1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. If you've 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: been listening to the show for a while, you're probably 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: wondering why it's taken me so long to discuss any 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: royal from the Kingdom of sv. Really, the truth is, 6 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 1: I'm embarrassed. It's been a real oversight on my part, 7 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: and I'm taking full responsibility and rectifying it immediately. Just kidding. 8 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:33,600 Speaker 1: I can't take this bit any further, mainly because the 9 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: notion of England and France under a single monarchy is 10 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,919 Speaker 1: too absurd. That's what the Kingdom of sv is. It's 11 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: an acronym for England, Scotland, France and Ireland, and it 12 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: is in fact a fictional land in the sixteen sixty 13 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: six Proto science fiction novel The Blazing World. In the 14 00:00:56,760 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: young novel, a young woman from sv E is kidnapped 15 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: onto a boat by a spurned lover. This act angers 16 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:09,680 Speaker 1: the gods, who blow the boat to the North Pole 17 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,960 Speaker 1: and spare only the young woman from hypothermia. From there, 18 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: the ship floats into a parallel land called the Blazing World, 19 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: a utopia populated by human animal hybrids who believe the 20 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: young woman is a goddess. This new Empress, a student 21 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: of the natural sciences and philosophy, uses her powers to 22 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:37,480 Speaker 1: open schools and form societies of learning, consulting with various 23 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: human animal specialists. For example, the parrotmen are orators and magicians, 24 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: and the foxmen are politicians and spider Man Unfortunately, more 25 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: arachnid than superhero are mathematicians. This woman empress decides to 26 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: create her own religion, but she knows she'll need a 27 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: scribe to aid her. She asks the spirit to call 28 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: upon the souls of ancients like Aristotle and Plato, but 29 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: they reply that those writers are too wedded to their 30 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: own opinions to be scribes for someone else. Then the 31 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: empress requests a famous modern for her writer, like Galileo 32 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: or Discarte, but the spirits say that those men are 33 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: far too conceded to be scribes for a woman, and 34 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: so instead they offer quote, there's a lady, the Duchess 35 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: of Newcastle, which although she is not one of the 36 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: most learned, eloquent, witty, and ingenious, yet she is a 37 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: plain and rational writer. For the principle of her writings 38 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: is sense and reason. And she will, without question be 39 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,239 Speaker 1: ready to do you all the service she can. Incredibly 40 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 1: complimentary and a little effusive, especially considering that the Duchess 41 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: of Newcastle also happened to be the the author of 42 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: that book, The Blazing World. The Blazing World was jointly 43 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: published with the real Duchess's nonfiction work Observations upon Experimental Philosophy. 44 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: The author saw them as companions. Though these genres of 45 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:23,320 Speaker 1: the two books were quite literally worlds apart. The Duchess 46 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: believed that the fictional Blazing World reflected scientific and philosophical 47 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: ideas from the real world. Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, 48 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: was undoubtedly a trailblazer in both worlds. As a science 49 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: minded writer, she was the very first woman to attend 50 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: a meeting of the Royal Society, which wouldn't admit women 51 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: as members until nineteen forty five. She published more than 52 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: a dozen original texts under her own name in a 53 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: time when doing so was still practically unheard of, becoming 54 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: the first known woman to publish a collected volume of 55 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: dramatic works in her own time and throughout modern history. 56 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: Margaret's transgressive approach to not only publishing but life as 57 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,480 Speaker 1: a woman in the seventeenth century has borne the weight 58 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: of both renown and criticism. If you know Cavendish's name 59 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: but are struggling to place exactly where you know her from, 60 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: it's possible you've read Virginia Wolf's A Room of One's Own. 61 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: In that book, Wolfe writes, quote, what a vision of 62 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 1: loneliness and riot. The thought of Margaret Cavendish brings to mind, 63 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: as if some giant cucumber had spread itself over all 64 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,839 Speaker 1: the roses and carnations in the garden and choked them 65 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,280 Speaker 1: to death. What a waste that the woman who wrote 66 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: the best bred women are those whose minds are civilist, 67 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,719 Speaker 1: should have frittered her time away scribbling nonsense and plunging 68 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: give her deeper into obscurity and folly till the people 69 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 1: crowded around her coach when she issued out end quote. 70 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: Considering what a cultural juggernaut A Room of One's Own 71 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: has been and remains in the canon of women's literature, 72 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,919 Speaker 1: you won't be surprised to learn it is difficult for 73 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: modern scholarship of Cavendish's life and work to separate itself 74 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: from Wolfe's colorful analysis. But today as we learn about 75 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: the life and times of the Duchess of Newcastle. I 76 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: invite you to consider that perhaps Margaret with someone who 77 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: may have read that infamous cucumber description as a compliment. 78 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: I'm Danish forts and this is noble blood. Margaret Lucas 79 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 1: was born in Essex in sixteen twenty three. She was 80 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: the youngest daughter of Thomas Lucas, an unde titled but 81 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: wealthy country landowner, and Elizabeth Layton, a londoner. Margaret's parents 82 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 1: had a rough start. Margaret's older brother was conceived out 83 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:14,119 Speaker 1: of wedlock, and the scandal of that was made worse 84 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,719 Speaker 1: when Thomas was exiled that same year for dueling with 85 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: a young courtier. He was not pardoned for years. His 86 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,360 Speaker 1: son was six by the time they first met. The 87 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:28,920 Speaker 1: fallout from all of that drama meant Margaret grew up 88 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 1: disconnected from court life and London social scene, despite the 89 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: Lucases previous years spent building favor as a new money family. 90 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 1: Thomas ultimately died when Margaret was only two, leaving Elizabeth 91 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 1: not only responsible for eight children, but for managing the 92 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: family estate, the massive Lucas Manor, located on the grounds 93 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: of Saint John's Abbey in Colchester. Being the youngest of eight, 94 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: having a single mother, and living on a vast estate 95 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: meant that Margaret had a certain amount of freedom growing up. 96 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: As far as her education went. She had, as she 97 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: later accounted, tutors for quote singing, dancing, reading, writing, music 98 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: and the like. By and the like, Margaret means other 99 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: traditionally feminine pursuits. However, she goes on to note, quote, 100 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: my mother cared not so much for our dancing and 101 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: fiddling as that we should be bred virtuously. Considering these 102 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: circumstances and consequence of Margaret's mother's first pregnancy, you can 103 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,679 Speaker 1: probably guess why Margaret's mother prioritized virtue above all else 104 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: in her daughters. This might be the part in a 105 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: typical episode where I would move on to another topic 106 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: fast forward through Margaret's life, But Margaret's education, or rather 107 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: lack thereof, has become a central point in her biography 108 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: thanks to a room of one's own. Wolfe's criticism of 109 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: Margaret's quote overgrown prose isn't an indictment of her talent, 110 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: but rather an indictment of a culture that doesn't prioritize 111 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: women's education. Quote what could bind, tame or civilize for 112 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: human use that wild, generous, untutored intelligence, Wolfe asked. Without schooling, 113 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:33,840 Speaker 1: Wolfe argued, Margaret's intelligence quote poured itself out Higgley pigglety 114 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: in torrents of rhyme and prose, poetry and philosophy. The 115 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: future Duchess had a different view of things. She once wrote, 116 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: learning is artificial, but wit is natural. Margaret was born 117 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:53,080 Speaker 1: in the cultural era of James the First, who notoriously 118 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 1: feared educated women. When asked if his daughter should receive 119 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: a classical education, the king responded, quote to make women learned, 120 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: and Fox's tame has the same effect, to make them 121 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:10,959 Speaker 1: more cunning. In the absence of a uniquely progressive father, 122 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:16,319 Speaker 1: women with the natural wit Margaret defend, had to rely 123 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: on that wit alone. It's fascinating to me that Wolfe 124 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:26,480 Speaker 1: and James both chose the verb tame in their ideologically 125 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: opposite arguments. I'll let you construct your own analysis on that, 126 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: but tame is definitely not a word Margaret would ever 127 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: use to describe herself. She was significantly younger than her 128 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: other siblings, most of them marrying before she hit her preteens, 129 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: so she picked up the favored pastime of many only children. 130 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 1: Creating worlds for herself, she lived in her imagination, later 131 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: reflecting that she was quote addicted from childhood to contem 132 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: rather than conversation, to solitariness rather than society, to melancholy 133 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: rather than mirth, to write with the pen than to 134 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: work with a needle. Her first writing works were what 135 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: she called baby books, which she made out of paper 136 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:23,440 Speaker 1: and filled with illegible scribbles. Margaret may not have had 137 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: a formal education, but she did have luck, the luck 138 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,839 Speaker 1: of being born into a wealthy family, the luck of 139 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: being born with a natural curiosity, and the luck of 140 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: having a mother who let her explore her passions freely, 141 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:45,200 Speaker 1: so long as those passions didn't involve boys. At the 142 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: same time, Margaret herself felt that she was cursed. From 143 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:55,480 Speaker 1: her youngest to her eldest years, she suffered debilitating social 144 00:10:55,520 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 1: anxiety alongside what she described as melancholy, but we might 145 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: recognize today as a depressive disorder. If she was not 146 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 1: in the presence of her mother or one of her 147 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: siblings in public, she could barely function. She particularly adored 148 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: her sister Catherine, but from that adoration stemmed more anxiety 149 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 1: when she stayed with Catherine and Catherine's husband. Margaret would 150 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:26,680 Speaker 1: often wake her eldest sister if she thought she was 151 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: breathing too quietly for fear she had died in her sleep, 152 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:35,200 Speaker 1: and Margaret would inspect Catherine's food for safety before meals. 153 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 1: Margaret was clearly suffering from intense anxiety, even paranoia, but 154 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 1: many of the young woman's fears about losing her family 155 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 1: would tragically manifest as the country entered wartime. Sixteen forty 156 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,960 Speaker 1: two marked the beginning of the English Civil War between 157 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: the Royalists and Parliamentarians, with Margaret's family strictly on the 158 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: side of the former. The first major incident to affect 159 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: the Lucas family was part of what historians now refer 160 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:14,199 Speaker 1: to as the Stour Valley Riots, a series of attacks 161 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: against Royalists and suspected Catholics. In the midnight hours of 162 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 1: August twenty second, sixteen forty two, Margaret's elder brother, Sir 163 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: John Lucas, was busy preparing his horses and weapons to 164 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 1: be sent to the Royalist forces. Unfortunately for John, his 165 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: preparations had not been subtle, and townsfolk had suspected his 166 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:43,839 Speaker 1: plans for some time. A group of local parliamentarians had 167 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: been designated to watch the Lucas family home that night, 168 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:53,040 Speaker 1: and their stakeout ultimately escalated to ransacking the manor on 169 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: the grounds of Saint John's Abbey. In addition to the 170 00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 1: kinds of destruction you'd expect, records show the family coffins 171 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: were stabbed through with swords. Just to give you an 172 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: idea how unpopular the Lucases and Royalists were. Where was 173 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: a nineteen year old Margaret during this fateful night? We 174 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: don't exactly know. Documentation is unclear, and there's no mention 175 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 1: of the riots in the Duchess's later autobiography. That's not 176 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: to say Margaret shied away from the subject of war. 177 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:33,280 Speaker 1: Her writing dives into discussing it both philosophically and materially. 178 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: One quote from her autobiography reads, quote, this unnatural war 179 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:43,199 Speaker 1: came like a whirlwind which felled down my siblings' houses, 180 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: where some were crushed to death, as my youngest brother 181 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: Sir Charles Lucas and my brother Sir Thomas Lucas. Yes, 182 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: the war would ultimately claim the lives of two of 183 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:00,680 Speaker 1: Margaret's three brothers, while her mother and one of her 184 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:05,880 Speaker 1: sisters would also die during that same period. Before those 185 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: fateful days, however, most of the family relocated to London, 186 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 1: where they, as Royalists, were in the minority. In the 187 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:20,640 Speaker 1: summer of sixteen forty three, Parliamentary led London was actively 188 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: preparing for war. At the same time, Margaret was making 189 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 1: a dangerous and notably illegal journey. Her fifty plus mile 190 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,400 Speaker 1: trek took her from London to Oxford, where she was 191 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,320 Speaker 1: going to go to the front lines to join the 192 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:42,840 Speaker 1: Royalist army and meet Queen Henrietta Maria. Upon hearing that 193 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:46,200 Speaker 1: the Queen did not have, in her words, the same 194 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: number of maids of honor she was used to have, 195 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: the horror, Margaret begged her family to let her go 196 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:58,880 Speaker 1: to Henrietta Maria's side. Margaret's mother and siblings were understandably 197 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,840 Speaker 1: reluctant to a after all, Margaret shut down in social 198 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:08,440 Speaker 1: situations without them, but Margaret was so persistent that they relented. 199 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,560 Speaker 1: When Margaret predictably begged her family to return, finding that 200 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: her anxiety was in fact debilitating, her family made her 201 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: stay like the English Court was sleep away camp that 202 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 1: she was committed to attending. Margaret's decision to join in 203 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: spite of her limitations was representative of an underlying drive 204 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,440 Speaker 1: that would motivate her for the rest of her life. 205 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:39,440 Speaker 1: Margaret's shy, bookish disposition was accompanied by an intense desire 206 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 1: to learn and observe, as well as the kind of 207 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: self importance you'd find in a wealthy youngest daughter. In 208 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: the absence of a university system that valued women, the 209 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: kind that Wolf advocated for, Court was Margaret's only option 210 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: to spread her wings in young adulthood. If you asked her, However, 211 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:03,000 Speaker 1: Margaret's decision was purely born out of her sense of 212 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:08,680 Speaker 1: duty as a good Royalist daughter. As a royalist, Margaret 213 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: almost certainly idolized Queen Henrietta. Maria. The Queen was a 214 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: heavily publicized figure at that time, the subject of many 215 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:21,520 Speaker 1: headlines for her trip to Holland to pawn the crown 216 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:26,080 Speaker 1: jewels for war funds. When she returned, she toured the 217 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: country with the King's army, where she was known to, 218 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: as one account put it, ride astride her horse without 219 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: the effeminacy of a woman, and to live with her 220 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: soldiers as if they were her brethren, as is expected. 221 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: Parliamentarian newspapers focused on building resentment toward her supposed gender 222 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 1: transgressions instead of her politics. Quote this kingdom is woefully 223 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: ruined one read by a conjugal conspiracy by a plot 224 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:04,879 Speaker 1: in matrimony. Henrietta Maria, in response to their claims, called 225 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: herself the she Majesty General Lissima, which as far as 226 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:13,200 Speaker 1: I know, is still up for grabs as a drag name. 227 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:20,400 Speaker 1: In Margaret's sixteen sixty two play Bell in Campo, Margaret 228 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: writes of a general's wife, Lady Victoria, who assembles a 229 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,920 Speaker 1: troop of wives to accompany their husbands to the front lines. 230 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: Lady Victoria is described as the general, less instructuresque, ruler 231 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:39,720 Speaker 1: and commanderess, and her troop of women even don Amazonian 232 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: armor to fight, ultimately winning a battle where the men fail. 233 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:50,199 Speaker 1: Lady Victoria delivers a speech condemning the quote masculine sex 234 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: who believe that women quote are only fit to breed 235 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: and bring forth children, and contradicts the idea that women 236 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:03,359 Speaker 1: have quote no ingenuity for inventions, nor subtle wit for politicians, 237 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: nor judgment for counselors, nor secrecy for trust, nor method 238 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 1: for keeping the peace, nor courage to make war. It's 239 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:15,640 Speaker 1: not hard to imagine from whom Margaret was drawing inspiration 240 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 1: for Victoria in that proto feminist piece of fiction. By 241 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:25,400 Speaker 1: the time Margaret arrived at the Queen's side in Oxford, however, 242 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: the Queen wasn't exactly living in the barracks. Instead, she 243 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:34,040 Speaker 1: was residing in Merton College, where her rooms had been 244 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:39,479 Speaker 1: redecorated to model the royal household. As a maid of honor, 245 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:44,919 Speaker 1: Margaret's job would be to be quote in presence. What 246 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: did that mean in practice? A lot of standing around. 247 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:54,040 Speaker 1: She would arrive at the Queen's presence chamber at eleven 248 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: each morning and sit on the sidelines until Henrietta Maria 249 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: wished for entertainment or needed news relayed. This continued all 250 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 1: day until supper time, when the maids retired to their 251 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,920 Speaker 1: own chambers. To make sure strict household rules were followed, 252 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:16,240 Speaker 1: Margaret and her fellow maids were under constant surveillance by 253 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:20,120 Speaker 1: the appointed Mother of Maids, who was to report them 254 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: to the Lord Chamberlain for any transgressions. This was undoubtedly 255 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:30,080 Speaker 1: an oppressive environment for Margaret, who was used to her solitude. 256 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 1: She later described herself in those early years at court 257 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: as like one that had no foundation to stand on, 258 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,159 Speaker 1: and she apparently was so afraid of saying or doing 259 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: the wrong thing that she opted for near constant silence. 260 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,199 Speaker 1: In spite of her shyness, or perhaps because of it. 261 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,439 Speaker 1: Margaret was also known for designing her own clothes to 262 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: her personal tastes, which often made her stand out for 263 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: better or worse in such a conform armist environment. They 264 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:06,400 Speaker 1: would also contribute to her later reputation as the quote 265 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:12,399 Speaker 1: crazy Duchess. Things began to rapidly change at Court in 266 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:16,840 Speaker 1: the summer of sixteen forty four. Henrietta Marie was at 267 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:20,679 Speaker 1: that time then heavily pregnant and began to fear for 268 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,359 Speaker 1: her safety and the safety of her unborn child in Oxford, 269 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: so she and her court began a journey to leave England. 270 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:33,440 Speaker 1: After escaping in disguise, the group made it to Falmouth, 271 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:35,960 Speaker 1: where a ship was ready to take them to France. 272 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,760 Speaker 1: They set sail, but they were quickly pursued by cannon 273 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:45,959 Speaker 1: fire from a parliamentary ship. Henrietta Maria, like Margaret's lady Victoria, 274 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:50,520 Speaker 1: decisively took charge of the situation. Margaret and her fellow 275 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: ladies cried in horror when the queen told the captain 276 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: that in the event that escape became impossible, he was 277 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 1: to blow up the ship rather than let her be 278 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:06,080 Speaker 1: taken alive. Things did not become that dire, but as 279 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: soon as they were clear of the political threat, nature's 280 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: cruel neutrality offered another, as a terrible storm nearly destroyed 281 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:21,439 Speaker 1: the Chip. Storms would ultimately become a repeated motif in 282 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 1: Margaret's fiction, The Blazing World begins with one, and in 283 00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:30,639 Speaker 1: a sixteen fifty six poem, Margaret tells the story of 284 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,600 Speaker 1: a woman who is shipwrecked in the Kingdom of Sensuality, 285 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:40,399 Speaker 1: where she is sold into prostitution, shoots her would be solicitor, 286 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: and cross dresses to escape by boat. That woman's second 287 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: journey at sea brings another storm fortune, Margaret writes, irritated 288 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,199 Speaker 1: the gods against them, making the clouds and seas to 289 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:57,400 Speaker 1: meet them, Showers to beat them, winds to toss them, 290 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: thunder to affront them, lightning to amaze them. This description 291 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:07,639 Speaker 1: is evocative, but her own experience with a tempest is 292 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: another traumatic event that Margaret avoids recounting in her memoir. 293 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:18,640 Speaker 1: We don't know how Margaret felt during this actually haerlleoss journey, 294 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:22,919 Speaker 1: but through her prose we can see storms become a 295 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 1: source of both fear and awe, both a metaphor for 296 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: trauma and a reflection of life's painful realities. The ship 297 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 1: ultimately arrived in France, where Margaret would remain until sixteen 298 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 1: fifty one. If she felt isolated in the English court, 299 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: the experience was magnified tenfold upon her arrival in the 300 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:50,600 Speaker 1: French court, where she could not speak the language fluently 301 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,080 Speaker 1: and where she was a sea away from her family. 302 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,320 Speaker 1: Despite all of that, Margaret managed to find a bright 303 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:03,200 Speaker 1: spot in a dark place. In sixteen forty five, Margaret 304 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:08,360 Speaker 1: and her ever boored fellow ladies witnessed an exciting spectacle 305 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,600 Speaker 1: when one of the King's Lords of the Privy Council 306 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:15,560 Speaker 1: arrived at the French court in a lavish carriage pulled 307 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 1: by nine horses. This dramatic man was William Cavendish, the 308 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: Marquis of Newcastle, and he would marry Margaret before the 309 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:30,040 Speaker 1: year was out. William was a prominent, respected literary and 310 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: scientific patron. History has given a name the Wellbeck Academy 311 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 1: to the intellectual circle that he curated. He hosted many 312 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:45,120 Speaker 1: gatherings at Wellbeck, the Cavendish family seat, for the likes 313 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:49,399 Speaker 1: of the playwright Ben Jonson, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the 314 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:54,439 Speaker 1: naturalist Robert Payne, and many more. However, William did not 315 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: have a stellar reputation at the time of his flamboyant arrival, 316 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 1: which was in reality an elaborate display of supposed wealth 317 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:09,479 Speaker 1: designed to trick creditors into lending him more money. His 318 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: name currently bore the weight of his rather disastrous loss 319 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:18,240 Speaker 1: as a commander in the Battle of marston Moor, which 320 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: was a loss so spectacular that he opted for a 321 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:27,440 Speaker 1: self imposed exile. The writer and politician Sir Philip Warwick 322 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:32,399 Speaker 1: wrote that Cavendish was a generous, loyal man, but his 323 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:36,960 Speaker 1: failing was that he had a tincture of a romantic 324 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:41,120 Speaker 1: spirit and had the misfortune to be somewhat of a poet. 325 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: That apparently made him a lousy general, but a wonderful 326 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: match for our Margaret. Their attraction was quick and mutual. 327 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,880 Speaker 1: In Margaret's own words, William pleased to take some particular 328 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,640 Speaker 1: notice of me and express more than an ordinary affection 329 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:06,920 Speaker 1: for me. More than ordinary may be an understatement. Between 330 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:11,760 Speaker 1: April and December of sixteen forty five, aka the beginning 331 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:16,239 Speaker 1: of their courtship to their marriage, Margaret wrote William at 332 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:21,400 Speaker 1: least twenty one love letters. In response, he wrote her 333 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: over seventy poems. That's more than one every two days. 334 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: Their match was surprising due to, in part, the difference 335 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:36,800 Speaker 1: in their statutes, a thirty ish year age gap, and 336 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: Margaret's earlier declaration that she generally shunned men's company as 337 00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: much as she could. Friends tried to keep them apart, 338 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:50,320 Speaker 1: Margaret's friends cautioning her that William had a reputation as 339 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: a casanova. William's friend reminding him of the out of 340 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: wedlock circumstances of Margaret's eldest brother's birth and the scandal 341 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:03,920 Speaker 1: that still hung over the family name. But their protests 342 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:09,359 Speaker 1: were all in vain. It was love in their courtship. 343 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: Margaret was hindered by her own anxiety, but William understood 344 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: her true nature and continued to pen passionate, sometimes excessively 345 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: passionate poems. I simply cannot continue this episode without reading 346 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:26,399 Speaker 1: you a couplet from a poem he wrote about the 347 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:31,119 Speaker 1: couple's age gap, quote, no man can love more, or 348 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:35,679 Speaker 1: Love's higher, old and dry wood makes the best fire. 349 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,240 Speaker 1: If I have to sit with that innuendo, so do you. 350 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: Margaret's letters to William are also the first pieces of 351 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,359 Speaker 1: writing we have from her. They were not just declarations 352 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: of love, but observations of life at court and reflections 353 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,919 Speaker 1: of her own state of mind. Suppose me now, in 354 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,600 Speaker 1: a very melancholy humor, she writes to William, for I 355 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:04,199 Speaker 1: see all things subject to alteration and change, and our 356 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:08,000 Speaker 1: hopes as if they had taken opium. But I should 357 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,960 Speaker 1: be lost to those things if I did not meet 358 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:15,199 Speaker 1: some of yours to restore me to myself again. Even 359 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,120 Speaker 1: in a simple letter at a low point, we can 360 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: see Margaret's clever grasp of language. I find the description 361 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,639 Speaker 1: of hopes as if they had taken opium as a 362 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:31,800 Speaker 1: particularly evocative metaphor for the bleakness of depression. We also 363 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: see how she had quickly come to rely on William 364 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,720 Speaker 1: to alleviate those dark thoughts in place of her mother 365 00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:43,119 Speaker 1: and siblings across the sea. As a listener of the show, 366 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,760 Speaker 1: you may be waiting for the other shoe to drop, 367 00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:52,600 Speaker 1: knowing how often unhappiness plagues marriages among nobility. But this 368 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,920 Speaker 1: is a rare noble blood love story with a happy ending. 369 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:01,919 Speaker 1: Their marriage was both long, last day and mutually supportive. 370 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,679 Speaker 1: William's unconditional support of his wife was more important than 371 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: ever when it came to the issue of having children, 372 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: or rather not having children. It appears the couple did 373 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: initially try, but after two years with no success, William 374 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:23,320 Speaker 1: sought a doctor for advice. The doctor essentially told William 375 00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 1: that Margaret's intense melancholy, which was believed at the time 376 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,520 Speaker 1: to be the result of an excess of black bile 377 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:35,560 Speaker 1: in the body, would make pregnancy and birth incredibly difficult 378 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:41,240 Speaker 1: and likely result in losing the child. William already had children, 379 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:46,240 Speaker 1: more importantly, heirs from his first marriage, but he was 380 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: disappointed to learn he would not have more with Margaret. 381 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:54,440 Speaker 1: Margaret was only disappointed on William's behalf, but noted that 382 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: her apparent infertility quote never lessened his love and affection 383 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 1: for me. Not only did Margaret accept the reality that 384 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,040 Speaker 1: she would never become a mother, she fully embraced it. 385 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: In her writing. She repeatedly explains how the absence of 386 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:16,080 Speaker 1: children and chores of quote housewifery as she described it, 387 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 1: allowed her to devote her time to her true babies 388 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:24,280 Speaker 1: her books. In her sixteen sixty four collection of fictional 389 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:29,680 Speaker 1: Correspondence Sociable Letters, Margaret even proposes the idea that having 390 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:34,480 Speaker 1: children is gainless for women. Sons carry on the legacy 391 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 1: of the father, while daughters will be quote ingrafted into 392 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:43,840 Speaker 1: the stock of another family. Margaret takes this second notion 393 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:48,479 Speaker 1: even further, daughters are to be accounted as movable goods 394 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 1: or furniture. It would be easy to write that off 395 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:56,120 Speaker 1: as cynicism after her own experience, but even if there 396 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 1: is some defensiveness present, there's no denying the fact that 397 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,560 Speaker 1: she's putting to paper ideas that wouldn't be part of 398 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: mainstream feminist conversations or debates for centuries to come. Following 399 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:13,600 Speaker 1: their first few years of married life in Paris, the 400 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:17,640 Speaker 1: couple moved to Antwerp in the late sixteen forties, where 401 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,760 Speaker 1: they rented the house of the famous Flemish painter Peter 402 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:25,280 Speaker 1: Paul Rubens from his widow. Their desire to live in 403 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: an artistic home apparently outranked their desire to live in 404 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:34,600 Speaker 1: a well staffed home. Money was tight, with William still 405 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: in debt, so they let go of most of their 406 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,640 Speaker 1: servants upon the move. What was a childless couple in 407 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,080 Speaker 1: a cultured home to do but create a space for 408 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:50,120 Speaker 1: intellectual gatherings. William, as we know, had the connections to 409 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 1: do so. One dinner even hosted his friend Hobbes and 410 00:30:54,760 --> 00:31:00,000 Speaker 1: his philosophical rival Descartes at the same table. I can imagine, 411 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: and the atmosphere felt like talking politics with the family 412 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 1: at Thanksgiving. A fixture in the home during this time 413 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: was William's brother Charles. He either lived with or nearby 414 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:16,120 Speaker 1: to the couple during these years and became an important 415 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:20,800 Speaker 1: person in Margaret's life. The Cavendish brothers devoted time to 416 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: giving Margaret the education that she was not afforded in 417 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,960 Speaker 1: her childhood. William, to his credit, had provided his own 418 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:33,160 Speaker 1: daughters from his first marriage with a rare formidable education. 419 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 1: From her husband, Margaret learned about politics and history, and 420 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: became well acquainted with Hobbes's work on society and government. 421 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: From her brother in law, she learned about science. Charles 422 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,720 Speaker 1: was a mathematician and was working on his own experiments 423 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:54,560 Speaker 1: in the new age of scientific discovery. He was a 424 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 1: good teacher. He brought Margaret a model of the Copernican 425 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: planetary system, so she could visualize the movements and translated 426 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 1: theories about atoms that were only available at the time 427 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:12,080 Speaker 1: in Latin. He also gave Margaret access to his experiment's 428 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: first hand, which was her first time using a microscope. 429 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:21,360 Speaker 1: It would become a repeated point in later writings that 430 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 1: Margaret now somewhat famously did not endorse the instrument that 431 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 1: she called the artificial informer, believing that it quote more 432 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:38,800 Speaker 1: deludes than informs. One of her disavowals of the microscope 433 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: found in sixteen sixty six's Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, focuses 434 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:51,760 Speaker 1: on the recent discovery that flies possessed clusters that contained 435 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 1: about fourteen thousand eyes. We know today that that figure 436 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: is a misconception, but flies do in fact have come 437 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:06,760 Speaker 1: pound eyes made up of hundreds of smaller photoreceptors. Margaret's 438 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:12,320 Speaker 1: natural philosophy was grounded in the principles of reason and rationality, 439 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:17,160 Speaker 1: which she believed nature functions according to. In that case, 440 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: what sense would it make that flies have thousands of 441 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,640 Speaker 1: eyes but can't see as well as humans do with two? 442 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,360 Speaker 1: In her words, quote, if two eyes be stronger than 443 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:32,600 Speaker 1: a thousand, then nature is to be blamed. That she 444 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: gives such a number of eyes to so little a creature. 445 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:40,520 Speaker 1: But nature is wiser than we or any creatures able 446 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: to conceive, and surely she would not work to no 447 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,560 Speaker 1: purpose or in vain. But there appears as much wisdom 448 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: in the fabric and structure of her works as there 449 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: is variety in them. Margaret speaks of nature with a romantic, 450 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:03,240 Speaker 1: even religious reverence. Today we understand that her perspective lacks nuanced, 451 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:08,400 Speaker 1: but her work is also cautious of a very relevant subject, 452 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: the hubris of man. While this work comes from a 453 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:16,360 Speaker 1: writer much more certain in her convictions. It was during 454 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:21,480 Speaker 1: this period of education around sixteen fifty that Margaret began 455 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:27,760 Speaker 1: writing formally, experimenting with essays, allegories, and more. In writing, 456 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,600 Speaker 1: Margaret found not only a way to understand the world 457 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 1: as she always longed to, but peace of mind in 458 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:39,360 Speaker 1: a way she had never experienced. In her words, quote, 459 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:44,400 Speaker 1: my mind is become an absolute monarch, ruling alone, my 460 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 1: thoughts as a peaceable commonwealth, and my life an expert 461 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:55,040 Speaker 1: soldier which my Lord meaning William Settled, composed and instructed. 462 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:59,560 Speaker 1: This description tells us as much about Margaret's state of 463 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 1: mind as it does her politics. Only a royalist could 464 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:11,040 Speaker 1: describe alleviation from their depression as a benevolent monarch enforcing peace. 465 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,680 Speaker 1: Putting aside the political implications for a second, however, this 466 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:20,080 Speaker 1: statement is also telling when juxtaposed against the perception of 467 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:26,560 Speaker 1: Margaret's work popularized by Virginia Woolf. The quote crazy duchess 468 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:31,560 Speaker 1: who had become a bogey to frighten clever girls with, was, 469 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:35,879 Speaker 1: in fact, by her own analysis, at her most composed 470 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 1: when writing she should have had a microscope put in 471 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:44,040 Speaker 1: her hand, wolf declared she should have been taught to 472 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:48,399 Speaker 1: look at the stars and reason scientifically. Her wits were 473 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:52,400 Speaker 1: turned with solitude and freedom. No one checked her, no 474 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:57,600 Speaker 1: one taught her. We know that this was actually untrue. 475 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:01,640 Speaker 1: Margaret did have a microscope in her hand. She just 476 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:05,759 Speaker 1: didn't like what she saw. She had teachers invested in 477 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:09,719 Speaker 1: her education, just not formal ones, and just not when 478 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:14,080 Speaker 1: she was exclusively young. Perhaps the truth is more simple 479 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:18,640 Speaker 1: than what Wolfe tries to argue. Margaret had more passion 480 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,960 Speaker 1: for the written word than talent for it. To pursue 481 00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 1: that passion formally for a woman of her time, was 482 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:32,080 Speaker 1: a remarkable feat in itself. While Margaret had found her passion, 483 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:36,120 Speaker 1: her career would not begin until she returned to England 484 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 1: in sixteen fifty three. Shoppers in London bookstores could find 485 00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:46,400 Speaker 1: a rare site a book openly written by a woman. 486 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:51,600 Speaker 1: If they opened the cover of Poems and Fancies, they 487 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:54,920 Speaker 1: would be greeted with a title page in large print 488 00:36:55,600 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: written by the right Honorable the Lady Margaret, Countess of Newcastle. 489 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:05,759 Speaker 1: As Wolf remarked in a room of one's own, any 490 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:10,120 Speaker 1: woman who published under her own name risked being thought 491 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:15,879 Speaker 1: a monster. Margaret agreed, if I am condemned, she reflected, 492 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:23,880 Speaker 1: I shall be annihilated. That's part one of our episode 493 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:28,120 Speaker 1: on Margaret Cavendish. But keep listening after a brief break 494 00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:31,319 Speaker 1: to hear a little bit more about Virginia Wolf's take 495 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:43,000 Speaker 1: on the Crazy Duchess. Wolfe's opinions on Margaret's work were 496 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: highly critical, yes, but also carried an undercurrent of admiration 497 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:51,880 Speaker 1: in the common reader. Wolf approaches Cavendish's work with a 498 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:57,120 Speaker 1: different perspective. Quote though her philosophies are futile and her 499 00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:01,880 Speaker 1: plays intolerable, the vast bull of the Duchess is levined 500 00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:06,320 Speaker 1: by a vein of authentic fire. One cannot help following 501 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:10,040 Speaker 1: the lure of her erratic and lovable personality as it 502 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:15,120 Speaker 1: meanders and twinkles through page after page. Her simplicity is 503 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:20,000 Speaker 1: so open, her intelligence so active, her sympathy with fairies 504 00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 1: and animals so true and tender. She has the freakishness 505 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:28,160 Speaker 1: of an elf, the irresponsibility of some non human creature, 506 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:34,040 Speaker 1: its heartlessness, and its charm. While these compliments are arguably 507 00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:39,200 Speaker 1: not very complimentary and surely double edged, there is something 508 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:44,200 Speaker 1: genuinely earnest to them. Perhaps Wolff had some cavendish her 509 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:56,960 Speaker 1: after all. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and 510 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:00,720 Speaker 1: Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is hosted 511 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:04,839 Speaker 1: by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by 512 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:09,600 Speaker 1: Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Melaney. 513 00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:13,880 Speaker 1: The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with 514 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:19,560 Speaker 1: supervising producer rima il Kaali and executive producers Aaron Manke, 515 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:24,400 Speaker 1: Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 516 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:29,000 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 517 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,879 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.