Department of History
Sarah Betts
Thesis
Thesis
‘Wrong but Wromantic’: Remembering and Representing English Civil War Royalists and Royalisms, 1642-present
Supervisor: Dr Geoff Cubitt
Research
Research
After studying court culture and images of monarchy and power during the reign of Charles I and the civil wars for my BA and MA dissertations, I became increasingly interested in the ‘afterlife’ of the period and of the King more specifically. Previous scholarship on ‘memory’ of the civil wars has tended to focus upon the immediate aftermath of the wars in the late seventeenth-century, particularly the Restoration and reign of Charles II, upon more formal (or even official) historiography, or upon a very particular source type. The central underlying question to my thesis is essentially ‘what do the general public know about the English Civil War(s)?’ and, within that, ‘what do they know or understand about the role of the monarchy in the conflicts (military and ideological), and the actions, and particularly motivations, of the ‘Wrong but Wromantic’ Cavaliers who supported them?’ Examining a wide range of different sources from across the period from the raising of the King’s Standard at Nottingham in 1642 to the present day, and utilising a variety of disciplinary approaches and methodologies, the thesis identifies and analyses recurring and transient images, tropes and interpretations of the wars, royalists and royalisms across political tracts, cultural representations, academic and popular scholarship, official commemoration, heritage commemoration and half-remembered schoolroom history. It will also reflect on the role of emotional engagement in the learning, memory and interpretation of history, especially seeking to understand what I term here ‘retrospective royalism’ in generations far removed both chronologically and ideologically from the theories of monarchical rights and responsibilities that existed in the 1640s.
Wider interests
Early modern History - Public History – Memory Studies – Heritage and Museum Studies – Commemoration – Memorials - History of Education – Historical Fictions – History for Children – Heroes and Heroism – Reputation Studies - Reception Studies – Television History – History on Television - History of Emotions – History of Monarchy/Royal Studies – History Writing – History Teaching - Performing History – Material and Visual Cultures – Historical Culture – Masculinities - British Monarchy - Stuart Dynasty – Regicides – Restorations – Conceptualisation of Time (Past/Present/Future) – Royal Dynasticism - Popular Understandings of Monarchy – Modern Monarchy.
Papers and publications
Edited Volumes
- (with Chloë McKenzie) The Routledge History Handbook of Queens-in-Waiting: Ambitions and Expectations from the Twelfth to the Twenty-first Centuries (Routledge: FORTHCOMING)
- To Play the Queen: Historical Royal Women on Stage and Screen (IN PREPARATION)
Articles and chapters
- ‘Consortship, Crisis, and Continuity: Mary of Teck and the British Succession’ in Louise Berglund, Fabian Persson, Alexander Isacsson, Margaretha Nordquist, and Caroline Wilhelmsson (Eds.), The Role of Women in Royal Succession in Europe and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan: FORTHCOMING)
- ‘The Victorian Royal Family and the Body of Princess Elizabeth Stuart: Historical Culture and Heritage, Collection and Display’, Journal of Victorian Culture, 30:1, (2025), pp.1-27. https://academic.oup.com/jvc/article/30/1/1/7932419 *Winner of the 2023 JVC PGR/ECR Essay Prize*
- ‘Royal Biography Between the Lines: Georgette Heyer’s Regency Romances and the Life of Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796-1817)’, Royal Studies Journal, 11:2, (2024), pp.239-284. https://rsj.winchester.ac.uk/articles/10.21039/rsj.422
- ‘The Confessional Integrity of the British Crown after the Act of Settlement’ in Amy Elizabeth Saunders, Johanna C.E. Strong, Melania Soler Moraton, Mercedes Llorente, Susannah Lyon-Whaley, Catherine Howey Stern, Sarah Betts, Melita Thomas, Mindy Williams, and Lily Feinstein, ‘Queenship and Cross-Confessional Identity’, Royal Studies Journal, 11:2, (2024), 13-107. https://rsj.winchester.ac.uk/articles/10.21039/rsj.481
- ‘By The Sword Divided: The English Civil War as Sunday-Night Television Drama’, British Journal for Military History, 10:3, (2024), pp.6-30. https://journals.gold.ac.uk/index.php/bjmh/article/view/1827 *Winner of the British Commission for Military History Sir Michael Howard BJMH Article Prize for 2024*
- ‘Roundhead Reputations Twenty Years On: Cultural Memory Studies and the English Civil Wars’, English Historical Review, 138:593, (2023), 967-989. https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article/138/593/967/7473638
- ‘The Windsor Consorts: Matriarchy and Modernisation’ in Aidan Norrie, Carolyn Harris, Joanna Laynesmith, Danna Messer, and Elena Woodacre (Eds.), Hanoverian to Windsor Consorts: Power, Influence, Dynasty, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023).
- Editorial Introduction and ‘Prince Philip on Screen’ in Sarah Betts, Valerie Schutte, Brandy Joliff Scott, Jessica Storoschuk, Aidan Jones, and Carolyn Harris, ‘Studying Prince Philip: His Life and Legacies in Context’, Royal Studies Journal, 9:2, (2022), pp.5-40. https://rsj.winchester.ac.uk/articles/10.21039/rsj.372
- ‘“Something as Passionless as Brilliant Administration”: Royal Sex and Sexuality in 1970s British Historical Television Drama’, Royal Studies Journal, 6:2, (2019), pp.148-182. https://rsj.winchester.ac.uk/articles/10.21039/rsj.207
- ‘“…where Liberty was fought for”: Civil War Memorials in England’, in Frank Jacob and Kenneth Pearl (Eds.), War and Memorials: The Age of Nationalism and the Great War, (Ferdinand Schöningh, 2019).
- ‘Henrietta Maria, “Queen of Tears”?: Picturing and Performing the Cavalier Queen’, in Estelle Paranque (Ed.), Remembering Queens and Kings of Early Modern England and France: Reputation, Reinterpretation, and Reincarnation, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
- ‘What’s in a name?: Dynasty, succession and England’s queens regnant (1553-2016)’, in Elena Woodacre, Lucinda H.S. Dean, Chris Jones, Russell E. Martin and Zita Eva Rohr (Eds.), The Routledge History of Monarchy, (Routledge, 2019).
- ‘Power and Passion: Seventeenth-Century Masculinities Dramatised on the BBC in the Twenty-First Century’, in Katherine Byrne, Julie Anne Taddeo, and James Leggott, Conflicting Masculinities: Men in Television Period Drama, (I.B. Tauris, 2018).
- ‘Matriarchs of the Royal House of Stuart: negotiating personal and dynastic ambition, motherhood and adversity, 1613-1662’, in Elena Woodacre and Carey Fleiner (Eds.), Royal Mothers and their Ruling Children: Wielding Political Authority from Antiquity to the Early Modern Era, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
Book reviews
- Betts, S., Ward and Hefferan (eds.), Loyalty to the Monarchy in Late Medieval and Early Modern Britain, c.1400-1688, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). Royal Studies Journal, 8(2), pp.234-236.
- Betts, S., Paranque and Schutte (eds.), Forgotten Queens in Early Modern Europe: Political Agency, Myth-making and Patronage, (Routledge, 2018). Royal Studies Journal, 7(1), pp.109-113.
- Betts, S., 2018. Murray, Imaging Stuart Family Politics: Dynastic Crisis and Continuity (Routledge, 2017). Royal Studies Journal, 5(1), pp.212–213.
- Betts, S., 2016. Cressy, Charles I and the People of England (Oxford University Press, 2015). Royal Studies Journal, 3(2), pp.140–141.
Conference presentations
- ‘Help or Hinderance in the "Family Firm"? Heirs and Spares in the Evolving Dynastic Image and Operation of the British Monarchy from the Stuarts to the Windsors’ at Kings & Queens 14: Beyond the King: Diplomacy, Social Roles and Family Dynamics of Monarchies – The fourteenth annual conference of the Royal Studies Network, University of Lisbon, 2nd-5th June 2025.
- ‘Capturing the Castle: The Significance of Location in the BBC’s English Civil War drama, By the Sword Divided (1983-1985)’ at Place: Historical Fictions Research Network Annual Conference, Manchester, 13th-14th February 2025.
- ‘Heirs, Spares, and “Hangers-On”: The Extended Royal Family and the Concept of Royal Work in Serial Television Drama’ at ‘Dieu et mon droit’ (God and my right): Representations of the British Royal Family in Popular Culture, hosted ONLINE by POPCRN at University of New England, Australia, 28th-29th September 2023.
- ‘The Role of Civic Authorities and Alternative Vested Interest Groups in Commemorating National History at Local Heritage Sites; Or, Where Are England’s Civil War Battlefield Museums?’ at Communities and Change: Memory Studies Association Seventh Annual Conference, Newcastle University, 3rd-7th July 2023.
- ‘Consortship, Crisis, and Continuity: Mary of Teck and the Succession of the British Throne’ at Kings & Queens 12: Royal Success(ion) – The twelfth annual conference of the Royal Studies Network, Uppsala University, 29th June-1st July, 2023.
- ‘Dramatizing the British Monarchy on Screen and the Controversy of ‘Still Living’ History’, Royal Studies Network Digital Seminar Series, 7th March 2023.
- ‘The Victorian Royal Family and the Body of Princess Elizabeth Stuart: Historical Culture and Heritage, Collection and Display’ at Kings & Queens 10: Royal Patronage: Material Culture, Built Heritage & the Reach of the Crown – The tenth annual conference of the Royal Studies Network, hosted ONLINE by University of Highlands and Islands, 29th June-2nd July 2021.
- “From ‘Black Boy’ to Libertine King: Masculinity and Monarchy in the Life (and Afterlife) of Charles II” at Historicising Masculinities, Newcastle University, 2nd- 4th July 2019.
- “‘Something as passionless as brilliant administration’: Royal sex and sexuality in 1970s British historical television drama” at Kings & Queens 7: Ruling Sexualities: Sexuality, Gender and the Crown – The seventh annual conference of the Royal Studies Network, University of Winchester, 9th-12th July 2018.
- “Re-inhabiting the ‘Empty Spaces’ of the Past: Soundscapes, audio guides, and recreating England’s Civil War” at History in the Limelight: Performing the Past, c.1850 to the Present, UCL Institute of Education, 8th-10th September 2016.
- “Consuming the Historical Child: Reinventing the Civil Wars for Victorian Children” at Consuming the Victorians – Annual Meeting of the British Association of Victorian Studies, Cardiff University, 31st August – 2nd September 2016.
- “Loyal Dukes and Faithful Cities: Constructing Loyalty and the Memory of English Civil War Royalism” at Kings & Queens 5: Dynastic Loyalties – The fifth annual Conference of the Royal Studies Network, Clemson University, Greenville, South Caroline, USA, 8th-9th April 2016.
- “Wromance and Royalism: The afterlives of Prince Rupert and Princess Elizabeth in the Nineteenth Century” at The English Civil War in the Romantic and Victorian Period. France-England, 1789-1901, University of Rouen, France, 9th-10th October 2014.
- “From Courtier to Comrade and back again: The English Civil War Royalists and their Kings in reality and representation” at Kings & Queens 3: Entourages – The third annual conference of the Royal Studies Network, University of Winchester, 11th-13th July 2014.
- “‘…though he was not at the fight, yet [he] gave us a compleat account of the action from his father’s relation’: Anecdotal history and memories of the English Civil Wars” at Early Modern Memory Conference, University of Worcester, 8th-9th May 2014
- “‘The many favours passing between each other’: Stuart family visiting at home and abroad 1606-1670” at Kings & Queens 2: Making Connections – The second annual conference of the Royal Studies Network, University of Winchester, 8th-9th July 2013.
- “‘ravish’d senses’: Mourning the Death and Celebrating the Apotheosis of Queen Mary II” at Sensing the Sacred: Religion and the Senses. 1300-1800, University of York, 21-22nd June 2013.
- “‘Our Agamemnon’s Dead’: Rhetoric of revenge in post-regicide English culture” at Annual Cabinet of Curiosities CREMS postgraduate symposium, University of York, 28th May 2012.
- “‘Spokesman of the body’: the hand as a site of political interaction in Caroline Britain” at The Royal Body Conference, Royal Holloway, 2nd April 2012.
- “‘Her Blameless Memory Upcast’: the Body of Princess Elizabeth Stuart in Nineteenth-century culture” at The Materials of Mourning: Death, Materiality and Memory in Victorian Britain, University of York, 3rd December 2011.
- “‘The King’s own Hand’: The ‘martyrdom’ of Charles I and cultures of memory in Stuart England” at Representations of Regicide in 17th century Europe, University of York 12th March 2011.
Teaching
Alongside my research I have enjoyed teaching several cohorts of undergraduates on the first-year survey courses, From Rome to the Renaissance: The Transformation of Traditional Societies, c.400-1650, and Citizens, Comrades and Consumers: The Making of the Modern World Since 1650, as well as the skills based, Making Histories. In addition to History Department teaching I have also designed and/or taught several modules (both accredited and ‘Learning for Pleasure’) for the University’s Centre For Lifelong Learning - The Life and Times of Charles I (1600-1649), Queens and Consorts from Medieval to Modern, Shakespeare in Historical Context, The World of Jane Austen, Historical Drama on Screen, Heroes and History – as well as a one day study day, How Shakespeare Plays With History.
External activities
I am an active member of the Royal Studies Network and since 2020 I have been a section editor for the Royal Studies Journal for Early Modern and Modern Monarchies. I initiated the journal’s annual ‘cluster’ feature, editing and contributing to the first of these on ‘Studying Prince Philip’ in the December 2022 issue.
I have organised several academic conferences and symposia at York, both alone and as part of a team, I have also convened (or co-convened) panels for conferences elsewhere. I have previously co-convened the ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ Postgraduate Forum for CREMS and have also been involved in the Postgraduate Forum for IPUP. In 2019 I was the lead organiser of Futures in the Past, a one-day public history career building and networking forum sponsored by the York GSA and IPUP.
I have contributed to several episodes of the Royal Studies Podcast as well as a forthcoming discussion of royal trains on the National Railway Museum’s podcast.
