The Manly History of Manly, Manliness

Get out your pipe, comb your mustache, put on your slippers, and pour yourself a glass of scotch it’s time to take a look at both history and manliness. Today’s topic is HONOR. ….. Ok, ladies you can join us too.

The idea of honor has developed and changed over the years, along with society and culture. From Roman times to our modern times the meaning of “manliness” and “honor” and “manly honor” has changed with each new age. This is detailed in the Manly Honor blog series via the website, The Art of Manliness. Thus far this has been a 5 part series. I will talk about the parts I’ve read so far, Parts 3 and 4, and hopefully I will wet your appetites to read Part 5.

So, I immediately started reading Part 4, of course, because it is titled “The Gentlemen and the Roughs: The Collision of Two Honor Codes in the American North.” However, upon reading it the author suggested to any beginning reader to go back to the last post in the series to gain a little context before embarking on the current post. So, begrudgingly that is what I did. It turns out I am so glad I did because now I am hooked to reading this blog series.

Part 3, “The Victorian Era and the Development of the Stoic Christian Code of Honor,” was very interesting. I will try to talk a little bit about it, without ruining it for any potential readers.  When we think of the good ol’ Victorian age with all its pomp and circumstance and reminisce on, what the more nostalgic among us might refer to as, the time when men were men, manly men, it is the honor code at the time that made this so. Largely, the focus of Part 3 is on the development of the Victorian honor code. The Victorian reign saw the loss of power in the aristocracy, the landed elites, with the rise of the middle class. With this class shift the idea of “honor” was expanded to a larger class now gaining power and influence in society and government. This middle class came from a hard-working, frugal, Christian, and sober background. These tenets of the middle class would become the new standard for manly honor in the Victorian age. Other attributes, such as courage, are encapsulated within this Victorian honor code, but I’ve covered the main ones- I’ll let you read about the rest.

This basis of knowledge certainly enhanced the reading of the next part in the series, Part 4. This part discusses how the honor code of the middle and upper class, which encapsulated the ideals of the Victorian honor code- discussed above, came to confrontation with the differing honor code of the lower classes within the Northern Armies during the Civil War. This post discusses the differences between the Northern gentlemen, who stuck more to the virtue side of the Victorian honor code, and the Northern working class, or “roughs” who took virtue in vice. Unlike the straight-laced gentlemen, the roughs attributed manliness to hard-drinking, brawling, and generally as being the toughest guy on the block. These two very different views of honor and personality types came together to make an unsettling mix in the Northern armies. This was a very interesting read. It explored a part of the Civil War that I had actually not heard much about before. This post goes in depth into comparing and contrasting these two strata of society, more so than I have done here, and is definitely worth skimming over.

The next part of the series has actually just been posted and it indeed looks extremely interesting to read as well. Part 5 is entitled “Honor in the American South,” a good follow-up to the last post on the Northern perspective of honor. I really, really look forward to reading this.

In my opinion, these blog posts are an interesting read and an interesting way to learn about societal and cultural change by showing how these factors affected the concept of manliness. All-in-all, a good use of history in my book.

For your convenience I have placed the links to these three articles below. I hope you enjoyed your scotch, pipe, and this short discussion on manly history. Now, back to work! Crack On!

• Manly Honor Part III: The Victorian Era and the Development of the Stoic-Christian Code of Honor 
• Manly Honor Part IV: The Gentleman and the Roughs: The Collision of Two Honor Codes in the American North 
• Manly Honor Part V: Honor in the American South