Doug Biggs
My work centers on the political and social history of elites in Late Medieval England, specifically the reigns of Richard II (1377-99) and Henry IV (1399-1413). I also have done a lot of work on government administration (both central and county) in these years.
My next project will be reworking my Ph. D. dissertation as a book for York Medieval Press via Boydell & Brewer.
Throughout my career a good amount of my research has focused on Edmund of Langley, Earl of Cambridge and Duke of York (1342-1402). One of my goals before retirement is to write a political biography of the first Duke of York.
In support of UNK's Public/Digital History initiative I have developed a second research field in local American history. To this end, I have turned some of my research attention to the educational history of my alma mater, Iowa State University, in the 1890s and to the local history of my home town; Ames, Iowa. I have written two articles on the history of Ame and Iowa Agricultural College for the Annals of Iowa, with another published by the American Educational History Journal, and a fourth under consideration at the Middle West Review. I am hopeful that this work can lead to a book project in the future.
Supervisors: Barbara Hanawalt
Phone: 308 865 8674
Address: 101A Copeland Hall
University of Nebraska-Kearney
Kearney, NE 68849
My next project will be reworking my Ph. D. dissertation as a book for York Medieval Press via Boydell & Brewer.
Throughout my career a good amount of my research has focused on Edmund of Langley, Earl of Cambridge and Duke of York (1342-1402). One of my goals before retirement is to write a political biography of the first Duke of York.
In support of UNK's Public/Digital History initiative I have developed a second research field in local American history. To this end, I have turned some of my research attention to the educational history of my alma mater, Iowa State University, in the 1890s and to the local history of my home town; Ames, Iowa. I have written two articles on the history of Ame and Iowa Agricultural College for the Annals of Iowa, with another published by the American Educational History Journal, and a fourth under consideration at the Middle West Review. I am hopeful that this work can lead to a book project in the future.
Supervisors: Barbara Hanawalt
Phone: 308 865 8674
Address: 101A Copeland Hall
University of Nebraska-Kearney
Kearney, NE 68849
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Books by Doug Biggs
Articles in Refereed Journals by Doug Biggs
often seen as “docile” or “demure” by British medievalists. Even though few
records relating to Anne survive in the National Archives in London, through
an investigation of her affinity one can gain a measure of Anne’s political
place in Richard II’s reign. This article considers the composition of her affinity,
the military roles played by her retainers, and the presence of her retainers in
Parliament. What emerges from this brief discussion is a portrait of Anne’s affinity
starting from the group of men and women who accompanied her from
the Empire to London in 1381, then the additional Englishmen and women
chosen for her by her mother-in-law, and finally to a group of men and women
who were drawn to Anne by her own abilities and skills. What emerges from
this short study is a conclusion that Anne of Bohemia was a skillful manager
of people and a powerful political patron. Men and women sought her as their
lady and patron and careers were made in her service.
often seen as “docile” or “demure” by British medievalists. Even though few
records relating to Anne survive in the National Archives in London, through
an investigation of her affinity one can gain a measure of Anne’s political
place in Richard II’s reign. This article considers the composition of her affinity,
the military roles played by her retainers, and the presence of her retainers in
Parliament. What emerges from this brief discussion is a portrait of Anne’s affinity
starting from the group of men and women who accompanied her from
the Empire to London in 1381, then the additional Englishmen and women
chosen for her by her mother-in-law, and finally to a group of men and women
who were drawn to Anne by her own abilities and skills. What emerges from
this short study is a conclusion that Anne of Bohemia was a skillful manager
of people and a powerful political patron. Men and women sought her as their
lady and patron and careers were made in her service.
March 3-5, 2016
Omaha, Nebraska
On Friday, October 2, 1896 the football team from Iowa Agricultural College (as Iowa State University was then known), entered Rollins Field in Columbia, Missouri to take on the Missouri Tigers. On paper the contest could not have been more uneven. Missouri, a major western university with nearly 1,000 students, had begun organized football in 1890, and to that point the Tigers had not only never lost a home game, they had never allowed a single point against them within the friendly confines of Rollins Field. As if these facts were not daunting enough for any opponent, Missouri already had three Western Interstate University Football Association championships in their trophy cabinet, and, “the invincibles,” as the Missouri yearbook, The Savitar, dubbed the 1895 team, were coming off a spectacular 7-1 campaign under head coach Clifford Bliss.
By comparison, IAC, was an insignificant agricultural college with only 496 students, that started its football program in 1892, “with a clumsy aggregation of bone and beef,” and had only played a full season of seven games starting in 1894. Pregame reports demonstrate that the IAC team understood the magnitude of the task before them and just hoped to score in one of the most difficult places to play in the West, while the Tigers expected to maul their opponents. The result of that October afternoon’s contest both shocked and frustrated the Columbia faithful, who watched their beloved Tigers fall to the upstarts from Ames 12 – 0.
While the IAC faithful celebrated, the Missouri fans were left to ponder the causes for their team’s inexplicable failure. On Monday, October 5, the Kansas City Star printed an analysis of the game and the root causes for the Tigers unprecedented home loss. The Star noted that IAC outweighed Missouri by 10 pounds or more per position across the line, and that the Cyclones had been practicing since July 27th where as the Tigers had devoted a bare two weeks to prepare for the game. Facts were facts, but the paper knew that the underlying cause for the Cyclone victory was far more sinister than players’ weights or the length of the practice schedule. The Star knew, it was simply not possible for an agricultural college with less than 500 students to have become so good at football in the last two years without cheating; without being a “semi-professional organization… made up of mostly professional athletes.”
The Star’s claim was, of course, unproven, and, as little more than the venting of a loser, the insult was slight, but the IAC student newspaper, IAC Student, responded to the Kansas City newspaper’s charge with an indignation worthy of a greater offense. In an era where most stories in the student publication ran to 300 words or less, the editors of the Student chose to spill over 2,000 words and devote nearly a full broad-sheet page to the story. “This was too serious a charge to go unanswered,” the editors of the Student thundered in their “arraignment,” because “it too nearly concerned the reputation of the men and the institution.” Not only did the paper categorically deny the charges laid bare in the Star it also noted that both the Des Moines Capital and the Des Moines State Register reprinted the Star’s story without comment which bothered the Student editors greatly. Last and by no means least, the Student then went on meet the charge of professionalism by discussing each of the Cyclone starting eleven in turn and demonstrate that they were all full-time students at IAC, had been enrolled for significant periods of time, and were all pursuing degrees.
This paper seeks to answer the questions posed by the Kansas City Star in October 1896: How could so insignificant a school be so good at football in so short a time and was the 1896 IAC squad a team of “semi-professional athletes?” A discussion of these questions turns on three points: first, that Iowa Agricultural College could never have achieved the level of football success it enjoyed throughout these years without the support of powerful elements in the institution. In this case, that support began with President William Beardshear who used his influence and power to assist the football program. Second, even when members of the faculty attempted to control athletics and make the student-athletes students first and correct the abuses they found in the system, the support of the president for football and the independence of the student-run Athletic Association proved unconquerable. Finally, this article will directly address the Star’s accusation that the ’96 Cyclones were nothing more than a team of hired, semi-professionals via a prosopographical analysis of each player made possible through the use of their student records.