QUORUMThe Queenswood Humanities Magazine | Issue 1

...is a reference to the minimum number of people required on a deliberative body to make a binding decision. This magazine embodies that idea; not only is it the collective product of the Heads of Department in Humanities, working together to promote and make this collaborative record, but it would not be possible were it not for the large body of work the girls produce. Without each other, this magazine would not happen and so it is with some pleasure that we show you the heights that can be reached when staff and pupil efforts, decisions and actions come together. In Humanities we feel that this level of academic excellence should be trumpeted and we want to show you what the girls are capable of achieving. Many of the essays herein were awarded national recognition from Oxford or Cambridge and thus represent the cream of national academic distinction attained again and again by girls here at Queenswood.

Welcome to QUORUM, the Queenswood Humanities Magazine; prepare to be enlightened and impressed by the girls.

Stephen DaughtonHead of Humanities Faculty

IN THIS ISSUE2 Classical Civilisation

What can modern authors learn from ancient writers? Jemima Wolstencroft

6 HistoryWhy was Machiavelli’s book The Prince so controversial? Bella Massam

13 Geography“The Paris Climate Change agreement is a ‘game-changer’ and will ensure global action to limit carbon emissions.” Discuss. Valery Eroshenko

17 GeographyHow is Britain changing? Alice Baker

22 HistoryWhy did early modern people accuse their neighbours of being witches? Eleanor Smalley

29 Religious Studies“Conscience is the super-ego.” Discuss Meiyin Chen

The image on the cover is the ‘Mappa Mundi’. It is the oldest world map in England. Completed on vellum in the 13th Century, it stands for the HISTORY of this nation. It is a map of the world as people in that time saw it. Their north is our east, so to understand the map you will probably have to rotate the magazine 45 degrees clockwise to recognise it and then our GEOGRAPHY will match theirs. It is based upon the ancient maps of CLASSICAL CIVILISATIONS. It is written in LATIN and shows God, heaven and the angels at the top of the map, the Garden of Eden underneath and various biblical places, such as the Tower of Babel; it is therefore illuminated by RELIGIOUS STUDIES. This image gives a perfect example of how the Humanities complement each other in terms of understanding and, as such, we selected it as our cover image.

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WHAT CAN MODERN

AUTHORS LEARN FROM ANCIENT

WRITERS?

Jemima WolstencroftHighly commended: St John’s College, Oxford

Classics and Ancient History Essay Competition

CLA

SSIC

S

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What can modern authors learn from ancient writers? | Jemima Wolstencroft

Interestingly, since the first printing press was not invented until around 1440-1460, ancient writers such as Homer spread their works through word of mouth. As a result,

Homer’s works were less accessible to common people at the time, although the existence of illuminated manuscripts and the work of late Antiquity scribes cannot be discredited as without their works most literature of Greece and Rome would have perished. Yet the works of ancient writers were written to be spoken, hence great importance is given to the sounds of words and the sentence structure - as is evident in Homer’s Odyssey:

‘Apollo, Lord of the silver bow, protector of Chryse and holy Cilla, and mighty ruler of Tenedos.’

This complex sentence is made longer through Homer’s use of naming places, giving ‘Apollo’ greater importance as more time is spent describing and introducing him. Arguably there was no difference between ancient prose and poetry for both were written to be sung, with the rhythm of hexameter or pentameter never lost on the ear of even the most uneducated listener due to the beauty of their construction. Ovid’s Amores Book III is a prime example, where each line is written in strict elegiac couplets which creates a flowing piece:

‘ipse sub arboreis vitabam frondibus aestum – fronde sub arborea sed tamen aestus erat’‘I escaped the heat under the leafy trees – under a leafy tree but it was still burning hot.’

The parallelism in this couplet creates vivid imagery of nature making it a pleasant experience to listen to for the reader. Of course with the invention of the printing press a change in literature was spurred on with exhaustive novels becoming popular in the Victorian era as they possessed a value-for-money quality no longer found in short-stories or poems. However, modern technology is growing at an exponential rate, and authors such as Charlie Brooker are writing for television and even video games. Salman Rushdie said if he had his time again he would write for video games, showing how words are once again being written to be spoken and experienced, not just to be read on a page. It is because of this fact that ancient writers are of even more importance today than ever before as modern authors/poets can learn from them how to manipulate words, focusing on their sounds to enthral an audience; for is there any greater orator than Cicero in his De Oratore?

In an age where we are able to interact with technology, words are not only merely lines on a page. I believe modern writers can now learn from ancient writers how to wield words in three dimensions, employing techniques of artistic merit such as homoioteleuton, parallelism and spondees to give rhyme to verse thus capturing the attention of listeners. IPods and speakers have enabled people to carry music everywhere; as a result a more musically-focused employment of the English language may help modern writers to gain a wider audience. A prime example of this is Heine’s use of German, though not quite a modern example Heine’s match of German to music had the effect of making him a popular poet as by combining mediums of communication the audience is forced to pay attention, an experience which can perhaps be related to playing a video game such as Grand Theft Auto.

Possibly the most obvious connection between ancient and modern writers is that Latin and Greek are the root of English and so surely the study of these languages would give the greatest understanding of literature – helping to improve the writings of modern authors? Yet, a plethora of new things have been discovered/created since the time of the ancient writers and so our language has changed. However, the existence of the Academie Française who work to ensure no English words

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become part of the French language demonstrates how some people believe languages should keep to their roots. Modern authors/poets can therefore learn from ancient writers how to see past modern acronyms to portray their views in different ways to others of their time. I think that language constructs the way we think and view things and that by naming an object or feeling we are able to interpret it. The perfect example of this being words which cannot be translated e.g. ‘shantih’, which means ‘the peace that passes all understanding’ yet there is no English equivalent therefore it is beyond our scope of understanding, as without a name of ‘it’ how can we know it exists? So many new words have been created; surely we interpret the world differently now than Ancient writers ever could as new technologies, e.g. advancements in robotics, have led to a whole new genre of fiction, Sci-fi, such as MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood. Furthermore perhaps the reason why the ancient writers seem so competent to speak about their world and humanity is because the world was simpler then, demonstrating that a lesson to be learnt from the ancient writers is that we must focus on one feeling, one human emotion in order to adequately portray it; and, in extension of that idea, perhaps the most beautiful of works are the ones left open to the

interpretation of the reader. A modern example of

this can be found in Harold Pinter’s

plays such as

The Homecoming in which pauses are used to make the audience come to their own conclusions. Pinter’s use of the audience can be related to ancient writers such as Cicero in In Verrem. By addressing the Judges (‘Iudices’) or directly addressing the person in question (Verres) as ‘homo’ – ‘that man’ – and through the use of rhetorical questions the audiences’ own morality is questioned. This demonstrates how modern authors should learn to interact with their audience more in order to achieve their desired effect.

The Art of Poetry by Horace exemplifies techniques to be learnt from ancient writers, yet the rigid structure of e.g. Ovid’s Amores is the antithesis of the common free verse style often found today by poets such as Sylvia Plath, for example in ‘Daddy’. Therefore what can we learn from these old grammatical techniques? Are they outdated? No. The ancients’ rigid structure, I believe, stems from their search for reason; they are reflecting their own structured society through their poetic techniques. Today, surrounded by cameras and within a society where we are constantly watched, the modern poets use un-controlled means of expressing themselves in order to escape the constricted society in which they live. So what can we learn from the ancients if our worlds have changed so much?

‘pictoribus atque poetis quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas’‘But painters and poets have always shared the right to dare anything’.

Perhaps modern authors and poets can learn to take more risk, to learn from the ancients’ affinity to turn life into works of art as Grayson Perry highlighted in the 2013 Reith Lectures, ‘What Has Happened to the Avant-Garde?’. Horace, in ‘the pleasures of country life’ suggests a feeling of nostalgia is to be granted from our ancestors:

‘beatus ille qui procul negotiis, ut prisca gens mortalium’ ‘Happy is he who is far from business, like the ancient race of mortals.’

Horace is insinuating that merely because it is human nature to dislike change then we must therefore revert to old ways. Although one may argue that this idea cannot be conducive to new works, it represents another example of what modern poets/authors can learn from ancient writers, and that their works can still act as the basis

What can modern authors learn from ancient writers? | Jemima Wolstencroft

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to works today.Moreover, I believe writing has come to mean

less in this modern day. Technology has given us the ability, as soon as a thought enters our head, to be able to be note it down with the greatest constraint of freedom to write being that one may only ‘tweet’ 140 characters at one time. Word order is less and less considered. Catullus in ‘Poem 13’ shows the opposite of this in ‘Catullus invites a friend to dinner’, which contains the lines

‘deos rogabis, totum ut te faciant, Fabulle, nasum’‘You will ask the gods, to make you all nose Fabullus’.

Catullus has used unusual word order in this sentence to put ‘nasum’ – ‘nose’ at the end of the line adding weight to it. This has the effect that when the line is read emphasis is put on the pleasure Fabullus will experience from smelling the ‘perfume of his girl’. This shows a lesson to be learnt from Horace when he said writers have dared to do anything, that the modern writer has lost the ability to play with words and the confidence to alter sentence construction as they subconsciously conform to the standard English rules of word order. For these ancient writers made the rules of grammar; if they broke them why shouldn’t we? It is outlined in the ‘Dictum of Goethe’ that a man never understands his mother tongue until he has mastered some foreign language. From this I infer that to grasp another tongue one must experiment in it and that within this process the experimentation transcends across into the mother tongue, which is conducive to new works therefore demonstrating what should be learnt from ancient writers is a confidence in your own language.

Yet, what can we learn from these dead languages when ‘text speak’ is the new elegy? The celebrities of the ancient writers were mythical figures such as Hippodamia, and to compare a woman to a myth was the greatest compliment. This is the antithesis of today’s equivalent which is, in contrast, the likes of Justin Bieber demonstrating how different today’s culture is compared to that of Ancient Greece or Rome. As can be ascertained from one glance at the Daily Mail website the majority of the population delight at seeing the exploits of our stars rather than their conquests as was more commonly practised at the time of ancient writers. Although our cultures appear different, our

perception of life at the time of the ancients has been entirely comprised from the nature of their writings and so if modern writers mearly copy what has been said before, to future generations it will seem as though no change has taken place. Therefore the lesson to be learnt from this is that we must give a more objective view of our lives; by this I mean that modern authors and poets must learn to convey true emotion in their writings rather than copying what others have merely said before. The question then arises: what is most important to write about? That too I think has been predetermined for us as it is the works of the ancient writers that have put importance on emotions such as love and jealousy as in Tacitus’ Nero and Agrippina.

In conclusion, the lesson to be learnt from ancient writers is the ability to manipulate the sounds of words to help convey meaning – joining mediums in our now multi-media world. In addition, by reverting to the artistic uses of grammar as portrayed in the works of the ancient writers modern authors and poets can learn again the importance of the ‘lilt’ of words and use this to their advantage to help engage their audience. Finally, they can learn the importance of changing ancient works through different grammar techniques and new words in order to create new pieces that are true reflections of society today, as Aristotle said; ‘the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance’ demonstrating how it is not important to recreate the works of the ancient writers but to make them relatable to the people of today in order to give them significance.

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WHY WAS MACHIAVELLI’S

BOOK THE PRINCE SO

CONTROVERSIAL?

Bella MassamHighly commended: Peterhouse College, Cambridge

Vellacott History Prize

HIS

TO

RY

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By presenting Lorenzo de’ Medici with his treatise The Prince, Machiavelli followed the contemporary custom of giving gifts

to rulers, and the literary tradition of the ancient “mirror for princes” genre (in which rulers are given advice on conduct and governance), in that he sought to give Lorenzo de’ Medici guidance. However, Machiavelli’s treatise ignored traditional values and focussed solely on the procurement of power. Such an ostensibly immoral work was always likely to create conflict in volatile Renaissance Europe. In presenting mankind as egotistical and superficial, and despotism as the preferred quality to morality in a ruler, Machiavelli attacked contemporary Humanist ideals of the self and of monarchs. He demonstrated the fallacy of ecclesiastical kingdoms, causing the Church, a powerful voice at this time and for centuries to come, to widely condemn the treatise. Yet others, such as Sir Francis Bacon, who opined that “We are much beholden to Machiavel and others that write what men do and not what they ought to do” found the book indispensable for its unusually pragmatic attitude. Thus, The Prince in itself became a controversial work. Its purpose has been a controversy in itself amongst philosophers for centuries, with theorists as famous as Rousseau giving opinions on its ulterior motive. In addition, partially due to the ongoing controversy over the book itself, such a stigma grew up around The Prince and its author that the book became controversial even amongst those who had not read it or whose knowledge of The Prince was superficial.

The Prince, published after Machiavelli’s death in 1532, shocked the ecclesiastical world, which was already in turmoil due to the Reformation and Counter Reformation. Machiavelli’s books were included in the first Index Librorum Prohibitorum (list of banned books), and condemned by Pope Clement VII. Any work so flagrantly contradicting the love-thy-neighbour doctrine of the Church (“a prince, then, is not to regard the scandal of being cruel, if thereby he keeps his subjects in their allegiance and united” [Chapter 17]) and encouraging malevolent ambition would undoubtedly attract heavy criticism merely for reasons of Christian morality. Likewise, it has frequently been inferred that The Prince is an atheist work. In The Prince, Machiavelli discusses Fortuna’s

role in the political world, far more than God’s will or grace. “Near the beginning of Chapter 25, Machiavelli suggests that what is generally meant by God is really nothing but chance”1. This, combined with his frequent references to Roman glory and the achievements of Romulus, without any recognition of one of the Church’s strongest pillars (the so-called divine right of kings, which encouraged rulers to be devout) was enough for many to accuse Machiavelli of atheism, a serious crime in that era. The Church’s attitude of condemnation had instrumental influence in encouraging other criticisms and condemnations amongst theorists and commentators over whether the ideas laid out in The Prince were defensible, as it had high influence at this time. It indoctrinated the Papal-approved theses and had much control of historical records during a period in which the majority remained illiterate. Equally, The Prince includes attacks on the Catholic Church itself. The famous last chapter of the text (“An Exhortation to Deliver Italy from the Barbarians”) is nothing less than a call to arms; “it is manifest how prone and ready she [Italy] is to follow the banner that any man will take up”. Machiavelli asserts that Lorenzo de’ Medici will receive God’s help as Moses did; although “God will not do everything immediately, because He will not deprive of us of our free will and the honour that devolves upon us”. Machiavelli, as a layperson, claimed God’s authority for war and presumed to know God’s intentions, which would have been extremely aggravating and even borderline heretical to churchmen, especially Catholics concerned over the rising tide of Protestant lay questioning of Papal doctrine. Additionally, claiming that a war was God’s will was always historically a matter for the Church and not laymen to decide. Therefore, “His [Machiavelli’s] secularism and rejection of ecclesiastical supremacy roused the hostility of the Jesuits and evoked bitter attacks on his life and ideas”2. Additionally, Machiavelli states that in unifying Italy, Lorenzo de’ Medici would accomplish God’s will, although a successful prince should avoid reliance upon the unpredictable Papal elections, as Cesare Borgia’s downfall had proved [Chapter 7]. Thus, dependency on the church was presented as inadvisable. The troublesome aspect here is, as

1 Leo Strauss, Machiavelli’s Intention: The Prince2 Norman Wilde, Machiavelli

Why was Machiavelli’s book The Prince so controversial? | Bella Massam

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Strauss notes, “The liberation of Italy, which requires the unification of Italy, requires therefore eventually the secularization of the Papal States”. Machiavelli has drawn the parallel of God’s desire for a unified Italy, and a unified Italy that can only be achieved by the diminishing of Papal power, an action that seems almost guaranteed to create disapproval amongst Catholic clergy. Strauss speculates, although there is no conclusive evidence, that the Church became aware of this heretical implication and therefore moved to ban the treatise. Thus, The Prince became controversial due to its relatively anti-Papal stance. There also remains the supposition that The Prince refers at least in part to the Papal court; “The Pope’s Court strictly prohibited this book, which I can well believe, since that was the court he [Machiavelli] depicts most plainly”3. If the Church thought likewise, there would have been yet another reason for it to condemn The Prince. As the Church had such power over contemporary influence it is likely that this controversy was instrumental in shaping the negative reception of The Prince. As the Reformation and Counter-3 Rousseau, The Social Contract

Reformation inflamed Church controversy, the Pope found Machiavelli’s atheist outlook and rejection of ecclesiastical authority intolerable. The attitude of the Christian Church was one of disapproval.

Such apparent opposition to the Church could not be tolerated in this time of escalating religious controversy; the Protestant Reformation had begun less than twenty years before the publication of The Prince and continued to divide Europe. Both Protestants and Catholics appear to have used the libel of being influenced by The Prince and Machiavelli against their religious opponents, further tarnishing Machiavelli’s reputation and thus causing The Prince to become even more controversial. For example, Cardinal Pole of England, a fervent Catholic who held the office of Cardinal under Mary I, was amongst those who used the persistent attitude to Machiavelli’s The Prince as slander. Pole’s attacks employing the negative associations with Machiavelli’s name have a fundamentally religious dynamic; he wrote that The Prince had been written “by Satan’s hand”. Pole, who as a Catholic clergyman is very likely to have been biased against The Prince, related that Thomas Cromwell, Lord Chancellor of England during the Reformation, advised him to read Machiavelli in place of the likes of Plato. However, Pole held the Protestant Cromwell responsible for his exile from the country; in attempting to restore Catholicism, Pole sought to denounce the Reformation; and it is questionable whether Cromwell had even actually read any Machiavelli at the time. It seems that Pole used the name and the book as an attempt to discredit Cromwell, and even Protestants in general; The Prince, as has been outlined, can be interpreted as more fundamentally Protestant than Catholic. Not only does Pole’s attitude demonstrate the state of Machiavelli’s reputation at the time, Pole’s opinions upon and reference to Machiavelli’s The Prince seem to have caused that reputation to further deteriorate; “It is no exaggeration to say that upon this declaration of Pole’s has been established Machiavelli’s influence… on all sixteenth-century English statesmen”4 . It could be speculated that both Protestants and Catholics had realised the potential success of such an attack. Innocent Gentillet, who published

4 Weissberger, Machiavelli in Tudor England

Why was Machiavelli’s book The Prince so controversial? | Bella Massam

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his Anti-Machiavel5 in 1576, seems to have been amongst the first to associate Machiavelli with Catholic criminality, earning Machiavelli’s name and treatise much dislike in the Protestant world. Gentillet describes Machiavelli as the “inspiration of detestable policies adopted by the French court, and in particular by the Italians and Italianate courtiers who held sway over the Kingdom of France”. He theorized that these Catholic Italians were all followers of Machiavelli’s doctrine and went on to blame Machiavellian thinking as a cause of the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572. This is an excellent example of how an action that might be perceived as “Machiavellian” – cunning and unscrupulous – was often attributed to Machiavelli despite the lack of any reason to suppose the perpetrator had ever read The Prince. “It may not be too much to say that it was St Bartholomew’s Eve that turned Englishmen from a relatively favourable reading of Machiavelli and caused them to recast his image in a Satanic mould”6 – Gentillet’s propaganda being the cause of this erroneous interpretation. Gentillet’s assertion that a horrific “Machiavellian” action perpetrated by Catholics was directly due to The Prince causes his doctrine to be fundamentally flawed, inaccurate and a useful propaganda tool for the Protestant Huguenots. However, Gentillet’s attacks were highly influential in causing many to turn from Machiavelli and began a long tradition of automatic refusal of Machiavellianism in Europe, as well as the association of Machiavelli with Catholicism and actions perceived as “Machiavellian”. Thus, The Prince and its author quickly gained a self-reinforcing reputation of Italian Catholic villainy according to Protestants and of Protestant atheist heresy according to Catholics. This controversy and these attitudes inevitably coloured the popular imagination of what The Prince contained. Consequently, the European Churches and especially the Papacy objected to what was actually stated and implied in The Prince, and as both Protestants and Catholics used Machiavelli’s name as a term of slander to discredit their religious enemies, The Prince became embroiled in religious 5 Innocent Gentillet, Discours sur les moyens de bien gouverner et maintenir en bon paix un Royaume ou autre Principalité, Divisés un trois partis; asavoir du Conseil, de la Religion et Police que doit tenir un Prince. Contre Nicholas Machiavel Florentin6 Christopher Morris, Machiavelli’s Reputation in Tudor England

controversy due to the association of Machiavelli’s name with religious deviousness.

The Prince was also condemned in lay circles, although it is unlikely that their condemnation was uninfluenced by the political atmosphere and attitude of such a powerful entity as the Church. Machiavelli had explained concepts that were inflammatory for both religious and purely moral reasons; “he seemed to have disrupted the ordered, God-centred Catholic universe which imposed proper limits on purely human ambition and upon purely political values”7. Whether or not those who so freely criticised Machiavelli had in fact read only Innocent Gentillet’s treatise, (a thesis Edward Meyer began in 1897 by suggesting that this was the course of events amongst English noblemen), it is clear that The Prince shocked contemporary society. This controversy over immorality was heightened by the common perception of Italy. Englishmen of the period, in addition to the Protestant French amongst a large number of those who opposed Catholicism, associated Italians with the hated Papacy, political cunning and immorality. The Prince not only strengthened this attitude, it seemingly justified and even encouraged it. The moral questions surrounding Machiavelli were extended as he became the personification of all the evils attributed to Italy. For the nobility in particular, controversy over universal morals was heightened by another fear. Ambition and aspirations were not viewed as positive characteristics in countries where a system that was essentially feudal was beginning to disintegrate. Machiavelli seems to actively encourage the terrifying rise of self-made men, such as Wolsey and Cromwell. In the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the nobility were aware of the dawn of the age in which birth was not necessarily a prerequisite to power and of the threat such people would pose to them. Other morals than kindness were being disputed here; naturally a book that encouraged this threatening ambition would be condemned. However, Machiavelli’s theorems found some support. Sir Francis Bacon held a positive opinion of Machiavelli’s practicality. Henry Parker, Lord Morely, commended The Prince to Thomas Cromwell in 1537, as “a very special good thing for your lordship… as I suppose your self [sic] shall 7 Christopher Morris, ibid.

Why was Machiavelli’s book The Prince so controversial? | Bella Massam

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judge when ye have seen the same”. Interestingly, Bacon and Morely, amongst other Elizabethans such as the satirical dramatist John Marston, all took the position of admirers of Machiavelli’s pragmatism and honesty, and we know that at least two of Henry VIII’s officials could “quote Machiavelli with approval”8. Later, Spinoza’s representation of Machiavelli as a republican satirist indicates that the defence of Machiavelli was not confined to Britain. Nevertheless, that Voltaire aided Frederick the Great with the composition of a second Anti-Machiavel, a chapter-by-chapter refutation of The Prince, demonstrates that the traditional view of Machiavelli as a conniving and disreputable atheist was still widely accepted in Europe two hundred years after publication. Hence there was a strong moral controversy surrounding the book, over whether the ambition and pragmatism it advised was sinful, and whether its author was forgivable.

Due to the reputation of The Prince, people sought automatically to condemn it or feared to condone it; as Machiavelli’s name became a synonym for deviousness, the text became seen as morally indefensible even amongst those who had very little idea of what the treatise actually contained. Therefore, The Prince became continuously more controversial. This problem of reputation was increased by the religious

8 Christopher Morris, ibid.

propaganda, heavily influenced by Gentillet and Pole, condemning Machiavelli and ascribing The Prince to the opposing Church. This reputation for moral indefensibility was self-reinforcing. For many it became almost impossible to disassociate the infamous Florentine with The Prince due to the contemporary popular culture. The tradition of Machiavelli as a character, or a name that could immediately create association with villainy, is thought to have begun in earnest with Christopher Marlowe, who in writing The Jew of Malta became the first person to actually have a character on stage called Machiavel – evidently, by the first performance of this play in 1592 it was a sufficiently notorious name to be immediately recognised by the public and instantly associated with villainy. This demonstrates the growing reputation of The Prince as an immoral work and reflects the popular interpretations of Machiavelli and The Prince at that time. As Marlowe was one of the foremost playwrights of the day, his views would also have encouraged other dramatists to imitate the successful character and reference to the further detriment of the reputation of The Prince. The following lines demonstrate the hypocrisy surrounding Machiavelli at the time;

“Though some speak openly against my booksYet will they read me.”Other sections of the prologue delivered by

the character, such as references to the leader of the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacres, indicate the popularity of Gentillet’s thesis. It is estimated that Machiavelli is mentioned 400 times in Elizabethan drama, in which he was represented as Catholic, Jewish, Spanish, Italian, French, an atheist, a confidence trickster, a tyrant, an usurper, a conspirator, a rebel, a poisoner, an usurer, a bastard, an idiot and as a person of colour; all characteristics which the Elizabethans associated with villainy. This kind of all-pervasive notoriety would of course lead to Machiavelli’s works being automatically dismissed as evil by those who had not read them, and at least in part defended by those who had. The difficulties here added more controversy to The Prince, originally based upon its moral and religiously shocking content; due to what the name Machiavelli had come to be associated with, in comparison to what the book actually stated and the ostensible purposes of the work – and the fact that

Christopher Marlowe

Why was Machiavelli’s book The Prince so controversial? | Bella Massam

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despite its continually reported iniquity, it evidently continued to be read.

Having been roundly criticised by both the Protestant and Catholic churches, and its moral value earnestly debated, The Prince became a source of conflict amongst philosophers and theorists. Although The Prince seems to be guidance for tyrants, there remains a strong school of academic thought, originating with seventeenth and eighteenth-century republicans, holding that Machiavelli’s ideas in writing The Prince were fundamentally republican. This thesis was in accordance with the concepts that Machiavelli’s other works, such as The Discourses on Livy, may suggest, (“For a Monarchy readily becomes a Tyranny”) although it contrasted with those who feel that he aimed to promote absolute monarchy. For example, Rousseau “chose to reconcile The Prince with Machiavelli’s republican works by insisting that it was a “handbook for republicans” under the guise of giving advice to kings”9. Rousseau believed that by revealing the true nature of royal power, Machiavelli intended to spark a revolution, and went on to describe Machiavelli himself as “a good citizen”. Certainly, the last chapter of The Prince, in which Machiavelli asks for a strong and unified Italy rather than the complex division into kingdoms in the area at that time, leaves no doubt that Machiavelli was indeed an Italian nationalist. However, others such as Diderot and Spinoza thought that The Prince was a satire; “The Prince must have been intended as a satire to warn men of what tyrants could be and do, the better to resist them” [Spinoza]. This thesis is not incompatible with Rousseau’s conception of The Prince as a republican treatise, although it should not be considered identical as Rousseau advocated

9 LA McKenzie, Rousseau’s Debate with Machiavelli in the Social Contract

a new reading of Machiavelli that would see The Prince as a genuine cry for a republic based upon those who can be so powerful; “when the people are adverse the prince can never be safe” [Chapter 9, The Prince]. Thus there was a minor controversy amongst these philosophers. Nevertheless, these two similar theses are also controversial when considered together, because their central idea has been widely criticised as groundless; “a picture prepared for the people would hardly have been consigned to the custody of a single individual, and least of all to that of him who would have the

most to apprehend from its publicity”10. This conflict over noble republicanism also seems incompatible with the continued perception, beginning with Gentillet’s Anti-Machiavel, continuing through Frederick the Great’s treatise, and lasting until present-day academic circles, that Machiavelli was simply teaching immorality; for a recent example, “We have noted his [Strauss’] intent to prove that Machiavelli’s teaching is both immoral and

irreligious”11. During the period that Rousseau, Diderot and Spinoza defended Machiavelli, many still believed that “Machiavelli was the main source of… tyranny… justified arbitrary rule”12. Montesquieu’s cautious attitude demonstrated the force of Machiavelli’s reputation; he “disassociated [sic] Machiavelli from Machiavellism [sic] … but declined to offer testimony in Machiavelli’s defense [sic] … Doubtless his primary reason was that he feared the negative force of Machiavelli’s reputation. Voltaire… was quick to charge guilt by association”13 and Voltaire’s influence with the Anti-Machiavel seems to show that he was as 10 Machiavelli (from an article in The North American Review, 1835)11 Robert McShea, Leo Strauss on Machiavelli12 LA McKenzie, ibid.13 LA McKenzie, ibid.

Lorenzo de’ Medici

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opposed to The Prince having any sort of moral as Diderot, Rousseau and Spinoza were convinced it was in written in accord with republicanism. Hence it is clear that the Enlightenment philosophers held incompatible views on the ultimate purpose of Machiavelli’s work, despite the assertion in the Introduction that seems to indicate that Machiavelli’s object was to ingratiate himself with the new Prince; “Being ambitious to present myself to your Highness with some testimony of my devotions towards you” [The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli to the Most Illustrious Lorenzo, Son of Piero de’ Medici]. Thus it is clear that controversy over Machiavelli’s own intentions has played a large part in the modern-day reading of the text; these differing interpretations have divided theorists and academics since The Prince became available to them.

In conclusion, since its publication in 1532, Machiavelli’s book The Prince has been controversial at different times for different classes of people. Upon its publication in Italy it was met with a storm of protest in the Church. The Prince contradicted all that the Church taught; in the treatise, Machiavelli ignores, criticises or condemns the concepts of kindness to others, respect for the Papacy and belief in the Pope’s right to ecclesiastical kingdoms. Such a work was unlikely to be tolerated for a long period of time by a Papacy that felt itself threatened by the rise of the Reformation. This controversy quickly came to be involved in the much wider religious controversy of Catholics and Protestants. Both churches accused the other of having been influenced by the immoral work. Contemporarily,

the book raised criticism in England and in France for its immorality, whilst other notaries chose to defend it. This issue was complicated by the popular image of the book’s author and its contents which was further corrupted by Elizabethan dramatists and the continuing influences of Pole and Gentillet. As can be seen by Frederick the Great’s decision to pen an Anti-Machiavel over two centuries since the publication of The Prince, this moral dilemma continued in strength for many years. Around the time of the publication of the second Anti-Machiavel, European philosophers began to theorize in earnest about Machiavelli’s intention in writing The Prince. Whether Machiavelli did intend to manipulate his way back into a political position, to inspire the Risorgimento almost four hundred years too soon, or merely to teach immorality caused controversy amongst Enlightenment thinkers as the question still does amongst today’s academics. It is fascinating to note an American newspaper of 1835 describe how “the dark colouring with which calumny had surrounded him, has passed away … [from] the dignified and faithful ambassador of his country…the versatile genius”. However, modern connotations of the adjective “Machiavellian” demonstrate that the perception of The Prince remains even to this day highly influenced by the critics and slanderers such as Marlowe, Pole and Gentillet. For much of the controversy that surrounds The Prince today is indistinguishable from Machiavelli’s not entirely deserved nefarious reputation, which links inextricably to the ethical dilemma with which the author confronts us.

Florence in the 15th century

Why was Machiavelli’s book The Prince so controversial? | Bella Massam

12 QUORUM

“THE PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE AGREEMENT IS A ‘GAME-CHANGER’ AND WILL ENSURE GLOBAL

ACTION TO LIMIT CARBON EMISSIONS.” DISCUSS

Valery EroshenkoHighly commended: Fitzwilliam College, Oxford

Land Economy Essay Competition

It is not a secret that the modern world develops exponentially, and therefore it is tremendously important to keep the inputs and outputs of

material in equilibrium without them clashing too much. By “material” we could mean many things: energy, fuels, biomass, carbon dioxide. Even though the carbon cycle is a closed system, it changes dynamically within itself. Nowadays, the problem of global warming is met with serious concern for various reasons. From 1880 to 2012, the average global temperature increased by 0.85°C. Oceans have become warmer, the amount of snow

and ice has diminished and the sea level has risen. From 1901 to 2010, the global average sea level rose by 19cm as oceans expanded due to warming, glacier calving and melting. The sea ice extent in the Arctic has shrunk in every successive decade since 1979, with 1.07 × 106 km² of ice loss per decade. Most aspects of climate change will persist for many centuries, even if emissions are stopped at this moment. The average global sea level has risen nearly 178mm over the past 100 years. Aquifers containing reserves of drinking water will be contaminated with salted sea water as a result.

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Some communities are already investing in costly desalination plants in anticipation of hard times ahead, however this process is very expensive and time-consuming.

What makes CO2 so harmful for the environment? It is the ability of carbon dioxide to reflect UV light, prohibiting the reflected sun rays from leaving the stratosphere, which leads to the troposphere warming up as if in a greenhouse. Moreover, the lifespan of CO2 is uncommonly long, compared to other gases. It is removed from the atmosphere by slower processes that take up to several hundreds of thousands of years, such as chemical weathering and rock formation. Between 65% and 80% of CO2 available in the air is dissolved in the ocean over a period of 20–200 years. All of that means that once in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide can continue to affect the climate for thousands of years.

Nowadays, when the carbon dioxide levels in the air are at their highest in 650,000 years, it is time for action to take place. The Paris Climate Change Agreement is the international climate regime, which is built upon a clear understanding of the threats posed by climate change. It entered into force on 4 November 2016. It was the first time all the major carbon-emitting nations agreed to stand together and publicly acknowledged the threat climate change poses for the global community. The language and tone of the conference and the subsequent report indicated a real change of direction and also set an unexpectedly ambitious goal. The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change. It does so by keeping global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, the Agreement aims to provide the support and finances as means for countries to efficiently fight this problem and overcome its impacts with a climate-resilient pathway. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate mobilisation and provision of financial resources, a new technology framework and enhanced capacity-building are to be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. Moreover, each country must produce a

climate action plan, known as an INDC, and will be responsible for reporting their progress every 5 years. The EU has led the way with an ambitious aim: to reduce carbon and other gas emissions by 40% over the next 15 years.

Why can this be a possible game changer? First of all, the three things that really distinguish this agreement from any previous are transparency, support and adequateness.

The backbone of the Paris Agreement is the transparency mechanism, which is fully described in Article 13. Because of a principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), INDCs or the Parties’ Intended Nationally Determined Contributions will restrain a huge amount of variance in both format and ambition. This used to be a nightmare for transparency and accounting, presenting the erosion of governmental authority and promoting corruption. Finally, the new transparency mechanism has been introduced, which is going to be negotiated by 2018, and fully adopted in 2020. People are becoming aware of what actions have been taken to be able to contribute. There are verifications and certifications of emissions reduction, including a mechanism that promotes compliance in a non-adversarial manner, and reports annually to the COP. Result-based payments have been introduced, which even further supports the effectiveness of a treatment, motivating the country and highlighting the transparency of all of the operations.

The agreement requests the secretariat to systematically publish on the UNFCCC website all parties’ low greenhouse gas emission development strategies as communicated, in order to facilitate clarity and understanding. This would include quantifiable data on the time frames, planning processes, limitations, assumptions and methodological approaches. Moreover, there would be an estimation and accounting for anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and, as appropriate, removals. All of the above would reflect how the party considers that its nationally determined contribution is fair and ambitious.

The Kyoto Protocol, which was the first attempt to combat the greenhouse effect, was adopted in 1997, with a target to commit its parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets. Twenty years have passed and the world is still

The Paris Climate Change Agreement is a ‘game-changer’. Discuss | Valery Eroshenko

14 QUORUM

fighting to strengthen the global response in the Paris Agreement.

By support, I mean finances and their contribution to allow low-income countries to participate in the convention as they have certified strategies and regulations. The Paris Agreement sets a newly qualified goal of 100 billion US dollars, taking into account the needs of developing countries. Incentives for reducing emissions from deforestation and sustainable management of forests by the Green Climate Fund have been introduced. Parties also submit to the secretariat their nationally determined contributions, for example sustainability plans and deforestation fines at least 12 months in advance of the meeting, therefore we can see there is more control.

Adequateness is key, meaning that the achievable goals can be reached step by step. Carbon dioxide removal is a very delicate process, especially when everything in the world is interrelated. The issue has gone so far that it is absolutely impossible to aim for big reductions in a small time, as it used to be in the past. The agreement provides a schedule for member-countries to take stock of their emissions reduction commitments and make extra pledges.

The long-term target of the convention is to send a bold signal to the world’s financial markets that fossil fuels or any other forms of non-renewable energy sources are on their way out, and that there should be a massive increase in investment in clean energy. One of the most prominent achievements of the Paris Agreement was the dissolution of the ‘one size fits all’ model of international environmental

policy in favour of a more manifold and inclusive approach.

Parties are ready to carry out further actions in all aspects of their objective such as agriculture, energy and natural resources. They are trying to popularise eco-education in public places and introduce eco-tourism, reinforcing fines for ‘carbon-positive’ tourists. The Convention also obliges parties to share technology and to cooperate in other ways to reduce GHG emissions, especially from energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste management.

However, this agreement contains quite a broad range of disadvantages, the severity of which may lead to a failure. To deliver and plan the actual work of cutting emissions, member governments will require outstanding levels of support from finance, industry, infrastructure and energy technologists, not to mention the private sector. Only by creating a mechanism for those fields to work together will it be possible to bring the agreement to fruition. Some would argue that the Paris Agreement alone will barely get human society started on the road to dealing with the global warming issue. The aims are too weak and the governance is too uncertain.

Moreover, a moral issue arises. While the USA and other developed nations are able to cut their emissions, countries like China and India did not have enough time in the past to industrialise and invest in their trade, whereas now they are evolving exponentially. Is it right to prohibit them from economic opportunities by cutting their emissions, especially in countries with such large populations? The Agreement as it stands will not prevent a

The Paris Climate Change Agreement is a ‘game-changer’. Discuss | Valery Eroshenko

catastrophe. The UN itself is clear that the current pledges of emissions cuts do not yet set the world on course for a 1.5 Celsius temperature rise. We are heading instead for a 2.6 Celsius rise. Of 161 countries who have submitted data, just eight reach the category of ‘fully consistent’. Roughly half the countries are ‘not consistent’, and so are on a 2.5–3 Celsius pathway. The remaining 45%, which includes South Africa, Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea, are so inadequate as to place us on a 3–4 Celsius trajectory.

The US has always been one of the biggest carbon emitter, and due to Obama’s carbon action plan it had a chance to develop into a ‘carbon-positive’ nation. However, the new president does not seem quite as keen on resolving the global problem. Mr Trump, whose words have recently become a very hot topic, called climate change a “hoax invented by the Chinese”. Mr President has promised to undo Obama’s climate action plan and defund UN climate change orgainsations, which might be one of the reasons for the failure of the Paris Agreement, as America is one of the biggest investors.

The skills that are vital to negotiate the agreement differ from those needed to deliver it. The economic upswing opportunities are obtainable. For example, investment in renewable energy continues to grow. In 2015 it was $286 billion, compared with just $130 billion for fossil fuel power plants. Even though plants for renewables are costly, they do not need any additional outlay as such. Wind plants, solar panels and tidal power do not have any running costs. Forecasts expect $12.1 trillion

will need to be invested in the next 25 years – now renewables make economic sense there is no reason for that new energy infrastructure to be anything other than clean. Our main objective is to make it actually happen. On the other hand, the new ideology has even drawn in sub-national participants and has introduced huge revenue streams. By the time COP21 started the NAZCA portal, listed nearly 11,000 commitments from 2,250 cities, 2,025 companies and 424 investors.

The Paris Agreement supplies a framework, allowing individual countries and alliances of countries to achieve the overall goal of the Convention and the Agreement according to their own capacities. The risk remains, however, in the negligent and irresponsible attitude and insufficient contribution of individual countries to the overall goal. Without enough financial

and active support, and collective effort, the Paris Agreement will remain a hollow shell unable to address the issue of climate change.

In the long term, the collaborative approach of the Paris Agreement should provide a sound basis for international cooperation on climate change. In a positive prognosis, the INDCs should become more ambitious and far reaching, given that the climate change mitigation costs have decreased due to the willing support of technological advancements and alternative energy systems. The current goal is achievable, but only as long as the countries consider themselves responsible for the diligent adherence to the plan.

The Paris Climate Change Agreement is a ‘game-changer’. Discuss | Valery Eroshenko

16 QUORUM

HOW IS BRITAIN CHANGING?

Alice BakerRoyal Geographical Society

Young Geographer of the Year Award Entrant

Britain has changed significantly in the past 300 years. We have been through the industrial revolution, two world wars and, most recently, a referendum that will change British society as we know

it today.One of the most prevailing issues facing Britain is migration, with

EU net migration at around 180,000 since 2015. In 2011 the UK had the second highest population of foreign born people (8.0 million) after Germany (11.3 million). The UK also had the third highest population of foreign nationals (5.1 million) after Germany (6.1 million) and Spain (5.2 million).

A recent study revealed that of the British population, 76% want immigration reduced, 4% wanted it increased. 14% want it unchanged. So what are the arguments for and against and what does it all mean for Britain?

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Increase in Labour Force and total domestic demand Between September 2013 and September 2014, the majority of non-British citizens came in order to find a job. 36% came to study and only 16% arrived for family reasons. This means that migrants are most likely to be of a working age, resulting in an increase in the labour force and a greater potential output capacity for the British economy. Data has also shown that the number of working-age foreign-born people in the UK increased from 2.9 million in 1993 to 6.6 million in 2014 which has helped contribute to the growth in our economy.

As well as providing labour, migrants also increase spending within the UK economy, meaning there is a higher demand for labour.

Dependency ratio and educationWith an ageing population, the UK dependency ratio is set to rise but migration helps to reduce this problem by increasing the number of younger people in the country, thus increasing the number of (working) people who pay income tax.

Between 2010 and 2011 there were 428,225 international students studying in the Britain. These foreign students contribute £2.5bn each year in university fees which helps finance higher education across the country.

Social issuesMany believe the current scale of immigration is unsustainable and there are concerns over the impacts that mass migration might bring and how they can be dealt with.

The UK has always had periods of migration, but never at its current rate and this has resulted in rapid population growth. The UK population currently stands at around 65 million and the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has predicted that if migration continues at the present levels, the population will grow by around 500 000 each year. This would mean that 15 years from now the population would have increased by 8 million and of that figure,75% will have been caused by future migrants and their children. So what’s the problem?

England is already a densely populated country suffering from housing shortages, and with the population growing by the equivalent of a new city the size of Liverpool every year, it is increasingly difficult to meet the increased demand on resources.

To cope, huge amounts of money would have to be invested in the expansion of schools, roads, rail, health etc. but even the extra tax revenue would not be enough for the development of such infrastructure.

To meet the increased need for housing, it is estimated that Britain needs to build 240 000 homes each year (nearly one every two minutes) and official data shows that over the last 15 years, two thirds of the additional households in the UK were sold to immigrants. But to accommodate the surge in the population, we may be forced to build on greenfield sites. Greenfield sites are areas of land which are currently protected by laws restricting urban sprawl and they provide a ‘breathing space’ in the ever industrialising world. But ultimately, with such high levels of migration, we won’t have a choice and even though environmentally it may not be preferable, we will be forced to exploit these areas.

Are we losing our national identity?Another issue that divides public opinion is the effect migrants have on the British culture. While some argue that immigrants create a richer society, others feel that they are a source of tension and mistrust. Over the past years, Britain has become a much more ethnically diverse nation with more than 300 languages spoken on a daily basis. With this in mind, it might be surprising to discover that in a recent poll, 95% thought that it was either very important or fairly important that migrants had an ability to speak English to become ‘truly British’. However, the greater the number of new arrivals, the harder it is for everyone to become fully integrated in British society.

The growing population in Britain (caused, in part, by immigration) has also put considerable strain on the country’s infrastructure. Services such as social housing, hospitals, education, GP surgeries and public transport are all under pressure and, in 2011, 76% of the public thought that immigration put too much pressure on services. In 2014, 59% of people thought that migrants should have to wait at least a year before being able to use public services. On the other hand, although migrants contribute to demand on the NHS, many argue that without migrant workers, the NHS would collapse given that 26% of doctors are born abroad.

How is Britain changing? | Alice Baker

18 QUORUM

UK’s approachThe current UK immigration policy aims to balance the costs of migration with the benefits and only allows certain migrants into the country. But it hasn’t always been that way. In the 1960/1970s a migration policy emerged which focused on limitation and integration. The laws had a ‘zero net immigration’ goal and had an antidiscriminative approach. These policies remained much the same until the late 80s when legislation changed in response to an influx of asylum seekers from Germany and Yugoslavia.

When Labour came into power in 1997, they adopted a much more liberal approach to immigration in an attempt to increase economic migration into the country. Workers were given visas based on their skills, regardless of whether or not they had a job offer.

The government achieved their target to boost numbers of migrants and the graph below illustrates this growth in the foreign population of Britain:

1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011

Percentage of the population of England and Wales that was foreign born, 1851-2011Graph from Migration Watch UK

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Glossary

migrationthe movement of people across national or international boundaries to establish a new permanent place of residence

net migration the difference between immigration and emigration

migrantany person who has moved across a national or international boundary

asylum seekera person who has been forced to flee from their country to seek refuge but is not yet accepted as a refugee

refugeea person who cannot return home because of the fear of prosecution

Elements of the UK’s most recent policy include; restrictions on asylum seekers (accepting only genuine applicants), a points-based system which favours those with skills, education and earning

potential and the worker registration scheme (WRS) which allows migrants from some eastern European states to move to the UK to fill low-skill, low-wage employment gaps.

How is Britain changing? | Alice Baker

19 QUORUM

The 5-tier points based system was introduced in the UK in 2008 to categorise non-EU immigrants:

Tier 1 Highly skilled individualsTier 2 Skilled workers with a job offer to fill gaps

in the UK labour forceTier 3 Limited numbers of low-skilled workers

needed to fill specific temporary labour shortages

Tier 4 StudentsTier 5 Youth mobility and temporary workers

allowed to work in the UK for a limited period of time

However, this policy does not apply to other members of the European Union. Particularly with Romania and Bulgaria gaining EU status, there has been a rise in the number of migrants moving more freely across our borders.

European migrationIn the most recent referendum debating whether the UK should remain in the EU, one of the main issues raised was migration. EU migration to the

UK has increased significantly in the past 20 years. In 2015 just over 3 million people born in other EU countries were living in the UK (an increase of 1.9 million since 2003). EU migration now makes up around half of the number of people immigrating to the UK and it is estimated that the Net migration of EU citizens was 178,000 in 2014, 123,000 more than in 2013. So what is it about Britain that attracts these migrants?The key attributes of Britain are:

Growing economyRecord high levels of employmentHigher wages than other European countries

Do local figures match up?The ONS estimates that from 2014-2015, there was a net inflow to Hertfordshire of 5,300 international migrants. This compares to net international immigration of 1,600 2 years previously, showing that South East England is following the trend of increased levels of migration across the UK.

Additionally, similar to overall migration patterns, the majority of immigrants in the East of England are middle-aged (see graph below) and have moved to Britain to find work.

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5 to 90 to 5

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Non-UK born by age and sex: East of England 2011Chart provided by migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk

How is Britain changing? | Alice Baker

20 QUORUM

Statistics also suggest that Poland has now overtaken India as the most common non-UK country of birth for people living in Britain. Following this progression, in Hertfordshire, the largest groups of applicants for national insurance were from Poland (620 people), India (350) and China (120).

This map, taken from OpenStreetMap, represents the extent to which migration has affected areas in Britain. As is shown on the map, the Welwyn-Hatfield region (circled) has seen high levels of migration in the past decade.

International Migration

Low High

I have seen, first hand, the increased ethnic diversity in my local community. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of Polish products being sold in local chain stores, as well as a new Polish supermarket which opened earlier this year.

In addition, Turkish restaurants have also opened in both Hatfield and Hertford. Other than increased diversity in foreign cuisine it is noticeable that the majority of workers at the local carwash are European migrants.

What next?Successive waves of immigration since the Second World War have transformed the cultural landscape of the Britain we know today. We have gone from being an agricultural nation, through an industrial revolution, to being a culturally diverse. Linguists are now predicting that by 2066, the “th” sound will vanish completely in England because of the extent of multiculturalism.

Immigration is a significant issue in modern Britain, 50% of the population chose immigration as the most important issue facing them and their family - higher than the economy (46%) and the Health Service (42%). Following Brexit, new EU migration policies are uncertain and it is difficult to predict any effect that it may have on total immigration.

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Country of Birth Passport Held

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Top non-UK countries of birth: East of England 2011Chart provided by migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk

How is Britain changing? | Alice Baker

21 QUORUM

WHY DID EARLY MODERN PEOPLE ACCUSE THEIR NEIGHBOURS OF

BEING WITCHES?

Eleanor SmalleyPeterhouse College, CambridgeVellacott History Prize Entrant

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Between 1450 and 1750, ecclesiastical and secular courts tried and executed tens of thousands of people throughout Europe for

the crime of witchcraft. Witchcraft was, in its most basic form, harmful or black magic: the alleged infliction of physical harm or misfortune by one person on another. It often took the form of either a spell or a curse, referred to as maleficium. Educated Europeans believed the witch’s maleficent power, at least during the early modem period, to have been acquired by a pact with the Devil. The other form was Diabolism, which applied to those who were accused of witchcraft upon the conviction that they met with the Devil and other members of the chosen sect at a secret assembly referred to as the Sabbat. To explore why people accused their neighbours of being witches in the early modern period it is essential to look at the influences at the time: that of the Reformation spanning from 1520-1650 and the subsequent effect that had on the changing nature of theology and demonology; furthermore, the reinforcement of these beliefs through powerful figures such as James I and the impact he had on the volumes of witch-hunts. A lot can also be said about the social and economic changes occurring at the time sparking cause for accusations and the fear that this created as a result of many accusations being made with little evidence.

The leading reason so many people accused their neighbours was because they genuinely believed that there were witches amongst them and this belief surged from a fear of the devil, as a witch was considered to be a devil-worshipper and guilty of lèse majesté or treason against God.1 Yet the ruling elite who at the time were troubled by the fear of rebellion, treason and unrest implemented this fear. Their impact is evident when you look at when the belief of witchcraft began to circulate. This is considered to be signalled by a papal bull issued in December 1484 by Pope Innocent VIII demonstrating the beginning of serious official action against witches2. This enters a time in Europe when there was great instability and persistent rebellions, such as the Wars of the Roses in the mid-1400s and subsequent English Civil War in mid 1600s. The ruling elite throughout Europe were so

1 Leutenbauer, Hexerei- und Zaubereidelikt2 Tracy Borman, (2013) James I and the English Witch-Hunts

fearful about these disturbances and therefore determined to cast out these rebellious witches and ensure the population knew they were devil-worshippers that needed to be abolished.

As many rulers are obsessed with power, they become paranoid and a prime example of this is James I of England (previously James VI of Scotland) who in 1597 published Daemonologie literally meaning ‘the science of demons’, his denial of Reginald Scot’s sceptical work, The Discoverie of Witchcraft, which questioned the existence of witches.3 James developed the ideas found in his book after he became convinced that a coven of witches was involved in political conspiracy against him.4 This belief was instilled firstly when he almost lost his fiancé in 1590, Anne of Denmark, when she was sailing across the North Sea. James determined to collect her in person sailed across Denmark to get her but on their return voyage the royal fleet was battered by more storms and one of the ships were lost. James immediately placed the blame on witches and further to this other cases presented to him such as a suspected local housemaid, Geillis Duncan, confessing in 1590 to being a witch, after having endured great lengths of torture, led him to 3 Mary Sharratt, King James I: Demonologisthttp://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2014/07/king-james-i-demonologist.html4 C. Larner, ‘James VI and I and Witchcraft’http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/stuart-england/james-i-and-witchcraft/

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be convinced of their existence. He published his beliefs in a book: Daemonologie, which presented the idea of a vast conspiracy of satanic witches threatening to undermine the nation. James’ book had a clear impact in Scotland, which was one of the most active witch-hunting region, where up to 4,000 people were burnt, more than double the rate in England.5

In 1604, just a year after James ascended to the English throne, he passed his new Witchcraft Act making hanging obligatory for a first offence of witchcraft, even if the accused had not committed murder. An example of this is the case of the Witches of Belvoir, where nine women were hanged as witches in Leicestershire for accusations of having bewitched a young boy and said to have kept cats as familiars.6 If the witch in question was found to have the devil’s mark on their body, it was enough to sentence them to death. This devil or witches mark was thought to be the initiating mark the Devil placed on the witches’ body as a seal of their pledge of obedience and service to him. Such marks were considered proof that the person was a witch and individuals accused of witchcraft in trials were thoroughly searched for such marks. Scars, birthmarks, natural blemishes, and insensitive patches of skin that failed to bleed qualified as Devil’s marks. Despite a firm belief at the time that natural blemishes were clearly distinguishable from Satan’s mark often this was not the case, as victims would protest that marks found on their bodies were natural however, they were often ignored.7

James’s new act was quick to take effect. A wave of witchcraft cases were brought before the courts across the kingdom.8 One of which, the 1612 5 Tracy Borman, (2013) James I and the English Witch-Hunts 6 “Witchcraft In Leicestershire”. Bygone Leicestershire7 Guiley, Rosemary Ellen The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft. New York: Facts On File 1989. p. 99 8 Tracy Borman, (2013) Witches: a tale of Sorcery, Scandal and Seduction

Pendle Witch case, one of the most famous examples of the period, demonstrated how the widespread hysteria on witches meant people were even confessing themselves as being witches as they genuinely believed they possessed the powers associated. The protagonist in this case, Alison Device, had allegedly cursed a pedlar who had

refused to give her some pins. When the pedlar later suffered a stroke, Alison believed it was a result of her curse and racked with guilt confessed to being a witch, and in her subsequent trial incriminated other members of her family, who in turn named other village members. Thus, eight women and two men were hanged.9

Daemonologie had been reprinted twice during the year of his accession in 1603, and this had prompted a huge reappearance of pamphlets about witchcraft in England. These small works were overwhelmingly effective in whipping up popular fear, anger and hatred towards those

accused of witchcraft. In New England between the years of 1620-1725, 342 people were accused of witchcraft.10  This demonstrates the extent of James’ influence on society in stimulating the persecution of witchcraft, as his territories as far as New England were affected. It is clear to see James’ influence on witch-hunting through his beliefs and subsequent publishing of these beliefs in his book were fundamental in the rise of witch-hunting. The position James was in is key to describing why he had such an influence. James was in a position to enforce his theories not only on his nobles and on his council whom surrounded him and who would have been heavily influenced but also the rest of the country being made aware of the presence of witches among them, evident by the fact his book 9 Dr Robert Poole and Charlotte Hodgman, History explorer: the Pendle Witcheshttp://www.historyextra.com/article/premium/history-explorer-pendle-witches10 Brian P Levack (2006) The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe

Why did early modern people accuse their neighbours of being witches? | Eleanor Smalley

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was reprinted twice. Anyone disagreeing with him was essentially going against the views of the king something made punishable.

Once the idea of witches had become widespread, people began finding witches as a solution to personal guilt or grievances and witches became an effective source of blame. People had come to believe witches were certainly among them and needed to be eradicated and that those who doubted their existence were in danger of themselves being accused of being in league with the devil. Early modern people looked to their neighbours for support and loyalty as often family was scattered and distant.11 Therefore, relations with neighbours were close and could often descend into arguments and allegations and those offended would then find revenge in accusing their neighbour of being a witch, acting maleficently against them, something that was happening everywhere. In the Holy Roman Empire for example between the years of 1530-1730 it is recorded that 23,652 people were accused and in Hungary between 1520-1777, 1,542 were accused.12

Not only neighbourly vengeance but also often witchcraft and witches acted as a solution to personal catastrophe so the belief of witchcraft offered an explanation for these often-unexpected events and hunting them down provided a remedy. Such catastrophes included things like the death of a family member or farm animal, 11 Susan Brigden (2001) New Worlds, Lost Worlds12 Brian P Levack (2006) The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe

fire, contraction of disease and theft. Witches offered a target to blame for such calamities that struck families and communities in the early modern period. Furthermore, the Reformation influenced popular belief, as it seemed the clash between established Catholicism and emergent Protestantism contributed to the collapse of a stable world-view, which eventually led to panic and hyper-suspiciousness on the part of Catholic and Protestant authorities alike.13 Not only this, but at this time in history diseases were rife, wiping out whole families and communities, therefore people were fearful of catching one and by hunting down and casting out witches they felt they were removing this possibility. The development of blaming witches for family misfortune, although likely to be the most common trigger of the European witch-hunt, was not the only cause. Sometimes individuals, knowing the consequences of those being accused of witchcraft, would accuse someone on grounds of advancing a political career for example if the person they were accusing was a political rival or economic competitor. In some cases, families would even accuse each other of such a crime if they were in conflict to resolve their differences and cast revenge on them.

Very often, it was old women who were accused, specifically old, poor women who possessed one of the few forms of evidence: a cat or bodily

13 Jenny Gibbons, Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt

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blemish.14 Poor women in a community would usually ask around for aid and was very likely to be denied. Thus, when something catastrophic occurred to a family they would link this to it being a witch seeking her vengeance on them for denying her aid. These poor women were also easy targets as they were often poor and had no man in the form of protection so many of the accused fell into this category. An example of such a case is linked to Matthew Hopkins known as the ‘witch-finder general’ operating from 1645 to 1646 and becoming known as one of the most feared men in Eastern Europe. Hopkins’ witch-hunting spree was brief but significant: 300 convictions and deaths are attributed to his work.15 His first victim carried the description of many of the victims being a poor, old woman called Elizabeth Clarke who was also disabled with only one leg. She was cantankerous and hated by the community who wanted rid of her but the only way they could have her convicted was to have evidence. Matthew Hopkins came with a passionate belief in the righteousness of his actions and felt it was his duty to God to seek to eliminate these servants to the devil. He heard of how the community felt about Clarke in 1645 and sent a group of women to search her for witch’s marks. Once this form of evidence had been uncovered, Hopkin needed a confession from Elizabeth. He set about using subtle methods of torture such as starvation and sleep deprivation as torture was illegal in England at the time. Eventually he obtained from her a confession as well as the naming of five other women who were part of her supposed coven.16 Matthew Hopkins had made a name for himself, striving to ensure a suspected witch was convicted. With this approach people would’ve relied on him and many other witch-hunters like Hopkins to ensure whomever they wanted condemned they would find a way to prove their guilt. Largely, Hopkins himself and the places he was employed to operate in presumed a certainty of finding witches and this became a self-fulfilling expectation, effectively it became an official form of blame

14 Brian P Levack (2006) The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe15 Sharpe, James (2002), “The Lancaster witches in historical context”16 George Knowles, Witch finder Generalhttp://www.witchtrials.co.uk/matthew.html

through accusation.Demonic possession, where a demonic spirit

enters the body of an individual and takes over their movements and personality, was a phenomenon witches were held responsible for in the early modern period. This attack on the body resulted in various contortions, fits and other physical afflictions. Although it may seem that witchcraft and possession are unlinked, as someone who is possessed has no control over their action where as a witch does, it was often that witches were accused of causing the possession. There was a traditional belief that a demon could enter a persons’ body as a result of a witch’s command.17 Therefore most of the witchcraft cases that began with incidents of possession lead to the prosecution of a single individual this could be seen in a number of cases of possession that occurred in France where witches were held directly responsible. The possession of nuns at Aix-en-Provence in 1611 led to the torture, confession and execution of Father Louis Gaufried the following year. 18

Much of the witchcraft accusations were prompted by much social and economic change that was occurring in this period of history and the subsequent difficult times people were living through. As mentioned it was often the poorest of people that were accused and it was inflation that would have caused such poverty. This inflation would have been down to growing populations stretching supply. Furthermore, economic crises like famine and the outbreak of disease as well as disturbances as a result of war would’ve all contributed to the surge of witch-hunts. When looking at the 1612 Pendle Witch case, the pressures on Pendle’s upland ‘cattle and cloth economy’ is thought to be very much linked to the individual accusations in the 1612 trial. A high proportion of the witchcraft cases in Pendle involved disputes over money and property or misfortunes involving milk and cattle, arguing that social and economic pressures influenced the events of 1612. Magical powers, offered or threatened, were themselves part of the local economy, what might be called a black

17 Brian P Levack (1996) Possession, Witchcraft, and the law in Jacobean England 18 Brian P Levack (2006) The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe

Why did early modern people accuse their neighbours of being witches? | Eleanor Smalley

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economy of witchcraft.19 Whilst not being the leading cause the economic situation would have heightened different problems, acting as a symptom rather than a reason for accusations.

Wolfgang Behringer has drawn a relationship between high volumes of witch-hunts and harsh climatic conditions.20 Witch-hunts did tend to be individual accusations but often accusations were made by a whole community and triggered by something that affected everyone such as a hailstorm, which could destroy an entire crop within minutes.21 It cannot be ignored that in the time of the great witch-hunts many fundamental changes were happening across Europe possibly more extensive changes than any other period in history before the Industrial Revolution. 22 It would have created a great fear, certainly among those who couldn’t cope with the uncertainty of the new world. Such a mood has led this period in Europe to become known as the ‘Age of Anxiety’23. The dominance of this anxiety created an aura that would have greatly advocated witch-hunting.

There is debate and speculation over what influence the Reformation and organised religion had on the witch-hunt as opposed to simply existing folk beliefs. The Reformation, a period that spanned from 1520-1650 across Europe, restored the Church to its early Christian purity (in the eyes of its reformers).  It denied the efficacy of Indulgences, redefined the meaning of the sacraments, eliminated or drastically altered the Roman Catholic mass, and changed the role of the clergy. It is during these years that witch-hunting was most concentrated and there is a belief that it was the Reformation that served as the main springboard for the entire European Witch hunt.24 However, scholars have challenged any connection. Robert Thurston argues that as the trials for witchcraft pre-dated 19 Robert Poole, The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories 20 W. Behringer, ‘Weather, hunger and fear: Origins of the European witch-hunts in climate, society and mentality’, German society 21 Brian P Levack (2006) The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe22 Brian P Levack (2006) The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe23 White, ‘Death and the Devil’ in The Darker Vision of the Renaissance24 Brian P Levack (2006) The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe

the Reformation, religious reform had little to do with early modern witch-hunts.25 This argument seems inconsistent firstly as witchcraft prosecutions did increase during the first four decades of the Reformation, especially in the Holy Roman Empire, where the number of prosecutions had entered a period of decline before the turn of the sixteenth century. Between 1520 and 1560, most secular and ecclesiastical authorities were more concerned with real heretical sects than with witches, but a significant number of witch-trials did take place across Europe during these decades. Secondly, witchcraft trials intensified greatly after 1560, exactly at the time when confessional divisions throughout Europe hardened.26

With the Protestant’s strong emphasis on the literal meaning of scriptures, the command in

25 Robert W. Thurston, The Witch Hunts: A History of the Witch Persecutions in Europe and North America (Harlow, 2007), 143–4. 26 Gary L. Waite, Sixteenth-century religious reform and the witch-hunts

Why did early modern people accuse their neighbours of being witches? | Eleanor Smalley

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Exodus 22:18: “thou shall not suffer a witch to live,” was broadcast. Both John Calvin and Martin Luther described their personal encounters with the devil and witches. Those areas of recent conversion to Protestantism, and where competition between Catholics and Protestants was most rigorous for people’s religious loyalties, there were more accusations, prosecutions and deaths. There is certainly evidence to suggest that the influence of Protestantism influenced the magnitude of witch-hunts. States, which remained Catholic such as Spain and Italy, seemed relatively unaffected by the Reformation and have some of the lowest rates of witch-accusations, Spain recording 3687 and Italy 2193+. Despite their large populations this was small in comparison to that of Germany, England and Scotland.27

A series of religious wars, revolts, and reforms followed the Reformation throughout Europe. Simultaneously, there was contentious and aggressive incidents, intellectuals and literate people were starting to propose ideas and theories about the natural world, in a movement later identified as the Scientific Revolution. Adding in the events relating to witches, which scholars will name the Witchcraft Craze, and it is undisputable that additional bizarre times occurred. 28

An important point to make regarding the Reformation is that when the Catholic Church was removed, the whole ceremony and superstition was removed along with it. In the Catholic Church, there were lots of practices that were largely superstitious like having to forgive your sins, praying to saints, visiting pilgrimage tombs and the occurrence of miracles. These superstitions had been believed for hundreds of years. Once the reformation took place it removed all the ceremony, candles, incense and praying that had occurred in the Catholic Church leaving a reformed church based only on the bible and the word of God. Thus, all the ceremonial superstition was removed but people’s beliefs did not just stop and it left people looking for somewhere to go for their cures. Therefore, after the Reformation, the church 27 Anne Llewellyn Barstow, Witchcraze: a new history of the witch hunts28 Witch-craft craze of Europe web.clark.edu/afisher/HIST253/lecture_text/WitchcraftCrazeEurope.doc

separates and witchcraft is brought more to the attention of the people as superstition is categorised as being bad but it’s not that this idea didn’t already exist but previously in the Catholic Church it was an accepted part of the religion. Thus, the removal of superstitions from ordinary people’s lives meant that they still believed in these things and consequently it was easier for them to persecute and point out witches.

The Reformation played a vital role in instigating accusation of witches and this was largely down to the change in beliefs on witches in Europe as a result of the reform. Demonology being typical of Protestant works, in which the very real nature of demonic possession was stressed, and the powerlessness of humanity to resist the will of the devil was rhapsodised, prompting the threat witches played being worshippers of the devil. However, this provocation did not stop there, the ascension of James I and his heavy belief on the sinfulness of witches further broadcasted the importance of casting them out. James I has played a crucial role in the development of the legal process for witch-trials, his acceptance of witch-hunts justified the accusation of witches. His writings offered advice for how to find, try, and execute witches. His position, being King of Scotland and England, meant his views influenced not only England but across continents, spreading the craze further and fuelling hunts in Europe. It did not take long before the craze of hunting down the witches was circulating nationwide. James had little trouble in the persuasion of the evils of witchcraft as he was, to a large extent, pushing on an open door. Once people were influenced by these beliefs, finding cause for accusation was not difficult due to the many social and economic changes as well as climatic occurrences and the heightened attitudes these effects created. The hunts descended into a way for societies to blame people for unexplainable casualties, attack things they did not agree with and carry out personal vendettas. Through the spreading growth of witch-hunts, passing of laws making accusations with little evidence easy and existence of witch-finders it became easy for people to point the blame and thousands of unsuspecting ‘witches’ suffered consequently. 

Why did early modern people accuse their neighbours of being witches? | Eleanor Smalley

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According to Freud, we have three parts of psychic apparatus: the id, the ego, and the super-ego. The id is the basic instinct,

an entirely unconscious part of the mind present from birth. The ego is the rational self, capable of controlling the id; it mediates between the desires and the demands of social interaction. The super-ego develops around the age of five; it stores all of our internalised moral standards of right and wrong acquired from parents and society, and stops us from breaking rules because of the fear of receiving punishment, criticism or feelings of guilt. It is the clash between super-ego, ego and id that leads to the phenomenon of conscience. Good conscience is the effective operation of ego over id, where desires are achieved whilst avoiding punishment from social authorities. Conscience is essentially the process of internalising parental prohibitions and demands, so that they seem to come from within ourselves.

If conscience is the super-ego it would explain why our morals are so different, since we are each uniquely affected by culture, society, and the influence of our parents as we grow up. The idea of the ‘super-ego’ seems logical as it is clear that parents and the environment affect our morals and ethical ideas. It is also supported by Jean Piaget’s observations. He argues that children go through a series of mental stages, and as the brain develops so does the ability to reason morally. These stages are:• Heteronomous morality (5-9), when a child

looks beyond self for moral authority. The consequences of an action will show if it is right or wrong, and actions will be punished or praised.

• Autonomous morality (10+), when a personal code of conduct develops based on social perceptions and punishments in proportion with actions.However, while Freud believes that conscience

comes from the clash between id, ego, and super-ego rather than God, William James has observed and argued that religion is often the inspiration for outstanding well-balanced individuals whose lives have made a positive mark on history like Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King. For some psychologists, Freud tended to construct theories on relatively little empirical evidence; Karl Popper argued that real science is always falsifiable. If we say that pure water always boils at 100 degrees, we can see precisely what would falsify it – an instance of pure water boiling at a different temperature. But it is difficult to see what would falsify the claim that the super-ego acts in the way that Freud suggests. If I say I do not feel an overwhelming sense of guilt and responsibility, then a Freudian might well claim that I was in denial – that I felt it really but blocked it out. My very denial would be evidence for its reality.

Aquinas would argue against Freud. In his view, conscience is not the super-ego, it is based on a principle of reason by using an action of mind. Reason is placed in every person as a result of being created by God. Conscience is therefore God-given. In the case of conscience this is reason of the practical sort, requiring careful judgements of individual circumstances. He also divided his understanding of conscience into two essential parts: synderesis and conscientia. Synderesis is the inner

“CONSCIENCE IS THE SUPEREGO.”

DISCUSSMeiyin Chen

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principle which God put into everyone, and which directs a person towards good and away from evil. Conscientia is the process of forming particular moral judgements in different circumstances. When rational thought is used to inform synderesis, this results in a person acting upon his or her conscience to do the right thing.

For some Christians, Aquinas' theory may seem more reasonableas it is supported by the Catholic Church; according to the catechisms, 'conscience formulates its judgements according to reason'. The theory appeals to our sense of reason – we all see that we have reason within us and Aquinas provides a way in which we can use it morally. It also explains why conscience can sometimes be incorrect because of the incorrect application of reason. However, are humans really that rational? Things can go wrong with the conscientia, as it is possible for people to be blinded by desires, feel pressures from outside, misjudge the facts or make a decision too quickly. If conscientia is part of our conscience, and conscience is God-given, why is conscience fallible? In the case of Nazi soldiers who

misused their reason under the influence of Hitler, what kind of God-given easily tempted conscience is this? In a way, this supports the idea of super-ego, as he believes that authoritative figures influence our conscience, the Nazis' views on what is right and wrong are clearly influenced by the authoritative figure of Hitler. If everyone had the same views on what is right and wrong and their conscience was not easily affected by others, then why does Aquinas feel the need to formulate other ethical theories like Natural Law to restrict our actions? The story of the Garden of Eden surely shows there is sensuality within us which tempts us to do evil. Conscience is fallible, but it also explains Freud's id. When Eve was tempted by the serpent and decided to disobey God, it was an instance of the ego failing to control the id. However, Aquinas might argue that ignorance is the reason for any mistakes made in the process of conscientia. He describes vincible ignorance and invincible ignorance. Vincible ignorance is a lack of knowledge for which a person can be held responsible; invincible ignorance is the lack of knowledge which a person is not responsible

Martin Luther King Mother Teresa

“Conscience is the super-ego.” | Meiyin Chen

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for. Since God has given us free will, he wishes us to make our own decisions, so he only gave us synderesis, and of course the consequences of our actions cannot be foreseen, therefore we act in the best of our knowledge, with reasonably informed information but nevertheless make a mistake.

Augustine would disagree with Freud, and argue that conscience is the voice of God. People are able to sense right and wrong because God reveals it to us personally. If Augustine was right, why do people have different understanding of what is right and wrong? Why are there mentally ill people who have no idea of what is right and wrong? Did God not give conscience to them? Also, in the case of the Nazis, if they were following conscience and killed millions of Jews, what kind of God is this? Atheists might also argue that there is no need of a supernatural element in their decision making. For Joseph Butler, humans share a human nature and morality is simply a matter of following human nature. This view is supported by G.E.Moore, who wrote that ‘good cannot be defined yet people know what it means implying some innate sense or

intuition’. Humans are influenced by self-love and benevolence, conscience adjudicates between these two interests and behaves as a guide. Our natural response to the suffering of others, for example when we see seriously ill people and sympathise with them, indicates an innate human morality, an intrinsic part of human nature.

Personally, I believe conscience is the super-ego because moral standards are influenced by parents and schooling rather than born with us. In wealthy areas people are more ethically aware and tend to know what is right and wrong, whereas in very remote parts of the world where education is limited, people are less ethically aware and tend not to know what is right and wrong. It was recently reported that in a rural area in China a father murdered a young man for insulting his daughter. I would argue that he would not have done this if he received good education and knew that murder is wrong in any case. If conscience is reason, not super-ego, why do people in different areas have different moral standards? It can only be due to their different upbringing.

Sigmund Freud St Thomas Aquinas

“Conscience is the super-ego” | Meiyin Chen

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Classics

Classics is the study of the languages, culture, history and thought of the civilisations of ancient Greece and Rome. It is one of the most varied and interdisciplinary of all subjects and like all the subjects in the Humanities Faculty, it is a core subject at KS3 and an option at KS4 and KS5. What makes it even more exciting is that Classics encompasses two different subjects, Latin and Classical Civilisation, both of which can be studied at GCSE and A-level and we are intending to introduce ancient Greek as well. Several girls from Queenswood have continued to study Classics at university and we are a growing department.

Carol Tárrega Head of Classics

History

History has changed since I was sat at a desk. It is no longer about facts, dates and memory. Of course we must know the story of events, but there are few points in exams for descriptions. Today History is much more enquiry based and we teach girls how to analyse large amounts of information and use it to develop and support their own persuasive arguments. We build confident girls who think for themselves and who are able to judge news and events for themselves and are always asking questions of information and not simply accepting it. Hopefully we are helping to deliver the free thinkers of the future who don’t produce or fall for sound-bites, but instead help set agendas and provide ways forward in the world. History, you see, is actually about the future, not the past.

Stephen Daughton Head of History

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Religious Studies

I am absolutely passionate about my subject and so keen to inspire students to ask questions and to seek answers to those awkward and perennial questions linked to the meaning of life and existence. As a young girl I asked questions such as: ‘How do we measure goodness? ‘Why do different religions have similarities and differences?’ alongside, ‘Does God exist?’. This led me to study Theology at Manchester College, Oxford, and later on, Philosophy of Religion at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Kings’ College London. I enjoy the debates and exploration that naturally follow from teaching young enquiring minds.

Brenda Gillon Head of Religious Studies

Geography

Some people have said that Geography is ‘jack of all trades and master of none.’ Regardless of the extent to which you believe that is true, the fact remains that geographers enter higher education and the world of work well equipped. In what other subject do you develop and frequently use such a breadth of skills? Geographers are no strangers to published data, graphs or academic literature and what is more, they also have the ability to collect, analyse and draw conclusions from data themselves.

Geography has experienced a national surge in popularity and that comes as no surprise to the Queenswood Geography department. Our students certainly demonstrate why it is such a valuable academic subject to study, as the articles in Quorum show.

Victoria Looker and Elaine Barnard Joint Heads of Geography

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