keyboard composers, whose work still has influence and presence. He
served as an organist at both Westminster Abbey and at the Chapel Royal.
Georg Friedrich Händel in Halle, Germany, he spent most of his adult life in
England, becoming a subject of the British crown in 1727. His most famous works are
Messiah, an oratorio set to texts from the King James Bible, Water Music and Music
for the Royal Fireworks. Strongly influenced by the techniques of the great composers
of the Italian Baroque and the English composer Henry Purcell, his music was known
to many significant composers who came after him, including Haydn, Mozart, and
Beethoven.
The Royal Society was founded in 1660, only a few months after the Restoration of
King Charles II, by members of one or two either secretive or informal societies
already in existence. It claims to be the oldest such society still in existence. The
Royal Society enjoyed the confidence and official support of the restored monarchy.
The motto of the Royal Society, “Nullius in Verba” (Latin: "On the words of no one"),
signifies the Society’s commitment to establishing the truth of scientific matters
through experiment rather than through citation of authority. Although this seems
obvious today, the philosophical basis of the Royal Society differed from previous
philosophies such as Scholasticism, which established scientific truth based on
deductive logic, concordance with divine providence and the citation of such ancient
authorities as Aristotle.
One of the best known early members (and also president) of the Royal Society was
Sir Isaac Newton. He is considered by historians of science to have crowned and
ended the scientific revolution with the 1687 publication of his Principia
Mathematica, which lays the foundation of what is known as modern physics. He is
most famous for realising that the same force is responsible for movements of celestial
and terrestrial bodies, that is gravity. It is commonly reported that he made this
realisation when he was sitting underneath an apple tree and was hit on the head by a
falling apple; this story is, however, apocryphal.
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Thomas Hobbes is remembered today for his work on political philosophy, although
he contributed to a diverse array of fields, including history, geometry, theology,
ethics, general philosophy, and political science. Additionally, Hobbes’ account of
human nature as self-interested cooperation has proved to be an enduring theory in the
field of philosophical anthropology. In his most celebrated volume, Leviathan, Hobbes
set out his doctrine of the foundation of societies and legitimate governments. The
wars of religion in France and the civil wars in England induced him to develop a
philosophy where he considered that only the absolutism of State, to which men
entrust by contract the care to govern them, is able to preserve right and peace.
Thomas Hobbes, consequently, refused the power by divine right. As regards morals,
he thought that man must act according to a “utility selfishness” which rises from the
instinct of self-preservation and of domination. Thomas Hobbes thought that
experiment is the only basis of any knowledge. His rationalist, materialist and
anticlerical thought – it denies the existence of soul – inspired the French philosopher
as Diderot, Holbach and Voltaire.
John Locke was a philosopher (the first British Empiricist), an Oxford academic,
medical researcher. Much of Locke’s work is characterized by opposition to
authoritarianism. This opposition is both on the level of the individual person and on
the level of institutions such as government and church. For the individual, Locke
wants each of us to use reason to search after truth rather than simply accept the
opinion of authorities or be subject to superstition. On the level of institutions it
becomes important to distinguish the legitimate from the illegitimate functions of
institutions and to make the corresponding distinction for the uses of force by these
institutions. Locke’s monumental An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
concerns itself with determining the limits of human understanding in respect to God,
the self, natural kinds and artefacts, as well as a variety of different kinds of ideas. It
was in this bock that first in its history philosophy hoped to define the self through a
continuity of “consciousness”. Locke postulated that the mind was a “blank slate” or
“tabula rasa”; that is, contrary to Cartesian or Christian philosophy, Locke maintained
that people are born without innate ideas. As far as his political philosophy is
concerned he is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers
and contributors to liberal theory. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau,
many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries
reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.
George Berkley also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an Irish philosopher. His
primary philosophical achievement was the advancement of a theory he called
“immaterialism” (later referred to as “subjective idealism” by others). This theory,
summed up in his dictum, "Esse est percipi" ("To be is to be perceived"), contends that
individuals can only directly know sensations and ideas of objects, not abstractions
such as “matter”.
GEORGIAN PERIOD
 The period we call Georgian is very roughly equivalent to the 18th century. Although
the reign of George III extended into the 19th century, and George IV did not die until
1830, the style(s) of architecture most commonly associated with the Georgian
England is at its most strongly identifiable in the period 1730-1800. More than any
other period of English historic architecture, Georgian style is linked with the classical
period of Greece and Rome. In the Georgian Period a whole generation of aristocrats
made Grand Tours in Europe, thus the most influential class in Britain was exposed to
the classical traditions of style and architecture. These young men came home to
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Britain fired by an enthusiasm for classical architecture and design. The Baroque
movement produced architecture which employed classical elements, this new form of
classicism was less ornamental and more careful. In short, whereas Baroque is “overthe-top” elegance, Georgian classicism is an understated one.
Part of its admiration for the classical style Georgian architecture was influence by
Palladianism, a philosophy of design based on the writings and work of Andreas
Palladio, an Italian architect of the 16th century who tried to recreate the style and
proportions of the buildings of ancient Rome. Consequently Georgian architecture was
characterized by proportion and balance; simple mathematical ratios were used to
determine the height of a window in relation to its width or the shape of a room as a
double cube. “Regular” was a term of approval, implying symmetry and adherence to
classical rules. Regularity of housefronts along a street was a desirable feature of
Georgian town planning. Commonly used colours were red, tan, or white. However,
modern day Georgian style homes use a variety of colours. Georgian style was usually
defined by reddish brick walls that contrasted with white used for window trimming
and cornices. The entrances were often emphasized by a portico (oszlopos
előcsarnok).
The type of building which most characterized the Georgian period was the Town
House, often, though not always, joined end to end to create “terraces”. Terraces took
several forms; often laid out in straight lines, but also in squares around a central
garden space, or in crescents or oval “circuses”. The 18th century was a time of great
urban growth, thus the density of settlement in towns meant that there was a need to
pack a lot of houses into a small space. This need gave birth to the terrace, which
allowed a whole street to be given a sense of architectural wholeness, while keeping
the size of houses small. In fashionable Bath, where local stone was plentiful, brick
was used less frequently. Walls between houses were built thick to prevent the spread
of fire. These dividing walls carried the weight of the chimney stacks. Most terraces
were four stories high, and the front door was accessed by a short flight of stairs. The
most important rooms were on the first floor. Windows were almost exclusively sashwindows (tolóablak), made of standardized panes of glass divided by thin, delicate
wooden glazing bars. The pattern of windowing was the same everywhere; on the
ground floor windows were kept short, for stability of the house structure. First floor
windows were tall and elegantly expansive, second floor windows shorter, and top
floor windows almost square. Front doors are panelled, with a semi-circular fanlight
(szellőzőablak) above. See Appendix 1 Section G.
Georgian Architecture was widely disseminated in the English colonies of the time. In
the American colonies, colonial Georgian blended with the neo-Palladian style to
become known more broadly as Federal style architecture. Georgian buildings were
also constructed of wood with clapboards; even columns were made of timber
The 18th century saw a swing from Renaissance formality to a more “natural” look of
carefully calculated vistas with temples, statues, and classical ornaments punctuating
openings in treed parkland. Lines were no longer straight, paths curve and wander, and
parterres are replaced by grass. Trees were planted in clusters rather than in straight
lines, and rounded lakes replaced the rectangular ponds of the earlier style. The garden
became open, a park joining the house to the outside world rather than a carefully
nurtured refuge from it. This natural style begun by William Kent evolved into the
“landscape garden” and had an enormous effect upon the course of English gardening
and architectural style. The landscape garden made the English country house a part of
the fields and farmlands surrounding it. Gone were hedgerows and fences. Gone, too,
were formal beds and walks. Grass parkland was brought right up to the doors of the
house, like in the example of the garden at Chiswick House, London. See Appendix 1
Section G.
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In the 18th century, English painting finally developed a distinct style and tradition
again, still concentrating on portraits and landscapes, but also attempting to find a
successful approach to history painting, regarded as the highest of the hierarchy of
genres.
One of the first major English painters (and besides that a printmaker, pictorial satirist,
social critic and editorial cartoonist) was William Hogarth. His work ranged from
excellent realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called “modern
moral subjects”. Much of his work, though at times vicious, poked fun at
contemporary politics and customs. Hogarth’s range of inquiry was extremely wide,
touching upon topics from everyday life as well as upon more theoretical debates. In
his paintings he would reflect upon the ills of the modern city, the dignity of and the
dangers faced by professional women, and issues of theatricality, race, class, and taste.
He drew from the highly moralizing Protestant tradition of Dutch genre painting, and
the very vigorous satirical traditions of the English broadsheet and other types of
popular print. In England the fine arts had little comedy in them before Hogarth, his
satirical engravings are often considered an important ancestor of the comic strip. See
Appendix 2 Section A.
Leading portraitists were Sir Joshua Reynolds founder of the Royal Academy of
Arts, Thomas Gainsborough. Joseph Wright of Derby was well known for his
minute candlelight pictures, George Stubbs for his animal paintings.
Sir Joushua Reynolds, portrait painter and aesthetician, dominated English artistic
life in the middle and late 18th century. Through his art and teaching, he attempted to
lead British painting away from the indigenous anecdotal pictures of the early 18th
century toward the formal rhetoric of the continental Grand Style. Reynolds preferred
the company of men of letters to that of his fellow artists and was friends with Samuel
Johnson, and Edmund Burke among others. Some of his finest portraits are those of
his intimate friends and of fashionable women of questionable reputation. In his art
critical inquiries Reynolds outlined the essence of grandeur in art and suggested the
means of achieving it through rigorous academic training and study of the old masters
of art. Appendix 2 Section A
Thomas Gainsborough was the most inventive and original portrait and landscape
painter of the 18th century, always prepared to experiment with new ideas and
techniques. He was for example the only important English portrait painter to devote
much time to landscape drawing. He composed a great many drawings in a variety of
mediums including chalk, pen and wash, and watercolour. Some of his early portraits
owe something to the style of Anthony Van Dyck (“The Blue Boy,” c. 1770). His
landscapes are of idyllic scenes. During his last years he also painted seascapes and
idealized full-size pictures of rustics and country children. Gainsborough was noticed
by the royal family and partly because of his informality and Tory politics was
preferred by George III above the official court painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Unlike
Reynolds, he was no great believer in an academic tradition and laughed at the fashion
for history painting; an instinctive painter, he delighted in the poetry of paint. His
comments on his own work and methods, as well as on some of the old masters, are
very revealing and throw considerable light on contemporary views of art. Appendix 2
Section A
Joseph Wright of Derby was closely associated with the best scientist of his time. He
is notable for his use of Chiaroscuro effect, which emphasises the contrast of light and
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dark, and for his paintings of candle-lit subjects. His paintings of the birth of science
out of alchemy, often based on the meetings of the Lunar Society, a group of very
influential scientists and industrialists living in the English Midlands, are a significant
record of the struggle of science against religious values in the period known as the
Enlightenment. George Stubbs produced a wide range of individual and group
portraits of horses, sometimes accompanied by hounds, later he became preoccupied
with the theme of a wild horse threatened by a lion and produced several variations on
this theme. See Appendix 2 Section A.
William Blake was originally a professional engraver, a skill he practiced till the end
of his life. His drawing style was influenced by the Classical precision of
Michelangelo and Raphael. In his early thirties Blake began to experiment with relief
etching, a method he would use to produce most of his books, paintings, pamphlets
and of course his poems, including his longer ‘prophecies’ and his masterpiece the
“Bible”. The process is also referred to as illuminated printing, and final products as
illuminated books or prints. The pages printed from the relief etching method had to
be hand-coloured in water colours and stitched together to make up a volume. Blake
used illuminated printing for most of his well-known works, including Songs of
Innocence and Experience, The Book of Thel, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and
Jerusalem.
The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in 1768 by a group of artists headed by
portrait painter Joshua Reynolds. Under Reynolds, the academy functioned as a school
aimed at teaching drawing, painting, and sculpture to young artists. Although the
academy was officially under the patronage of King George III (hence the “Royal” in
the title), it received no official funding beyond the initial grant for small premises in
Pall Mall, and was free to operate in its own way. Academy classes were provided free
of charge, and scholarships were available to help needy students and to provide
opportunities to pursue studies abroad. Lacking royal funding, the academy survived
by charging attendance fees for public exhibitions of work by members. Aside from its
stated aims as an art school, the Academy offered aspiring artists the chance to make a
name for themselves. The Royal Academy today is one of the most prestigious art
galleries in the world.
Classical composer Joseph Haydn visited England twice from which he gained both
financially and musically. The visits resulted in some of Haydn’s best-known work,
including the Surprise, Military, Drumroll, and London symphonies and the Rider
quartet.
EARLY 19TH CENTURY AND THE VICTORIAN PERIOD
 The period of architecture we can loosely term Regency spans the first thirty years of
the 19th century. In many respects it is a natural continuation of the Georgian style
which preceded it. There were two major streams of architectural styles popular in the
Regency period. The first, which lived on far into the Victorian period, was one of
medieval revival. This is often termed Victorian Gothic, or more accurately, Gothic
Revival. This style was based on medieval architecture, in particular the Gothic
churches of the late 13th and early 14th century. In a way it was a romantic yearning
for the traditional, comforting past. Architects like James Wyatt, emulated the Gothic
tracery and other decorative elements of the Gothic period, but used more modern
methods of construction and substituted cheaper materials. Thus, many Gothic Revival
buildings used stucco (díszvakolat) in place of medieval stone, and strengthened
fanciful Gothic curves with hidden iron struts (támfa).
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The real breakthrough for Gothic Revival came with A.W.N. Pugin and his
admiration towards everything Gothic, not only for medieval art but the whole
medieval ethos, claiming that Gothic architecture was the product of a purer society.
He suggested that modern craftsmen imitating the style of medieval workmanship
should also reproduce its methods. Most famous building is The Houses of Parliament
in London, which he designed in two campaigns, 1836–1837 and again in 1844 and
1852, with the classicist Charles Barry as his co-architect. Pugin provided the
external decoration and the interiors, while Barry designed the symmetrical layout of
the building. Besides Pugin, art critic John Ruskin was also a devout admirer of the
Gothic style. He proposed that Gothic buildings excelled above all other architecture
because of the “sacrifice” of the stone-carvers in intricately decorating every stone. By
declaring the Doge’s Palace to be the central building of the world, Ruskin argued the
case for Gothic government buildings as Pugin had done for churches. His ideas were
put into practice in buildings such as Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
See Appendix 1 Section H.
Gothic Revival in England also became subject of an ideological debate.
Representatives of the ecclesiological movement believed that Gothic was the only
style appropriate for a parish church, and favoured a particular era of Gothic
architecture — the “decorated”. However, not every architect or client was swept
away by this tide. Although Gothic Revival succeeded in becoming an increasingly
familiar style of architecture, the attempt to associate it with the notion of high church
superiority, as advocated by Pugin and the ecclesiological movement, was
unacceptable to those with nonconformist principles. They looked to adopt Gothic
solely for its aesthetic romantic qualities, to combine it with other styles, or look to
northern Europe for Gothic of a more plain appearance.
The Victorian Gothic style is easy to pick out from the original medieval. One of the
reasons for this was a lack of trained craftsmen to carry out the necessary work.
Original medieval building was time-consuming and labour-intensive. Yet there was a
large pool of labourers skilled in the necessary techniques; techniques which were
handed down through the generations that it might take to finish a large architectural
project. Victorian Gothic builders lacked that pool of skilled labourers to draw upon,
so they were eventually forced to evolve methods of mass-producing decorative
elements.
Vernacular adaptations of Gothic include Carpenter Gothic that became popular in
North America in the late nineteenth century where houses and small churches in such
style were built. These structures adapted Gothic elements such as pointed arches,
steep gables, and towers to traditional American light-frame construction. See
Appendix 1 Section H.
The second, and more popular style of Regency architecture, was classical in nature.
The Regency period saw a great surge of interest in classical Greece, popularized by
men like Lord Byron and his outspoken advocacy of Greek nationalism. A whole
generation of aristocratic amateur archaeologists from Britain fled the Greek world.
The resulting popularity of Greek style reached beyond architecture to include
painting, furniture, interior decoration, and even dress design. Thus it is no surprising
that Regency architecture the philosophy and traditional designs of Greek and Roman
(and sometimes Egyptian) architecture. The typical Regency upper or middle-class
house was built in brick and covered in stucco or painted plaster (gipszvakolat). Fluted
(bordázott) Greek columns, painted and carefully moulded (tagozott) cornices
(párkányzat) and other decorative touches, were all reproduced in cheap stucco. The
key words to describe the overall effect are “refined elegance”.
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The most characteristic Regency designs survive today in terrace housing. Many of the
more upper class terraces, such as those designed by John Nash surrounding Regents
Park in London, are entered through triumphal arches reminiscent of ancient Rome,
These arches, generally in stucco, lead to grand rows of houses, with carefully
balanced pediments (uimpanon) fronted by massive pilaster columns. The best
remaining terraces built in this grand style are in London and Brighton. As the
illustrations reveal balconies were of extremely fine ironwork, made of such delicate
curves as to seem almost too frail to support the structure. Also proportions are kept
simple, relying on clean, classical lines for effect rather than decorative touches. See
Appendix 1 Section H.
One of the most remarkable achievements of 19th century British architecture was The
Crystal Palace designed by Joseph Paxton, who had been the head gardener at
Chatsworth, in Derbyshire. There he had experimented with glass and iron in the
creation of large greenhouses, and had seen something of their strength and durability,
knowledge that he applied to the plans for the Great Exhibition building. Planners had
been looking for strength, durability, simplicity of construction and speed – this is
why they choose to rely on Paxton’s ideas.
The Victorian age, the age of industrial revolution and dirty city slums, was also the
age of a popular explosion of interest in that most British of occupations, gardening.
And not just as a private pastime. For the first time, a concerted (összehangolt) effort
was made by authorities to provide extensive public gardens. They believed that
gardens would decrease drunkenness and improve the manners of the lower classes.
Intellectuals and the upper classes also encouraged gardening as means of decreasing
social unrest. Examples include the Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and Regent’s
Park.
In the Victorian era massed beds of flowers (bedding out plants raised in
greenhouses), exotic colours, and intricate designs. The most grandiose garden of the
era was Kew opened to the public in 1841. Soon the Palm House was built, a result of
improved glass and iron manufacturing techniques. The expanding British Empire
opened up far-flung corners of the globe to avid gardeners, and a sort of collectormania spread throughout Britain. Botanists searched the globe for new and exotic
plants to bring home. One of the results of this frenzy of collecting was another craze,
bedding out plants (palántákat átültet/kiültet). The bedding out craze, together with
improved greenhouse design, resulted in a fashion for massed beds of colourful plants
laid out in mosaic patterns.
The Arts and Crafts Movement began primarily as a search for authentic and
meaningful styles for the 19th century and as a reaction to the eclectic revival of
historic styles of the Victorian era and also to machine-made production spreaded by
the Industrial Revolution. Considering the machine to be the root cause of all
repetitiveness and routine in the arts, representative figures of this movement turned
entirely away from the use of machines and towards handcraft. The Movement was
inspired by the writings of John Ruskin and a romantic idealization of the craftsman
taking pride in his personal handiwork, its height was between approximately 1880
and 1910. It influenced British and American architecture, decorative arts, cabinet
making, crafts, and even the garden designs
Although the Arts and Crafts movement was in large part a reaction to
industrialization, if looked at on the whole, it was neither anti-industrial nor antimodern. Those who sought compromise between the efficiency of the machine and the
skill of the craftsman thought it a useful endeavour to seek the means through which a
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true craftsman could master a machine instead of becoming slaves to them. There
were also socialist undertones to this movement, in that another primary aim was for
craftspeople to derive satisfaction from what they did. In fact, member of the Arts and
Crafts movement were against the principle of a division of labour, which in some
cases could be independent of the presence or absence of machines. They were in
favour of the idea of the master craftsman, creating all the parts of an item of furniture,
for instance, and also taking a part in its assembly and finishing, with some possible
help by trainees. The true goal was enabling the designer work with his hands at every
step of creation. William Morris, a leader of the movement was more than willing to
design products for machine production, when this did not involve the division of
labour and loss of craft talent, which he denounced. Morris designed numerous carpets
for machine production in series. Appendix 2 Section B.
Neither artist nor architect, Morris nevertheless had enormous influence in both
arenas. He set up a company which encouraged the revival of traditional crafts such as
stained glass painting, and Morris himself single-handedly recreated the art of tapestry
weaving in Britain. Many of his patterns became used for such household objects such
as wallpaper and bathroom tiles, furniture, textiles, wallpaper, decorative glass, and
murals. He was also involved in the improvement of printing and book design. Morris
also published poetry, series of fantasy novels and translations. As we shall see later
he had close ties with the artistic movement, called the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
As for painting the 19th century produced some of Britain’s most talented artists. John
Constable is known principally for his landscape paintings. He set out in the manner
of Gainsborough, but later developed his own original treatment portraying render
scenery more directly and realistically. Just as his contemporary William Wordsworth
rejected what he called the ‘poetic diction’ of his predecessors, so Constable turned
away from the pictorial conventions of 18th-century landscape painters who, he said,
were always ‘running after pictures and seeking the truth at second hand’. In short, he
quietly rebelled against the artistic culture that taught artists to use their imagination to
compose their pictures rather than nature itself. Constable quietly rebelled against the
artistic culture that taught artists to use their imagination to compose their pictures
rather than nature itself. Constable worked extensively in the open air, drawing and
sketching in oils, but his finished pictures were produced in the studio. He painted
many full-scale preliminary sketches (vázlat) of his landscapes in order to test the
composition in advance of finished pictures. These large sketches, with their free and
vigorous brushwork, were revolutionary at the time, and they continue to interest
artists, scholars and the general public. Constable completed numerous observational
studies of landscapes and clouds, determined to become more scientific in his
recording of atmospheric conditions. To the sky studies he added notes, often on the
back of the sketches, of the prevailing weather conditions, direction of light, and time
of day, believing that the sky was “the key note, the standard of scale, and the chief
organ of sentiment” in a landscape painting. Appendix 2 Section B.
The main representative of Romanticism in the visual arts is J.M.V. Turner was a
landscape painter, a watercolorist and printmaker, whose style can be said to have laid
the foundation for Impressionism. At first Turner showed an interest in architecture
but was advised to keep to painting. Turner travelled widely in Europe, starting with
France and Switzerland in 1802 and studying in the Louvre in Paris in the same year.
He also made many visits to Venice. Suitable vehicles for Turner’s imagination were
to be found in the subjects of shipwrecks (hajótörés), fires (such as the burning of
Parliament in 1834, an event which Turner rushed to witness first-hand, and which he
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transcribed in a series of watercolour sketches), natural catastrophes, and natural
phenomena such as sunlight, storm, rain, and fog. He was fascinated by the violent
power of the sea. Turner placed human beings in many of his paintings to indicate his
affection for humanity on the one hand, but its vulnerability (sebezhetőség) and
vulgarity (közönségesség) amid the ‘sublime’ nature of the world on the other hand.
‘Sublime’ here means savage grandeur, a natural world unmastered by man, evidence
of the power of God – a theme that Romantic artists and poets were exploring. The
significance of light was to Turner the emanation of God’s spirit and this was why he
refined the subject matter of his later paintings by leaving out solid objects and detail,
concentrating on the play of light on water, the radiance (ragyogás) of skies and fires.
Although these late paintings appear to be ‘impressionistic’ and therefore a forerunner
of the French school, Turner was striving for expression of spirituality in the world,
rather than responding primarily to optical phenomena. Appendix 2 Section B
As an aspiring poet, Dante Gabriel Rossetti wished to develop the links between
Romantic poetry and with two friends and fellow-artists, John Everett Millais, and
William Holman Hunt she founded The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848.
Soon other painters, sculptors and critics joined in. Their stated aim was (1) to have
genuine ideas to express; (2) to study Nature attentively, so as to know how to express
them; (3) to sympathise with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to
the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parodying and learned by rote; and,
most indispensable of all, (4) to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues. They
furthermore agreed to signed works with their name and “PRB”. Members of the
Brotherhood were particularly fascinated by medieval culture, believing it to possess a
spiritual and creative integrity lost in later eras. This emphasis on medieval culture
was to clash with the realism promoted by the stress on independent observation of
nature. In its early stages the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood believed that the two
interests were consistent with one another, but in later years the movement divided in
two directions. The realist side was led by Hunt and Millais, while the medievalist side
was led by Rossetti and his followers. Most art critics of the time were attacked the
Pre-Raphaelites, nevertheless it found support from the critic John Ruskin, who
praised their devotion to nature and rejection of conventional methods of composition.
He continued to support their work both financially and in his writings. Appendix 2
Section B.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American-born, British-based painter and
etcher. Averse to sentimentality in painting, he was a leading supporter of the of “art
for art’s sake” which expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic (belső) value of art, and
the only “true” art, is divorced from any didactic, moral or utilitarian (gyakorlati)
function. Whistler furthermore believed that that art should essentially be concerned
with the beautiful arrangement of colours in harmony, not with the accurate portrayal
of the natural world. He also kept close relations with notable figures such as Edouard
Manet, Edgar Degas, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Gustave Courbet and Oscar Wilde, but
many of these friendships went astray.
The 19th century saw the establishment of two important classical music societies. In
1813 the London Philharmonic Society was set up, which played an important role
in the development of musical life in the country. Under their aegis of its founders
(including Sir George Smart, Johann Baptist Cramer, Muzio Clementi, William
Ayrton) an annual programme of concerts of international standard was established.
Within a decade musical training was placed on a newly professional footing by the
1822 creation of the Royal Academy of Music, which received a royal charter in
1830. It was founded by Dr William Crotch (composer of oratorios), and the pianist-
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composer Cipriani Potter (first London performer of Mozart and Beethoven concerti)
Through the Philharmonic Society Felix Mendelssohn seized the national musical
taste in a craze which lasted for almost twenty years. The flavour of his choral works,
especially Elijah and St Paul permanently influenced English taste. Furthermore, most
British piano students of promise were sent to the Leipzig Conservatory established by
Mendelssohn.
Native singers shared the dramatic stage with international stars in Italian and German
opera. This century saw the trend towards larger orchestras and correspondingly larger
musical venues, permitting public concerts for mass audiences. The Crystal Palace
concerts were inaugurated in 1855. The increasing scale of operatic and dramatic
productions, and the increasing taste for sacred drama, oratorio and cantata, marked
the later 19th century and characterised the provincial Festivals. Sir Arthur Seymour
Sullivan is probably the best known English composer of the period highly acclaimed
for his operatic collaborations with librettist W. S. Gilbert. Sullivan’s artistic output
included 23 operas, 13 orchestral works, eight choral or oratorio works, two ballets,
incidental music to several plays, and numerous hymns and other church pieces,
songs, parlour ballads, part songs, carols, and piano and chamber pieces.
Between 1880 and 1887 the London Guildhall School of Music was established.
The Royal College of Music, originating in a Training school under Arthur Sullivan,
was founded (1882-83) and became home to the genius of C Hubert H Parry. His
reformation of British music progressed along several fronts, not least in anthems,
cantatas (e.g. Prometheus Unbound, Gloucester), in four symphonies, in chamber
music and in composed song. The emergence of a ‘national’ style in late nineteenth
century classical music in the United Kingdom paralleled similar developments in
most European countries, for instance in the music of Smetana, Dvorak, Grieg, Franz
Liszt, Wagner, Carl Nielsen and Sibelius. English folk-music connections were more
widely rediscovered and reinfused (beáramoltat) into the classical materials mainly
after 1900, though the work of Sabine Baring-Gould and Cecil Sharp had already
blossomed before the end of the century.
19th century Britain gave birth to many physicists who would change the way people
thought about natural phenomena. Michael Faraday was an English chemist and
physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His
inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor
technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became viable for use
in technology. Faraday also laid down the principles to construct the electric dynamo,
the ancestor of modern power generators. A friend and colleague of Faraday was
James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist, who is regarded by twentieth and twentyfirst century physicists to have been one of the most significant figures of the
nineteenth century. His work fundamentally changed conceptions of electromagnetism
and introduced the basis of field theory. He is also known for his work on
thermodynamics and the kinetic theory of gases. His theoretical inquiries (resulting in
the so called Maxwell equation and the Maxwell distribution). These two discoveries
made modern physics possible, laying the foundation for future work in such fields as
special relativity and quantum mechanics. He is also known for creating the first true
colour photograph in 1861. James Prescott Joule was an English physicist (and
brewer). Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical
work (see energy). This led to the theory of conservation of energy, which led to the
development of the first law of thermodynamics stating that “The increase in the
internal energy of a system is equal to the amount of energy added by heating the
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system, minus the amount lost as a result of the work done by the system on its
surroundings”. The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named after him. He
worked with Lord Kelvin to develop the absolute scale of temperature.
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist, undoubtedly the most controversial
researcher of the Victorian period. After becoming eminent among scientists for his
field work and inquiries into geology, he proposed and provided scientific evidence
that all species of life have evolved over time from one or a few common ancestors
through the process of natural selection. His theories concerning evolution and natural
selection were based on empirical data collected during his extensive travels around
the world, including South America and Australia. Relying on the acquired data he
could propose a logical explanation for the evolution and diversity of life which he
published in his 1859 book, On the Origin of Species. After the publication of his
journal of the voyage made Darwin famous as a popular author. Popular acceptance of
his scientific arguments took a long time. The Church of England scientific
establishment, including Darwin’s old Cambridge reacted against the book though it
was well received by a younger generation of professional naturalists. Thomas Henry
Huxley, biologist and anatomist, was one of the chief advocator of Darwin’s theories,
who would take part in many public debates in defence of the theory of evolutionary
biology. He was also the first member of a family of highly acknowledged scientists
(and grandfather to novelist Aldous Huxley).
THE XXTH AND XXIST CENTURY
 The most important trends in early 20th century architecture simply passed Britain by.
While Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus, and Le Corbusier was experimenting
with the use of reinforced concrete frames, England had sober establishment architects
like Edwin Lutyens who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural
styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses and
was instrumental in the design and building of New Delhi, the new capital of India. In
addition there were slightly eccentric architect-craftsmen, the heirs of William Morris,
still trying to turn the clock back to before the Industrial Revolution by making chairs
and spurning new technology. Only a handful of Modern Movement buildings of any
real merit were produced here during the 1920s and 1930s, and most of these were the
work of foreign architects such as Serge Chermayeff, Berthold Lubetkin and Erno
Goldfinger who had settled in this country. Some architects responded to modernism,
and economic circumstances, by producing stripped down versions of traditional
styles; the work of Giles Gilbert Scott illustrates this well. He was noted for his
blending of Gothic tradition with modernism, making what might have been
functionally designed buildings into popular landmarks. His designs include the red
telephone boxes, a common sight in many towns and cities around the UK. Appendix 2
Section C
 After the Second World War the situation began to change. The Modern Movement’s
belief in progress and the future struck a chord with the mood of post-war Britain and,
as reconstruction began under Attlee’s Labour government in 1945, there was a
desperate need for cheap housing which could be produced quickly. In the immediate
post-War years many thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of council houses in
mock-vernacular style were built, giving working class people their first experience
of private gardens and indoor sanitation. The use of prefabricated elements, metal
frames, concrete cladding (burkolat) and the absence of decoration – all of which had
been embraced by Modernists abroad and viewed with suspicion by the British – were
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adapted to varying degrees for housing developments and schools. Significant
movements in this era included the British ‘New Brutalism’ style such as the Barbican
Arts Centre. Appendix 2 Section C
Local authorities, charged with the task of rebuilding city centres, became important
patrons of architecture. This represented a shift away from the private individuals who
had dominated the architectural scene for centuries. Since the War it has been
corporate bodies like these local authorities, together with national and multinational
companies, and large educational institutions, which have dominated British
architecture. Many Modernist-inspired town centres considered unappealing by some,
are today in the process of being redeveloped by local authorities. By the late 1980s
the Modern Movement, unfairly blamed for the social experiments implicit in highrise housing, had lost out to post-modernism, with its cheerful borrowings from
anywhere and any period.
The changes that have been made to the London Docklands in the past 25 years have
been among the most striking and most dynamic developments in the world. The
London Docklands Development Corporation (1981-1998) played a huge role in the
area’s transformation, turning what used to be industrial wasteland into a vibrant area
for commerce, residential life, and tourism. The area of the Docklands is over eight
and a half square miles, all of which have been affected by the new developments in
businesses and transportation. Appendix 2 Section C
Modernism remained a significant force in British architecture, although its influence
was felt predominantly in non-domestic buildings. The two most prominent
proponents were Richard Rogers and Norman Foster. Rogers’ iconic London
buildings are probably Lloyd’s Building and the Millennium Dome, while Foster
created the Swiss Re Buildings (nicknamed The Gherkin). Appendix 2 Section C
The major modern art movement at the beginning of the 20th century was Vorticism
which counted among its members important artists such as Sir Jacob Epstein,
Wyndham Lewis, David Bomberg and others. Though the style grew out of Cubism, it
is more closely related to Futurism in its embrace of dynamism, the machine age and
all things modern. However, Vorticism diverged from Futurism in the way that it tried
to capture movement in an image. In a Vorticist painting modern life is shown as an
array of bold lines and harsh colours drawing the viewer's eye into the centre of the
canvas. Appendix 2 Section C
The reaction to the horrors of the First World War prompted a return to pastoral
subjects as represented by Paul Nash. At the outbreak of World War I, Nash enlisted
in the Artists’ Rifles and was sent to the Western Front. He was soon declared an
official war artist by the War Propaganda Bureau. Nash used his opportunity as a war
artist to bring home the full horrors of the conflict. His paintings are some of the most
powerful and enduring images of the Great War painted by an English artist. Nash was
also a pioneer of modernism in Britain, promoting the avant-garde European styles of
abstraction and surrealism in the 1920s and 1930s. During World War II Nash was
employed by the Ministry of Information and the Air Ministry. Beside war themes
Nash found much inspiration in the English landscape, particularly landscapes with a
sense of ancient history, such as burial mounds, Iron Age hill forts. Appendix 2 Section
C
Sir Henry Spencer Moore was possibly the best known 20th century English sculptor.
Moore became well-known for his larger-scale abstract cast bronze and carved marble
sculptures. Substantially supported by the British art establishment, Moore helped to
introduce a particular form of modernism to the United Kingdom. His abstract
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monumental bronzes can be seen in many places around the world as public works of
art. The subjects are usually abstractions of the human figure, typically mother-andchild or reclining (hátradőlő) figures. Apart from a few experiments with family
groups in the 1950s, the subject is nearly always a woman. Characteristically, Moore's
figures are pierced (átlyuggatott), or contain hollow places. Many interpret the
undulating form of his reclining figures as references to the landscape and hills of
Yorkshire where Moore was born. His ability to satisfy large-scale commissions made
him exceptionally wealthy towards the end of his life.
The most prominent post-war artist both on the national and international scene
include Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, as well as highly idiosyncratic painters such
as John Tunnard and Francis Bacon (“The London School”), David Hockney famous
for developing the so called “joiners” (a kind of photomontage), and Richard
Hamilton – an early representative of Pop Art. Appendix 2 Section C
Sir Edward William Elgar was an English Romantic composer. Several of his first
major orchestral works, including the Enigma Variations and the Pomp and
Circumstance Marches, were greeted with acclaim. He also composed oratorios,
chamber music, symphonies, instrumental concertos, and songs. He was appointed
Master of the King's Music in 1924. This is given to composers of classical music, the
post is roughly comparable to that of Poet Laureate.
In the second half of the century, William Walton and Benjamin Britten are of
especial note as composers, although there are strong contrasts between their
individual approaches to music and its part in the national identity. Walton’s work
featured fanfares and patriotic themes: for instance he composed the ceremonial
marches Crown Imperial, written for the coronation of George VI, and Orb and
Sceptre, for that of Elizabeth II. Britten, on the other hand, made a conscious effort to
set himself apart from the English musical mainstream, which he regarded as
complacent, insular and amateurish. However, his works, such as the operas Peter
Grimes (1945), and Billy Budd (1951), as well as his instrumental compositions, place
him amongst the most accomplished composers of the century. The greatest success of
his career was the musically conventional War Requiem (1962).
In the late 20th, early 21st century music, like most other aspects of society, has
become globalized, and it is increasingly difficult to speak of “music of the UK” as a
separate entity. Gifted British musicians train and perform all over the world:
conversely, many of the places in UK music schools are taken up by overseas
musicians, and most concerts are international in their content and their performers.
The 1950s saw most of the world that had access to records listening to American
artists. In the early years the ballads and novelty numbers from the main US recording
companies dominated and Britain was reduced to copying - at times note for note and
phrase for phrase - the American original. Though most countries soon developed their
own rock traditions, it was the United Kingdom that evolved its own distinctive scene,
making American traditions into distinctively British ones such as Skiffle and Trad
jazz, and eventually adding influences from English, Scottish and Irish folk music. By
the middle of the 1960s, British artists had grown so adept at British-style rock, R&B
and blues that the British Invasion occurred, led by the Beatles, The Who, and The
Rolling Stones among others. Artists began to popularize more authentic forms of
American roots music in the States than had previously found mainstream success
there, while highly-evolved forms of rock like heavy metal and progressive rock
were developing into full-fledged genres of British popular music. British music in the
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60s also saw a roots revival of folk music, beginning with England and Northern
Ireland before spreading to Scotland, Wales.
In the 1970s, the United Kingdom saw intense diversification in both popular and folk
music. Some of the many great bands were T. Rex, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and
Queen. Heavy Metal evolved from pioneers like T. Rex, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow,
Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath into the hard-edged, complex music of bands like
Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Progressive rock grew extremely popular, with everincreasingly “progressive” elements added in the form of obtuse lyrics, classicaltinged music and long-playing suites in multiple parts. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes,
Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Queen, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant and Genesis are notable
examples of this movement. The reaction against progressive rock was swift, as the
genre came to be perceived as needlessly obscure and inaccessible; a new generation
of British youth hated progressive rock and the bombastic, indulgent sounds of heavy
metal, disco and glam. They were called punks, and their music was loud, angry,
rebellious punk rock. In the 1980s, the spirit of punk rock fuelled a gaggle of new
genres that took stylistic elements of punk and added new approaches and influences.
The most important punk bands were the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Stranglers.
The first of these developments was New Wave music, which featured atmospheric
accompaniment to dreamy, otherworldly vocals. New Wave was very popular in the
early 1980s, while other, less mainstream outgrowths of punk developed underground.
These included an ever-increasing number of alternative rock subgenres, including
Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure and Joy Division's Gothic rock and psychedelicinfluenced bands like The Smiths and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Two genres that
remained mostly underground throughout the 80s burst into the mainstream around the
middle of the decade. Britpop was a fusion of all the alternative rock styles of the
previous two decades, with a special focus on neo-psychedelia and it began to
dominate the charts (Blur, Lush, Suede, Oasis, Pulp, Manic Street Preachers,
Radiohead, The Verve). In late 80s/early 90s, American acid-house and Detroit
techno music have made it to the UK (808 State, Aphex Twin).
Mass media has a central role in the 20th century history of British culture. It
institutionalised certain values, morals and standards that are thought to be central to
British culture at large. Founded on 18 October 1922, the British Broadcasting
Company Ltd (later renamed British Broadcasting Corporation) was subsequently
granted a Royal Charter and made a state-owned corporation in 1927. The corporation
produces programmes and information services, broadcasting globally on television,
radio, and the Internet. The stated mission of the BBC is “to inform, educate and
entertain” (as laid down by Parliament in the BBC Charter), its motto is “Nation Shall
Speak Peace Unto Nation”. The BBC is a quasi-autonomous public corporation as a
public service broadcaster. The BBC's domestic programming and broadcasts are
primarily funded by levying television licence fees (under the Wireless Telegraphy
Act 1949), although money is also raised through commercial activities such as sale of
merchandise and programming. As part of the BBC Charter, the Corporation cannot
show commercial advertising on any services in the United Kingdom (television,
radio, or internet). Public services include sustaining citizenship and civil society;
promoting education and learning; stimulating creativity and cultural excellence;
representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities; bringing the UK to the
world and the world to the UK; helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging
communications technologies and services, and taking a leading role in the switchover
to digital television. In addition the BBC must display at least one of the following
characteristics in all content: high quality, originality, innovation, to be challenging
and to be engaging. In essence the BBC must demonstrate that it provides public value
in all its major activities.
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The British film industry had the same beginnings and innovations as its counterparts
in Europe and America. The British Board Of Film Censors was founded in 1912
primarily to lower the proportion number the foreign imports, or rather, to be able to
control their numbers on the pretext of unsuitability. Home grown productions had an
easier time passing the censors. Leading film makers of the time were Cecil Hepworth
and Will Barker. The problem with the British film industry was it did not keep pace
with the advances being made abroad and quickly became technically out of date. The
films also remained very theatre orientated, filming a play exactly as it had been
performed on stage and with the same actors and sets. 1927 saw Parliament bring in
the Cinematographers Trade Bill, designed to ensure there was a guaranteed home
market for British made films. It stipulated from it's induction that a minimum of 5%
of the total number of movies shown had to be home produced, rising to 20% by 1936.
The result was more movies, but the majority being of very poor quality, called the
quote quickies. Although talent was lacking at large there were two exceptions,
namely Alfred Hichcock (Juno and the Paycock, 1930) and Alexander Korda (The
Private Life of Henry VIII, 1933) Two other valuable assets that came along during the
1930’s were the British Film Institute and the National Film Archives. They
maintained, and still do, a film library not just of British films, but International ones
too. They restore damaged prints and transfer nitrate stock onto safety film, as well as
funding projects. Without them, many classics would be lost today.
The Second World War caused a small miracle to happen to movie making in the UK.
A new spirit of austerity and strenuous work led to the abandonment of the stupidity
and extravagance of the past decade. New realism in wartime pictures and a demand
for documentaries gave a whole new look to British films. Initially, many cinemas
closed down for fear of air raids, but the public needed a way of escaping the reality of
war, and turned to the more genteel, sanitized versions available in the cinema. The
majority was war related, The Stars Look Down, 49th Parallel, This Happy Breed.
There were also other subjects exemplified by Brief Encounter, including costume
melodramas like The Wicked Lady and The Man In Grey. New directors, artists and
writers came to the fore (David Lean as a director, Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat
as writers and Richard Attenborough, David Niven were elevated to stardom). During
the 1950’s films had to learn to be more exportable and welcome to foreign audiences.
The competition from television that had insidiously been creeping up on the movie
industry really took hold in the mid 60’s. The Majority of people owned televisions
and preferred to watch their entertainment from the comfort of home. Cinemas were
turned into ballrooms and Bingo halls or simply torn down. Film censorship discarded
some of its old prohibitions, now freer speech was allowed as well as previously taboo
subjects like homosexuality, illegitimacy and abortion. The new movies challenged
British society and it’s conventions with Room at the Top, Saturday Night, Sunday
Morning, Look Back In Anger and A Taste Of Honey. Notable filmmakers included
Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz, Lindsay Anderson, Ken Loach, Brian Forbes,
Richard Attenborough and Ken Russell and American filmmakers like Joseph Losey
and Stanley Kubrick. In fact, during this time American finances virtually took over
the industry, until, suddenly in 1970 the recession in the US lead to an easing off of
funding, and it was left to stand on its own feet.
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The 80’s saw the British film industry deep in the doldrums with all the studios split
up, either being closed used for TV production or hired out for independent film
production. Unlike most film producing countries, government support was severely
lacking in this decade. The special effects industry that had sprung up as an important
part of movie making. Many big, Hollywood blockbusters that relied heavily on
special effects were made exclusively or at least, in part there. Few British films made
it to international distribution (Chariots of Fire, Ghandi, A Passage to India) with the
heritage film industry – spearheaded by the Merchant-Ivory adaptations – being the
only exception (Room with a View, Howards End, The Remains of the Day).
Resurgence has begun in the 90’s with independently made British movies, made with
home-grown talent. Britain, eager to take Hollywood on at its own game, a special
marketing agency was set up and more funds from the National Lottery channelled
into production. Films like the Oscar-winning The Full Monty and Four Weddings and
a Funeral and cult favourites like The Crying Game and Trainspotting have been
international blockbusters but executives conceded that industry triumphs had been
isolated. Many British directors and actors work recently in Hollywood.

British scientist and invertors of the 20th century have continued the long tradition of
technical creativity. Most notable figures include Alan Turing (mathematician,
logician, and cryptographer.), Frank Whittle (inventor of the jet engine), Alexander
Fleming (discoverer of penicillin) and Tim Berners-Lee (the inventor of the World
Wide Web).
Beside Cambridge and Oxford Redbrick universities (those institutions of higher
education British universities which were founded in the industrial cities of England in
the Victorian era and which achieved university status before World War II) and New
Universities (referring to any university founded in the 1960s and former polytechnics,
colleges that have been granted university status in the past decades) grew into centres
of research and development.
Two laboratories that have had considerable influence on the development of science
in the 20th century are the Cavendish Laboratory (University of Cambridge) –
specialising in nuclear physics, microbiology, superconductivity, theory of condensed
matter, electron microscopy, radio astronomy – and the Clarendon Laboratory
(University of Oxford), a leading research institute of atomic and laser physics,
condensed matter physics and quantum computation.


APPENDIX 1, SECTION A
Newgrange passage tombs (c. 3300-2900)
Entrance stone
with megalithic
art
Long barrow at Gussage Down in the Cranborne Chase area of Dorset, U.K.
Swinside stone circle, in the Lake District, England
Part of the southern inner ring of the henge at Avebury
Neolithic dwellings at Skara Brae, Orkney
Dunadd hill fort near Kilmartin in Argyll, Western Scotland
Model of the Roman
baths and temple
complex
Mosaic from Bath
The Orpheus mosaic, the second largest of its kind in Europe. (c. AD 325)
APPENDIX 1 SECTION B
Reconstructed basilica plan of Brixworth church
Sketch of a simple Saxon house
The Derrynaflan paten, 8th or 9th century
The Ardagh Chalice, c.? 750
The beginning of the Gospel of Mark from the Book of Durrow
Two Anglican crosses in Sandbach
One of hundreds of small initials from the Book of Kells
A Saxon Cross
The cross next to Saint Mary’s Church in Rolleston-on-Dove in Staffordshire
Cross of the Scriptures, Clonmacnoise, Ireland
Muiredach's Cross and West Cross at Monasterboice, Co Louth, Ireland
APPENDIX 1 SECTION C
Ground plan of Durham Cathedral
The exterior…
…and the interior
The inverted arch in Wells Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral an example of Early English Gothic
The west front and the long uninterrupted vaulted ceiling of Exeter Cathedral
King’s College Chapel, Cambridge
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter, Bath
15th century manor arranged around a courtyard
Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire, (c. 1460)
Sulgrave Manor, South Northamptonshire (c. 1500)
The Knole House, Kent (c. 1470)
APPENDIX 1 SECTION D
Stained glass window in Canterbury Cathedral (12th century)
Stained glass window in Canterbury Cathedral (circa 1400)
Stained glass windows of Thomas Becket (modern creation from medieval fragments)
APPENDIX 1 SECTION E
Hardwick Hall (1590–1597
The Queen's House, Greenwich (1614-1617)
Half-timbered Tudor house in Wormshill
Timber-framed houses in Warwick
Natural looking garden at Haddon Hall, Derbyshire
Knot Garden at St
Fagans museum of
country life, south
Wales
The Knot Garden at the
Red Lodge, Bristol
APPENDIX 1 SECTION F
Christopher Wren’s Greenwich Hospital (1694) and
St Paul’s Cathedral (1675-1711)
Panoramic view of Blenheim Palace
The fountain of Blenheim Palace
The garden of Blenheim Palace
Castle Howard (1699–1712) as planned
“The Dome” as a showcase of a Baroque interior
and as completed
“The Antique Passage” at Castle Howard
APPENDIX 1 SECTION G
Georgian architecture at Royal Crescent, Bath
Sketch of a Palladian door
Sketch of a Georgian terrace
Provincial Georgian architecture, c. 1760 Northwold, Norfolk.
The “landscape garden” at Chiswick House, London
APPENDIX 1 SECTION H
Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire
The Palace of Westminster Hall South
The House of Lords
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo, California
Regent Street, London
Llanerchaeron is a mansion on the River Aeron
Balconies of extremely fine ironwork at Lansdowne Crescent in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
Wallpaper border with drapery design
Music stand in the shape of a Classical Greek shield
APPENDIX 2 SECTION A
William Hogarth:
A Rake’s Progress,
Plate 8 – In the
Madhouse,
1763.
William Hogarth:
A Modern
Midnight
Conversation,
1765
Sir Joshua Reynolds: Samuel Johnson
Thomas Gainsborough: The Blue Boy, 1770
The Strawberry Girl, 1773
The Morning Walk, 1785
Joseph Wright: The Alchemist, In Search of the Philosopher’s Stone, 1771
George Stubbs: Whistlejacket, c. 1760
Stubbs George: Lion Devouring a Horse, 1763
Illuminated prints from Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
APPENDIX 2, SECTION B
Tapestry, textile and carpet designs of William Morris
John Constable: Brighton Beach with Colliers, 1824.
John Constable: Wivenhoe Park, 1816
John Constable. Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds, c.1825.
Turner: The Burning of the House of Parliament, 1834
Turner: The wreck of the Minotaur
William Turner: Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth, 1842.
John Everett Millais: Christ In the House of His Parents, 1850.
William Holman Hunt: The Shadow of Death, 1871
Dante Gabriel Rossetti: A Vision of Fiammetta, 1878
Journey of Charles Darwin on the Beagle
APPENDIX 2, SECTION C
Edwin Lutyens: Nashdom, Taplow, South Buckinghamshire
Giles Gilbert Scott: “K2” red telephone boxes near Covent Garden
Battersea Power Station, London
Geoffry Powell, Peter Chamberlin and Christoph Bon: The Barbican Centre
London Docklands (1981-98)
Richard Rogers: Loyd’s Building, London
Norman Foster: The Gherkin, London
Front page of tge Vorticist’s jornal BLAST
Jogn Nash: The Ypres Salient at Night, 1917-1918.
Henry Moore : Family Group, 1950
Locking Piece, 1963
Lucien Freud: Girl with a white dog, 1951-1952
Francis Bacon: Painting, 1946
David Hockney: Gregory, 1982
Head VI, 1948
Richard Hamilton Pin-Up, Pop Art, 1961
APPENDIX 3
Glossary of Church Architecture
Altar - the holiest part of a church. In the medieval period the altar was a table or rectangular
slab made of stone or marble, often set upon a raised step. After the Reformation the stone
altars were replaced by wooden communion tables.
Ambulatory - a covered passage behind the altar, linking it with chapels at the east end of the
church.
Apse - the domed or vaulted east end of the church. In Britain the apse is generally squared
off, while on the continent, rounded apses were common.
Baptistery - where the font was stored and baptisms were performed, generally near the west
door. Sometimes a screen or grille separates the baptistery from the nave.
Bay - a vertical division, usually marked by vertical shafts or supporting columns.
Bell Tower - a tower where the church bells were installed. This could be separate from the
church, or, more usually, attached. Sometimes called a campanile.
Chancel - the eastern end of a church.
Chancel Arch - the arch separating the chancel from the nave or crossing.
Chancel Screen - a screen dividing the chancel and the nave and crossing.
Chapel - a small building or room set aside for worship. Large churches or cathedrals might
have many chapels dedicated to different saints. A chantry chapel is a special chapel where
prayers for the dead are said.
Chapter House - a special room or house where the governing body of a monastery or
cathedral met. In Britain the chapter house is usually polygonal in shape with a slender central
column supporting the roof.
Chevet - style of construction creating an ambulatory and radiating chapels at the eastern arm
of a church.
Choir (quire) - where services are sung, or more generally, the eastern arm of a church.
Clerestory - the upper story of a church where it rises above the aisle roof. Window openings
allow extra light into the interior of the church.
Confessio - A niche for relics located near the altar.
Crossing - the area where the choir, nave, and transepts meet.
Crypt - A vaulted chamber made to house graves and relics, generally located beneath the
chancel. Many crypts were very large, to allow numbers of pilgrims access.
Font - a container, genarally of stone, which contained holy water for baptism. Usually
located near the west door, sometimes the fonts had elaborately carved wooden canopies.
Galilee - a porch at the western end of the church used as a chapel for women or penitents.
Sometimes the word refers to the entire western end of the nave.
Greek-cross Plan - style of church with four equal arms.
Latin-cross Plan - church plan with one arm longer than the other three.
Lectern - a reading desk, often in the shape of an eagle, made to hold the Bible during
services. Usually made of brass.
Misericord - from the Latin word for "mercy" comes this term which refers to pivoting
wooden brackets in choir stalls which lifted up to provide relief for clergy who had to stand
during long church services. Misericords are often ornately carved and decorative.
Nave - the western arm of the church, where the congregation stood.
Orientation - the compass alignment of the church. The altar is usually oriented to the east.
Pew - wooden seats or benches in the church. Pews only appeared at the end of the medieval
period. Often pews had carved bench-ends and were carved with animal or foliage designs.
Pulpit - a raised stand from which the preacher addresses the congregation. Usually reached
by steps or stairs, often covered by a carved canopy.
Reredos - a decorative screen behind the altar, usually highly carved.
Retable - a ledge behind, or attached to, the high altar, where ornaments were placed.
Retro-choir - the area immediately behind the high altar.
Rood - a cross erected at the entry to the chancel. Roods often had figures of the Virgin Mary
on one side and St. John on the other.
Rood Loft - the gallery upon which the rood is supported.
Rood Screen - a screen built beneath the rood loft.
Sacristy - a separate room for storing sacred vessels.
Sanctuary - the high altar is placed. The holiest part of the church.
Stalls - divisions within the choir, where clergy sat (or stood) during service. The stalls are
often richly carved and fitted with misericords to help the clergy stand comfortably during
long services.
Stoup - a container for holy water near the west door. Can be built into the wall or freestanding.
Transepts - the crossing arms of the church, generally aligned north-south.
Triforium - a galleried arcade at the second floor level, even with the aisle roof. Also called a
"blind-storey" - the triforium looks like a row of window frames without window openings.
Vestry - room where the clergy and choir dress and the vestments are kept.
Museums in Britain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museums_in_England