Terry, today I discovered another reason Montagu may be at Dover/Deal -- Wikipedia has a list of governors of Dover Castle, which is the logical place for keeping an eye on who is sailing where locally -- particularly to the Continent. For some reason no one is listed between 1657 and 1660.
In another place I found out that the regicide John Dixwell (cousin to the Basil Dixwell Pepys mentions around this time) was the acting Governor of Dover Castle during Lambert's Uprising.
Lambert made trouble twice, and I don't know which Uprising the note refers to, or was it to both? Assuming it was the one in Feb. 1660, Monck/Parliament had the choice of a regicide or noone keeping an eye on the Cavaliers zipping back and forth across the Channel.
When Monck could, he sent Montagu, in their very best but leaky ship. (I wonder if Montagu had a secret mandate not to let the likes of Dixwell and Milton escape?)
Royalist Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea 1660 (may have been either the father or son or a combination, as the '3rd Earl of Winchilsea' could refer to either) was presumably appointed by Charles II when he took over the administration in June 1660.
The 2023 book, “A Cultural History of Democracy in the Age of Enlightenment”, surveys the burst of political imagination that created multiple Enlightenment cultures in an era widely understood as an age of democratic revolutions.
Enlightenment as precursor to liberal democratic modernity was once secular catechism for generations of readers. Yet democracy did not elicit much enthusiasm among contemporaries, while democracy as a political system remained virtually nonexistent through much of the period.
If 17th- and 18th-century ideas did underwrite the democracies of succeeding centuries, they were often inheritances from monarchical governments that had encouraged plural structures of power competition. But in revolutions across France, Britain, and North America, the republican integration of constitutional principle and popular will established rational hope for public happiness. Nevertheless, the tragic clashes of principle and will in fraught revolutionary projects were also democratic legacies.
Each chapter focuses on a distinct theme: sovereignty; liberty and the rule of law; the “common good”; economic and social democracy; religion and the principles of political obligation; citizenship and gender; ethnicity, race, and nationalism; democratic crises, revolutions, and civil resistance; international relations; and the transformations of sovereignty -- a synoptic survey of the cultural entanglements of “enlightenment” and “democracy.”
Natural Philosophy is the study of nature, the universe, and natural bodies. It also arguably was the first step towards what we know as the Enlightenment.
Natural philosophy has been a concept since the philosopher Aristotle first used the term in ancient Greece, but it came to have a more dynamic meaning during the Enlightenment.
Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle led the way, adopting a more systematic, evidence-based approach to their experiments on the world around them, laying the foundations for modern science.
What if nothing exists — how can we prove otherwise? René Descartes (1596 – 1650) identified a starting point that he argues is undeniably true: If we're thinking, we must exist. "I think, therefore I am" is the argument — or, in Latin, "Cogito ergo sum." Philosophers call it "the cogito" for short.
@@@
This conversation shows us Pepys' understanding of how transformative these issues are for the future. This partly answers why Pepys becomes so bored during Church sermons. They were preaching the status quo, and Pepys dimly perceives that those days are over. He's looking for answers, and doesn't want John to be left behind.
Being Governor of Dover Castle also figures in the biography of the regicide, John Dixwell MP. Interestingly, there's a gap from 1657 - 1660 in Wiki's list of governors, while Dixwell's British Civil Wars biography specifically says he was the Governor during Lambert's Uprising in February 1660. Nowhere can I find the date Finch, father or son, takes over the Castle. Presumably it was AFTER Charles II takes over the government in June 1660.
So it is possible/likely Montagu and Pepys are dealing with a regicide while awaiting orders to bring Charles II home.
John Dixwell for New England in 1665. He settled at New Haven, Conn., where he assumed the name of James Davids. He is visited the former Major-Generals Whalley and Goffe at Hadley, Mass.
Dixwell married twice during his New England exile. In 1673, he married Joanna Ling, a widow, who died within a month of the marriage. Dixwell inherited Joanna's house. In 1677, at the age of 70, he married Bathsheba How, who was aged about 30. They had a son and two daughters.
Regicide John Dixwell died at New Haven in March 1689. http://bcw-project.org/biography/… @@@ The novel is "Act of Oblivion" by Robert Harris. It's a peaceful book for a "manhunt", focusing on the 4 main characters -- the fugitives and the man sent to bring them to trial. The author explores what drove them to make their choices and draws vivid pictures of the 17th century New England colonies.
There's a novel about more famous member of the Dixwell family from these times: John Dixwell MP, 1607-1689, unmentioned in Pepys' Diary. John Dixwell was one of 3 regicides who fled to New England.
The younger son of Edward Dixwell, a Warwickshire gentleman, John Dixwell was probably brought up by his uncle Sir Basil Dixwell of Brome in Kent. He attended Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar in 1638. During the First Civil War, he was on the Kent county committee and a captain in the Kent militia. On the death of his elder brother in 1644, John Dixwell MP succeeded to the estate inherited from their uncle, and became guardian of his brother's children.
In 1646, Dixwell was elected to the Long Parliament as MP for Dover, where he became associated with the Independent faction. He retained his seat after Pride's Purge and was nominated to the High Court of Justice to try the King in January 1649. Dixwell attended every session of King Charles' trial and was a signatory of the death warrant.
During the Commonwealth, Dixwell was a political ally of the republicans Ludlow and Marten. He was appointed to the Council of State in 1651-2, and took a particular interest in naval affairs. In January 1652, he was appointed governor of Dover Castle, which was of vital strategic importance during the first Anglo-Dutch War of 1652-4.
Despite reservations about the establishment of a Protectorate, Dixwell was loyal to both Oliver and Richard Cromwell. He sat in all 3 Protectorate Parliaments. During the turmoil of 1659, John Dixwell MP was re-elected to the Council of State. Dixwell held Dover Castle on behalf of the civilian republican faction against the interests of Major-Gen. Lambert and the Council of Officers.
[Wikipedia doesn't list a Gov. of Dover Castle when Montegu, Pepys and the fleet were anthored in the Downs: Sir Edward Boys 1642–1646 Major John Boys 1646–1648 Sir Algernon Sydney 1648–1651 Col. Thomas Kelsey 1651–1656 [DIXWELL HELD CASTLE WHILE KELSEY FOUGHT?????] Adm. Robert Blake 1656–1657 [DIXWELL HELD CASTLE DURING 1660 LAMBERT'S UPRISING?] Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea 1660 (unconfirmed term; may have been father/son) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lor… ]
Realising the Restoration was inevitable, Dixwell fled early in 1660. He joined other regicides at Hanau, Germany.
The name Hel(le) Voet, Helius' foot or "(land at) the lowest point of Helius", appears in documents from the 13th century and later, such as in 1395, when the Nieuw-Helvoet Polder is issued for inspection. This polder had a drainage sluice (Dutch: "sluis") in the southern dike: the Hellevoetse sluis.
The history of Hellevoetsluis has always been connected with water. During the time of the Eighty Year's War and the forming of the United Provinces Hellevoetsluis was the naval port of the Admiralty of de Maze (Rotterdam) and could accommodate an entire fleet within a special land-enclosed fortress with harbour and dockyard facilities, accessible through a canal. Thanks to its strategic situation the town grew from the beginning of the 17th century to be the homeport for the Dutch war fleet.
In later years the port was fortified more and more and Hellevoetsluis, therefore, became a unique combination of a fortified town and a naval port. The Admirals Maarten Tromp, Michiel de Ruyter, and Piet Heyn had their home base here.
In 1688, during the Glorious Revolution, William III of Orange's invasion fleet departed from this port.
The Voorne Canal Kanaal door Voorne was built in 1830 from Hellevoetsluis to Nieuwesluis (near Heenvliet) and made Hellevoetsluis an outport of Rotterdam. It was a period when the town grew and flourished; the shipping industry provided prosperity.
You're right, Chrissie -- but the proofreader in me has to point out she was Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine, later the Duchess of Cleveland. You're thinking of the right person.
SPOILER -- but beyond the Diary years: Louis de Kerouaille is very happy, Carmichael. The Duchess of Portsmouth weighted the scales of chance very heavily for this round. (She's an ancestor of both Diana and Camilla, so although William is not Camilla's son, the de Kerouaille genes will continue on the throne, finally.)
After Oliver's death in 1659, Thurloe supported Richard Cromwell as his successor. Royalists were convinced that Thurloe was the true power behind the Protectorate, and army officers were jealous of his influence over Richard. During the Third Protectorate Parliament, Thurloe was the government's recognised spokesman and the leader of the Cromwellian "court" party against the republicans and army leaders. He successfully repudiated personal attacks accusing him of abuses of power but he was unable to dissuade Richard from dissolving Parliament in April 1659 under pressure from army officers. The Rump Parliament was recalled in May and Richard was forced to resign, bringing the Cromwellian Protectorate to an end. With the return of the Commonwealth, Thurloe was dismissed by the new Council of State. He refused to divulge his codes and ciphers when Thomas Scot resumed direction of the intelligence service.
Thurloe was restored to his offices by Gen. Monck in February 1660. He tried to persuade Monck to reinstate the Protectorate and resisted the Restoration for as long as he could. Despite Monck's recommendation, he was not elected to the Convention Parliament in April 1660.
After Charles II's return, Thurloe was accused of treason and arrested in May 1660. He was released in June on condition that his knowledge be made available to the new government when required. He subsequently wrote several memoranda on state and foreign affairs for the information of Sir Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. Thereafter, Thurloe lived quietly, dividing his time between Great Milton, Oxon., and his legal chambers at Lincoln's Inn, where he died in February 1668.
Thurloe was twice married: first, to a lady of the Peyton family, with whom he had 2 sons who died in infancy; secondly, to Anne Lytcott of East Moulsey, Surrey, with whom he had 4 sons and 2 daughters.
Thurloe's papers are of major importance to historians of the Protectorate. They were found hidden behind a false ceiling in his former chambers at Lincoln's Inn during the reign of William III and were eventually presented to the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
Sources: C.H. Firth, John Thurloe, DNB 1898 Timothy Venning, John Thurloe, Oxford DNB, 2007
John Thurloe was the only son of Thomas Thurloe (d.1633), rector of Abbess Roding in Essex, and his wife, Sarah (d. 1637), widow of a Mr. Ewer, with whom she had 3 sons, including the regicide Isaac Ewer.
After the death of his father in 1633, John Thurloe secured the administration of the family estate for his mother.
Thurloe studied law under the patronage of Oliver St.John through whose influence he was employed as a secretary to the Parliamentary commissioners at the Uxbridge Treaty negotiations in January 1645. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1646. Under St.John's patronage, Thurloe's legal and administrative career steadily developed. Like his patron, Thurloe avoided involvement in the events surrounding King Charles' trial and execution in 1649.
In March 1651, Thurloe went as secretary to St.John and Sir Walter Strickland on their diplomatic mission to the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Although the mission was unsuccessful, Thurloe's competence made a good impression. He was appointed secretary to the Council of State in March 1652, then clerk to the Committee for Foreign Affairs in December.
In July 1653, Thurloe took over from Thomas Scot as director of the Commonwealth's spying and intelligence network. When Oliver Cromwell was elevated to the office of Lord Protector in December 1653, Thurloe was involved in perfecting the final version of the Instrument of Government and was co-opted as a member of the Council of State. Thurloe was efficient and thorough in carrying out his duties. He was able to keep Cromwell fully informed of the plans of foreign governments through his system of "intelligencers" and agents, and through detailed correspondence with ambassadors abroad. Thurloe's agents infiltrated Charles II's court-in-exile and he employed the mathematician and cryptographer John Wallis to break Royalist ciphers. Always apparently one step ahead of his enemies, Thurloe established a formidable reputation as a spymaster, particularly after he secured the services of the Royalist Sir Richard Willys as an informant.
In May 1655, Thurloe was appointed Postmaster-General, with authority to intercept the correspondence of suspected conspirators against the Protectorate. The following October, the government ordered the suppression of all newsbooks except the government-controlled Mercurius Politicus and The Public Intelligencer, giving Thurloe control over the dissemination of news.
Thurloe sat as MP for Ely in the Second Protectorate Parliament and was called upon to act as a government spokesman on various issues, though he was not an effective parliamentarian. He was among those who urged Cromwell to accept the Crown in 1657. Thurloe admired Cromwell as a ruler and was a personal friend, but he had no direct influence over the Protector's policies.
L&M: Elizabeth Whittle had lived in Salisbury Court when Pepys was a boy, at Mr. Geere's (a relative of Montagu's). Pepys had 'a great opinion' of her in those days and made anagrams of her name. Around 1654 she married Stephen Fox, later Paymaster General of the Army.
Comments
Third Reading
About Tuesday 24 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Terry, today I discovered another reason Montagu may be at Dover/Deal -- Wikipedia has a list of governors of Dover Castle, which is the logical place for keeping an eye on who is sailing where locally -- particularly to the Continent. For some reason no one is listed between 1657 and 1660.
In another place I found out that the regicide John Dixwell (cousin to the Basil Dixwell Pepys mentions around this time) was the acting Governor of Dover Castle during Lambert's Uprising.
Lambert made trouble twice, and I don't know which Uprising the note refers to, or was it to both?
Assuming it was the one in Feb. 1660, Monck/Parliament had the choice of a regicide or noone keeping an eye on the Cavaliers zipping back and forth across the Channel.
When Monck could, he sent Montagu, in their very best but leaky ship. (I wonder if Montagu had a secret mandate not to let the likes of Dixwell and Milton escape?)
Royalist Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea 1660 (may have been either the father or son or a combination, as the '3rd Earl of Winchilsea' could refer to either) was presumably appointed by Charles II when he took over the administration in June 1660.
This is so much fun!
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Gresham College
San Diego Sarah • Link
The 2023 book, “A Cultural History of Democracy in the Age of Enlightenment”, surveys the burst of political imagination that created multiple Enlightenment cultures in an era widely understood as an age of democratic revolutions.
Enlightenment as precursor to liberal democratic modernity was once secular catechism for generations of readers. Yet democracy did not elicit much enthusiasm among contemporaries, while democracy as a political system remained virtually nonexistent through much of the period.
If 17th- and 18th-century ideas did underwrite the democracies of succeeding centuries, they were often inheritances from monarchical governments that had encouraged plural structures of power competition. But in revolutions across France, Britain, and North America, the republican integration of constitutional principle and popular will established rational hope for public happiness. Nevertheless, the tragic clashes of principle and will in fraught revolutionary projects were also democratic legacies.
Each chapter focuses on a distinct theme: sovereignty; liberty and the rule of law; the “common good”; economic and social democracy; religion and the principles of political obligation; citizenship and gender; ethnicity, race, and nationalism; democratic crises, revolutions, and civil resistance; international relations; and the transformations of sovereignty -- a synoptic survey of the cultural entanglements of “enlightenment” and “democracy.”
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/cul…
About Saturday 8 August 1663
San Diego Sarah • Link
Natural Philosophy is the study of nature, the universe, and natural bodies. It also arguably was the first step towards what we know as the Enlightenment.
Natural philosophy has been a concept since the philosopher Aristotle first used the term in ancient Greece, but it came to have a more dynamic meaning during the Enlightenment.
Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle led the way, adopting a more systematic, evidence-based approach to their experiments on the world around them, laying the foundations for modern science.
What if nothing exists — how can we prove otherwise?
René Descartes (1596 – 1650) identified a starting point that he argues is undeniably true: If we're thinking, we must exist. "I think, therefore I am" is the argument — or, in Latin, "Cogito ergo sum." Philosophers call it "the cogito" for short.
@@@
This conversation shows us Pepys' understanding of how transformative these issues are for the future. This partly answers why Pepys becomes so bored during Church sermons. They were preaching the status quo, and Pepys dimly perceives that those days are over. He's looking for answers, and doesn't want John to be left behind.
About Dover Castle, Kent
San Diego Sarah • Link
Being Governor of Dover Castle also figures in the biography of the regicide, John Dixwell MP. Interestingly, there's a gap from 1657 - 1660 in Wiki's list of governors, while Dixwell's British Civil Wars biography specifically says he was the Governor during Lambert's Uprising in February 1660.
Nowhere can I find the date Finch, father or son, takes over the Castle. Presumably it was AFTER Charles II takes over the government in June 1660.
So it is possible/likely Montagu and Pepys are dealing with a regicide while awaiting orders to bring Charles II home.
For my version of Dixwell's biography and the Wiki list of Governors of Dover Castle, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Col. Basil Dixwell
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONT.
John Dixwell for New England in 1665. He settled at New Haven, Conn., where he assumed the name of James Davids. He is visited the former Major-Generals Whalley and Goffe at Hadley, Mass.
Dixwell married twice during his New England exile. In 1673, he married Joanna Ling, a widow, who died within a month of the marriage. Dixwell inherited Joanna's house. In 1677, at the age of 70, he married Bathsheba How, who was aged about 30. They had a son and two daughters.
Regicide John Dixwell died at New Haven in March 1689.
http://bcw-project.org/biography/…
@@@
The novel is "Act of Oblivion" by Robert Harris. It's a peaceful book for a "manhunt", focusing on the 4 main characters -- the fugitives and the man sent to bring them to trial. The author explores what drove them to make their choices and draws vivid pictures of the 17th century New England colonies.
About Col. Basil Dixwell
San Diego Sarah • Link
There's a novel about more famous member of the Dixwell family from these times: John Dixwell MP, 1607-1689, unmentioned in Pepys' Diary. John Dixwell was one of 3 regicides who fled to New England.
The younger son of Edward Dixwell, a Warwickshire gentleman, John Dixwell was probably brought up by his uncle Sir Basil Dixwell of Brome in Kent.
He attended Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar in 1638. During the First Civil War, he was on the Kent county committee and a captain in the Kent militia.
On the death of his elder brother in 1644, John Dixwell MP succeeded to the estate inherited from their uncle, and became guardian of his brother's children.
In 1646, Dixwell was elected to the Long Parliament as MP for Dover, where he became associated with the Independent faction.
He retained his seat after Pride's Purge and was nominated to the High Court of Justice to try the King in January 1649.
Dixwell attended every session of King Charles' trial and was a signatory of the death warrant.
During the Commonwealth, Dixwell was a political ally of the republicans Ludlow and Marten. He was appointed to the Council of State in 1651-2, and took a particular interest in naval affairs.
In January 1652, he was appointed governor of Dover Castle, which was of vital strategic importance during the first Anglo-Dutch War of 1652-4.
Despite reservations about the establishment of a Protectorate, Dixwell was loyal to both Oliver and Richard Cromwell. He sat in all 3 Protectorate Parliaments.
During the turmoil of 1659, John Dixwell MP was re-elected to the Council of State.
Dixwell held Dover Castle on behalf of the civilian republican faction against the interests of Major-Gen. Lambert and the Council of Officers.
[Wikipedia doesn't list a Gov. of Dover Castle when Montegu, Pepys and the fleet were anthored in the Downs:
Sir Edward Boys 1642–1646
Major John Boys 1646–1648
Sir Algernon Sydney 1648–1651
Col. Thomas Kelsey 1651–1656 [DIXWELL HELD CASTLE WHILE KELSEY FOUGHT?????]
Adm. Robert Blake 1656–1657
[DIXWELL HELD CASTLE DURING 1660 LAMBERT'S UPRISING?]
Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea 1660 (unconfirmed term; may have been father/son) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lor… ]
Realising the Restoration was inevitable, Dixwell fled early in 1660. He joined other regicides at Hanau, Germany.
About Hellevoetsluis, Netherlands
San Diego Sarah • Link
The name Hel(le) Voet, Helius' foot or "(land at) the lowest point of Helius", appears in documents from the 13th century and later, such as in 1395, when the Nieuw-Helvoet Polder is issued for inspection. This polder had a drainage sluice (Dutch: "sluis") in the southern dike: the Hellevoetse sluis.
The history of Hellevoetsluis has always been connected with water. During the time of the Eighty Year's War and the forming of the United Provinces Hellevoetsluis was the naval port of the Admiralty of de Maze (Rotterdam) and could accommodate an entire fleet within a special land-enclosed fortress with harbour and dockyard facilities, accessible through a canal.
Thanks to its strategic situation the town grew from the beginning of the 17th century to be the homeport for the Dutch war fleet.
In later years the port was fortified more and more and Hellevoetsluis, therefore, became a unique combination of a fortified town and a naval port. The Admirals Maarten Tromp, Michiel de Ruyter, and Piet Heyn had their home base here.
In 1688, during the Glorious Revolution, William III of Orange's invasion fleet departed from this port.
The Voorne Canal Kanaal door Voorne was built in 1830 from Hellevoetsluis to Nieuwesluis (near Heenvliet) and made Hellevoetsluis an outport of Rotterdam. It was a period when the town grew and flourished; the shipping industry provided prosperity.
For more, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hel…
About Sunday 22 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
You're right, Chrissie -- but the proofreader in me has to point out she was Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine, later the Duchess of Cleveland. You're thinking of the right person.
About Sunday 22 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
SPOILER -- but beyond the Diary years:
Louis de Kerouaille is very happy, Carmichael. The Duchess of Portsmouth weighted the scales of chance very heavily for this round. (She's an ancestor of both Diana and Camilla, so although William is not Camilla's son, the de Kerouaille genes will continue on the throne, finally.)
About Codes and ciphers
San Diego Sarah • Link
A fascinating article about Interregnum spies and codes, see
http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code…
Lots of examples of the real substitutions used.
About John Thurloe
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONT.
After Oliver's death in 1659, Thurloe supported Richard Cromwell as his successor.
Royalists were convinced that Thurloe was the true power behind the Protectorate, and army officers were jealous of his influence over Richard.
During the Third Protectorate Parliament, Thurloe was the government's recognised spokesman and the leader of the Cromwellian "court" party against the republicans and army leaders. He successfully repudiated personal attacks accusing him of abuses of power but he was unable to dissuade Richard from dissolving Parliament in April 1659 under pressure from army officers.
The Rump Parliament was recalled in May and Richard was forced to resign, bringing the Cromwellian Protectorate to an end.
With the return of the Commonwealth, Thurloe was dismissed by the new Council of State. He refused to divulge his codes and ciphers when Thomas Scot resumed direction of the intelligence service.
Thurloe was restored to his offices by Gen. Monck in February 1660.
He tried to persuade Monck to reinstate the Protectorate and resisted the Restoration for as long as he could.
Despite Monck's recommendation, he was not elected to the Convention Parliament in April 1660.
After Charles II's return, Thurloe was accused of treason and arrested in May 1660.
He was released in June on condition that his knowledge be made available to the new government when required. He subsequently wrote several memoranda on state and foreign affairs for the information of Sir Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon.
Thereafter, Thurloe lived quietly, dividing his time between Great Milton, Oxon., and his legal chambers at Lincoln's Inn, where he died in February 1668.
Thurloe was twice married: first, to a lady of the Peyton family, with whom he had 2 sons who died in infancy; secondly, to Anne Lytcott of East Moulsey, Surrey, with whom he had 4 sons and 2 daughters.
Thurloe's papers are of major importance to historians of the Protectorate. They were found hidden behind a false ceiling in his former chambers at Lincoln's Inn during the reign of William III and were eventually presented to the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
Sources:
C.H. Firth, John Thurloe, DNB 1898
Timothy Venning, John Thurloe, Oxford DNB, 2007
Links:
Thurloe State Papers British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
Codes and Cyphers of Thurloe's Agents http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code…
From http://bcw-project.org/biography/…
About John Thurloe
San Diego Sarah • Link
John Thurloe was the only son of Thomas Thurloe (d.1633), rector of Abbess Roding in Essex, and his wife, Sarah (d. 1637), widow of a Mr. Ewer, with whom she had 3 sons, including the regicide Isaac Ewer.
After the death of his father in 1633, John Thurloe secured the administration of the family estate for his mother.
Thurloe studied law under the patronage of Oliver St.John through whose influence he was employed as a secretary to the Parliamentary commissioners at the Uxbridge Treaty negotiations in January 1645.
He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1646.
Under St.John's patronage, Thurloe's legal and administrative career steadily developed.
Like his patron, Thurloe avoided involvement in the events surrounding King Charles' trial and execution in 1649.
In March 1651, Thurloe went as secretary to St.John and Sir Walter Strickland on their diplomatic mission to the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Although the mission was unsuccessful, Thurloe's competence made a good impression.
He was appointed secretary to the Council of State in March 1652, then clerk to the Committee for Foreign Affairs in December.
In July 1653, Thurloe took over from Thomas Scot as director of the Commonwealth's spying and intelligence network.
When Oliver Cromwell was elevated to the office of Lord Protector in December 1653, Thurloe was involved in perfecting the final version of the Instrument of Government and was co-opted as a member of the Council of State.
Thurloe was efficient and thorough in carrying out his duties. He was able to keep Cromwell fully informed of the plans of foreign governments through his system of "intelligencers" and agents, and through detailed correspondence with ambassadors abroad. Thurloe's agents infiltrated Charles II's court-in-exile and he employed the mathematician and cryptographer John Wallis to break Royalist ciphers.
Always apparently one step ahead of his enemies, Thurloe established a formidable reputation as a spymaster, particularly after he secured the services of the Royalist Sir Richard Willys as an informant.
In May 1655, Thurloe was appointed Postmaster-General, with authority to intercept the correspondence of suspected conspirators against the Protectorate.
The following October, the government ordered the suppression of all newsbooks except the government-controlled Mercurius Politicus and The Public Intelligencer, giving Thurloe control over the dissemination of news.
Thurloe sat as MP for Ely in the Second Protectorate Parliament and was called upon to act as a government spokesman on various issues, though he was not an effective parliamentarian.
He was among those who urged Cromwell to accept the Crown in 1657.
Thurloe admired Cromwell as a ruler and was a personal friend, but he had no direct influence over the Protector's policies.
About Tuesday 26 June 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
And now Queen Camilla. Didn't expect that, did you Louis de Kerouaille? But we are into SPOILERS galore now!
About Mr Watts (a)
San Diego Sarah • Link
L&M gives no information about Mr. Watt.
I guess he may have been a merchant with a cozy past relationship with the Navy, and was worried his in was now out.
About Mr Watts (a)
San Diego Sarah • Link
LL&M gives no information about Mr. Watt.
I guess he may have been a merchant with a cozy past relationship with the Navy, and was worried his in was now out.
About Elizabeth Fox
San Diego Sarah • Link
L&M: Elizabeth Whittle had lived in Salisbury Court when Pepys was a boy, at Mr. Geere's (a relative of Montagu's). Pepys had 'a great opinion' of her in those days and made anagrams of her name. Around 1654 she married Stephen Fox, later Paymaster General of the Army.
About Thomas Kipps
San Diego Sarah • Link
L&M: Thomas Kipps had been a servant of George Montagu.
How did Pepys know this old friend? From Cambridge, King's School, Huntingdon High -- or just from visiting Montagu overlaps?
About Dorset House
San Diego Sarah • Link
At the Restoration, Chancellor Edward Hyde lived at Dorset House for a while.
About Sunday 24 June 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"My mind all this while full of thoughts for my place of Clerk of the Acts."
I bet it was. Quite intimidating, I suspect.
About Saturday 23 June 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
The Bell Inn on the Strand is Phil's correct link. Nix has told you (above) about the Bell Inn on King's Street.
The L&M info is at
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…