WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.352 align:middle line:90% 00:00:03.352 --> 00:00:05.810 align:middle line:84% ARTHUR BURNS: If you become involved in transcribing these, 00:00:05.810 --> 00:00:08.000 align:middle line:84% I think the nature of these reports 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.610 align:middle line:84% makes them a particularly satisfying and intriguing 00:00:10.610 --> 00:00:13.820 align:middle line:84% source to explore, as well as very moving as you work 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:17.840 align:middle line:84% your way through tracing the King's bouts of illness 00:00:17.840 --> 00:00:21.740 align:middle line:84% on a daily basis, with notes written by people who did not 00:00:21.740 --> 00:00:24.400 align:middle line:84% know what the outcome was going to be, 00:00:24.400 --> 00:00:27.260 align:middle line:84% and who quite frequently disagreed with each other 00:00:27.260 --> 00:00:29.750 align:middle line:84% about what the best treatment to approach or understanding 00:00:29.750 --> 00:00:32.000 align:middle line:90% of what was happening was. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:35.150 align:middle line:84% At times these voices include not just the doctors-- 00:00:35.150 --> 00:00:36.950 align:middle line:84% and there were up to four or five doctors 00:00:36.950 --> 00:00:40.400 align:middle line:84% at various points in attendance on the King treating him-- 00:00:40.400 --> 00:00:46.130 align:middle line:84% but those of his daughters and wife commenting to the doctors 00:00:46.130 --> 00:00:48.313 align:middle line:90% on their own experiences. 00:00:48.313 --> 00:00:49.730 align:middle line:84% So if you transcribe these papers, 00:00:49.730 --> 00:00:52.040 align:middle line:90% what can you expect to find? 00:00:52.040 --> 00:00:54.200 align:middle line:84% Well, the first thing to say is luckily, 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:56.060 align:middle line:84% unlike modern doctors, most of these doctors 00:00:56.060 --> 00:00:58.010 align:middle line:90% have very clear handwriting. 00:00:58.010 --> 00:01:00.630 align:middle line:84% So they don't present many immediate challenges just 00:01:00.630 --> 00:01:03.740 align:middle line:84% in terms of decoding what is on the page. 00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:06.440 align:middle line:84% The one exception to that I think that, for me at least, 00:01:06.440 --> 00:01:09.200 align:middle line:84% is the series of prescriptions and notes 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:11.668 align:middle line:84% about medicines administered offered in Latin. 00:01:11.668 --> 00:01:14.210 align:middle line:84% These are fairly rare but can be rather difficult to work out 00:01:14.210 --> 00:01:16.970 align:middle line:84% what is being discussed, although some of them 00:01:16.970 --> 00:01:19.050 align:middle line:90% become familiar as you go along. 00:01:19.050 --> 00:01:20.660 align:middle line:90% Laudanum is perhaps the easiest. 00:01:20.660 --> 00:01:26.220 align:middle line:84% Tartar emetic and various others occur frequently as well. 00:01:26.220 --> 00:01:29.870 align:middle line:84% The second thing you get that can be tricky, I think, 00:01:29.870 --> 00:01:32.450 align:middle line:84% is a series of abbreviations that are used. 00:01:32.450 --> 00:01:35.318 align:middle line:84% But one feature of these records, not surprisingly, 00:01:35.318 --> 00:01:36.860 align:middle line:84% given that they've often been written 00:01:36.860 --> 00:01:40.650 align:middle line:84% on a daily basis by the same people, or more than daily, 00:01:40.650 --> 00:01:43.400 align:middle line:84% is they have a certain formulaic quality to them 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:46.040 align:middle line:84% in which certain material is bound 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:47.200 align:middle line:90% to crop up in most letters. 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:48.620 align:middle line:84% So you get the comments on sleep, 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:51.740 align:middle line:84% you get the comments on medication, 00:01:51.740 --> 00:01:55.070 align:middle line:84% you get the comments on behavior and the state 00:01:55.070 --> 00:01:57.950 align:middle line:84% of mind of the monarch in almost all of them. 00:01:57.950 --> 00:01:59.630 align:middle line:84% And this makes it a bit easier to read 00:01:59.630 --> 00:02:01.463 align:middle line:84% because you get a fairly good idea of what's 00:02:01.463 --> 00:02:03.200 align:middle line:84% coming in each part of the letter 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:05.390 align:middle line:90% as you move through them. 00:02:05.390 --> 00:02:08.630 align:middle line:84% At the same time, they're not completely repetitive. 00:02:08.630 --> 00:02:10.412 align:middle line:84% So one of the things that makes it, 00:02:10.412 --> 00:02:12.620 align:middle line:84% I think, particularly fascinating that quite suddenly 00:02:12.620 --> 00:02:16.250 align:middle line:84% you'll come across a reference to some new behavior 00:02:16.250 --> 00:02:20.320 align:middle line:84% or new instance that's really struck the doctor 00:02:20.320 --> 00:02:22.310 align:middle line:84% and written down and recorded very much 00:02:22.310 --> 00:02:23.780 align:middle line:90% on the spur of the moment. 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:27.530 align:middle line:84% And that could be a really exciting discovery 00:02:27.530 --> 00:02:29.730 align:middle line:90% where you come across those. 00:02:29.730 --> 00:02:33.620 align:middle line:84% And they're often intriguing and a little bit opaque. 00:02:33.620 --> 00:02:35.840 align:middle line:84% Clearly, a lot of what the King was doing 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:38.480 align:middle line:84% was something which everyone felt a degree of embarrassment 00:02:38.480 --> 00:02:39.620 align:middle line:90% discussing. 00:02:39.620 --> 00:02:41.810 align:middle line:90% There was extreme language. 00:02:41.810 --> 00:02:44.660 align:middle line:90% There are gross references. 00:02:44.660 --> 00:02:48.320 align:middle line:84% There was discussion of his emotional and sexual feelings 00:02:48.320 --> 00:02:54.110 align:middle line:84% towards not only his own family but also to Lady Pembroke. 00:02:54.110 --> 00:02:59.950 align:middle line:84% We get instances of violence, of soiling the bedclothes. 00:02:59.950 --> 00:03:02.170 align:middle line:84% All these instances of disgust with a degree of 00:03:02.170 --> 00:03:04.802 align:middle line:84% frankness, but at the same time a degree of reserve 00:03:04.802 --> 00:03:06.010 align:middle line:90% in the way they're expressed. 00:03:06.010 --> 00:03:09.820 align:middle line:84% And trying to pick together all the different bits of evidence 00:03:09.820 --> 00:03:12.700 align:middle line:84% to work out what was actually happening at various points 00:03:12.700 --> 00:03:15.810 align:middle line:84% involves quite a degree of detective work. 00:03:15.810 --> 00:03:17.475 align:middle line:84% And it's really quite interesting work. 00:03:17.475 --> 00:03:18.850 align:middle line:84% Because although some of this has 00:03:18.850 --> 00:03:21.760 align:middle line:84% been discussed in previous writings, 00:03:21.760 --> 00:03:23.950 align:middle line:84% quite a lot of the details of the King's behavior 00:03:23.950 --> 00:03:25.420 align:middle line:84% hadn't really been explored because 00:03:25.420 --> 00:03:27.700 align:middle line:84% these particular doctors' reports weren't 00:03:27.700 --> 00:03:29.590 align:middle line:90% used by most historians. 00:03:29.590 --> 00:03:32.140 align:middle line:84% And one of the tasks we're putting ourselves 00:03:32.140 --> 00:03:35.710 align:middle line:84% to try and complete, while we're working on these papers 00:03:35.710 --> 00:03:37.420 align:middle line:84% from the project, is to try and come 00:03:37.420 --> 00:03:40.150 align:middle line:84% to an understanding of what the King's behavior 00:03:40.150 --> 00:03:44.190 align:middle line:84% and thinking while he was unwell might tell us 00:03:44.190 --> 00:03:47.490 align:middle line:84% about his attitudes as monarch more generally. 00:03:47.490 --> 00:03:54.000 align:middle line:90%