Branwell Bronte was a visionary

Branwell Bronte was a visionary, his visions brought on by what is thought to have been epileptic episodes and, later in life, drugs like Opium, & alcohol. In some cultures visionaries are raised to the level of shamans and wise men, their perceptions respected for the insights they bring but few people recognised Branwell’s talents. The loudest voices are heard first and the most persistent voices often get to write history. These voices have, maybe unwittingly for the most part, perpetuated the more negative aspects of Branwel’ls persona.

There have also been people and societies who have actively sought to sully his name and create a web of misdirection. But there have also been the quiet, cautious voices in the background whispering of his practice of magic, his influence in the Freemasons and the creation of the Bronte legend. The real extent to which he influenced the writing of Jane Eyre and Wuthering heights  and how he played a pivotal role in a plan to covet Emily, Charlotte, Anne and  the Bronte legacy. 

As the son of the local vicar, Branwell held a privileged position in Haworth village and was educated at home by his father Patrick. He was well read in politics and world events not to mention gaining an almost gnostic understanding of the biblical texts.It was partially through Patrick Bronte’s connections (and partly his own creative and unusual personality) that Branwell Bronte was introduced to the local branch of the Freemasons, Lodge 408 of the 3 Graces. It was to be one of the few places that his visionary nature was to be recognised and nurtured – but also used to ultimately destroy him. In 1836 a letter written by John Brown, WM. and Joseph Redman, Secretary to The Provincial Lodge of Freemasons, “We beg leave to inform you that a young Gentleman, the Rev.P.Bronte’s son, has made application to us, wishing to be admitted into Masonry, but he is only about 20 years of age, in consequence of which, we (in conformity with the constitutions) do hereby apply to you for a dispensation for that purpose. The Rev.P.Bronte is the Minister of the Chapelry of Haworth, and always appears to be very favourable to Masonry. Therefore we hope you will furnish us, by return of post, with proper authority to admit the young Gentleman into our Order”.

Beyond the home he received a different style of education from the housekeeper, Tabitha Ackroyd. Respected wise women around the village who was known for her knowledge of the old ways, of folk tales, fortune telling and healing. Tabitha had been employed following the death of Branwell’s mother and soon became an invaluable substitute. It could be said that the opportunity provided by Tabitha gave the children a much wider and more varied experience of life than would have been possible from their mother. It gave them an understanding of 2 class systems and 2  belief systems. Tabitha would often take Branwell and his sisters on walks across the local moors and spent much time at Penistone hill which was to become the microcosmic and paracosmic location of their stories of Angria and Gondol and was later used to describe places in both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Tabitha introduced them to time tested wisdom, to magic and paganism and to special megalithic sites. Through her they learned of herbalism, astrology, the green man, the geography of fairy land and where to find fresh spring water or see the shadows align on the equinox. ferndeanmanor

Photographe: Old lodge in Lodge st, Haworth (Newell hill)

The Construction of Home in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre

KRIPSI Jurusan Sastra Inggris - Fakultas Sastra UM (Indonesia)
Thesis, English Department, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisor: Inayatul Fariha, S.S., M.A.

The Construction of Home in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
Huda Fitri Amalia, 2013

Many researchers argue that spaces and places are important aspects that construct identity. People make sense of their self by attributing meanings to places; however, the meaning and significance in it are not permanent. They are renegotiated and reconstructed. Home, a place that has been given meaning, is claimed as an expression or symbol of the self as people indicate a sense of their identity through stories about where they are.It is a physical space that is lived and a space that is an expression of social meanings and identities. However, home always has multi-layered meaning to each individual but plays a vital importance to growth. It therefore triggers many researchers to examine the meaning of home and has been a very intriguing topic as it holds different meaning to each discipline of study.
Jane Eyre portrays a significant role of home in constructing an identity, in which self-existence, personal value, and self-worth are regarded. Jane’s condition of being an orphan, penniless, homeless, and woman complicate her construction of home as she has no memory, experience, or attachment to a certain place. Her condition pushes her further to be a victim of marginalization. As an orphan, her need to find and create a comfortable space therefore becomes urgent in order to experience the feeling of being home. Jane lives at five homes and each home gives Jane an opportunity to construct her identity by observing each home and its inhabitants. Therefore, she can make an attachment to each home, both positive and negative. Jane’s concept of ideal home is continually altered in each home and therefore allows her to develop an identity, both personal and social.
In Jane Eyre, home is not merely about physical space and architectural buildings. It is emphasized that space becomes home only when it is inhabited and given meaning and function, where people can establish their own self and ways associating to others. Furthermore, home is also connected to metaphorical investment, reinforcing the idea of home which is not always a fixed space. It is delivered through imagination, creativity, and symbolic meaning as Jane calls Rochester ‘my home’. The book challenges the idea that home is not always a physical space containing certain memories for its inhabitants. Jane Eyre also adds the characteristics of ideal home as a site for new possibility, productivity, and equality. Moreover, the book enforces the idea of ‘home’ as a perennial human need, even for the ‘homeless’. bronteblog

When I was a child we had a dining table that had belonged to the Bronte family

When Joanne Hutton lived at the Parsonage she held guided tours. Here is Josh, her Grandson, pointing (heroically) to the window from where his uncle used to hang and heckle her during the tours. — bij Bronte Museum & Parsonage.

I received this reaction from Ferndean Manor on one of my posts:
""The parsonage has had a fascinating history. We spoke a couple of years ago about Ferndean Manor and also the research i was doing about Branwell. Since then I have been given access to Joanne Huttons memoirs (mentioned in your article, the first female curator of the parsonage) together with her grandson we are writing a new history of the Bronte story as she reveals many revelations from her knowledge of them, the Bronte society and people who have tried to control the legacy. The memoirs and also an unpublished manuscript are very exciting and we hope the book will generate much discussion. In the mean time we are posting up little bits of research and a few teasers here:

facebook

On this Facebook page I read this: 

""  My name is Ian Howard and my family were connected to the Brontes. Exactly how, we are not sure, but that is one of the motivations for me to embark on researching this story. When I was a child we had a dining table that had belonged to the Bronte family and also a first edition Jane Eyre which was stolen from a Bronte exhibition. I’m still trying to track that book down.

After leaving school and a short lived apprenticeship in the textile industry I became a serving police officer which brought me into contact with some rather senior members of the Freemasons and when I left the force I worked as a private investigator on behalf of solicitors, banks and national newspapers. It is not a period of my life that I am particularly proud of and in the fullness of time I did realise it wasn’t the nicest of jobs to have shaping my personality. After a sort of epiphany, I dropped out and started on what I would like to consider a more consciousness evolving path. My past did however put me in good stead to both get my teeth into serious research and also understand some people’s duplicity and ulterior motives. 
I will go into much more detail of all this in the book but for the sake of facebook, I think that is enough for the time being""

I think, this really is interesting and I wait to hear some more news.

Cross Roads Inn

For years, a tiny pub on the road between the English villages of Haworth and Keighley has been home to a peculiar rumor. The Cross Roads Inn was one of Branwell Brontë’s favorite haunts. It was at the Cross Roads that two of Branwell’s friends claim he read from a manuscript that featured the characters who would later appear in the novel Wuthering Heights.
Despite Charlotte Brontë’s insistence that her sister Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, the rumor that their brother Branwell penned the novel has persisted. In their various biographies, Juliet Barker, Daphne du Maurier, Lucasta Miller, and Fannie Elizabeth Ratchford all considered the possibility that Branwell was the true author of Wuthering Heights. Barker claimed to have identified a story of Branwell’s that influenced the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff; du Maurier pointed to poems written by Emily and Branwell as evidence of an early collaboration between the two that could have blossomed into Wuthering Heights.
The persistence of the rumor reflects the curious, cloistered upbringing of the Brontës, but also the more universal experience of siblings. Collaboration and competition between brothers and sisters exists no matter their vocations, but literary siblings challenge our assumptions of lonely genius, isolated writers alone at their desks. Patrick Brontë, father to the four artists, who raised them himself after their mother died, wrote: “As they had few opportunities of being in learned and polished society, in their retired country situation, they formed a little society amongst themselves—with which they seem’d content and happy.” (Casey N. Cep) (Read more)
inns/crossroads

In the Footsteps of the Brontës

Amberley Publishing has just published another pictorial account of the Brontës enriched with the comments of Ann Dinsdale, Collections Manager at the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

In the Footsteps of the Brontës
Mark Davis & Ann Dinsdale
ISBN: 9781445607795
Format: Paperback
Publisher:Amberley Publishing (July 2013)

The lives and works of the celebrated Brontë family are so ingrained in our cultural psyche that we think we know them inside out - but walking in the footsteps of the literary greats and their characters offers a new perspective on their work. Our journey begins in Cambridge with the arrival of the young Patrick Brontë and follows his family's fortunes as they grow up in their home village of Haworth. We see the wild moorland locations that would inspire the haunting Wuthering Heights and the dour schools they attended that would later feature in Jane Eyre. We visit the homes of family and friends that provided the settings for many of their novels and travel with them across the industrial West Riding to York and the coast. This spectacular collection of photographs old and new explores the people and places that the brilliant Brontës knew and loved.

Labels: Booksces that the brilliant Brontës knew and loved.In the Footsteps of the Brontës