A poet hailed as a genius by Goethe, the world's first programmer, members of the Baron Byron family who left their name to later generations, the rise and fall of the British aristocracy
日本でも大人気のテレビドラマ『ダウントン・アビー』では、英国貴族が執事や使用人たちに囲まれ、広大な邸宅で優雅に暮らしています。この記事では、『貴族とは何か』の著者である君塚直孝氏に話を聞きます。 イギリスの生来の貴族の代表的な家族を取り上げ、その隆盛と衰退を説明します。 第7回は、19世紀イギリスを代表する詩人たちを輩出した「バイロン男爵家」(English) In the TV drama "Downton Abbey", which is very popular in Japan, an English aristocrat lives elegantly in a huge mansion surrounded by butlers and servants. In this article, Naotaka Kimizuka, author of What is a Kizoku? It takes representative families of natural British aristocrats and explains their rise and fall. The 7th is the "Baron Byron family", which produced the poets who defined 19th-century England.
A poet hailed as a genius by Goethe, the world's first programmer, members of the Baron Byron family who left their name to later generations, the rise and fall of the British aristocracy (7)
//Summary -Level-C2//
The Baron Byron family, known for their rise and fall in the British aristocracy, produced figures like George Gordon Byron, a leading 19th-century poet, and Ada, a pioneer in computing. Despite their aristocratic lineage, the family faced financial struggles, with George becoming a baron at ten amidst family disrepair. He later gained fame as a poet, while his daughter Ada contributed to the development of computers. Both father and daughter died at 36, leaving lasting legacies in their respective fields.
A)
In the TV drama "Downton Abbey", which is very popular in Japan, an English aristocrat lives elegantly in a huge mansion surrounded by butlers and servants.
In this article, Naotaka Kimizuka, author of What is a Kizoku? It takes representative families of natural British aristocrats and explains their rise and fall. The 7th is the "Baron Byron family", which produced the poets who defined 19th-century England.
B)
"I woke up one morning and found myself a celebrity". This is a famous line written by George Gordon Byron (1788-1824), a leading British poet of the 19th century, shortly after the publication of his masterpiece Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
Some readers may love Byron, but surprisingly, he was born into a proper aristocratic family called "Baron Byron" and held a seat in the House of Lords.
C)
1st Baron, who died in Paris
The Byron family originally had estates in Lancashire in the northwest of England. Still, during the reign of Sir John Byron in the mid-16th century, Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire in the north-central part of England was founded by King Henry. It was given to us by the 8th generation and became our base.
John (1598/99-1652) was the first of the family to stand out.
He became a House of Commons for Nottinghamshire member and a close associate of King Charles I.
D)
When the King's mistake led to a rebellion in Scotland, John immediately gathered an army and set out to put it down.
However, the situation soon developed into the Puritan Revolution (1642-49).
In 1643, with the momentum of successive victories over the Royalists, John was finally created 1st Baron Byron by the King.
However, with the rise of Oliver Cromwell from around 1645, he was driven into a losing streak.
Charles, he was beheaded, and the revolution ended in a parliamentary victory.
John fled to France with his surviving royals and died suddenly in Paris.
E)
Naval admiral grandfather, womanising father
The title passed to the family of John's brother Richard, and John (1723-1786), the second son of William, 4th Baron, was the next great.
He became a naval officer and sailed around the world. He sailed to Africa, the Atlantic, South America, the Pacific and the Caribbean. He eventually rose to the Admiral rank and became the 'Master of the Seven Seas'.
His eldest son, John (1756-1791), of the same name, became an army officer but was no match for his father. Captain Byron was handsome and a womaniser.
F)
His first wife came from a wealthy family with a guaranteed income of £4,000 a year, but when she died, Captain Byron sought another woman "with a money tree" and moved to the west of England. He made a journey to the spa town of Bath.
Here he met Catherine Gordon, the daughter of a wealthy man. As soon as he married her, he took Catherine's entire dowry of £23,000, and her vast sum of money quickly disappeared in the repayment of previous debts.
Eventually, the couple was blessed with a son, but even after that, the captain left mother and child behind to evade debt collectors, moving from place to place.
G)
The captain suddenly died of lung disease at the age of 35. The remaining mother and child live with the help of the mother's family.
Captain Byron had been disinherited by the 4th Baron, who was appalled by his excessive dissipation.
This boy, who lost his father at three, was the future great poet George Gordon Byron himself.
H)
At age 10, he became a baron and, at 24, a poet of the first rank.
The time came when the goddess of fate smiled on George, who would have waited for a life in the shadows.
In 1794, the 5th Baron's heir (grandson) was killed in action during the French Revolutionary Wars, and six-year-old George suddenly became the Baron's heir.
The old Baron died four years later, and George became the 6th Baron at 10.
By this time, however, the Baron family had fallen into disrepair, and Newstead Abbey was in ruins. They managed to pay the living expenses of the mother and child and the Baron's school fees, but it was hard enough as a peer.
I)
Nevertheless, he went from Harrow, a prestigious public school, to Cambridge University, and Byron eventually immersed himself in poetry.
In 1809 he embarked on a journey to the European continent.
The Napoleonic Wars (1800-15) were in full swing, and Byron's travels were mainly confined to the Mediterranean, Greece and Turkey.
Meanwhile, his mother died suddenly. In 2012 he published Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, inspired by his travels.
As I mentioned at the beginning, he suddenly joined the ranks of first-rate poets.
J)
There are records describing Baron Byron at this time.
"He is handsome, vivacious and easy to talk to. He's ready for anything. Men are jealous of him, and women of each other".
Georgiana, wife of the 5th Duke of Devonshire, left these words. She was one of the brightest stars in London society at the time.
Byron, who became close to Georgiana, made friends with Whig politicians through her.
As a member of the House of Lords, Byron also addressed Parliament on three occasions. It seems he spoke from a reformist position, calling for political reform and ending discrimination against Catholics (who were still politically discriminated against at the time).
K)
dying in Greece
Byron, who became a socialite, eventually had a mistress (the wife of the future Prime Minister, Viscount Melbourne).
In 1815, however, he married Annabella, his correspondent, and had a daughter.
However, perhaps inheriting his late father's bad habits, he rarely returned to his mother and children and wandered here and there.
Eventually, the couple divorced, and his mother and child never saw him again.
L)
Byron had also sold Newstead Abbey for nearly £95,000, giving him an annual income of around £6,000 from his estates and manuscript fees. With this windfall, he rented his villa in Italy and devoted himself to writing more poetry.
But now his grandfather's (Admiral Byron) sense of adventure was passed on to him.
In the 1820s, Greece goes to war for independence from the Ottoman Empire.
M)
The source of European civilisation, Baron Byron finally decides to take part in the Greek War of Independence, inspired by the memories of his youth.
But there, he caught a fever and died suddenly in April 1824. He was only 36 years old.
News of his death reached London mid-May, sending shock waves throughout England. His title passed to his cousin (his father's brother's son) George.
N)
The only daughter to contribute to the development of computers
Left behind, Annabella and her only daughter, Ada, could live comfortably with the support of her mother's family.
Her mother didn't want her daughter to be like her father.
Although she was an imaginative girl, she managed to pursue mathematics and science instead of poetry.
Ada soon met Charles Babbage, one of the leading mathematicians of his time. She began showing interest in the difference and analysis engine (large computer) he was researching.
O)
In 1843 he published a paper on his research with Ada's theory and analysis.
The world later recognised this as a pioneer in "rudimentary computing" research.
However, Ada eventually contracted uterine cancer and died at 36. How ironic that she died at the same age as her father, Byron, who had been separated from her when she was only a month old.
P)
In 1979, the US Department of Defense announced a name for a new programming language. "Ada".
It was named in honour of Byron's only daughter, who contributed to the development of computers.
A father and daughter, who died together at 36, found immortality in different worlds.
It may also have been a father and daughter who demonstrated the Byron family motto "Crede Byron" differently.
A poet hailed as a genius by Goethe, the world's first programmer, members of the Baron Byron family who left their name to later generations, the rise and fall of the British aristocracy (7)
https://www.bookbang.jp/noble/article/93
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The family of Nizaemon Kataoka was brutally murdered with an axe for splitting wood. "The story of the dark incident in Rien (Kabuki world)" covered in blood
https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2023/05300553/?all=1&page=2
The family of Nizaemon Kataoka was brutally murdered with an axe for splitting wood. "The story of the dark incident in Rien (Kabuki world)" covered in blood
A)
More than 400 years have passed since Izumo no Okuni's "Kabuki Dance", performed on a makeshift stage in Shijogawara, Kyoto, was received with great applause by the people. While the world of Kabuki has captivated audiences with its magnificent performances, it can be said that its history has been drenched in the blood of famous actors.
B)
Danjuro Ichikawa is the most famous Kabuki actor. Danjuro I, renowned for his achievements in perfecting the Aragoto art of Kabuki, is a representative actor of Genroku Kabuki, but in 1704, at the age of 45, a tragedy occurred.
"During a performance, he was suddenly stabbed in the side by an actor who entered the stage and was killed."
C)
Also, Danjuro VIII, who ran the Pear Garden from the Tenpo era to the end of the Edo period, met a shocking death in 1854.
Known for his good looks, the 8th generation was so popular that his phlegm was sold. He left Edo to perform in Osaka to pay off his father's debts.
He committed suicide by stabbing himself in the throat, and it is said that he was tormented by the fact that he was caught between the producers of Edo and Kamigata, where the power struggle was fierce.
He was 32 years old. It is said that 300 Ukiyo-E 'Shini-E' (dead pictures) were circulated as news of his death and memorials, so he was unconventional after death.
D)
Brutally murdered by repeated blows with a wood-splitting axe
The worst incident that shook all of Japan happened in 1946, shortly after Japan's defeat in the war.
"The 12th Kataoka Nizaemon Family Murder Case".
"Nizaemon, his wife, son and two maids were killed." The culprit was an apprentice writer who lived and worked at Nizaemon's house.
E)
It was assumed that the victim was resentful, as he used a wood-splitting axe to kill him with repeated blows.
At that time, the motive reported by the testimony of neighbouring residents and the statement of the criminal was "a grudge against food."
F)
It is said that they could not receive enough rice from the rations and that, combined with the daily bullying, the hatred exploded, but the bereaved family denies it.
At the same time, the GHQ instructed us to refrain from feudalistic virtues. This came when Kabuki itself was on the verge of survival.
Is Ichikawa Ennosuke's suicide turmoil a once-in-a-lifetime revenge?
https://article.auone.jp/detail/1/5/9/100_9_r_20230605_1685966632394573