Harry A J Brennan

This MA History thesis examines the life of William Byrd II (1674-1744), Virginian landowner and founder of Richmond. Despite extensive comparisons with Thomas Jefferson, Byrd preceded the revolutionary generation of self-defined ‘Americans’. This has become increasingly evident as the historiography of gender in the early modern Atlantic has exploded in the last ten to twenty years. However, few of its ideas and frameworks have ever been applied to the extensive ‘ego-document’ sources left behind by Byrd. The most recent analyses are biographical overviews of his diaries and correspondence date back to the late 1980s. Byrd is now a more accessible historical figure than ever, with many more of his primary sources digitised and published in edited collections.

This thesis explores Byrd’s experience of gender in the early modern Atlantic and, more specifically, explores how his masculinity was ‘transatlantic’. Using a microhistorical approach, I will situate Byrd at the center of a distinct gender dynamic: ‘transatlantic masculinity’. The Atlantic ocean itself helped to configure Byrd’s identity, shaping the socio-economic environment of port cities where Byrd lived (London and Westover). Furthermore, the ocean created destabilising tensions, separating Byrd’s life into metropolitan and colonial halves which he struggled to navigate between. This resulted in Byrd developing a maritime mentality, and his masculine identity developing distinctly from English norms. He blended European forms of masculinity and genteel learning with colonial subjects: his aging mirrored the economic and demographic explosion of Virginia. Overall, this thesis is intended to analyse Byrd’s masculinity in the light of new frameworks and methods, as an example of time- and place-specific ‘transatlantic masculinity’.

Emerging from the Templars, Hospitallers and confraternities like Belchite (themselves possibly modelled on ribats), the Iberian military orders contributed to every facet of the Reconquista. From the founding of Calatrava to the conquest of Granada, Santiago settled and cultivated enormous pastoral farmlands with the Mesta, the pseudo-military Mercedarians ransomed captives and all orders provided substantial financial and military aid to military campaigns. The orders’ rule over fortified patrimonies like Segura (Santiago) and Cervera (Montesa) overlapped with expanding royal authority (itself increasingly centralised in Castile) to consolidate Christian socio-economic presence in a way Islamic emirs couldn’t match and force the Reconquista southwards.

Though their independent power peaked between 1212 (at Las Navas) and the 1260s (as the Grenadine frontier solidified), the Iberian orders’ increasing power increasingly came under royal control following the early 14th century and the Trial of the Templars. The resultant Orders of Christ and Montesa embodied this growing national allegiance, further demonstrated by Santiago when it split along Castilian/Portuguese lines. The ‘decadent’ peace of the static Reconquista transformed the orders into the possessions of private chivalric lineages by the time of the Catholic Monarchs, yet they still contributed to the final campaigns against Granada before their last traces of independence were annexed to the Iberian crowns by the 16th century.

Despite the distinctly maritime character of Brittany, many of the insights and opportunities provided by ‘New Coastal history’ have yet to reach its shores. Likewise, few English-speaking historians have brought the region into their own work. In this blog post, I want to explore why Brittany can and should be the focus of coastal historians, be they Anglophone, Francophone or even Bretonophone. Bringing my knowledge of the early modern Atlantic to bear, I will show how studying Brittany can provide methodological insights for historians everywhere. It can also provide illumination for early modern British historians, and potentially impact public understanding of ‘Celtic’ culture.