Kenelm Henry Digby
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kenelm Henry Digby (c1800-1880) was an Anglo-Irish writer born at Clonfert in Ireland, though he certainly did not regard himself as Irish. His reputation rests chiefly on his earliest publication, The Broad-Stone of Honour, or Rules for the Gentlemen of England (1822), which contains an exhaustive survey of medieval customs. The work was subsequently enlarged and issued (1828-29) in four volumes entitled: Godefridus, Tancredus, Morus and Orlandus. Digby's exposure to Walter Scott's Ivanhoe novels as a youth encouraged him to romanticize the middle ages. Broad-Stone contributed to the Young England movement’s feudalist ideology and influenced many of Digby's Cambridge contemporaries. The book inculcated readers with ideas of chivalry and staunch Catholicism and stressed the importance of the heart’s knowledge over intellectual learning by presenting historical figures as role models. Digby's revival of medieval principles helped young men of his day construct their idea of what being a "gentleman" means.
In 1812, when Digby was 15, his dad died, and the boy moved to England to attend Petersham High School near London. From 1816–1819, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where the political and religious trend among undergrads was progressive. Most students advocated reform and republicanism; Digby went the other direction, favoring a strong monarchy, the Church, and chivalry. His stint at the school introduced him to Tennyson and Hallam; his close friends at school were George Darby, Julius Hare, William Whewell, and Adam Sedgwick.
The middle ages stayed on Digby’s mind throughout college. Edward Fitzgerald, who’d seen Digby around but didn’t know him, wrote later that Digby was a big, cheerful guy who looked like a knight. Digby tried to practice chivalry in his own life; while at Cambridge, he and his best friend Darby held mock tournaments astride ponies, carrying wooden poles. Once, Digby snuck into the King’s College chapel and held vigil there until morning, just like a squire would the night before he was knighted. Another time, Digby rescued a young woman from an unsavory character on the road and escorted her back to her home like an honorable knight-errant.
In summers, Digby traveled all over Europe sketching old castles and writing. Germany’s Ehrenbreitstein Castle, a massive fortification from the Renaissance, gave him the title The Broad-Stone of Honour. He published the book in a single volume in 1822, and the beliefs he explored while writing it seem to have contributed to his conversion to Catholicism in 1825. After that, he rewrote and expanded the one volume into four, published in 1828-29: Godfridus, containing a general introduction (named after Godfrey of Boulogne, a Crusade hero); Tancredus, discussing chivalry’s discipline and applauding Christianity (for Tancred de Hautville, another Crusade hero); Morus, bashing the Reformation as the death of chivalry and religion (after Sir Thomas More); and Orlandus, which detailed Digby’s idea of chivalric behavior (after Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso).
