Room 2D

Final part of the series by Paul Melrose, from Februs 45 The United States, throughout its history, has long had a tradition of corporal punishment and even today, when ‘civilised’ Europe has made the use of beating illegal in prisons and schools, the US continues to exercise ‘state’s rights’ in the application of corporal punishment, particularly in its schools, to both males and females should the public be perceived to favour it, thus there is no common policy across the country. Why then, you may ask, is ‘Moments’ going back to the schoolrooms of the United States of nearly 200 years ago, to 1823 in fact, when CP is so prevalent in the country’s schools today? Well the reason is that the case in point created a flurry of attention for a number of reasons and eventually led to a change in the law of the state concerned. In the United States today, most of the states which allow school beating, in the form of the paddle, are in the deep south and, sadly, a disproportionate numb...

Penultimate part of the series by Paul Melrose, from Februs 44 Theroigne de Mericourt was born Anne-Joseph Mericourt into a rich Liege family in 1762. Her upbringing was chaste and modest, the young girl brought up in the Church by God-fearing parents. It was their intention that their young daughter should take holy orders and indeed she took instruction for four years in her teens with a view to entering a convent. However, it was not to be for Anne-Joseph Mericourt, who had blossomed into a truly beautiful young woman, decided that the cloistered life of the convent was not for her. To the chagrin of her devoted parents Anne-Joseph decided, in 1784, to seek her fame and fortune in Paris, for her beauty had attracted much favourable comment. She changed her name to Theroigne, presumable because she felt that Anne-Joseph lacked a little glamour. It was not long before she became the favourite of the Paris Opera set, always seen at opening nights, always the Belle of the Ball. She wa...

Twelfth part of the series by Paul Melrose, from Februs 43 Catherine the Second of Russia, later to be known as Catherine the Great, was born Sophia Augusta Fredericka, Princess of Auhalt-Zerbst on 2nd May 1729 in Stettin, Prussia. Her father was Prince Christian August, a general in the Prussian army but the driving force in the young Sophia’s eventual rise to fame was her mother, Princess Johanna Elizabeth, a woman of great ambition. The seeds of influence were sown early when Prince Karl August, one of Princess Johanna’s brothers, became engaged to Elizabeth, the Empress of Russia, but the boy died unexpectedly in 1727 before any nuptials could be arranged. Johanna’s cousin, Karl Frederick, had also married the daughter of Peter the Great, so the strength of relationship between the Prussian and Russian courts was firmly established by the early part of the 18th century. When Empress Elizabeth sought a wife for her son and successor, Peter III, much deep and earnest corresponden...

Eleventh part of the series by Paul Melrose, from Februs 42 The future Countess du Barry was born on August 19th 1743 in Vaucoleurs, France, as humble Jeanne Becu, a child born out of wedlock to a pastry cook named Annie Becu. It is suggested that Jeanne’s father may well have been a friar who served as spiritual advisor to the local convent (the irony is not lost!) a man named Jean Baptiste Gormand of Vaubernier who was certainly Annie Becu’s lover. Thanks to the friar’s influence, Jeanne had a better education than she might have expected at the convent of Saint-Aure in Paris. At fifteen she left school and took on several positions as lady’s maid to the wealthy and influential, thus she had access to the nobility of Paris. In 1763 she met a notorious rake named Jean du Barry, and eventually became his mistress. He was known in Paris as ‘Jean the Vile’ and was frequently interviewed by the police for his custom of prostituting his lovers, Jeanne Becu included. It appears from journ...

Tenth part of the series by Paul Melrose, from Februs 41 The name of Princess Irene Batthyany is not one which is familiar to most people but, nevertheless, she had a brief flirtation with both fame and humiliation as the beautiful wife of Count Lajos Batthyany whose reign as President of Hungary was brief and tragic, ending in his execution. The widowed Princess, though spared such a fate, was nonetheless subject to a very public shame which forms the basis of this particular ‘Moment’. In the mid 19th century, Europe was controlled by mighty empires, one of the biggest being the Austrian Empire which then included part of Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia and Hungary. The year of 1848 became known as the year of revolution because, almost simultaneously, many of these subordinate nations began to flex their muscles and demand varying degrees of self government. In the forefront of these nations was Hungary....

Ninth part of the series by Paul Melrose, from Februs 40 Cornelius Hadrian was born in Brussels in 1518, effectively an only child, though his mother had given birth to a still-born infant earlier. He was brought up in a well-to-do, caring and religiously devout family whose most earnest wish was to see their son pass his theological examinations and enter the priesthood, which he succeeded in doing after hard work and application, not being the most naturally gifted of students. He spent some time teaching in a church school and was, by all accounts, industrious rather than inspirational and it was not long before he realised his calling lay in more internal Church work. He applied through his diocese for an assignment to a monastic order and was duly appointed to a monastery in Brussels teaching theology where his plodding manner was not so much of a handicap. Cornelius appears to have been a success in this role which he undertook for five years when, at the age of 30 he was app...

Eighth part of the series by Paul Melrose, from Februs 39 Catherine de Medici was born in 1519 in Auvergne and was related via her maternal grandmother to the royal house of France. She was orphaned when only a baby but her fortunes appeared to have changed when, still only thirteen years old, she was given in marriage to Henry, the second son of King Francis I of France. Much political intrigue had surrounded this match because Pope Clement VII was Catherine’s uncle and the King had hoped, by this marriage, to gain much influence in papal circles. However, when the Pope died the year following the wedding, all Francis’ scheming with regard to marrying off his son came to naught, thus Catherine became ‘disposable’ and was consigned to obscurity for ten years even after Henry became King. The humiliation she suffered was intense, having to pander to the whims of her husband’s beautiful mistress, Diane of Poitiers, merely to retain ...

Seventh part of the series by Paul Melrose, from Februs 38 From the very beginning of the migration of religious dissidents from England to the New World, Puritans, mainly Calvinists, had built and developed the city of Boston as a tribute to God’s Kingdom on earth, a shining example of strict theology, subservience to church elders and to elected magistrates. They perceived true faith to be represented through strong personal discipline and obedience. Then, in 1656, the first Quakers began to arrive in Massachusetts, many missionaries finding their way to Boston. Initially there were no laws within Boston preventing Quakers from worshiping as they saw fit or spreading their version of the faith. However, it soon became clear to the Calvinists just what a frightening threat to the established order the Quakers presented with their ideology of ‘inner light’, independent convictions and individual conscience. All this ‘anarchy’ was complete anathema to the strict Puritan ethic and very...