When Pepys saw Oliver St.John in 1662, Oliver was married to his third wife, Elizabeth Oxenbridge. She lived until 1680, but there's no note I can find as to whether they stayed together after the Restoration and during Oliver's exile which started in 1662 -- maybe he's here in Brampton saying goodbye to his daughter and family, which would account for him looking grave -- but then, he was known for looking serious.
Lady Elizabeth Oxenbridge Cockcroft Sydenham St.John seems to have died in Somerset; maybe she had nothing to do with Oliver's children by his previous marriages? Maybe she just didn't come to church today? Maybe she had left him by now? So many questions, so few answers.
The rumors and blame game were running wild: “I be much deceiv’d if any have so dearly purchased their Reputation … than [through] an expensive, though necessary, War, a consuming Pestilence, and a more consuming Fire.” – John Dryden (1631 – 1701)
1666 end of August -- The Generals-at-Sea, Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle, were anxious to score one last victory during the fighting season. The ships were repaired and victualed, and went cruising off the Dutch coast.
By the end of August the duc de Beaufort and the French fleet has progressed as far as the Bay of Biscay. They were further away than even the Dutch appreciated. Their plan was to join the two fleets and attack the English fleet by stealth and by numbers.
Following some skirmishes the English fleet, anticipating the combined fleets, by the beginning of September was staying close to Portsmouth, with several ships needing repairs.
Then on September 5, the Duke of Albemarle received a letter from Secretary of State Sir William Morrice telling him that Charles II needed him back in London because "God had visited the city with a heavy calamity." He surrendered control of the fleet to Prince Rupert and began his 75-mile return to London the next morning.
More information see 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal -- St. Martin' Press, New York -- 2016 -- ISBN 978-1-250-09707-2 (hard back) -- page 165-166
1666 September -- It took more than a week for the news of the Great Fire to reach Paris.
Publicly Louis IV said publicly that he would not have "any rejoicings about it, being such a deplorable accident involving injury to so many unhappy people" and offered his condolences to Dowager Queen Henrietta Maria, his aunt, then living in Paris. He offered to send aid, food and other disaster relief. Privately he was thrilled at his stroke of good fortune. He had made a mess of his summer campaign, and the French fleet was in no position to fight. He believed the English maritime supplies and magazines had been destroyed, which would force the English to retire from the War.
More information see 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal -- St. Martin' Press, New York -- 2016 -- ISBN 978-1-250-09707-2 (hard back) -- page 199
1666 -- On May 14 secret intelligence was received by Charles II that the French fleet had been seen at Belle Isle, just south of Brittany. The decision was made to split the fleet. In reality the French fleet was at Lisbon, a week's sail away.
The Venetian ambassador to France, Alvise Sagredo, writing a report from Paris at the beginning of June, said: "It was agreed between France and Holland these last weeks that the most sure and certain way to bring the English to reason was that of time and not of arms and that the best way to conquer them was to tire them out." The Ambassador continued that this split in warships was what the French Admiral, the duc de Beaufort, had intended.
Perhaps Louis IV also wanted to avoid the 1666 fighting, so the Dutch and the English would exhaust themselves while leaving the French Navy free to pick off their maritime vessels, and his captains and admiral gain experience in seamanship.
More information see 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal -- St. Martin' Press, New York -- 2016 -- ISBN 978-1-250-09707-2 (hard back) -- page 118-119
1665 -- When Philip IV of Spain died on 17 September 1665, their heir, Carlos, was 3 years old. Mariana of Austria, Queen of Spain, acted as regent for him, and she would continue to do so for most of his life, due to his illnesses. Carlos remained weak, by the age of six he could stand alone, but he still could not walk.
The question of who would inherit the Spanish territories was in question. Louis XIV wanted Dutch agreement on his planned expansion into the Spanish Netherlands. Louis knew that by honoring the treaty he would receive their agreement.
Charles II's desire to be a European power-broker made England more of a threat at a time when Spanish power was weakened. French and English warships challenged each other over salutes, and captured each other's merchant ships looking for Dutch merchandise.
If England won the second Anglo-Dutch War, overthrowing the States-General and the de Witt regime, the young Prince William of Orange would be in power, turning the Dutch Republic effectively into an English protectorate.
Consequently German princes were courted, the Swedish were purchased, and the Danes were pressured.
Meanwhile the English Court, exiled by the plague in Oxford, partied on.
More information see 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal -St. Martin' Press, New York - 2016 - ISBN 978-1-250-09707-1 (e-book) -- page 84-87
1662 -- the balance of power in western Europe rocked between the French and the Spanish. The Spanish held the Netherlands, and young King Louis XIV looked on that holding as a challenge to his northern border.
Technically a Treaty signed in 1662 between France and the Dutch Republic (the de Witts faction was in charge) obligated France to aid the Dutch should war break out with England. This was a Cardinal Mazarin policy conceived in Cromwell's time which Louis inherited, and avoided acting on.
While hatred of the French ran deep in the English psyche, many of Louis' court objected to a war with England on principle. England was ruled by his cousin, an apparently pliable and penniless monarch, while the Dutch Republic was -- a Republic. Also there was no French navy to speak of, so a rapid building program was introduced, but it was no match for the English.
More information see 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal -St. Martin' Press, New York - 2016 - ISBN 978-1-250-09707-1 (e-book) -- page 83
I suspect Reeves knew what worked, and was very good at manufacturing lenses ... but had no idea of the theory behind why they worked. Pepys quest for knowledge has trouble with that. He should go to more Royal Society meetings: why is their favorite question.
To make a marchpane [marzipan] according to Delightes for Ladies (1608):
"Take two pounds of almonds being blanched, and dried in a sieve over the fire, beat them in a stone mortar, and when they be small, mix them with two pound of sugar being finely beaten, adding two or three spoonfuls of rosewater, and that will keep your almonds from oiling; when your paste is beaten fine, drive it thin with a rolling pin, and so lay it on a bottom of wafers, then raise up a little edge on the side, and so bake it, then yce it with rosewater and sugar, then put it in the oven again, and when you see your yce is risen up and dry, then take it out of the oven and garnish it with pretty concepts, as birds and beasts, being cast out of standing molds. Stick long comfits upright in it, cast bisket and carrowaies in it and so serve it; guild it before you serve it: you may also print of this marchpane paste in your molds for banqueting dishes. And of this paste our comfit makers at this day make their letters, knots, arms, escutcheons, beasts, birds and other fancies."
An informative cautionary tale about the East India Company (it's actually a book review) -- a long read, but well worth it.
The Stuart info is in the middle, and for the sake of the Diary I think these facts are the most relevant here:
Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador sent by King James to the Mughal court, appeared before the Emperor Jahangir in 1614 –- at a time when the Mughal empire was still at its richest and most powerful. Jahangir inherited from his father Akbar one of the two wealthiest polities in the world, rivaled only by Ming China. His lands stretched through most of India, all of what is now Pakistan and Bangladesh, and most of Afghanistan. He ruled over five times the population commanded by the Ottomans – roughly 100 million people. His capitals were the megacities of their day.
In Milton’s Paradise Lost, the great Mughal cities of Emperor Jahangir’s India are shown to Adam as future marvels of divine design.
This was no understatement: Agra, with a population approaching 700,000, dwarfed all of the cities of Europe, while Lahore was larger than London, Paris, Lisbon, Madrid and Rome combined. This was a time when India accounted for around a quarter of all global manufacturing.
In contrast, Britain then contributed less than 2% to global GDP, and the East India Company was so small that it was still operating from the home of its governor, Sir Thomas Smythe, with a permanent staff of only six. [After the Diary.] It did, however, possess 30 tall ships and own its own dockyard at Deptford on the Thames. [Don't know how many ships it owned at the time of the Diary.]
Emperor Jahangir’s father, Akbar, had flirted with a project to civilize India’s European immigrants, whom he described as “an assemblage of savages”, but later dropped the plan as unworkable.
"And I do in several little things observe that Sir W. Coventry hath of late, by the by, reflected on the Duke of Albemarle and his captains, particularly in that of old Teddiman, who did deserve to be turned out this fight, and was so; but I heard Sir W. Coventry say that the Duke of Albemarle put in one as bad as he is in his room, and one that did as little."
General-at-Sea George Monck, Duke of Albemarle was broadly-speaking a "tar" -- one of the fighting men promoted by Cromwell for talent and ability.
William Coventry was a Royalist who had shared Charles II and James' exile. He seeks "balance" by putting into the Navy line-up some gentlemen of the Court, known as "Gentlemen Captains." (The unspoken fear is of a coup ... the tars joining the Dutch fleet, which represents a republic.)
And of course, Jean-Baptiste du Teil and Louis Duras, Marquis de Blanquefort were French, and who knew what Louis XIV and the French fleet were up to.
The conflict between the tars and the Gentlemen Captains would simmer for years.
"… Sir William Temple sends advertisements … that the French preparations are bent for Ireland, and that the design is like to be executed betwixt this & May …"
Former Parliamentarian Sir William Temple was the Envoy to Brussels from 1665 to 1667. He was also Lord Treasurer Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby's Brother-in-Law.
He was created the 1st Bart. on 31 Jan. 1666. He was strongly pro-Dutch, and was recognized as the principal architect of the Triple Alliance in 1668. Consequently he was Ambassador to The Hague from 1668 to 1671, and supported the idea of teenage William of Orange marrying Princess Mary.
On 27 March 1666, Charles II, James, Duke of York and Prince Rupert attended launch of the Defiance, a 64-gun [64 guns comprising 22 demi-cannon, 28 culverins and 14 demi-culverins] third rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, ordered on 26 October 1664 under the shipbuilding program of that year. The launch was at William Castle's private shipyard at Deptford.
Robert Holmes was appointed captain and knighted during the occasion. (Was that why Pepys ignored the event?)
This is an opportunity to explain some of the rivalries amongst the "Gentlemen Captains" and the Tars (professional seamen, from the Commonwealth navy) to which Pepys will refer in the next few months, with frustration.
And this is also an opportunity to explain that the fleet was usually divided into three squadrons or vans, the Red, White and Blue. When sailing in line, one squadron leads, one is in the middle, and one brings up the rear. When the Generals-at-Sea display a particular set of flags (those famous bewpers), each van does whatever they have to do to change course, or adjust to take advantage of the wind, or attack a particular squadron of the enemy, etc. It takes practice when you have 80-plus ships and lots of people who have no idea what they are doing.
As a friend of Prince Rupert's, and a part of the Red Squadron, Sir Robert Holmes was finally given acting flag-rank when the fleet was divided to shadow the Dutch and simultaneously intercept the French (which put him, satisfyingly, one step above John Harman, Rear Admiral of the White - a slighting of the principle of seniority which would have been unthinkable by the end of the century).
During the Four Days Battle, Admiral Sir Robert Holmes was reported to have "done wonders" (CSP Dom., 7 June 1666), and was confirmed as rear-admiral of the Red, his ship having received such a battering that he transferred his flag to the partially burnt and dismasted Henry, Rear Adm. Sir John Harman's ship, who had been wounded.
But again, Rear Admiral Sir Robert Holmes' rivals, Sir Jeremiah Smith (Admiral of the Blue) and Sir Edward Spragge (Vice Admiral of the Blue) were promoted above him.
These professional rivalries were a hallmark of the restoration navy, and Holmes used the conduct of the St. James' Day battle to start a bitter quarrel with Sir Jeremiah Smith, whose rear squadron had been routed by Cornelis Van Tromp.
The recriminations between the officers and their respective factions played a role in the subsequent Parliamentary investigation over embezzlement in the naval administration and the conduct of the war.
"... and the truth is, the gentlemen captains will undo us, for they are not to be kept in order, their friends about the King and Duke, and their own house, is so free, that it is not for any person but the Duke himself to have any command over them."
Who are these 'Gentlemen Captains"? I want names ...
My favorite Stuart Naval historian and author, JD Davies, has a wonderful blog about the Four Days Fight in particular, and the Gentlemen Captains in particular:
Briefly, the main ringleaders he has identified are: Sir Robert Holmes ... who sailed with Prince Rupert in the 1650's in his pirate days ... Sir Wm Berkeley Sir Wm Jennens George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth Captain Francis Digby
More names of Captains involved, but not necessarily of problem "Gentlemen", can be gleaned from the official list of wounded and killed of the English Fleet in the Four Days Battle:
Officers Slaine and Wounded:
Captains Whitty of the Vanguard, Wood of the Henrietta, Bacon of the Bristol, Mootham of the Princess, Terne of the Triumph, Reeves of the Essex, Chappell of the Clove Tree, Dare of the House of Sweeds, Coppin of the St George, all slaine.
Sir William Clarke, secretary to His Grace of Albemarle, slaine. Sir Christopher Myngs, maimed, and since dead. Captain Holles, his arm shot off. Captain Miller, his leg shot off, since dead. Captain Gethings, drowned. Captains Jennens and Fortescue, maimed; Harman, hurt by the fall of a mast; Pearce, Earle, Silver and Holmes, all wounded Sir George Ayscue, prisoner in Holland. Sir William Berkeley of the Swiftsure, perhaps prisoner in Holland, perhaps slaine. Lost on the English side, 6,000 men.
This list JD Davies adapted from ‘A Particular Account of the Last Engagement between the Dutch and British, June 1666’: Bodleian Library, Oxford
Florence had an interesting tradition about wine consumed in their city. If you go there today you will see some places where the tradition is being brought back. The story:
Many wealthy Florentines had homes inside the city walls as well as vineyards in the nearby countryside. In 1559, Cosimo I de’ Medici made it legal for Florentine families, which of course included his own, to sell wine directly from their palaces, instead of through taverns and innkeepers or middlemen. By selling wine directly from their homes, families could avoid taxes.
Small wine windows were installed in many wealthy homes, and became so popular that, by the early 19th century, nearly every moneyed family had installed one in their palace.
The process of buying wine from a “buchetta del vino” was easy. Anyone could use the wooden or metal knocker to rap on a wine window during its open hours. A trusted, well-paid servant, called a cantiniere and trained in properly preserving wine, stood on the other side. The cantiniere would open the little door, take the customer’s empty flask and payment, refill the bottle from the cantina (wine cellar), and return it to the customer on the street.
The wine door is usually about one foot tall and eight inches wide — large enough for a flask of wine to pass through, but too small for a person, and they were decorated to represent the family. Maybe the customers couldn't read? -- there were no street addresses? -- whatever the reason, the renovated doors are lovely to look at.
Sadly most of the links in our Encyclopedia are now dead. However, the Royal Collection is on line, and Wenceslaus Hollar made some details pictures of Tangier before they blew up the mole. I don't think the Royal Collection will go away soon:
http://www.southwoldmuseum.org/war _battleofsolebay.htm Southwold Bay (called Sole Bay). Southwold provided much to entertain sailors, especially the town’s ale houses, when the fleet assembled here to refit. Many seamen and soldiers were sent from London, and most of the crews enjoyed shore leave.
Southwold is a small town on the English North Sea coast at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The town is about 11 miles south of Lowestoft, 29 miles north-east of Ipswich and 97 miles north-east of London.
Quaker George Fox was attacked by a mob in St. Edmund’s Church, Southwold in 1659.
Southwold’s economic fortunes also fell in 1659 when a fire destroyed most of the town in 4 hours. The Town Hall and the town records it contained, the market place, prison, shops, granaries and warehouses all went. Three hundred families were made homeless.
In May 1672 James, Duke of York and Admiral Sir Edward Montegu, Earl of Sandwich, had their headquarters at Sutherland House in the High Street. This was one of the few buildings to escape the 1659 fire.
Many people remained destitute for years after the fire, despite charitable donations from all over the country. The town’s famous greens are evidence of early town planning designed to prevent the spread of fire in the future.
The Southwold Town Preacher, Mr. Woodward, found himself evicted from town in 1662 at the Restoration.
People in Southwold 1,000 years ago ate herring nearly every day, fresh in season, salted at other times. For centuries, shoals of these silvery fish meant food and wealth for the town. Rich boat-owners, fishermen and merchants paid to build St. Edmund’s Church in the 1400s. The industry was still buoyant in the 1600s, with a fleet of 50 boats sailing from Southwold for herring, cod and sprats.
Soon afterwards the harbor mouth silted up, putting the industry into decline. The risk of storms, pirate attack and shipwreck had always been a reality for fishermen. But Southwold’s neighbor, Dunwich, is in trouble: Every year some of the village falls into the sea – it has lost 8 churches since 1236.
Sole Bay was once protected by two promontories, Easton Ness to the north, and Dunwich Ness to the south. Both headlands have disappeared as the sea eats away about a meter of coast every year. One by-product of the sea’s attacks on the beaches and cliffs is the treasure-trove of fossils discovered over the years -- deposits of amber (fossilized resin from plants or trees), jet (the mineral-like remains of ancient trees) and petrified wood and 17th century salt pans.
Over the last 400 years, Sole Bay has seen hundreds of shipwrecks. The coastline isn’t rocky, but the combination of North Sea storms and shifting sands and sandbanks make it treacherous.
In 1672, the huge Royal James went down during the Battle of Sole Bay along with 700 of its crew.
Charles II probably didn't like or trust Francois de Vendome, Duc de Beauford.
During the Protectorate, France had also had a civil war, the Fronde. It was a power play by the French Princes to rout juvenile Louis XIV and the Mother-Regent, Anne of Austria. In an effort to discredit Charles and run the English Court out of the country, Charles was asked to mediate a sticky situation. Beaufort didn't like the deal so he ran back to Paris (where he was very popular) and told everyone that the English were meddling, etc. Riots erupted for months, and Henrietta Maria and her Court were frightened and isolated. Nasty deal -- but they did not leave, which was one of the Machiavellian plot behind the riots.
Once Louis XIV became of age and had sent his mother into retirement, he found useful things for all these bad uncles to do.
To make a long story short, in 1658 François de Vendôme, Duc de Beaufort was named general superintendent of navigation, or chief of the naval army, and faithfully served Louis in naval wars from then on.
Starting in 1664, Beaufort directed the expedition against the pirates of Algiers.
To honor the French Treaty with the Dutch, Louis XIV seems to have told them he was sending Beaufort to help their landing in 1666. Beaufort never left the Med., so perhaps Louis was trying to make the Dutch overplay their hand?
Again in 1668, Beaufort appeared to be helping the Dutch without actually doing so. Clearly, if France/Louis XIV/Beaufort had wanted to make things worse for England, they could have.
In 1669, during the siege of Candia (today Heraklion on Crete), Beaufort led the French troops defending Candia against the Turks, and was killed on 15 June 1669. His body was take back to France with great pomp for a hero's burial.
During the Ottoman-Venetian Wars, Candia withstood one of the longest sieges in history, from 1648–1669. The Venetians had ruled there since the Fourth Crusade, as Candia was a key position in the Med. The commander, Gen. Francesco Morosini, knew the siege was over as he had no supplies and only 3,600 fighters left. On 27 August he surrendered to the Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü. According to the peace agreement, Venetia was allowed to keep the Aegean islands of Tinos and Kythera and some fortresses important for trade.
Yes, the Barbary Pirates/Ottoman Empire was still wrecking havoc on shipping and taking Christian slaves. Every time you see a Navy squadron being sent to the Streights, it is to provide protection for the merchant ships.
Comments
Second Reading
About Oliver St John
San Diego Sarah • Link
When Pepys saw Oliver St.John in 1662, Oliver was married to his third wife, Elizabeth Oxenbridge. She lived until 1680, but there's no note I can find as to whether they stayed together after the Restoration and during Oliver's exile which started in 1662 -- maybe he's here in Brampton saying goodbye to his daughter and family, which would account for him looking grave -- but then, he was known for looking serious.
Lady Elizabeth Oxenbridge Cockcroft Sydenham St.John seems to have died in Somerset; maybe she had nothing to do with Oliver's children by his previous marriages? Maybe she just didn't come to church today? Maybe she had left him by now? So many questions, so few answers.
https://www.geni.com/people/Eliza…
About Bear Garden Stairs
San Diego Sarah • Link
Bear Baiting ... I wonder why the British never went for bull fighting? Anyways, more than I care to know about Bear Baiting:
https://www.history.com/news/the-…
About Thursday 1 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
The rumors and blame game were running wild: “I be much deceiv’d if any have so dearly purchased their Reputation … than [through] an expensive, though necessary, War, a consuming Pestilence, and a more consuming Fire.” – John Dryden (1631 – 1701)
About Louis XIV (King of France, 1643-1715)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Oooops out of order -- sorry:
1666 end of August -- The Generals-at-Sea, Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle, were anxious to score one last victory during the fighting season.
The ships were repaired and victualed, and went cruising off the Dutch coast.
By the end of August the duc de Beaufort and the French fleet has progressed as far as the Bay of Biscay. They were further away than even the Dutch appreciated. Their plan was to join the two fleets and attack the English fleet by stealth and by numbers.
Following some skirmishes the English fleet, anticipating the combined fleets, by the beginning of September was staying close to Portsmouth, with several ships needing repairs.
Then on September 5, the Duke of Albemarle received a letter from Secretary of State Sir William Morrice telling him that Charles II needed him back in London because "God had visited the city with a heavy calamity." He surrendered control of the fleet to Prince Rupert and began his 75-mile return to London the next morning.
More information see 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal -- St. Martin' Press, New York -- 2016 -- ISBN 978-1-250-09707-2 (hard back) -- page 165-166
About Louis XIV (King of France, 1643-1715)
San Diego Sarah • Link
1666 September -- It took more than a week for the news of the Great Fire to reach Paris.
Publicly Louis IV said publicly that he would not have "any rejoicings about it, being such a deplorable accident involving injury to so many unhappy people" and offered his condolences to Dowager Queen Henrietta Maria, his aunt, then living in Paris. He offered to send aid, food and other disaster relief. Privately he was thrilled at his stroke of good fortune. He had made a mess of his summer campaign, and the French fleet was in no position to fight. He believed the English maritime supplies and magazines had been destroyed, which would force the English to retire from the War.
More information see 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal -- St. Martin' Press, New York -- 2016 -- ISBN 978-1-250-09707-2 (hard back) -- page 199
About Louis XIV (King of France, 1643-1715)
San Diego Sarah • Link
1666 -- On May 14 secret intelligence was received by Charles II that the French fleet had been seen at Belle Isle, just south of Brittany. The decision was made to split the fleet. In reality the French fleet was at Lisbon, a week's sail away.
The Venetian ambassador to France, Alvise Sagredo, writing a report from Paris at the beginning of June, said:
"It was agreed between France and Holland these last weeks that the most sure and certain way to bring the English to reason was that of time and not of arms and that the best way to conquer them was to tire them out."
The Ambassador continued that this split in warships was what the French Admiral, the duc de Beaufort, had intended.
Perhaps Louis IV also wanted to avoid the 1666 fighting, so the Dutch and the English would exhaust themselves while leaving the French Navy free to pick off their maritime vessels, and his captains and admiral gain experience in seamanship.
More information see 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal -- St. Martin' Press, New York -- 2016 -- ISBN 978-1-250-09707-2 (hard back) -- page 118-119
About Louis XIV (King of France, 1643-1715)
San Diego Sarah • Link
1665 -- When Philip IV of Spain died on 17 September 1665, their heir, Carlos, was 3 years old. Mariana of Austria, Queen of Spain, acted as regent for him, and she would continue to do so for most of his life, due to his illnesses. Carlos remained weak, by the age of six he could stand alone, but he still could not walk.
The question of who would inherit the Spanish territories was in question. Louis XIV wanted Dutch agreement on his planned expansion into the Spanish Netherlands. Louis knew that by honoring the treaty he would receive their agreement.
Charles II's desire to be a European power-broker made England more of a threat at a time when Spanish power was weakened. French and English warships challenged each other over salutes, and captured each other's merchant ships looking for Dutch merchandise.
If England won the second Anglo-Dutch War, overthrowing the States-General and the de Witt regime, the young Prince William of Orange would be in power, turning the Dutch Republic effectively into an English protectorate.
Consequently German princes were courted, the Swedish were purchased, and the Danes were pressured.
Meanwhile the English Court, exiled by the plague in Oxford, partied on.
More information see 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal -St. Martin' Press, New York - 2016 - ISBN 978-1-250-09707-1 (e-book) -- page 84-87
About Louis XIV (King of France, 1643-1715)
San Diego Sarah • Link
1662 -- the balance of power in western Europe rocked between the French and the Spanish. The Spanish held the Netherlands, and young King Louis XIV looked on that holding as a challenge to his northern border.
Technically a Treaty signed in 1662 between France and the Dutch Republic (the de Witts faction was in charge) obligated France to aid the Dutch should war break out with England. This was a Cardinal Mazarin policy conceived in Cromwell's time which Louis inherited, and avoided acting on.
While hatred of the French ran deep in the English psyche, many of Louis' court objected to a war with England on principle. England was ruled by his cousin, an apparently pliable and penniless monarch, while the Dutch Republic was -- a Republic.
Also there was no French navy to speak of, so a rapid building program was introduced, but it was no match for the English.
More information see 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal -St. Martin' Press, New York - 2016 - ISBN 978-1-250-09707-1 (e-book) -- page 83
About Sunday 19 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"which is a strange dullness, methinks."
I suspect Reeves knew what worked, and was very good at manufacturing lenses ... but had no idea of the theory behind why they worked. Pepys quest for knowledge has trouble with that. He should go to more Royal Society meetings: why is their favorite question.
About Monday 9 July 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
To make a marchpane [marzipan] according to Delightes for Ladies (1608):
"Take two pounds of almonds being blanched, and dried in a sieve over the fire, beat them in a stone mortar, and when they be small, mix them with two pound of sugar being finely beaten, adding two or three spoonfuls of rosewater, and that will keep your almonds from oiling; when your paste is beaten fine, drive it thin with a rolling pin, and so lay it on a bottom of wafers, then raise up a little edge on the side, and so bake it, then yce it with rosewater and sugar, then put it in the oven again, and when you see your yce is risen up and dry, then take it out of the oven and garnish it with pretty concepts, as birds and beasts, being cast out of standing molds. Stick long comfits upright in it, cast bisket and carrowaies in it and so serve it; guild it before you serve it: you may also print of this marchpane paste in your molds for banqueting dishes. And of this paste our comfit makers at this day make their letters, knots, arms, escutcheons, beasts, birds and other fancies."
About East India Company (English)
San Diego Sarah • Link
An informative cautionary tale about the East India Company (it's actually a book review) -- a long read, but well worth it.
The Stuart info is in the middle, and for the sake of the Diary I think these facts are the most relevant here:
Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador sent by King James to the Mughal court, appeared before the Emperor Jahangir in 1614 –- at a time when the Mughal empire was still at its richest and most powerful. Jahangir inherited from his father Akbar one of the two wealthiest polities in the world, rivaled only by Ming China. His lands stretched through most of India, all of what is now Pakistan and Bangladesh, and most of Afghanistan. He ruled over five times the population commanded by the Ottomans – roughly 100 million people. His capitals were the megacities of their day.
In Milton’s Paradise Lost, the great Mughal cities of Emperor Jahangir’s India are shown to Adam as future marvels of divine design.
This was no understatement:
Agra, with a population approaching 700,000, dwarfed all of the cities of Europe,
while Lahore was larger than London, Paris, Lisbon, Madrid and Rome combined.
This was a time when India accounted for around a quarter of all global manufacturing.
In contrast, Britain then contributed less than 2% to global GDP, and the East India Company was so small that it was still operating from the home of its governor, Sir Thomas Smythe, with a permanent staff of only six. [After the Diary.]
It did, however, possess 30 tall ships and own its own dockyard at Deptford on the Thames. [Don't know how many ships it owned at the time of the Diary.]
Emperor Jahangir’s father, Akbar, had flirted with a project to civilize India’s European immigrants, whom he described as “an assemblage of savages”, but later dropped the plan as unworkable.
Akbar was right, IMHO.
https://www.theguardian.com/world…
About Wednesday 13 June 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"And I do in several little things observe that Sir W. Coventry hath of late, by the by, reflected on the Duke of Albemarle and his captains, particularly in that of old Teddiman, who did deserve to be turned out this fight, and was so; but I heard Sir W. Coventry say that the Duke of Albemarle put in one as bad as he is in his room, and one that did as little."
General-at-Sea George Monck, Duke of Albemarle was broadly-speaking a "tar" -- one of the fighting men promoted by Cromwell for talent and ability.
William Coventry was a Royalist who had shared Charles II and James' exile. He seeks "balance" by putting into the Navy line-up some gentlemen of the Court, known as "Gentlemen Captains." (The unspoken fear is of a coup ... the tars joining the Dutch fleet, which represents a republic.)
And of course, Jean-Baptiste du Teil and Louis Duras, Marquis de Blanquefort were French, and who knew what Louis XIV and the French fleet were up to.
The conflict between the tars and the Gentlemen Captains would simmer for years.
About Wednesday 23 January 1666/67
San Diego Sarah • Link
"… Sir William Temple sends advertisements … that the French preparations are bent for Ireland, and that the design is like to be executed betwixt this & May …"
Former Parliamentarian Sir William Temple was the Envoy to Brussels from 1665 to 1667. He was also Lord Treasurer Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby's Brother-in-Law.
He was created the 1st Bart. on 31 Jan. 1666. He was strongly pro-Dutch, and was recognized as the principal architect of the Triple Alliance in 1668. Consequently he was Ambassador to The Hague from 1668 to 1671, and supported the idea of teenage William of Orange marrying Princess Mary.
http://www.historyofparliamentonl…
About Friday 17 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
No notes, Matt -- Bank of England the paper money arrive at the end of the century.
My guess is gold. Silver would be too bulky and heavy.
About Tuesday 27 March 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Pepys missed a big event today:
On 27 March 1666, Charles II, James, Duke of York and Prince Rupert attended launch of the Defiance, a 64-gun [64 guns comprising 22 demi-cannon, 28 culverins and 14 demi-culverins] third rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, ordered on 26 October 1664 under the shipbuilding program of that year. The launch was at William Castle's private shipyard at Deptford.
Robert Holmes was appointed captain and knighted during the occasion. (Was that why Pepys ignored the event?)
This is an opportunity to explain some of the rivalries amongst the "Gentlemen Captains" and the Tars (professional seamen, from the Commonwealth navy) to which Pepys will refer in the next few months, with frustration.
And this is also an opportunity to explain that the fleet was usually divided into three squadrons or vans, the Red, White and Blue. When sailing in line, one squadron leads, one is in the middle, and one brings up the rear. When the Generals-at-Sea display a particular set of flags (those famous bewpers), each van does whatever they have to do to change course, or adjust to take advantage of the wind, or attack a particular squadron of the enemy, etc. It takes practice when you have 80-plus ships and lots of people who have no idea what they are doing.
As a friend of Prince Rupert's, and a part of the Red Squadron, Sir Robert Holmes was finally given acting flag-rank when the fleet was divided to shadow the Dutch and simultaneously intercept the French (which put him, satisfyingly, one step above John Harman, Rear Admiral of the White - a slighting of the principle of seniority which would have been unthinkable by the end of the century).
During the Four Days Battle, Admiral Sir Robert Holmes was reported to have "done wonders" (CSP Dom., 7 June 1666), and was confirmed as rear-admiral of the Red, his ship having received such a battering that he transferred his flag to the partially burnt and dismasted Henry, Rear Adm. Sir John Harman's ship, who had been wounded.
But again, Rear Admiral Sir Robert Holmes' rivals, Sir Jeremiah Smith (Admiral of the Blue) and Sir Edward Spragge (Vice Admiral of the Blue) were promoted above him.
These professional rivalries were a hallmark of the restoration navy, and Holmes used the conduct of the St. James' Day battle to start a bitter quarrel with Sir Jeremiah Smith, whose rear squadron had been routed by Cornelis Van Tromp.
The recriminations between the officers and their respective factions played a role in the subsequent Parliamentary investigation over embezzlement in the naval administration and the conduct of the war.
For more about Holmes
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Saturday 21 July 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... and the truth is, the gentlemen captains will undo us, for they are not to be kept in order, their friends about the King and Duke, and their own house, is so free, that it is not for any person but the Duke himself to have any command over them."
Who are these 'Gentlemen Captains"? I want names ...
My favorite Stuart Naval historian and author, JD Davies, has a wonderful blog about the Four Days Fight in particular, and the Gentlemen Captains in particular:
https://jddavies.com/page/2/?s=Ge…
Briefly, the main ringleaders he has identified are:
Sir Robert Holmes ... who sailed with Prince Rupert in the 1650's in his pirate days ...
Sir Wm Berkeley
Sir Wm Jennens
George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth
Captain Francis Digby
More names of Captains involved, but not necessarily of problem "Gentlemen", can be gleaned from the official list of wounded and killed of the English Fleet in the Four Days Battle:
Officers Slaine and Wounded:
Captains Whitty of the Vanguard, Wood of the Henrietta, Bacon of the Bristol, Mootham of the Princess, Terne of the Triumph, Reeves of the Essex, Chappell of the Clove Tree, Dare of the House of Sweeds, Coppin of the St George, all slaine.
Sir William Clarke, secretary to His Grace of Albemarle, slaine.
Sir Christopher Myngs, maimed, and since dead.
Captain Holles, his arm shot off.
Captain Miller, his leg shot off, since dead.
Captain Gethings, drowned.
Captains Jennens and Fortescue, maimed;
Harman, hurt by the fall of a mast;
Pearce, Earle, Silver and Holmes, all wounded
Sir George Ayscue, prisoner in Holland.
Sir William Berkeley of the Swiftsure, perhaps prisoner in Holland, perhaps slaine.
Lost on the English side, 6,000 men.
This list JD Davies adapted from ‘A Particular Account of the Last Engagement between the Dutch and British, June 1666’: Bodleian Library, Oxford
About Saturday 29 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Florence had an interesting tradition about wine consumed in their city. If you go there today you will see some places where the tradition is being brought back. The story:
Many wealthy Florentines had homes inside the city walls as well as vineyards in the nearby countryside. In 1559, Cosimo I de’ Medici made it legal for Florentine families, which of course included his own, to sell wine directly from their palaces, instead of through taverns and innkeepers or middlemen. By selling wine directly from their homes, families could avoid taxes.
Small wine windows were installed in many wealthy homes, and became so popular that, by the early 19th century, nearly every moneyed family had installed one in their palace.
The process of buying wine from a “buchetta del vino” was easy. Anyone could use the wooden or metal knocker to rap on a wine window during its open hours. A trusted, well-paid servant, called a cantiniere and trained in properly preserving wine, stood on the other side. The cantiniere would open the little door, take the customer’s empty flask and payment, refill the bottle from the cantina (wine cellar), and return it to the customer on the street.
The wine door is usually about one foot tall and eight inches wide — large enough for a flask of wine to pass through, but too small for a person, and they were decorated to represent the family. Maybe the customers couldn't read? -- there were no street addresses? -- whatever the reason, the renovated doors are lovely to look at.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/arti…
About Saturday 18 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Sadly most of the links in our Encyclopedia are now dead. However, the Royal Collection is on line, and Wenceslaus Hollar made some details pictures of Tangier before they blew up the mole. I don't think the Royal Collection will go away soon:
https://www.rct.uk/search/site/Ta…
About Sole Bay
San Diego Sarah • Link
http://www.southwoldmuseum.org/war _battleofsolebay.htm
Southwold Bay (called Sole Bay).
Southwold provided much to entertain sailors, especially the town’s ale houses, when the fleet assembled here to refit. Many seamen and soldiers were sent from London, and most of the crews enjoyed shore leave.
Southwold is a small town on the English North Sea coast at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The town is about 11 miles south of Lowestoft, 29 miles north-east of Ipswich and 97 miles north-east of London.
Quaker George Fox was attacked by a mob in St. Edmund’s Church, Southwold in 1659.
Southwold’s economic fortunes also fell in 1659 when a fire destroyed most of the town in 4 hours. The Town Hall and the town records it contained, the market place, prison, shops, granaries and warehouses all went. Three hundred families were made homeless.
In May 1672 James, Duke of York and Admiral Sir Edward Montegu, Earl of Sandwich, had their headquarters at Sutherland House in the High Street. This was one of the few buildings to escape the 1659 fire.
Many people remained destitute for years after the fire, despite charitable donations from all over the country. The town’s famous greens are evidence of early town planning designed to prevent the spread of fire in the future.
The Southwold Town Preacher, Mr. Woodward, found himself evicted from town in 1662 at the Restoration.
People in Southwold 1,000 years ago ate herring nearly every day, fresh in season, salted at other times. For centuries, shoals of these silvery fish meant food and wealth for the town. Rich boat-owners, fishermen and merchants paid to build St. Edmund’s Church in the 1400s. The industry was still buoyant in the 1600s, with a fleet of 50 boats sailing from Southwold for herring, cod and sprats.
Soon afterwards the harbor mouth silted up, putting the industry into decline.
The risk of storms, pirate attack and shipwreck had always been a reality for fishermen. But Southwold’s neighbor, Dunwich, is in trouble: Every year some of the village falls into the sea – it has lost 8 churches since 1236.
Sole Bay was once protected by two promontories, Easton Ness to the north, and Dunwich Ness to the south. Both headlands have disappeared as the sea eats away about a meter of coast every year. One by-product of the sea’s attacks on the beaches and cliffs is the treasure-trove of fossils discovered over the years -- deposits of amber (fossilized resin from plants or trees), jet (the mineral-like remains of ancient trees) and petrified wood and 17th century salt pans.
Over the last 400 years, Sole Bay has seen hundreds of shipwrecks. The coastline isn’t rocky, but the combination of North Sea storms and shifting sands and sandbanks make it treacherous.
In 1672, the huge Royal James went down during the Battle of Sole Bay along with 700 of its crew.
About François de Vendôme (Duc de Beaufort)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Charles II probably didn't like or trust Francois de Vendome, Duc de Beauford.
During the Protectorate, France had also had a civil war, the Fronde. It was a power play by the French Princes to rout juvenile Louis XIV and the Mother-Regent, Anne of Austria. In an effort to discredit Charles and run the English Court out of the country, Charles was asked to mediate a sticky situation. Beaufort didn't like the deal so he ran back to Paris (where he was very popular) and told everyone that the English were meddling, etc. Riots erupted for months, and Henrietta Maria and her Court were frightened and isolated. Nasty deal -- but they did not leave, which was one of the Machiavellian plot behind the riots.
See THE KING IN EXILE -- By EVA SCOTT -- Pages 352-359
https://books.google.com/books?pg…
Once Louis XIV became of age and had sent his mother into retirement, he found useful things for all these bad uncles to do.
To make a long story short, in 1658 François de Vendôme, Duc de Beaufort was named general superintendent of navigation, or chief of the naval army, and faithfully served Louis in naval wars from then on.
Starting in 1664, Beaufort directed the expedition against the pirates of Algiers.
To honor the French Treaty with the Dutch, Louis XIV seems to have told them he was sending Beaufort to help their landing in 1666. Beaufort never left the Med., so perhaps Louis was trying to make the Dutch overplay their hand?
Again in 1668, Beaufort appeared to be helping the Dutch without actually doing so. Clearly, if France/Louis XIV/Beaufort had wanted to make things worse for England, they could have.
In 1669, during the siege of Candia (today Heraklion on Crete), Beaufort led the French troops defending Candia against the Turks, and was killed on 15 June 1669. His body was take back to France with great pomp for a hero's burial.
During the Ottoman-Venetian Wars, Candia withstood one of the longest sieges in history, from 1648–1669. The Venetians had ruled there since the Fourth Crusade, as Candia was a key position in the Med. The commander, Gen. Francesco Morosini, knew the siege was over as he had no supplies and only 3,600 fighters left. On 27 August he surrendered to the Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü. According to the peace agreement, Venetia was allowed to keep the Aegean islands of Tinos and Kythera and some fortresses important for trade.
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/…
Yes, the Barbary Pirates/Ottoman Empire was still wrecking havoc on shipping and taking Christian slaves. Every time you see a Navy squadron being sent to the Streights, it is to provide protection for the merchant ships.