Loved that you centered her story rather than Byron's--so tired of things like "Byron's women"--when the women were fascinating and doing remarkable things as well. Great post.
"To avoid further scandal, Lady Caroline's husband took her to Ireland." <-- This line made me laugh out loud. Better late than never? :D Those Victorians were a sneaky bunch. Thanks for sharing this!
Scandalous! A great read as always, even if I didn't get to it on actual Valentine's Day.
Also, I visited Chillon Castle on lake Geneva in Switzerland back in July 2022. Beautiful and interesting place, but what I didn't know until I visited was that Byron wrote a poem about the imprisonment of Bonivard at Chateau Chillon. Was amazing to walk the dungeon and over the footsteps that Byron had himself walked.
Firstly, I love Lady Caroline's sketches! Even those (presumably) fountain pen ones on the pubic hair page! They really got to me and showed a slightly different side than her writing. Initially I thought this was going to also include Bryon's writing (guess I didn't read the title carefully enough. Haha) and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't! I am now (very!) eager to learn more about LC and look forward to Antonia Fraser's book!
This was a story best told through the eyes of Lady Caroline. I belong to a history bookclub. Sometimes the books are great, sometimes not so much. I heard once that next to Jesus, more books have been written about Abraham Lincoln (more than 15000) than anyone else. The books can sometimes be stale and I think the trend toward more of the periods in history being writtten from a female perspective can be a fresh approach. As the years have passed there are about 50 members, 30 of whom or so are active participants in any given month. The club shades older and female. Since we vote for the books to read by majority, I think the book club is changing many of our perspectives. One of the most INTERESTING trends I've noticed is there are more books behind researched and written about a woman's perspective at many points in history. This felt a bit like that.
This is a wonderful Valentine's post. I especially loved the references to Le Diable Amoureux, which I read with great interest! It added so much to the understanding of the complexity of emotion within the context of love, if it be so, if not obsession and manipulation linked to attachment. Byron and Lamb's psychological motivations explain a lot about all consuming relationships existing under the guise of love. Proves what Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” or “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Wonderful, Jillian!
"It’s hard to imagine what Lady Caroline would have deemed more embarrassing than the lines she had already written." LOL
It is wonderful to see how NOT DIFFERENT people back then were from people today. So fun! LADY CAROLINE YOU BE YOU!!!
Loved that you centered her story rather than Byron's--so tired of things like "Byron's women"--when the women were fascinating and doing remarkable things as well. Great post.
This was amazing 😍
WOWOW! Is this ever a perfect Valentine’s Day Post!
"To avoid further scandal, Lady Caroline's husband took her to Ireland." <-- This line made me laugh out loud. Better late than never? :D Those Victorians were a sneaky bunch. Thanks for sharing this!
Related: https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/tracing-bigamy-dishonesty-and-intrigue-in-victorian-marriage-records/
Scandalous! A great read as always, even if I didn't get to it on actual Valentine's Day.
Also, I visited Chillon Castle on lake Geneva in Switzerland back in July 2022. Beautiful and interesting place, but what I didn't know until I visited was that Byron wrote a poem about the imprisonment of Bonivard at Chateau Chillon. Was amazing to walk the dungeon and over the footsteps that Byron had himself walked.
Firstly, I love Lady Caroline's sketches! Even those (presumably) fountain pen ones on the pubic hair page! They really got to me and showed a slightly different side than her writing. Initially I thought this was going to also include Bryon's writing (guess I didn't read the title carefully enough. Haha) and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't! I am now (very!) eager to learn more about LC and look forward to Antonia Fraser's book!
Ah, if Twitter had been around in Lady Caroline’s day!
This was a story best told through the eyes of Lady Caroline. I belong to a history bookclub. Sometimes the books are great, sometimes not so much. I heard once that next to Jesus, more books have been written about Abraham Lincoln (more than 15000) than anyone else. The books can sometimes be stale and I think the trend toward more of the periods in history being writtten from a female perspective can be a fresh approach. As the years have passed there are about 50 members, 30 of whom or so are active participants in any given month. The club shades older and female. Since we vote for the books to read by majority, I think the book club is changing many of our perspectives. One of the most INTERESTING trends I've noticed is there are more books behind researched and written about a woman's perspective at many points in history. This felt a bit like that.
This is a delicious read. ❤️
My Lamb Family are super special.
This is a wonderful Valentine's post. I especially loved the references to Le Diable Amoureux, which I read with great interest! It added so much to the understanding of the complexity of emotion within the context of love, if it be so, if not obsession and manipulation linked to attachment. Byron and Lamb's psychological motivations explain a lot about all consuming relationships existing under the guise of love. Proves what Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” or “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Wonderful, Jillian!
Women never forget, indeed. How risqué!
One of the best Valentine reads ever.
I only knew about 3% of this, so thank you for sharing!
What a story, and what a life!