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Eton Established: A History from 1440 60 1860
Drawing on material on the reign of Henry VI, Tim Card - author of Eton Renewed, a history of Eton from 1860-1990 - offers a different view of the foundation from previous histories. King Henry VI intended Eton to be a glorious religious foundation, but after the disasters of his reign and the troubled period of the English Reformation, Eton, by the time of Elizabeth I, had become essentially a school.
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First published January 1, 2001
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September 4, 2021Interesting .
Renaissance & Early Modern Eton was a fledgling academy .
1850 it was under special measures alongside 8 other public schools especially about its governance .
December 13, 2022
Though Tim Card spent most of his life at Eton as a boy, master and Vice-Provost, fear not that this is a book of little appeal to outsiders. Interestingly different as Eton has always been from other schools and little as the public schools have ever been representative of English society as a whole, they have all influenced one another, and this is above all a fascinating social history. One cannot read many of his anecdotes like that of poor Tom Rogers, never whipped so much in his life for not smoking (thought essential to ward off the Great Plague), without becoming enraptured by this long story of profound cultural change.
Much the most substantial history of Eton was by Sir Maxwell Lyte, published in several editions in the late 19th century. Knowing this, Card decided not to cover the pre-1860 period in the same depth as he had already written about the later one. Anyone who wants to know more should still therefore read Lyte's history, itself excellent. This one though has broader appeal. When Lyte quoted from sources in Latin, he saw no need to provide translations, and this is symptomatic of the difference between them.
There are several respects though in which Card has made important new contributions. One of the most disillusioning things that has only been grasped by historians since Lyte is that Henry VI's prime intention in founding Eton was the salvation of his own soul, which he believed could be achieved by masses held in a College founded for that purpose and by the acquisition for it of holy relics. The attached school, though always intended to be the greatest in his kingdom, was of strictly secondary interest, and it is the luck of history that this is what survived.
Card has also made good use of 18th and 19th century correspondence which has only become available over the last century. This is probably the key to why his book is so richly evocative, for nothing else sheds as much light on what it was like to be an Eton boy in centuries past, especially the more unpleasant aspects, such as bullying.
For me, the most delightful thing I learned was the undaunted naughtiness and high spirits of boys in former times. Amongst countless examples are the Great Rebellion of 1768, when most of the upper boys threw their books in the Thames and decamped to an inn, or later boys' quarrels with the most colourful headmaster, Dr. Keate, at whom they threw eggs and whose desk they nailed down, taking in their stride the certainty they would be flogged for it. Charmingly though, their sense of fair play caused them to cheer him whenever he cleverly outwitted them.
Every few months, one newspaper or another publishes an article claiming Eton was founded for poor boys and thereby insinuating that its take-over by the aristocracy was a sort of theft still awaiting remedy. Both historians of Eton point out this is sheer nonsense. Though the original statutes said the school was for "poor" scholars, either Henry VI's ideas of poverty were not most people's or, as Card suggests, poverty describes "the attitudes to life that the scholars were expected to adopt." The sons of villeins, the lowest class, were formally excluded, and the upper limit to the required poverty was that the boy himself (not his parents) should not have an income exceeding five marks a year, a decent income in those days. Many of the earliest scholars are known to have been well-connected gentry. Moreover, Henry VI envisioned Oppidans (non-scholars) in his founding charter and ordained they too should study free, paying only for their board or lodging. So if anything it is the modern fee-paying boy who has been cheated of his historic entitlement.
I doubt Card has made many mistakes, but I did notice he confused William Paston, the first Oppidan known to us (from letters of 1477-79), with his uncle of the same name.
Edmund Marlowe, author of Alexander's Choice, a novel set at Eton, https://www.amazon.com/dp/191457107X.
Much the most substantial history of Eton was by Sir Maxwell Lyte, published in several editions in the late 19th century. Knowing this, Card decided not to cover the pre-1860 period in the same depth as he had already written about the later one. Anyone who wants to know more should still therefore read Lyte's history, itself excellent. This one though has broader appeal. When Lyte quoted from sources in Latin, he saw no need to provide translations, and this is symptomatic of the difference between them.
There are several respects though in which Card has made important new contributions. One of the most disillusioning things that has only been grasped by historians since Lyte is that Henry VI's prime intention in founding Eton was the salvation of his own soul, which he believed could be achieved by masses held in a College founded for that purpose and by the acquisition for it of holy relics. The attached school, though always intended to be the greatest in his kingdom, was of strictly secondary interest, and it is the luck of history that this is what survived.
Card has also made good use of 18th and 19th century correspondence which has only become available over the last century. This is probably the key to why his book is so richly evocative, for nothing else sheds as much light on what it was like to be an Eton boy in centuries past, especially the more unpleasant aspects, such as bullying.
For me, the most delightful thing I learned was the undaunted naughtiness and high spirits of boys in former times. Amongst countless examples are the Great Rebellion of 1768, when most of the upper boys threw their books in the Thames and decamped to an inn, or later boys' quarrels with the most colourful headmaster, Dr. Keate, at whom they threw eggs and whose desk they nailed down, taking in their stride the certainty they would be flogged for it. Charmingly though, their sense of fair play caused them to cheer him whenever he cleverly outwitted them.
Every few months, one newspaper or another publishes an article claiming Eton was founded for poor boys and thereby insinuating that its take-over by the aristocracy was a sort of theft still awaiting remedy. Both historians of Eton point out this is sheer nonsense. Though the original statutes said the school was for "poor" scholars, either Henry VI's ideas of poverty were not most people's or, as Card suggests, poverty describes "the attitudes to life that the scholars were expected to adopt." The sons of villeins, the lowest class, were formally excluded, and the upper limit to the required poverty was that the boy himself (not his parents) should not have an income exceeding five marks a year, a decent income in those days. Many of the earliest scholars are known to have been well-connected gentry. Moreover, Henry VI envisioned Oppidans (non-scholars) in his founding charter and ordained they too should study free, paying only for their board or lodging. So if anything it is the modern fee-paying boy who has been cheated of his historic entitlement.
I doubt Card has made many mistakes, but I did notice he confused William Paston, the first Oppidan known to us (from letters of 1477-79), with his uncle of the same name.
Edmund Marlowe, author of Alexander's Choice, a novel set at Eton, https://www.amazon.com/dp/191457107X.
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