The Virginia Cavaliers: Myth or Reality?

Were the famed Virginia Cavaliers truly the architects of the Old Dominion, or are they merely a phantom of Southern chivalry's imagination? Did those proud and defiant Royalists, the "Distressed Cavaliers" of legend, ever actually flee to the Tidewater to escape the dreary tyranny of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, or is the "Cavalier" just a convenient myth—a mask worn by a merchant class in search of a noble pedigree? This episode resolves that perennial question.

We discuss the reality of the Cavalier-Puritan split in America—a conflict of visions rooted in an irreconcilable divide between the Tobacco Plantations of the Virginia Gentry and the Gospel of Labor. We explore the offer of Cavalier sanctuary provided by Governor Sir William Berkeley, and how Virginia culture became Cavalier culture. Most of all, we discuss the reality of the Second Sons myth of the First Families of Virginia, and if there really were nobles in America's Old Dominion, or at least their second sons.

This is the foundational story of the Tidewater Gentry and the rise of the First Families of Virginia. It is the tale of how a tobacco plantation economy was transfigured into a colonial aristocracy, how the fires of the English Civil War were reignited in the New World, and how Virginia became the land of the Cavaliers.

0:00 The Cavalier of Virginia: Man or Myth? 3:47 The English Civil War Comes to Virginia 5:59 Why Virginia Remained Cavalier 7:10: What the Conflict Between Puritan and Cavalier was All About 10:50 Were There Puritans in the Tidewater? 11:23 Puritan Levellers and Diggers Chase the Cavaliers Out of England 12:27 The Three Stages of Cavalier Migration to Virginia 17:21 The Cavaliers Define the Virginia Gentry 19:07 Governor Berkeley Invites the Cavaliers and Creates a Ruling Class 23:09 The Importance of the Anglican Church of Virginia 25:47 Virginia's Cavalier Ruling Class Has Formed 26:46 Was the Virginia Cavalier Real?

Richard of Jamestown, Internet Archive Book Images, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Astley Bernard, Unknown artistUnknown artist, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rev. Hunt Reads, Internet Archive Book Images, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pilgrim Fairmount, Internet Archive Book Images, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Westover Plantation, Internet Archive Book Images, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Berkeley, D.H. Maury (via Internet Archive Book Images), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Church of All Saints, Lewis Hulbert, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Berkely, John Philip Davis via Frank X. Sadlier (via Internet Archive Book Images), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jamestonwn Church, Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Colonial Williamsburg, Harvey Barrison from Massapequa, NY, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Colonial Williamsburg Parish Church, Carolyn from Pemberton Township, NJ, USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Colonial Williamsburg, Mobilus In Mobili, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Settlers, Frank X. Sadlier (via Internet Archive Book Images), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons