George I

by Ragnhild Hatton; With a new foreword by Jeremy Black

• ISBN13: 9780300088830
• ISBN10: 0300088833
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2001-05-11
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

In 1714 George Ludwig, the fifty-eight-year-old elector of Brunswick-Luneburg, became, as George I, the first of the Hanoverian dynasty to rule Britain. Until his death in 1727 George served as both elector of Hanover and British monarch. An enigmatic figure whose real character has long been concealed by anti-Hanoverian propaganda, George emerges in this groundbreaking biography as an impressive ruler who welcomed the responsibilities the accession brought him and set out to bring culture to what he considered the unsophisticated English nation. Ragnhild Hatton's biography is the only comprehensive account of George's life and reign. It draws on a wide range of archival sources in several languages to illuminate the fascinating details of George's early life and dynastic crises, his plans and ambitions for the British nation, the impact of his rationalist ideas, and his accomplishments as king. The book also examines the king's private life, his family relationships in both Prussia and England, his private interest in music and the arts, and the improvement of his British and Hanoverian properties. The late Ragnhild Hatton was professor of international history at the University of London. Jeremy Black, professor of history at the University of Exeter, is the author of numerous books, includingWar and the World and Maps and History,both published by Yale University Press. Yale English Monarchs Series

Author Biography

The late Ragnhild Hatton was professor of international history at the University of London.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the Yale Edition	1	(8)
Jeremy Black
Preface	9	(2)
Spelling of Names and Places	11	(2)
Note on Dates	13	(2)
Parents and Childhood	15	(16)
The electoral Cap	31	(34)
The father's plans for his son	33	(4)
The family's advancement and George's marriage	37	(5)
The primogeniture struggle	42	(6)
George's divorce	48	(17)
Experience gained	65	(28)
The Konigsmarck myth	65	(4)
George at the helm	69	(1)
The prospect of England	70	(6)
Struggle over the English Succession between George and his mother	76	(2)
Wider German horizons	78	(12)
Losses of friends and companions	90	(3)
The royal crown	93	(18)
Hanover and Celle united	93	(1)
George's household after 1698	93	(7)
The War of the Spanish Succession	100	(4)
Death of queen Anne: the 'Act of Settlement' put into effect	104	(7)
Settling down	111	(36)
Great Britain at the time of George's accession	111	(8)
George and the party system	119	(9)
The king's English	128	(4)
The royal household	132	(15)
Two issues of principle	147	(23)
The struggle for place and profit	147	(9)
Promotion by title	156	(1)
The Hanoverian succession	157	(13)
Three crises	170	(41)
George I's image	170	(4)
The Jacobite 'Fifteen'	174	(6)
European issues 1716-17	180	(13)
The ministerial crisis	193	(8)
Quarrel in the royal family	201	(10)
The watershed 1718-21	211	(36)
Lessons learnt	211	(5)
European peace plans	216	(14)
Success in the south	230	(5)
Partial success in the north	235	(7)
Shifts of emphasis	242	(5)
Peace, its problems and achievements	247	(33)
The South Sea bubble	247	(9)
George, a captive of his ministers?	256	(4)
George as a patron of the arts	260	(7)
Unfinished business	267	(7)
Alliances and counter-alliances	274	(3)
War or peace?	277	(3)
Death of George I	280	(20)
George's last journey	280	(5)
The balance sheet	285	(15)
Bibliography	300	(22)
Notes to the Text	322	(50)
Genealogical Tables	372	(6)
Map 1: George's Hanoverian dominions and the near neighbours of his electorate	378	(2)
Map 2: Northern Europe	380	(2)
Map 3: Southern Europe	382	(2)
List of Illustrations	384
Index	38