James Lawrence. Aristocrats: Power, Grace, and Decadence. Britain’s Great Ruling Classes from 1066 to the Present

New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2009. — 448 p. — ISBN: 978-0-312-61545-1.Aristocracy means “rule by the best.” For nine hundred years, the British aristocracy considered itself ideally qualified to rule others, make laws, and guide the nation. Its virtues lay in its collective wisdom, its attachment to chivalric codes, and its sense of public duty. It evolved from a medieval warrior caste into a self-assured and sophisticated elite, which made itself the champion of popular liberty: It forced King John to sign the Magna Carta and later used its power and wealth to depose a succession of tyrannical kings from Richard II to James II. Britain’s liberties and constitution were the result of aristocratic bloody-mindedness and courage.
Aristocrats traces the history of this remarkable supremacy. It is a story of civil wars, conquests, intrigue, chicanery, and extremes of selflessness and greed. The aristocracy survived and, in the age of the great house and the Grand Tour, governed the first industrial nation while a knot of noblemen ruled its growing empire. Under pressure from below, this political power was slowly relinquished and then shared. Yet democratic Britain retained its aristocracy: Churchill, himself the grandson of a duke, presided over a wartime cabinet that contained six hereditary peers.
Lawrence James illuminates the culture of this singular caste, shows how its infatuation with classical art has forged England’s heritage, how its love of sport has shaped the nation’s pastimes and values, and how its scandals have entertained its public.
Impeccably researched, balanced, and brilliantly told, Aristocrats is an enthralling story of survival, a stunning history of wealth, power, and influence.Acknowledgements.
Introduction.
Ascendancy: 1066–1603.
A Game of Dice: The Growth of Aristocratic Power.
Manners with Virtue: The Cult of Chivalry and the Culture of the Aristocracy.
Their Plenty was Our Scarcity: Resistance.
Weeds Which Must Be Mown Down: The Wars of the Roses 1450–87.
As a True Knight: Honour and Violence and the Wars of the Roses.
In Foolish Submission: Irish and Scottish Aristocracies.
Obeyed and Looked Up To: The Tudors and Their Lords.
Stir Up Your Fame: A New Breed of Noblemen.
Equilibrium: 1603–1815.
I Honour the King as Much as I Love Parliament: The Road to Civil War.
A Circular Motion: Revolution and Restoration 1642–60.
Signal Deliverances: Restoration 1660–85.
The People Assembled and Freely Chose Them: The Glorious Revolution and After.
I’ll Share the Fate of My Prince: Jacobites.
Magnificence: Grand Houses and Grand Tours.
Public Character: The Aristocratic Century 1714–1815.
A Fair Kingdom: Fame, Taste and Fashion.
We Come for Pheasants: Peers and Poachers.
A Gang of Ruffians: Americans and Aristocracy.
The Aristocrat to Quell: Peers, Patriots and Paineites 1789–1815.
Decline: 1815–.
Rats: Crisis and Compromise.
Thoroughbred: Sport and Manliness.
The Surrender of Feudalism to Industry: The Mid-Victorian Peerage 1846–87.
Revolvers Prominently Displayed: The Downfall of the Irish Aristocracy.
Like Chaff Before Us: Hanging On 1887–1914.
Dangers and Honours: War, Empire and the Aristocracy.
Always Keep Hold of Nurse: Aristocratic Twilight.
Notes.

Index.