gentleman's manor

The content of the preface is rather boring, but it is very important. It helps you understand and filter the article. Please read it carefully.

This article tells the story of a landed squire in England in the early 18th century, which belongs to the Georgian era.When exactly is it, for example, more than half a century before the era of "Pride and Prejudice".The United States is still a British colony, the steam engine has not been invented, and the train naturally does not exist, and everything is still very primitive.However, after the British constitutional monarchy, the vitality brought to the market by the capitalist system has subtly changed all the old things.

Although not as dazzling as the Victorian era, this era already had large collective textile factories, and the Jenny loom was also invented in this era. People gradually stepped out of the land to become workers, and there were signs of prosperity in industry and commerce.

At the same time, the times were dark.Accompanied by Britain's maritime colonial rule, they burned, killed, looted everywhere, sold black slaves, slaughtered aborigines, and did all kinds of evil.Factory owners exploited the people at the bottom, and people lived very hard. Moreover, the smallpox plague spread, and a large number of humans died tragically.Women have no status. After looking at the marriage laws of that era, I found that the women in the UK in that period were more miserable than the women in the Celestial Dynasty. After marrying, they were legally dead and completely reduced to the husband’s appendages without any property rights. , the dowry has become the husband's private property, and the husband can give it to whomever he wants, and he cannot divorce casually.

I think this era is very characteristic, so I collected some materials and documents and wrote this novel.

The male protagonist is a character of the landlord class, and the article mainly revolves around a series of stories about the change of inheritance rights of a manor.The male protagonist is a landlord and does not have any titles. Noble titles in this era are not so simple. There are no more than 400 noble men in the UK with inheritable titles (excluding jazz). less), on the contrary, the landlords of the gentry class occupied more than 60% of the state property.

The word 'gentleman' was a symbol of status and identity in the past, only certain people could be called 'gentleman', unlike now it is just a casual title, a man can call himself a man.

As in "Pride and Prejudice", Elizabeth said to Mr. Darcy's aunt: "I will never forget my own origin in order to marry your nephew. Your nephew is a gentleman, and I am a gentleman daughter, we are evenly matched."

The word 'gentleman' is derived from Spanish and means 'those of ancient lineage', and can be used to refer specifically to those descendants of the family who do not inherit the title of nobility of the family.In other words, a person who can be called a gentleman, even if he does not have a title, can definitely find his name in the genealogy of a certain nobleman.

Later, a gentleman had a wider meaning, and could also refer to senior military officers, state church clergy, members of the House of Lords, etc.If a person has received higher education, that is, an expensive gentleman's education, and finally obtained the qualifications of a priest, lawyer, doctor, etc., he can be honored as a gentleman even if he is born in a commoner.However, the cost of higher education is not affordable by ordinary people, and there is a certain threshold, so the boundary between gentlemen and ordinary people is still clearly distinguished.

The "gentlemen's education" in the UK emphasizes not dividing the family property, because once the family property is distributed to several sons, the total assets belonging to this surname will be reduced, and the status and identity of the representative will decline accordingly. Most of the fixed assets are left to one son, usually the eldest son, and the other sons can only get a small part of the current assets.This also means that only one son will remain in the upper class, while the other sons will become penniless and pauper.It's not bad for my brother to stay in the manor as a helper, otherwise I have to go out and work hard alone.Therefore, in this era, the relationship between brothers is very bad, mostly because of property issues.For example, Mr. Rochester in "Jane Eyre" is the youngest son, and his father refused to give him any inheritance, so he tried his best to marry him a wife with a strong dowry, and he didn't even care that this woman had a family history of mental illness.It is difficult for us modern people to understand why such a rich man refused to give a little money to his youngest son, but at that time this was the social reality and the requirement of 'gentleman education'.

So in reality, the story of Mr. Darcy marrying Elizabeth is basically impossible.

People in the gentry class are very concerned about whether their property can increase, so when the son gets married, the dowry that the daughter-in-law can bring is the most important part of enriching his own property. The old-fashioned gentleman will never allow the poor to marry into his family. They have great control over their children's marriages.So it is a good setting that Mr. Darcy has no parents, which means that no one cares about him, and not only Mr. Darcy has no parents, but also Mr. Bingley. Where can I find so many rich, powerful, handsome, young, and A bachelor without a father or a mother?

What's more, Elizabeth has a relative in the merchant class.

"You are a gentleman's daughter, indeed," said Aunt Darcy. "But what was your mother? What were your aunts and aunts? Don't think I don't know anything about them."

Businessmen are looked down upon in the elite class of gentlemen, because businessmen are too risky to do business. They may be rich for a while, but they cannot withstand the storm. Once something happens, they will immediately become paupers and have to go back to manual labor. .Moreover, businessmen who have not experienced "gentleman education", even if they have money, will only be regarded as nouveau riche and despised.The key is that they have not experienced the 'gentleman's education'. Higher education is not open to the general public casually, and they must have specific identities to be eligible to receive 'gentleman's education'.In the Victorian era, due to the rapid demand of social development, higher education was gradually released to some ordinary people. In the past, even if they had money, they could not enter the upper class society defined by the nobles.And the upper class means a network of relationships, without this network of relationships, no matter how rich you are, you will be a grasshopper after autumn, jumping around for a few days.

So Elizabeth said: "I have my own ideas. I decide what to do to make me happy. You can't control it, and neither can any outsider like you. If he marries me, his family will be happy." I don't care if I hate him; as for saying that everyone in the world will be angry with him, I think there are many righteous and reasonable people in the world, and not all of them will laugh at him." This is really choking, Darcy's My aunt even scolded her: "You are completely devoid of conscience, shameless, and ungrateful. You are determined to make his friends look down on him and make everyone in the world laugh at him."

It can be seen from this that the entire gentleman class despises the merchant class, and it is unbearable to just kiss a little bit, let alone marrying a merchant's daughter.In the eyes of the upper class, a merchant's daughter is dissolute. Because she has to show her face, she has no integrity at all. She is no different from a disorderly woman, and she is not as good as a peasant's daughter.

There is also the issue of inheritance rights. The inheritance law in the UK is very messy. There are all kinds of inheritance laws.Mainly talk about two, one is to limit the right of inheritance, and the other is the right of primogeniture.

The limited succession refers to "Pride and Prejudice". Mr. Nebett left all the fixed assets to Mr. Collins, but his wife and daughters could only be kicked out by his cousin after his death.When I first saw this, I was very puzzled. I thought, can you sell the manor and give all the money to your wife and daughter?It seems impossible. The land in England is divided into feudal systems. Mr. Nebett’s land was allocated to him by a nobleman in the past. He only has the right to use it, but not the right to buy or sell it. He also has the obligation to use the land, such as Military service, so only Cousin Collins can inherit the land.At the same time, this kind of inheritance is inherited when the land is not in debt. That is to say, if Mr. Nebett owes money, after his death, Collins, who inherits the land, will not bear any debts, but the dowry he left to his daughter will have to pay. Pay all your debts.Anyway, the person who inherits the land does not owe debts, and the rest of the current assets pay off the debts.So people who borrow money should be careful. The money borrowed can easily be lost due to the death of the borrower, so people don't lend money to others easily.This piece of law is very complicated, and I can't quite understand it. It's probably like this.

The right of primogeniture, as the name suggests, does not require much explanation. It means that only the eldest son can inherit a lot of land. In "Pride and Prejudice", why are there so many excellent ladies in a hurry to get married?A good girl like Charlotte can only marry the dog-hating Collins, and she has to work hard to get it.The main reason is that there are too few men who have the right to inherit the land, while there are too many ladies waiting to marry gentlemen.Therefore, gentlemen who have the right to inherit can pick and choose, while unmarried ladies have to learn painting, embroidery, piano, dancing, foreign languages, etc. to continuously increase their bargaining chips. The most important thing is to have a generous dowry, otherwise they will wait Be an old maid.In many gentlemen's families, they would rather their daughters never get married than to marry their daughters into a family whose status does not match. The old-fashioned requirement of "gentleman education" is too serious.

As mentioned earlier, a woman in the 18th century would lose all her human rights after she got married, and would become an appendage of her husband.This is obviously very unreasonable. If the husband wants to give his wife's dowry to his illegitimate child, will the wife have to swallow it?Therefore, a property trusteeship mechanism gradually emerged. If the woman is particularly rich and powerful, the woman’s parents will sign a legal agreement with the man before the daughter gets married, entrusting the daughter’s dowry to a third party, and can only receive interest every month ( During this period, bank interest rates and national debts were very high), only the daughter’s children could inherit their mother’s dowry in the subsequent distribution of inheritance, and the man did not have the right to directly handle the dowry, so there is a plan in "Woman in White" to obtain the wife’s dowry murder story.

The male number one in this article is the second son whose mother died young and could not inherit anything under the limited inheritance rights of the eldest son.Although he was the son of a gentleman, his father was too scumbag and refused to spend money on an expensive gentleman's education.

Let’s talk about the price level at the beginning of the 18th century. At that time, 1 pound = 20 shillings, 1 shilling = 12 pence, and 1 pence could make a person full for a whole day, which shows the price and currency situation at that time.If a worker or a servant engaged in manual labor can earn 30 pence a month, although it is very poor, at least he can eat enough, and his annual income is between 1 and 2 pounds.Clerical staff who are a little higher than the working class, because they have studied, their annual salary is between a few pounds and a dozen pounds.The low-level gentlemen who have received gentleman education, such as lawyers, doctors, teachers, pastors, etc., have an annual salary ranging from tens to hundreds of pounds.Further up is the squire who owns the land, making profits based on the production and investment of the land, but not too much, a few hundred pounds is very good.

So Mr. Darcy earns 1 pounds a year, which is really Li Ka-shing level. Mr. Nebett is also very rich with 18 pounds a year, and he is the most famous local gentry.We must know that at the beginning of the 200th century, the annual income of the entire British government was only 1 million pounds, including the British Isle, and all colonies such as Northern Ireland, the American continent, and British India, but Mr. Darcy alone had 700 pounds. income.Mrs. Nebett was right when she said that he was as rich as a prince. According to my research, the annual income of a certain earl at that time was only 5000 pounds, and Mr. Darcy was just a landowner without a noble title in name. You said he was What did you get so much money for?Mr. Bingley started out as a businessman, with an annual income of only £18. I don't believe that the Darcys have no black income.It is also possible that the author was only speculating on how much money the rich earned, so it was unreasonable. It is also possible that the inflation in the decades from the 19th century to the [-]th century was too severe.

There is no need to compete with novels. "Pride and Prejudice" is like YY novels at the end of the 18th century. If it is published to jj, it can be imagined as an ancient romance novel. A certain high-ranking Lord Hou is the official wife, and his status and status are seriously mismatched. In addition, his parents are both deceased, and he has no brothers and sisters. He is also deeply affectionate, handsome, and extraordinary. The well-known ladies are jealous to death.

There are relatively few materials, so I will almost respect the historical facts and write them. But after all, we are born in science and do not have much cultural connotation. If we are too lazy to check the materials, we will just fool them. I believe everyone will read them as entertainment novels and are willing to accept fools.

Here are all the things that need to be understood in advance. I will not explain the legal culture of this period in detail later, so everyone should read the above content carefully to help understand the plot.

Below is the most important part.

This novel of mine will involve Britain’s maritime colonial rule and will not write about China, because in 17XX, China was in the heyday of Qianlong, the emperor ordered the country to be closed and maritime trade was prohibited, and little foreign devils could not come to rob.But it will write about colonial India, the black slave trade, the dark and bloody textile factories and the oppressed and exploited workers and peasants.I will write from a point of view of condemnation, don't worry too much.But the protagonist is always an Englishman in the 18th century. He accepted the education and social system at that time. I will refer to some characters in British novels to describe, so you can't expect him to have the worldview and sense of justice like the Chinese in the 20th century.

So there is such a question.

Some readers are very sensitive and cannot accept such stories.Therefore, I specially wrote this preface so that everyone can filter it in advance.If you feel that Britain's past invasion of China makes it difficult for you to accept a novel that describes the setting of England in the early 18th century, then I suggest you don't read it, and don't trouble the author.After all, we wrote this novel just for entertainment, internet fast food novels, superficial danmei novels, love is the majority, there is no need to rise to the height, right?Everyone can also look at it as an overhead.In short, don't come in if the three views are too upright. The author has a glassy heart and can't afford to be hurt. He will feel uncomfortable when he is said.

In addition, reprinting is prohibited, and I am prohibited from discussing and distributing my novels on Baidu Tieba and other places.

The author has something to say: Note: The above refers to "Property Rights of British Women in the 18th Century", "Research on the Education of British Gentlemen", "British Property Law and Inheritance Law in the 18th-19th Century", "Research on the Living and Working Conditions of British Women in the 18th-19th Century" "wait.You see, reading the preface is not a waste of time, isn't this just an increase in posture.Readers who really feel that their eyes are full of nonsense can click on the following if they leave a compliment like "unknown" to Fatty.

I'm going to add a little picture to continue with the background.

A picture of the back of the servant, wearing a white wig and a cape coat.I mean the way guys wear wigs and tie their hair back with dark ribbons.

The full body portrait of the servant, but the lower body is actually tight pants, white long socks, and sheepskin pointed shoes.

The etiquette requirements of servants are also very high. Male servants must undergo special training before they can work, and they can embroider if necessary.It is required to stand upright, with one hand on the tray and the other hand behind your back.When walking normally, walk slowly, with both hands behind the back.

Women have personal maids, and men must also have personal servants, who take care of all the daily necessities of life. The picture above shows the servant taking care of the male master to take a bath. The English interpretation of the personal servant is 'agentleman'sgentleman', which is very affectionate~~~

The back of the maid

This is a photo of Downton's maid, always wearing a black tutu skirt with a white apron and a small white hat.

The maid knelt on the ground to help the hostess pack things.

This is a carriage pulled by four horses. In "Pride and Prejudice", Darcy's aunt is quite proud of her four-horse carriage.

Behind the carriage there was also a servant who looked after the luggage, holding the box so that it would not fall.

Full picture of the super luxury carriage.

This is a picture of going to a prom, and they had chandeliers full of candles and sconces on the walls, so the prom hall was brightly lit even though it was ancient.

Men and women stand in two rows and dance collectively. There are musicians playing music at the dance party.

Dining table, this dining table looks like a super rich person, because ordinary people use silver or iron, and this table is all porcelain.Porcelain was very expensive at that time, and rich people put it in the living room as a decoration for display.

This is the daily wear of women in "Pride and Prejudice". It was relatively poor. At that time, the social atmosphere was still relatively closed. Women's clothes were fat like face pockets, and the shape of the breasts was very good.

Formal occasions are more luxurious, with long gloves covering the arms, and decorations such as feathers on the head.

This is the noble women of the court. It is popular for them to wear wigs and various feathers in pockets on their heads. They also wear trendy clothes. They are tights, and you can see their slender waistlines.

Women wear hats and cloaks when they go out.

This is a horse riding outfit for noble women.

This is what our protagonist looks like when he is riding a horse.

Soldiers wear red coats.

An oil painting, they are fanning, wearing feathers and wearing lace.

Curtains were hung not only on the windows, but also on the four-poster bed.

The so-called manor is a large piece of land including buildings. Farmers live on the land of the manor, lease their farmland, and pay taxes.

This is a street level map of the town.

At the same time, the poor people on the street.