The Eton Montem custom c. 1750–1844: privilege,pageantry and sanctioned misrule |
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| Authors: | Catherine Dille |
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| Institution: | 1. History Department, School of Communications, Arts &2. Social Sciences, Richmond American International University in, London, UK |
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| Abstract: | Montem, a triennial customary march by Eton scholars, consolidated into a public expression of patrician social identity under the patronage of the monarchy in the late eighteenth century. This analysis of Montem’s history traces its development from a boy-led pageant of misrule to a public performance of elite patriotism. The custom, which attracted national attention, sheds new light on boy governance and self-fashioning in the period’s elite schools. This article argues that a study of Montem disrupts the standard historiographical narrative of anarchy and violence in the great schools and suggests that boy culture was more complex than previously acknowledged. |
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| Keywords: | Public-school customs elite education self-fashioning carnival history of male fashion |
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