Religion Colne Priory was founded in the parish by Aubrey de Vere I in about 1103-4 and was dedicated to St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist for monks of the Benedictine order from Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire. The monastery was surrendered to Henry VIII by the prior on 3 July 1534.
The parish church is dedicated to St. Andrew. The date of the original church is probably earlier than 1100. The current church was built between 1313 and 1360; the tower was started in 1460 and completed in 1534. A notable vicar was Ralph Josselin, who was instituted in 1641 and held the post until his death in 1683. ...
Notable people and events • Thomas Audley (1488–1544), 1st Baron Audley of Walden, Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII of England • Rev. Thomas Shepard (1605–1649), assistant schoolmaster at Earls Colne Grammar School who emigrated and became a founder of Harvard University • Rev. Ralph Josselin (1616–1683), vicar, diarist • Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786–1845), 1st Baronet, MP and campaigner for the 1833 Act abolishing slavery in the British Colonies
November 2015, the picturesque village of Earls Colne in the scenic Colne Valley, 3-1/2 miles from Halstead and 10 miles from Colchester, was judged the ‘Best in Essex’ in a Country Life survey of commuter hotspots with easy access to London. The same survey saw Grade II-listed Colne Priory, set in 24 acres of immaculate gardens and grounds on the banks of the River Colne, judged Earls Colne’s best address … It was the last of a series of manor houses built on the site of a Benedictine priory founded by the de Vere family, Earls of Oxford, in the early 12th century, the remains of which lie buried under lawn in the grounds of Colne Priory ...
Following the dissolution of the medieval Colne Priory in 1536, its land and buildings were granted to John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, who demolished the priory church and built a manor house on the site.
In 1583, the 17th Earl, Edward de Vere, a spendthrift, sold the manor of Earls Colne to his steward, Roger Harlakenden, whose son, Richard, bought the adjoining manor of Colne Priory in 1592. Colne Priory remained in the Harlakenden family until 1672, when it passed by marriage to the Androwes family.
And I agree-- thanks be to Phil for this daily reminder of how lucky we are to live now, trying as they may be. This time around I am going to be more attentive to Rev. Ralph Josselin -- link top right of the page -- as he is a counter-weight to Pepys. University educated, and serving in a very Presbyterian area, he uses his Diary for two main purposes: It's his Gratitude to God exercise, with lots of helpful notes about the weather and the state of the harvest. It also helps us gauge how fast news travels. Occasionally he mentions things before Pepys. Pepys rarely admits to fear -- Josselin tells us about his angst. I think he's more representative of the Average Joe than our erudite Diary host.
So what do we know about 17th century Earls Colne?
Earls Colne is a village in Essex, England named after the River Colne, on which it stands, and the Earls of Oxford who held the manor of Earls Colne from before 1086 to 1703.
History -- Manor of Earls Colne In the time of Edward the Confessor Earls Colne belonged to a Saxon noble named Wulfwine, also recorded as Ulwin or Ulwine. Ulwin's whole estate was given to Aubrey de Vere by William the Conqueror. His grandson Aubrey de Vere III became the 1st Earl of Oxford in the mid-12th century. The Earls had an ancient mansion named Hall Place standing near the site of the present Ashwells in Park Lane. Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford mismanaged his finances and in 1583 the estate, then comprising the manor and park of seven hundred acres, were purchased from him by his steward Richard Harlakenden.
Village records Earls Colne is one of the best recorded villages in the UK and has been the subject of a study undertaken between 1972 and 2002 by Professor Alan Macfarlane and his team from the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. The resulting database contains a large part of the surviving records of the parish over the period 1380–1854. The manorial records have been transcribed from Latin and these together with the parish registers, tithe maps and Ralph Josselin's diary have been indexed by place, person and date.
Landmarks The Earls Colne Heritage Museum contains the main sections of the permanent exhibition comprise Earls Colne in Earliest Times, the Domesday Book, Colne Priory, The Earls of Oxford, The 1598 Map by Israel Amyce, The Diary of the Rev. Ralph Josselin.
Education In 1520 the Rev. Christopher Swallow gave lands to the Earl of Oxford for the founding of a school for the instruction of thirty children. Earls Colne Grammar School originally occupied a site in Lower Holt Street, but moved to premises in York Road ...
"The boss is away and he is making a long weekend of it."
Nope -- the boss is the Lord High Admiral, James, Duke of York, and he might be out hunting, but he is very much living in Whitehall and in charge of the Navy.
I suspect the reason Sandwich went home for a few days was (1) to avoid voting on the Bill of "An Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion"; (2) see if the children liked their new boats; and (3) to avoid being in the way of James establishing himself as the boss. All the seafarers would automatically refer to him rather than the upstart who had never been to sea.
A more likely reason there's not much work to be done is that THERE IS NO MONEY, and no one is offering them credit. Until the cash hits the Exchequor, no ships roll.
Adding to the noise were the -- often welcome -- cries of street hawkers.
The author of this blog post, which contains some of the pictures Pepys collected, says "I take my cue from Samuel Pepys who pasted 3 sets of Cries into his albums of London and Westminster in a chronological sequence spanning a century, thereby permitting an assessment of the evolution of the style of the prints as well as social change in the capital in his era.
"In my book, I have supplemented these with another dozen series published over the following centuries which trace the development of the Cries right into our own time. My policy has been to collate a personal selection of those that delight me, those that speak most eloquently of the life of the street and those created by artists who demonstrated an affinity with the Criers.
"Through the narrow urban thoroughfares and byways, hawkers announced their wares by calling out a repeated phrase that grew familiar to their customers, who learned to recognise the Cries of those from whom they bought regularly. By nature of repetition, these Cries acquired a musical quality as hawkers improvised upon the sounds of the words, evolving phrases into songs.
Commonly, Cries also became unintelligible to those who did not already know what was being sold. Sometimes the outcome was melodic and lyrical, drawing the appreciation of bystanders, and at other times discordant and raucous as hawkers strained their voices to be heard across the longest distance." (There's more -- I suspect the color pictures are Georgian.)
Thought of another good reason to gift Mrs. Sarah a joint of meat:
Pepys needed her agreement to the delivery of books later that day. Presumably, such a delivery of resaleable merchandise would have to be locked up until Seething Lane was ready for their delivery. And she held the keys for every door in Sandwich's Whitehall apartments.
"Dined Will and I at my Lord’s upon a joint of meat that I sent Mrs. Sarah for."
That's a good way of seeing his old girlfriend, having somewhere prestigious to eat so he can avoid eating with the Navy Board (in case they invite OR did not invite Pepys, either way could be compromising/embarrassing), not have stories sent to Sandwich about him taking freebies, and of impressing Will Hewer that he, too, had connections (especially if they ate in the dining room, not downstairs in the kitchen. Since Pepys doesn't boast of being in the dining room, I suspect it was with the servants).
It occurs to me that Pepys, the "Energizer Rabbit", may not have been setting up his office/closet/accounts etc. He could have been taking a nap, which is what I would be doing after such a busy month.
Trust what Pepys says -- but at this stage he might be too vane to admit to being tired. It isn't until 1666 and 1667 that Sam confesses to needing them.
"An office day, and in the afternoon at home all the day, it being the first that I have been at home all day "
An office day may mean the Navy Board sat in the morning -- they have yet to organize set days for sitting as there is not only much work to be attended to, but also I think they were still sorting out their roles and who was responsible for what. Slingsby has just joined them and needed to be brought up to speed.
So the fact that Pepys spent a Friday afternoon at home setting up his office/closet/accounts etc. seems likely to me.
Terry's comment ""I sent them to church this morning, I staying at home at the office, busy." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…" refers to a Sunday -- when the Board are still agonizing about bills, but this time it's their own Navy debt.
Lacking other evidence, I believe Pepys. He doesn't say he played hookey from the office in the morning.
First of all, take Pepys at his word, but second, remember the meanings of some words have changed over 350 years:
"Here rose in discourse at table a dispute between Mr. Moore and Dr. Clerke, the former affirming that it was essential to a tragedy to have the argument of it true, which the Doctor denied, ...
[Moore thinks that tragic plays have to be based on a believable storyline. Clerke didn't agree -- but what were the tragedies both Clerke, Moore and we are familiar with, so we can judge their standards? Shakespeare's tragedies were: Antony and Cleopatra Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus and Cressida I've only studied 4 of these, and I loved the characters, the stories, the language, etc. Good soaps of their day. So I think I agree with Moore that, while contrived, I could identify with being in first love and doing very foolish things; getting stressed out, murdering someone, and going mad with guilt; coming home from university to find my mother the Queen marrying a bad man, and going crazy rather than fight for the crown; etc.
"... and left it to me to be judge, and the cause to be determined next Tuesday morning at the same place, upon the eating of the remains of the pasty, and the loser to spend 10s."
A good-natured bet, with Pepys as judge since he loved reading and went to the theater a lot, so both assumed he would be an informed judge of the issue. They made a date to finish eating that excellent venison pie, and the loser would pay for the wine and beer up to the amount of 10 shillings.
A major effort to catalogue and digitise the historic archives of St. Bartholomew-the-Great has yielded a cache of treasures – from Roman coins to antique prints to a Victorian Rector’s spectacles. The efforts of their archivist to save the deteriorating remains from further destruction, and some of the fascinating stories and objects found in the process, are on display.
Selected documents and objects from the archives, and a chance to explore the church and enjoy their restored medieval cloister, you need to go to St. Bartholomew-the-Great (London's oldest parish church) 57 West Smithfield, London, EC1A 9DS
List of Stuart rectors: David Dee, 1587–1605 Thomas Westfield, 1605–44 (later Bishop of Bristol) John Garrett, 1644–55 Randolph Harrison, 1655–63 Anthony Burgess, 1663–1709 John Pountney, 1709–17 https://www.greatstbarts.com/abou…
Walsingham is an unusual name, famously associated with spying for Queen Elizabeth.
That Walsingham has a son, Sir Thomas Walsingham IV who had one house in London where he and his wife Audrey were active at the court of King James – Audrey in the household of Queen Anne of Denmark.
Following Thomas’ death in 1630, one of his country houses, Scadbury Manor, Chislehurst passed to his son Sir Thomas Walsingham V, Vice-Admiral of Kent.
During the Civil Wars, Vice-Adm. Walsingham showed an ability to keep on the winning side. [So Sir Edward didn't have that family trait -- maybe they just wanted to protect the family's inheritance. They wouldn't be alone in that effort.]
However, Vice-Adm. Walsingham faced financial difficulties, and in 1660 he sold Scadbury Manor to Sir Richard Bettenson, a supporter of Charles II.
And of course Pepys may have eaten them in traditional ways known to us: boiling, scrambling, diced when cold, etc., are not exactly advanced techniques or difficult to perform, even for Jane Booth. And the Pepys did keep pigeons (what's the difference between a pigeon and a dove?) -- whatever -- in the garden of Axe Yard.
'“TRULY THOU ART DAMNED: LIKE an ill-roasted egg, all on one side.”
'William Shakespeare’s fool Touchstone lets this zinger fly in "As You Like It", and the food historian senses a challenge. The art of egg-roasting may be as bygone as an eglantine or a bodkin, but what can be learned of the history and fate of the technique? 'Furthermore, in defining an ill-roasted egg, Touchstone not only proposes a history question, but presents a cooking challenge — to well-roast an egg, evenly, and to taste.
'Roasting eggs in the dying remains of a fire is probably one of our earliest human — or even hominin — cooking projects. Many millennia before the domestication of poultry, there were springtime nests of woodpeckers, gulls, and rheas for our forebears to rob. And even before we were exerting reasonable control over fire for cooking purposes — that might be 1.900,000 years ago according to a current theory — geothermal heat and wildfire aftermath gave the earliest cooks a chance to experiment.
'In his account of serving as an English officer in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars, Thomas Boys writes of being rescued from hunger by a Spanish muleteer. The stranger took an egg, “cracked it at one end, and stuck it upright in the hot embers.” Boys’ verdict? “I beg to state that a roast egg — so roasted, i.e., done slowly in the embers — not only is altogether a different sort of thing from a boiled egg, but beats it to sticks: especially if washed down ... with a cup or two of Spanish wine out of a leathern bag.”
Boys’ muleteer was not alone doling out roasted eggs to hungry travelers ... Boston minister George Foxcroft Haskins climbed Mount Vesuvius on his Grand Tour in 1850, to discover near the summit “a party of gentlemen in a fissure between two banks of sulphur, roasting eggs in the ashes of the mountain.” After this group of Americans invited Haskins to join them, they “drank together some mountain wine and ate eggs roasted in the cinders” of the active volcano.
'The phenomenon was common enough in America that an educator used egg-roasting to illustrate an abstract concept of physics in his 1837 volume of popular science. ... he made the idea of expansion accessible with this example: “When children roast eggs they crack the shell slightly before they are put into the fire to keep them from exploding, or bursting as they usually call it. The egg bursts because the liquid in the shell expands with the heat. If there is a little crack in the shell the steam will find vent and do no injury, but if the vapor is confined, the shell explodes with a loud noise and the egg is scattered through the ashes.”'
"At Westminster Hall I met with Mr. Paget the lawyer, and dined with him at Heaven."
[Old] Justinian Pagit Snr. was a lawyer -- does Pepys need legal advice? From looking at their other interactions, it seems Pepys just enjoyed Pagit's company, and frequently met him in the company of people from the Sandwich household.
"First was the risk of accident or death on the journey. In the 17th century even relatively short distances on horseback or in a carriage carried dangers. Falls from horses were common, causing injury or even death. As Roy Porter noted, when the wife of Justinian Paget was thrown from her horse in October 1638, it was said to be the ‘cause of all her future sickness’." https://dralun.wordpress.com/2023…
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List of Custodes Brevium of the Court of King/Queen's Bench Term as Custos Brevium Name ... 1626–1645 -- Robert Dewhurst and Justinian Paget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cus…
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Harley MS 1026 A quarto miscellany and memorandum book, in three or more cursive mixed hands, 113 leaves, in modern binding. Compiled, perhaps largely, by ‘Justinian Paget Es[q.] a Lawyer’, whose name is so inscribed on a flyleaf (f. 1*r), a number of the contents relating to the Paget family and also with references (ff. 34v-5v) to ‘my sister Ann Maydwell’. c.1633-1645.
The contents suggest an Inns of Court and possible Christ Church, Oxford, connection. ... First published in Dobell (1907), pp. 103-4. Forey, pp. 94-5. https://celm-ms.org.uk/repositori…
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MONKEN HADLEY. PAGITT'S -- BY Colin Wilson The Justinian Pagitt who instituted this almshouse does not seem to be as well known as his father, also named Justinian.
Justinian Pagitt Snr. was a lawyer and diarist who met Samuel Pepys, married Dorcas Wilcox and died in 1668. London Environs shows they had a son, James, but does not mention other children. However the Ancestry website records Justinian as his son. Justinian (jnr)’s will ... references his brother. He died in about 1681. An alternative spelling is Paget.
A red brick ‘vicarage house’ was leased in 1573, but became the property of lay people 50 years later. In 1678 Justinian Paget Jr. conveyed the building, now known as the rectory house, for the use of the incumbent, the parish clerk and some almspeople. ... https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/…
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HADLEY Benefactions. ... Sir Justinian Paget, on condition of being permitted to make a vault for himself and his family in the church, gave some tenements for the use of decayed housekeepers. These houses have no endowment, and are kept in repair by the parish.
Daniel Lysons, 'Hadley', in The Environs of London: Volume 2, County of Middlesex (London, 1795), pp. 517-526. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
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17th Century information about the Paget family from a history of the Parish of Tottenham, mentioning Justinian: https://www.google.com/books/edit…
"Protestants in Piedmont. A Bill for securing the Payment of Five thousand Pounds, with Interest, collected for Relief of the poor Protestants in Piedmont, was this Day read the First time. Ordered, That this Bill be read the Second time, Tomorrow Morning."
This must refer to the Easter 1655 massacre of the Waldensians in Piedmont, which had an enormous affect on Cromwell. Anyone know why the House of Commons is getting involved now???
"Pastor John Läger, a leader of the Waldensians during their ordeal, traveled about Europe testifying to his peoples’ woes. The gazzettes of Paris, London, and Amsterdam denounced the unjust massacre. The House of Savoy was put on the defensive, both on ideological and diplomatic fronts. Puritan England, and her Protestant “Lord Protector,” Oliver Cromwell, were shocked by the event; Cromwell soon sealed a pact with France for a solution to “the Waldensian problem” [see the article on Cromwell, “A Friend in the Lord Protector”]. ...
"The Right of Freedom and Freedom Lost The war was over. A compromise was negotiated at Pinerolo. The French ambassador and the Swiss cantons acted as mediators. The so-called Patent of Grace gave the Waldensians back practically all their rights. The agreement was reached the 18th of August, before the English and Dutch ambassadors were able to throw the weight of the Protestant republics into the balance and exact an agreement more in accord with the moral and military victory of the Waldensians and their allies.
"The Waldensians, however, had seen death face to face. They preferred a low-profile settlement, one that did not needlessly humiliate the House of Savoy.
"The compromise satisfied no one. Weighed down after having conceded so much, the Duke of Savoy went back on his promise not to rebuild the Fort of Torre Pellice; instead he reinforced the garrisons. He sentenced Giovanni Läger to death 5 times, but in his absence.
"Läger had departed for Holland, where in 1669 he wrote his history of the Waldensians. He prepared the way for the “Dutch Connection” which would prove decisive at the moment of the “Glorious Return.”
"Under constant pressure, the Waldensians, a patient but ever-ready people, responded with guerrilla war tactics as before. Once again, Gianavello led the way. Accused of serious crimes and summoned to Turin, he refused to appear in court and in 1658 was given the death penalty.
"Forty-two other Waldensian leaders were declared outlaws and were not to set foot in the Piedmont. They were considered banished and thereafter known as “bandits.”
"In 1663, full-scale war broke out. ..."
The Cavalier Parliament was funding the Waldensian resistance?
"But the wench went down and got a candle lighted, and finding the boy in bed, and locking the doors fast, with a candle burning all night, we slept well, but with a great deal of fear."
Jane Birch (born 1647) locked the front door -- Pepys sent a 13-year-old girl downstairs alone to confront the burglars, only to find the front door unlocked. He doesn't seem to be peturbed by this, so maybe that was normal. No -- I don't think so either. Plus leaving an expensive candle burning all night was a known fire hazard.
He and Elizabeth were right to have a great deal of fear. I would too -- Jane, Will and the burglars could easily have been in cahoots.
Sorry -- these 2 belong to yesterday! I reposted there. LESSON: Not only check the headline on the PREVIEW page, but make sure you know which date you want to be posting at!
Peers Poll money: ORDERED, That John Clutterbuck is appointed, by this House, to be Receiver General for all those Monies that are to be paid by the Peers upon the Poll Bill.
Lords Commissioners for it. ¶ORDERED, That the Lords that are Commissioners for to assess the Peers upon the Poll Bill do meet Tomorrow in the Afternoon, at Three of the Clock, in the Prince's Lodgings, to put the Act into Execution, for the speedy bringing in of the Money. https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
The "Poll" in Poll Tax is an old (Saxon?) word for "head" -- the tax collector made no allowance for infirmity or poverty. Everyone specified pays [e.g. over 15]. https://www.britannica.com/money/…
To take a poll, or to poll a subject, means to take a survey from anyone who happens to randomly wander by, or is organized to be in a specific place at an allotted time to answer known questions.
We have a link to the Poll Tax of 1660 -- it contains spoilers at this point, as it deals with Pepys paying it. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Comments
Third Reading
About Sunday 1 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2
Religion
Colne Priory was founded in the parish by Aubrey de Vere I in about 1103-4 and was dedicated to St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist for monks of the Benedictine order from Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire.
The monastery was surrendered to Henry VIII by the prior on 3 July 1534.
The parish church is dedicated to St. Andrew. The date of the original church is probably earlier than 1100.
The current church was built between 1313 and 1360; the tower was started in 1460 and completed in 1534.
A notable vicar was Ralph Josselin, who was instituted in 1641 and held the post until his death in 1683. ...
Notable people and events
• Thomas Audley (1488–1544), 1st Baron Audley of Walden, Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII of England
• Rev. Thomas Shepard (1605–1649), assistant schoolmaster at Earls Colne Grammar School who emigrated and became a founder of Harvard University
• Rev. Ralph Josselin (1616–1683), vicar, diarist
• Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786–1845), 1st Baronet, MP and campaigner for the 1833 Act abolishing slavery in the British Colonies
For photos, and more recent info, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear…
November 2015, the picturesque village of Earls Colne in the scenic Colne Valley, 3-1/2 miles from Halstead and 10 miles from Colchester, was judged the ‘Best in Essex’ in a Country Life survey of commuter hotspots with easy access to London.
The same survey saw Grade II-listed Colne Priory, set in 24 acres of immaculate gardens and grounds on the banks of the River Colne, judged Earls Colne’s best address …
It was the last of a series of manor houses built on the site of a Benedictine priory founded by the de Vere family, Earls of Oxford, in the early 12th century, the remains of which lie buried under lawn in the grounds of Colne Priory ...
Following the dissolution of the medieval Colne Priory in 1536, its land and buildings were granted to John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, who demolished the priory church and built a manor house on the site.
In 1583, the 17th Earl, Edward de Vere, a spendthrift, sold the manor of Earls Colne to his steward, Roger Harlakenden, whose son, Richard, bought the adjoining manor of Colne Priory in 1592.
Colne Priory remained in the Harlakenden family until 1672, when it passed by marriage to the Androwes family.
For more about the sale of the currant Colne Priory -- but ignore the photos, which are gorgous, see
https://www.countrylife.co.uk/pro…
Today, the estimated driving distance from London to Earls Colne is 55.13 miles or 88.72 km
About Sunday 1 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
And I agree-- thanks be to Phil for this daily reminder of how lucky we are to live now, trying as they may be.
This time around I am going to be more attentive to Rev. Ralph Josselin -- link top right of the page -- as he is a counter-weight to Pepys. University educated, and serving in a very Presbyterian area, he uses his Diary for two main purposes: It's his Gratitude to God exercise, with lots of helpful notes about the weather and the state of the harvest. It also helps us gauge how fast news travels. Occasionally he mentions things before Pepys.
Pepys rarely admits to fear -- Josselin tells us about his angst. I think he's more representative of the Average Joe than our erudite Diary host.
So what do we know about 17th century Earls Colne?
Earls Colne is a village in Essex, England named after the River Colne, on which it stands, and the Earls of Oxford who held the manor of Earls Colne from before 1086 to 1703.
History -- Manor of Earls Colne
In the time of Edward the Confessor Earls Colne belonged to a Saxon noble named Wulfwine, also recorded as Ulwin or Ulwine. Ulwin's whole estate was given to Aubrey de Vere by William the Conqueror. His grandson Aubrey de Vere III became the 1st Earl of Oxford in the mid-12th century.
The Earls had an ancient mansion named Hall Place standing near the site of the present Ashwells in Park Lane.
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford mismanaged his finances and in 1583 the estate, then comprising the manor and park of seven hundred acres, were purchased from him by his steward Richard Harlakenden.
Village records
Earls Colne is one of the best recorded villages in the UK and has been the subject of a study undertaken between 1972 and 2002 by Professor Alan Macfarlane and his team from the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.
The resulting database contains a large part of the surviving records of the parish over the period 1380–1854. The manorial records have been transcribed from Latin and these together with the parish registers, tithe maps and Ralph Josselin's diary have been indexed by place, person and date.
Landmarks
The Earls Colne Heritage Museum contains the main sections of the permanent exhibition comprise Earls Colne in Earliest Times, the Domesday Book, Colne Priory, The Earls of Oxford, The 1598 Map by Israel Amyce, The Diary of the Rev. Ralph Josselin.
Education
In 1520 the Rev. Christopher Swallow gave lands to the Earl of Oxford for the founding of a school for the instruction of thirty children. Earls Colne Grammar School originally occupied a site in Lower Holt Street, but moved to premises in York Road ...
About Saturday 8 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"The boss is away and he is making a long weekend of it."
Nope -- the boss is the Lord High Admiral, James, Duke of York, and he might be out hunting, but he is very much living in Whitehall and in charge of the Navy.
I suspect the reason Sandwich went home for a few days was (1) to avoid voting on the Bill of "An Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion"; (2) see if the children liked their new boats; and (3) to avoid being in the way of James establishing himself as the boss. All the seafarers would automatically refer to him rather than the upstart who had never been to sea.
A more likely reason there's not much work to be done is that THERE IS NO MONEY, and no one is offering them credit.
Until the cash hits the Exchequor, no ships roll.
About Tuesday 5 April 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
Adding to the noise were the -- often welcome -- cries of street hawkers.
The author of this blog post, which contains some of the pictures Pepys collected, says "I take my cue from Samuel Pepys who pasted 3 sets of Cries into his albums of London and Westminster in a chronological sequence spanning a century, thereby permitting an assessment of the evolution of the style of the prints as well as social change in the capital in his era.
"In my book, I have supplemented these with another dozen series published over the following centuries which trace the development of the Cries right into our own time. My policy has been to collate a personal selection of those that delight me, those that speak most eloquently of the life of the street and those created by artists who demonstrated an affinity with the Criers.
"Through the narrow urban thoroughfares and byways, hawkers announced their wares by calling out a repeated phrase that grew familiar to their customers, who learned to recognise the Cries of those from whom they bought regularly. By nature of repetition, these Cries acquired a musical quality as hawkers improvised upon the sounds of the words, evolving phrases into songs.
Commonly, Cries also became unintelligible to those who did not already know what was being sold. Sometimes the outcome was melodic and lyrical, drawing the appreciation of bystanders, and at other times discordant and raucous as hawkers strained their voices to be heard across the longest distance."
(There's more -- I suspect the color pictures are Georgian.)
https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023…
About Thursday 6 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thought of another good reason to gift Mrs. Sarah a joint of meat:
Pepys needed her agreement to the delivery of books later that day.
Presumably, such a delivery of resaleable merchandise would have to be locked up until Seething Lane was ready for their delivery. And she held the keys for every door in Sandwich's Whitehall apartments.
About Thursday 6 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Dined Will and I at my Lord’s upon a joint of meat that I sent Mrs. Sarah for."
That's a good way of seeing his old girlfriend,
having somewhere prestigious to eat so he can avoid eating with the Navy Board (in case they invite OR did not invite Pepys, either way could be compromising/embarrassing),
not have stories sent to Sandwich about him taking freebies,
and of impressing Will Hewer that he, too, had connections (especially if they ate in the dining room, not downstairs in the kitchen. Since Pepys doesn't boast of being in the dining room, I suspect it was with the servants).
About Friday 7 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
It occurs to me that Pepys, the "Energizer Rabbit", may not have been setting up his office/closet/accounts etc.
He could have been taking a nap, which is what I would be doing after such a busy month.
Trust what Pepys says -- but at this stage he might be too vane to admit to being tired.
It isn't until 1666 and 1667 that Sam confesses to needing them.
About Friday 7 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"An office day, and in the afternoon at home all the day, it being the first that I have been at home all day "
An office day may mean the Navy Board sat in the morning -- they have yet to organize set days for sitting as there is not only much work to be attended to, but also I think they were still sorting out their roles and who was responsible for what. Slingsby has just joined them and needed to be brought up to speed.
So the fact that Pepys spent a Friday afternoon at home setting up his office/closet/accounts etc. seems likely to me.
Terry's comment ""I sent them to church this morning, I staying at home at the office, busy." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…" refers to a Sunday -- when the Board are still agonizing about bills, but this time it's their own Navy debt.
Lacking other evidence, I believe Pepys. He doesn't say he played hookey from the office in the morning.
About Wednesday 5 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
A writ of dedimus:
noun
variants or dedimus potestatem --ˌpōtəˈstätəm
a writ to commission a private person to perform some act in place of a judge (as to examine a witness)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/d…)
About Tuesday 4 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
I'll take a stab at it, Scube:
First of all, take Pepys at his word, but second, remember the meanings of some words have changed over 350 years:
"Here rose in discourse at table a dispute between Mr. Moore and Dr. Clerke, the former affirming that it was essential to a tragedy to have the argument of it true, which the Doctor denied, ...
[Moore thinks that tragic plays have to be based on a believable storyline.
Clerke didn't agree -- but what were the tragedies both Clerke, Moore and we are familiar with, so we can judge their standards? Shakespeare's tragedies were:
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Cymbeline
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
Troilus and Cressida
I've only studied 4 of these, and I loved the characters, the stories, the language, etc. Good soaps of their day. So I think I agree with Moore that, while contrived, I could identify with
being in first love and doing very foolish things;
getting stressed out, murdering someone, and going mad with guilt;
coming home from university to find my mother the Queen marrying a bad man, and going crazy rather than fight for the crown;
etc.
"... and left it to me to be judge, and the cause to be determined next Tuesday morning at the same place, upon the eating of the remains of the pasty, and the loser to spend 10s."
A good-natured bet, with Pepys as judge since he loved reading and went to the theater a lot, so both assumed he would be an informed judge of the issue.
They made a date to finish eating that excellent venison pie, and the loser would pay for the wine and beer up to the amount of 10 shillings.
My guess.
About St Bartholomew-the-Great
San Diego Sarah • Link
A major effort to catalogue and digitise the historic archives of St. Bartholomew-the-Great has yielded a cache of treasures – from Roman coins to antique prints to a Victorian Rector’s spectacles.
The efforts of their archivist to save the deteriorating remains from further destruction, and some of the fascinating stories and objects found in the process, are on display.
Selected documents and objects from the archives, and a chance to explore the church and enjoy their restored medieval cloister, you need to go to
St. Bartholomew-the-Great (London's oldest parish church)
57 West Smithfield,
London, EC1A 9DS
List of Stuart rectors:
David Dee, 1587–1605
Thomas Westfield, 1605–44 (later Bishop of Bristol)
John Garrett, 1644–55
Randolph Harrison, 1655–63
Anthony Burgess, 1663–1709
John Pountney, 1709–17
https://www.greatstbarts.com/abou…
About Edward Walsingham
San Diego Sarah • Link
Walsingham is an unusual name, famously associated with spying for Queen Elizabeth.
That Walsingham has a son, Sir Thomas Walsingham IV who had one house in London where he and his wife Audrey were active at the court of King James – Audrey in the household of Queen Anne of Denmark.
Following Thomas’ death in 1630, one of his country houses, Scadbury Manor, Chislehurst passed to his son Sir Thomas Walsingham V, Vice-Admiral of Kent.
During the Civil Wars, Vice-Adm. Walsingham showed an ability to keep on the winning side. [So Sir Edward didn't have that family trait -- maybe they just wanted to protect the family's inheritance. They wouldn't be alone in that effort.]
However, Vice-Adm. Walsingham faced financial difficulties, and in 1660 he sold Scadbury Manor to Sir Richard Bettenson, a supporter of Charles II.
For lovely photos of the ruins and grounds, and history of Scadbury Manor see
https://www.scadbury-park.org.uk/…
and
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/calen…
About Eggs
San Diego Sarah • Link
And of course Pepys may have eaten them in traditional ways known to us: boiling, scrambling, diced when cold, etc., are not exactly advanced techniques or difficult to perform, even for Jane Booth.
And the Pepys did keep pigeons (what's the difference between a pigeon and a dove?) -- whatever -- in the garden of Axe Yard.
About Eggs
San Diego Sarah • Link
This may be how Pepys nay have eaten his eggs:
'“TRULY THOU ART DAMNED: LIKE an ill-roasted egg, all on one side.”
'William Shakespeare’s fool Touchstone lets this zinger fly in "As You Like It", and the food historian senses a challenge. The art of egg-roasting may be as bygone as an eglantine or a bodkin, but what can be learned of the history and fate of the technique?
'Furthermore, in defining an ill-roasted egg, Touchstone not only proposes a history question, but presents a cooking challenge — to well-roast an egg, evenly, and to taste.
'Roasting eggs in the dying remains of a fire is probably one of our earliest human — or even hominin — cooking projects. Many millennia before the domestication of poultry, there were springtime nests of woodpeckers, gulls, and rheas for our forebears to rob. And even before we were exerting reasonable control over fire for cooking purposes — that might be 1.900,000 years ago according to a current theory — geothermal heat and wildfire aftermath gave the earliest cooks a chance to experiment.
'In his account of serving as an English officer in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars, Thomas Boys writes of being rescued from hunger by a Spanish muleteer. The stranger took an egg, “cracked it at one end, and stuck it upright in the hot embers.” Boys’ verdict? “I beg to state that a roast egg — so roasted, i.e., done slowly in the embers — not only is altogether a different sort of thing from a boiled egg, but beats it to sticks: especially if washed down ... with a cup or two of Spanish wine out of a leathern bag.”
Boys’ muleteer was not alone doling out roasted eggs to hungry travelers ...
Boston minister George Foxcroft Haskins climbed Mount Vesuvius on his Grand Tour in 1850, to discover near the summit “a party of gentlemen in a fissure between two banks of sulphur, roasting eggs in the ashes of the mountain.” After this group of Americans invited Haskins to join them, they “drank together some mountain wine and ate eggs roasted in the cinders” of the active volcano.
'The phenomenon was common enough in America that an educator used egg-roasting to illustrate an abstract concept of physics in his 1837 volume of popular science. ... he made the idea of expansion accessible with this example: “When children roast eggs they crack the shell slightly before they are put into the fire to keep them from exploding, or bursting as they usually call it. The egg bursts because the liquid in the shell expands with the heat. If there is a little crack in the shell the steam will find vent and do no injury, but if the vapor is confined, the shell explodes with a loud noise and the egg is scattered through the ashes.”'
Highlights from
https://www.atlasobscura.com/arti…
About Thursday 30 August 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"At Westminster Hall I met with Mr. Paget the lawyer, and dined with him at Heaven."
[Old] Justinian Pagit Snr. was a lawyer -- does Pepys need legal advice?
From looking at their other interactions, it seems Pepys just enjoyed Pagit's company, and frequently met him in the company of people from the Sandwich household.
About Justinian Paget
San Diego Sarah • Link
"First was the risk of accident or death on the journey. In the 17th century even relatively short distances on horseback or in a carriage carried dangers. Falls from horses were common, causing injury or even death.
As Roy Porter noted, when the wife of Justinian Paget was thrown from her horse in October 1638, it was said to be the ‘cause of all her future sickness’."
https://dralun.wordpress.com/2023…
@@@
List of Custodes Brevium of the Court of King/Queen's Bench
Term as Custos Brevium Name
...
1626–1645 -- Robert Dewhurst and Justinian Paget
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cus…
@@@
Harley MS 1026
A quarto miscellany and memorandum book, in three or more cursive mixed hands, 113 leaves, in modern binding.
Compiled, perhaps largely, by ‘Justinian Paget Es[q.] a Lawyer’, whose name is so inscribed on a flyleaf (f. 1*r), a number of the contents relating to the Paget family and also with references (ff. 34v-5v) to ‘my sister Ann Maydwell’. c.1633-1645.
The contents suggest an Inns of Court and possible Christ Church, Oxford, connection. ...
First published in Dobell (1907), pp. 103-4. Forey, pp. 94-5.
https://celm-ms.org.uk/repositori…
@@@
MONKEN HADLEY. PAGITT'S -- BY Colin Wilson
The Justinian Pagitt who instituted this almshouse does not seem to be as well known as his father, also named Justinian.
Justinian Pagitt Snr. was a lawyer and diarist who met Samuel Pepys, married Dorcas Wilcox and died in 1668.
London Environs shows they had a son, James, but does not mention other children. However the Ancestry website records Justinian as his son. Justinian (jnr)’s will ... references his brother. He died in about 1681. An alternative spelling is Paget.
A red brick ‘vicarage house’ was leased in 1573, but became the property of lay people 50 years later.
In 1678 Justinian Paget Jr. conveyed the building, now known as the rectory house, for the use of the incumbent, the parish clerk and some almspeople. ...
https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/…
@@@
HADLEY
Benefactions.
...
Sir Justinian Paget, on condition of being permitted to make a vault for himself and his family in the church, gave some tenements for the use of decayed housekeepers.
These houses have no endowment, and are kept in repair by the parish.
Daniel Lysons, 'Hadley', in The Environs of London: Volume 2, County of Middlesex (London, 1795), pp. 517-526. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
@@@
17th Century information about the Paget family from a history of the Parish of Tottenham, mentioning Justinian:
https://www.google.com/books/edit…
About Wednesday 29 August 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
The House of Commons today:
"Protestants in Piedmont.
A Bill for securing the Payment of Five thousand Pounds, with Interest, collected for Relief of the poor Protestants in Piedmont, was this Day read the First time.
Ordered, That this Bill be read the Second time, Tomorrow Morning."
This must refer to the Easter 1655 massacre of the Waldensians in Piedmont, which had an enormous affect on Cromwell. Anyone know why the House of Commons is getting involved now???
Read the whole story at
https://christianhistoryinstitute…
In part it says:
"Pastor John Läger, a leader of the Waldensians during their ordeal, traveled about Europe testifying to his peoples’ woes. The gazzettes of Paris, London, and Amsterdam denounced the unjust massacre. The House of Savoy was put on the defensive, both on ideological and diplomatic fronts. Puritan England, and her Protestant “Lord Protector,” Oliver Cromwell, were shocked by the event; Cromwell soon sealed a pact with France for a solution to “the Waldensian problem” [see the article on Cromwell, “A Friend in the Lord Protector”]. ...
"The Right of Freedom and Freedom Lost
The war was over. A compromise was negotiated at Pinerolo. The French ambassador and the Swiss cantons acted as mediators. The so-called Patent of Grace gave the Waldensians back practically all their rights.
The agreement was reached the 18th of August, before the English and Dutch ambassadors were able to throw the weight of the Protestant republics into the balance and exact an agreement more in accord with the moral and military victory of the Waldensians and their allies.
"The Waldensians, however, had seen death face to face. They preferred a low-profile settlement, one that did not needlessly humiliate the House of Savoy.
"The compromise satisfied no one. Weighed down after having conceded so much, the Duke of Savoy went back on his promise not to rebuild the Fort of Torre Pellice; instead he reinforced the garrisons. He sentenced Giovanni Läger to death 5 times, but in his absence.
"Läger had departed for Holland, where in 1669 he wrote his history of the Waldensians. He prepared the way for the “Dutch Connection” which would prove decisive at the moment of the “Glorious Return.”
"Under constant pressure, the Waldensians, a patient but ever-ready people, responded with guerrilla war tactics as before. Once again, Gianavello led the way. Accused of serious crimes and summoned to Turin, he refused to appear in court and in 1658 was given the death penalty.
"Forty-two other Waldensian leaders were declared outlaws and were not to set foot in the Piedmont. They were considered banished and thereafter known as “bandits.”
"In 1663, full-scale war broke out. ..."
The Cavalier Parliament was funding the Waldensian resistance?
About Wednesday 29 August 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"But the wench went down and got a candle lighted, and finding the boy in bed, and locking the doors fast, with a candle burning all night, we slept well, but with a great deal of fear."
Jane Birch (born 1647) locked the front door -- Pepys sent a 13-year-old girl downstairs alone to confront the burglars, only to find the front door unlocked. He doesn't seem to be peturbed by this, so maybe that was normal. No -- I don't think so either.
Plus leaving an expensive candle burning all night was a known fire hazard.
He and Elizabeth were right to have a great deal of fear. I would too -- Jane, Will and the burglars could easily have been in cahoots.
About Thursday 30 August 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Sorry -- these 2 belong to yesterday! I reposted there.
LESSON: Not only check the headline on the PREVIEW page, but make sure you know which date you want to be posting at!
About Wednesday 29 August 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"the "pole bill" also voted upon today"
Peers Poll money:
ORDERED, That John Clutterbuck is appointed, by this House, to be Receiver General for all those Monies that are to be paid by the Peers upon the Poll Bill.
Lords Commissioners for it.
¶ORDERED, That the Lords that are Commissioners for to assess the Peers upon the Poll Bill do meet Tomorrow in the Afternoon, at Three of the Clock, in the Prince's Lodgings, to put the Act into Execution, for the speedy bringing in of the Money.
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
The "Poll" in Poll Tax is an old (Saxon?) word for "head" -- the tax collector made no allowance for infirmity or poverty. Everyone specified pays [e.g. over 15].
https://www.britannica.com/money/…
To take a poll, or to poll a subject, means to take a survey from anyone who happens to randomly wander by, or is organized to be in a specific place at an allotted time to answer known questions.
We have a link to the Poll Tax of 1660 -- it contains spoilers at this point, as it deals with Pepys paying it.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…