A Thomas Lucy of Charlecote came to my attention in December 1665:
Charles II and Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine’s third son, George Fitzroy, Duke of Northumberland, in March 1686 clandestinely married a great beauty, Catherine, the daughter of Robert Wheatley (a poulterer of Bracknell, Berkshire), and widow of Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, a captain in the Royal Horse Guards.
George, Duke of Northumberland appears to have regretted this lowly marriage and is said to have attempted to privately convey her abroad to an English convent in Ghent.
After Catherine Wheatley Lucy FitzRoy, Countess of Northumberland’s death in 1714, George Fitzroy remarried, within the year, Mary, the sister of Captain Mark Dutton.
The Duke died, without legitimate issue, suddenly at Epsom on 28 June 1716.
"Thence with them to Mr. Cuttle’s, being invited, and dined nobly and neatly; with a very pretty house and a fine turret at top, with winding stairs and the finest prospect I know about all Greenwich, save the top of the hill, and yet in some respects better than that. Here I also saw some fine writing worke and flourishing of Mr. Hore, ... that is this man’s clerk. " -- Tuesday 26 December 1665
Matt Newton: Capt. Cocke was a rich merchant who, during non-plague times, lived in London. From Pepys' diary entries it sounds as if he had a gracious house in Greenwich too ... whether it was a rental just for the plague times, or his own property, so far Pepys has not told us. For more info on this fascinating merchant, click through on his name (in blue above) and you'll find his encyclopedia entry with all sorts of wonderful info. about him and his wife. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
There were no dentists in London at this time that we would recognize as dentists. Barber-surgeons were 'operators for the teeth" who might ply their trade in a local market or at a fair.
The first book written about dentistry in English was published in the mid-1680s
There was reluctance to extract teeth. Oil of cloves could be used to deaden the pain of a carious tooth and it was recognized cleaning teeth, notably to remove plaque, was a desirable practice. Cavities were thought to be caused by a 'worm.'
If you had an abscess, rich folk called in a practicing surgeon to consult on the matter, They may extract the tooth or lance an abscess to relieve the painful pressure. [Modern dentists, of course, will not remove a badly abscessed tooth until the infection has been reduced by the use of antibiotics].
It must have been agony waiting for the abscess to burst.
Nothing about toothbrushes of toothpaste.
Eliza Picard, page 170/171, says: "Diseases and Causalities this week" [3rd week of August 1664] Abortive 5 Still borne 17 Stone 2 teeth 121 childbed 42 Christened 176
So 121 people died in one week from bad teeth in London. Teeth and abscesses are dangerous -- we don't think about that any more.
I was wondering why people died from being Christened until I realized it was almost the total of the other causes combined ... presumably a few children died without benefit of clergy (which must include some called still born).
Ice, when available, was known to lessen pain. Otherwise, I'm guessing a bottle of brandy was the recommended.
Perhaps we should start collecting our thoughts on dentistry under: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… -- the Barber-Surgeons Company. There's also some information on the page for the Barber-Surgeons Hall: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… Pepys also frequented the foremost dentist of the day, Peter de la Roche.
Perhaps we should start collecting our thoughts on dentistry under: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… -- the Barber-Surgeons Company. There's also some information on the page for the Barber-Surgeons Hall: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… Later in the Diary Pepys mentions the foremost dentist of the day, Peter de la Roche.
In 2018 the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC held an exhibit called “Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age” which featured five model ships at the entrance because they are works of art, and helped visitors appreciate the details of Dutch shipbuilding in the 17th century.
HOWEVER, the very first, in pride of place, was “The Royal James, 1st Rate of 1671” -- a British ship, attributed to our own Sir Anthony Deane. This model, created for the Admiralty, is accurate down to details of movable canons on deck.
The four anonymous Dutch 17th-century models provided a way to examine ships like those in the paintings. The model ships showed the attention given to realistic, practical details, like the leeboards on the sides of the ships.
The political, economic and social life of 17th-century Dutch Golden Age was totally dependent on the mastery of the high seas and control of inland waterways. The exhibit said that the Dutch ship-building industry was the best in Europe at the time, and that expertise included model ships. But Sir Anthony's model was up front, which says something about the competative standard of British shipbuilding.
Constructed of hardwood, mahogany, fruitwood and oakwood, with fabrics like silk, cotton and linen, and material like mica, brass, hemp and cordage, these model ships are positioned throughout the exhibit on carved French walnut tables. Manufactured by the producers of large ships, they were used both as ornamental display as well as valuable documents of Dutch naval architecture.
For more information about the paintings and painters, see:
Pepys had heard a lot of this before from Sandwich:
Friday 17 November 1665 "As an infinite secret, my Lord tells me, the factions are high between the King and the Duke, and all the Court are in an uproare with their loose amours; the Duke of Yorke being in love desperately with Mrs. Stewart. Nay, that the Duchesse herself is fallen in love with her new Master of the Horse, one Harry Sidney, and another, Harry Savill. So that God knows what will be the end of it. And that the Duke is not so obsequious as he used to be, but very high of late; and would be glad to be in the head of an army as Generall; and that it is said that he do propose to go and command under the King of Spayne, in Flanders. That his amours to Mrs. Stewart are told the King. So that all is like to be nought among them."
"... Mr. Gawden and he and I talked above stairs together a good while about his business, ... (I first telling him how matters stand between Povy and I, that he was to have half of whatever was coming to me by that office), and that he will gratify me at 2 per cent. for that when he next receives any money. ... "
Am I right in thinking Gawden is going to write up his paperwork at 2 per cent less that reality, so Pepys can short Povy?
According to Diane and Michael Preston’s book, “A pirate of exquisite mind: explorer, naturalist, and buccaneer: the life of William Dampier” counterfeit damask was fashionable flock wallpaper used by Mrs. Pepys to paper her closet.
Welcome to the 17th century, John. Everyone earned their keep, there were no weekends, women were chattels, and there is only room for one mistress in the household. In this tiny household, Elizabeth is Queen (and even she does laundry); everyone else scrubs floors. What alternatives does Pal have? (Answer: prostitution, or maid to not-family.) She's probably a resentful, rebellious 20-year-old who wants to be entitled to lay abed and eat bonbons. Pepys has delivered a wake-up call. It's much easier to start stricked and ease up when appropriate, than start out lax and have to discipline later.
MEANWHILE, in Irvine, Scotland: James Blackwood and John M’Coul, two Covenanter martyrs, met their ends today:
Mostly from The Homes, Haunts, and Battlefields of the Covenanters. The martyrs in question, who were among many of that profession in these years, were executed by Cornelius Anderson, a condemned fellow-Covenanter who, days before in Ayr, miserably consented to turn hangman in order to save his own life.
STOP PASSENGER THOU TREADEST NEAR TWO MARTYRS JAMES BLACKWOOD & JOHN M’COUL who suffered at IRVINE on the 31st of December 1666 REV xii. 11th
These honest Country-men whose Bones here lie A Victim fell to Prelates Cruelty; Condemn’d by bloody and unrighteous Laws They died Martyrs for the good old cause Which Balaams wicked Race in vain assail For no Inchantments ‘gainst Israel prevail Life and this evil World they did contemn And dy’d for Christ who died first for them ‘They lived unknown Till Persecution dragged them into fame And chas’d them up to Heaven’ [Cowper lines -ed.] -- Erected by Friends to Religious Liberty - 31st Dec. 1823.
As at other executions, the men were probably executed in the town and their heads displayed at Irvine’s mercat cross before they were spiked, probably on a burgh gate, for public display.
Since there is no page for George Bate, I'm sharing some notes about him gleaned from his church:
In the Belfrey-chancel of Kingston-on-Thames’ All Saints church is a monument to the memory of Doctor George Bate, who died in 1668; and his wife Elizabeth, who died in 1667 of a consumption, which was hastened by the fire of London.
Dr. George Bate was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society, and eminent in his profession (fn. 122). He was principal physician to King Charles, Oliver Cromwell, his son Richard, and to Charles II; having the art of ingratiating himself with all parties. -- 122 Biograph. Brit.
Cromwell held Dr. Bate in high esteem, although he had written in defense of King Charles; and Cromwell sent for him in Scotland, when he lay ill there in 1651 (fn. 123). -- 123 Whitlock's Memorial, p. 494.
Dr. George Bate is said to have recommended himself to the royal party after the Restoration, by a report industriously spread that he had given Cromwell a dose which hastened his death; but this story appears to be built on a slender foundation (fn. 124). -- 124 It is only mentioned by Wood, Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 424.
Dr. George Bate was an author; his principal work was an account of the commotions in England; a second part of which was published in 1661. In this he is said to have been assisted by Lord Chancellor Clarendon (fn. 125). -- 125 Ibid.
Michael Herring, a merchant of Coleman Street, had money dealings with Montagu which had to do with some property in Worcester, before the start of the Diary.
The index refers to a note in Vol. 1, p. 55 in the L&M edition.
Rev. Thomas Fuller Sr. (1608-1661) was full of good thoughts for hard times. Pepys reveals later in the Diary that he was at Cambridge with his son, Rev. Thomas Fuller Jr., which may account for his interest in this book today.
I found two of his bon mots: "A man's best fortune, or his worst, is his wife." and “A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat them, the better they be.”
In medieval times, Rye Bay fish (herring, mackerel, cod, sole, plaice and whiting) were reserved for the king’s table. Perhaps Pepys' scallops came from here too?
On steeply rising ground, Rye in Sussex lies to the west of Camber, one of the five medieval Cinq Ports, its church spire providing a beacon for fishermen as it has for centuries. Cobbled streets are studded with fine old buildings … Down on the River Rother estuary, a spanking new quay has turned it from one of the most dangerous to one of England’s finest working quays.
Free-moving scallops – bivalve molluscs found in all the world’s oceans – do not attach themselves to ropes or rocks like mussels or oysters, and their white flesh (or muscle) and coral roes are protected by distinctive fan-shaped shells, the ancient emblem of St. James. They are the pilgrim mussel, the coquille St. Jacques, packed with vitamin B12 and a rich source of omega 3 fatty acids, potassium and magnesium.
In other words, they are great for your cardiovascular health; and they also deliver selenium, helping to neutralize the negative effects of free radicals.
The deep, clean and high-salinity waters of Rye Bay, rich in minerals washed from the Wealden soil, have become the main source of winter income for the 10 or so scallop boats that head three miles out before lowering up to five ''rakes’’ on either side, designed to flip the shells up and into nets.
Rye’s scallops are still crucial to the town and the old adage that one fisherman at sea creates 10 jobs holds true with its rich history and easy accessibility to London. This is all part of Rye’s charm, and when the sun bursts through the clouds you could be forgiven for believing that the Kent/East Sussex borderlands are God’s own country. Here the sky, land and sea are knitted together by the screams of the gulls into a pocket of raw beauty. Come May 1, the season will end, allowing the scallops six months to breed and grow.
Meanwhile, Rye will survive the winter months defiantly, reliant on the tenacity and imagination of its inhabitants and the hard-won profits delivered by its world-beating scallops.
"China oranges" -- In some Indo-European languages, the words for orange allude to the eastern origin of the fruit and can be translated literally as "apple from China".
The earliest mention of the sweet orange in Chinese literature dates from 314 B.C. ... Citrus fruits — among them the bitter orange — were introduced to Sicily in the 9th century during the period of the Emirate of Sicily.
The sweet orange was unknown until the late 15th century or the beginnings of the 16th century, when Italian and Portuguese merchants brought orange trees into the Mediterranean area. Shortly afterward, the sweet orange quickly was adopted as an edible fruit. It also was considered a luxury item and wealthy people grew oranges in private conservatories, called orangeries.
By 1646, the sweet orange was well known throughout Europe.
Louis XIV of France had a great love of orange trees, and built the grandest of all royal Orangeries at the Palace of Versailles. At Versailles potted orange trees in solid silver tubs were placed throughout the rooms of the palace, while the Orangerie allowed year-round cultivation of the fruit to supply the court. When Louis condemned his finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, in 1664, part of the treasures which he confiscated were over 1,000 orange trees from Fouquet's estate at Vaux-le-Vicomte.
Comments
Second Reading
About Thomas Lucy
San Diego Sarah • Link
A Thomas Lucy of Charlecote came to my attention in December 1665:
Charles II and Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine’s third son, George Fitzroy, Duke of Northumberland, in March 1686 clandestinely married a great beauty, Catherine, the daughter of Robert Wheatley (a poulterer of Bracknell, Berkshire), and widow of Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, a captain in the Royal Horse Guards.
George, Duke of Northumberland appears to have regretted this lowly marriage and is said to have attempted to privately convey her abroad to an English convent in Ghent.
After Catherine Wheatley Lucy FitzRoy, Countess of Northumberland’s death in 1714, George Fitzroy remarried, within the year, Mary, the sister of Captain Mark Dutton.
The Duke died, without legitimate issue, suddenly at Epsom on 28 June 1716.
For more about George Fitzroy, see:
http://www.berkshirehistory.com/b…
About Mark Cottle
San Diego Sarah • Link
The Cottles had a nice house in Greenwich:
"Thence with them to Mr. Cuttle’s, being invited, and dined nobly and neatly; with a very pretty house and a fine turret at top, with winding stairs and the finest prospect I know about all Greenwich, save the top of the hill, and yet in some respects better than that. Here I also saw some fine writing worke and flourishing of Mr. Hore, ... that is this man’s clerk. " -- Tuesday 26 December 1665
About Thursday 21 December 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
Matt Newton: Capt. Cocke was a rich merchant who, during non-plague times, lived in London. From Pepys' diary entries it sounds as if he had a gracious house in Greenwich too ... whether it was a rental just for the plague times, or his own property, so far Pepys has not told us. For more info on this fascinating merchant, click through on his name (in blue above) and you'll find his encyclopedia entry with all sorts of wonderful info. about him and his wife. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Barber-Surgeons' Company
San Diego Sarah • Link
highlights from http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… :
17th century dentistry.
There were no dentists in London at this time that we would recognize as dentists. Barber-surgeons were 'operators for the teeth" who might ply their trade in a local market or at a fair.
The first book written about dentistry in English was published in the mid-1680s
There was reluctance to extract teeth. Oil of cloves could be used to deaden the pain of a carious tooth and it was recognized cleaning teeth, notably to remove plaque, was a desirable practice. Cavities were thought to be caused by a 'worm.'
If you had an abscess, rich folk called in a practicing surgeon to consult on the matter, They may extract the tooth or lance an abscess to relieve the painful pressure. [Modern dentists, of course, will not remove a badly abscessed tooth until the infection has been reduced by the use of antibiotics].
It must have been agony waiting for the abscess to burst.
Nothing about toothbrushes of toothpaste.
Eliza Picard, page 170/171, says:
"Diseases and Causalities this week" [3rd week of August 1664]
Abortive 5
Still borne 17
Stone 2
teeth 121
childbed 42
Christened 176
So 121 people died in one week from bad teeth in London.
Teeth and abscesses are dangerous -- we don't think about that any more.
I was wondering why people died from being Christened until I realized it was almost the total of the other causes combined ... presumably a few children died without benefit of clergy (which must include some called still born).
Ice, when available, was known to lessen pain. Otherwise, I'm guessing a bottle of brandy was the recommended.
About Wednesday 2 December 1663
San Diego Sarah • Link
Perhaps we should start collecting our thoughts on dentistry under: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… -- the Barber-Surgeons Company.
There's also some information on the page for the Barber-Surgeons Hall: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Pepys also frequented the foremost dentist of the day, Peter de la Roche.
About Tuesday 7 April 1663
San Diego Sarah • Link
Perhaps we should start collecting our thoughts on dentistry under: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… -- the Barber-Surgeons Company.
There's also some information on the page for the Barber-Surgeons Hall: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
I believe Peter de la Roche became recognized as the foremost dentist of the day.
About Thursday 4 January 1665/66
San Diego Sarah • Link
Perhaps we should start collecting our thoughts on dentistry under: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… -- the Barber-Surgeons Company.
There's also some information on the page for the Barber-Surgeons Hall: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Later in the Diary Pepys mentions the foremost dentist of the day, Peter de la Roche.
About Anthony Deane
San Diego Sarah • Link
In 2018 the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC held an exhibit called “Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age” which featured five model ships at the entrance because they are works of art, and helped visitors appreciate the details of Dutch shipbuilding in the 17th century.
HOWEVER, the very first, in pride of place, was “The Royal James, 1st Rate of 1671” -- a British ship, attributed to our own Sir Anthony Deane. This model, created for the Admiralty, is accurate down to details of movable canons on deck.
The four anonymous Dutch 17th-century models provided a way to examine ships like those in the paintings. The model ships showed the attention given to realistic, practical details, like the leeboards on the sides of the ships.
The political, economic and social life of 17th-century Dutch Golden Age was totally dependent on the mastery of the high seas and control of inland waterways. The exhibit said that the Dutch ship-building industry was the best in Europe at the time, and that expertise included model ships. But Sir Anthony's model was up front, which says something about the competative standard of British shipbuilding.
Constructed of hardwood, mahogany, fruitwood and oakwood, with fabrics like silk, cotton and linen, and material like mica, brass, hemp and cordage, these model ships are positioned throughout the exhibit on carved French walnut tables. Manufactured by the producers of large ships, they were used both as ornamental display as well as valuable documents of Dutch naval architecture.
For more information about the paintings and painters, see:
https://www.fredericksburg.com/we…
About Tuesday 9 January 1665/66
San Diego Sarah • Link
Pepys had heard a lot of this before from Sandwich:
Friday 17 November 1665
"As an infinite secret, my Lord tells me, the factions are high between the King and the Duke, and all the Court are in an uproare with their loose amours; the Duke of Yorke being in love desperately with Mrs. Stewart. Nay, that the Duchesse herself is fallen in love with her new Master of the Horse, one Harry Sidney, and another, Harry Savill. So that God knows what will be the end of it. And that the Duke is not so obsequious as he used to be, but very high of late; and would be glad to be in the head of an army as Generall; and that it is said that he do propose to go and command under the King of Spayne, in Flanders. That his amours to Mrs. Stewart are told the King. So that all is like to be nought among them."
About Tuesday 9 January 1665/66
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... Mr. Gawden and he and I talked above stairs together a good while about his business, ... (I first telling him how matters stand between Povy and I, that he was to have half of whatever was coming to me by that office), and that he will gratify me at 2 per cent. for that when he next receives any money. ... "
Am I right in thinking Gawden is going to write up his paperwork at 2 per cent less that reality, so Pepys can short Povy?
About Monday 8 January 1665/66
San Diego Sarah • Link
This is probably a spoiler:
According to Diane and Michael Preston’s book, “A pirate of exquisite mind: explorer, naturalist, and buccaneer: the life of William Dampier” counterfeit damask was fashionable flock wallpaper used by Mrs. Pepys to paper her closet.
https://books.google.com/books?id…
About Wednesday 3 January 1665/66
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Then comes my wife, and I set her to get supper ready ..."
Elizabeth cooks!
About Wednesday 2 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
Welcome to the 17th century, John. Everyone earned their keep, there were no weekends, women were chattels, and there is only room for one mistress in the household. In this tiny household, Elizabeth is Queen (and even she does laundry); everyone else scrubs floors. What alternatives does Pal have? (Answer: prostitution, or maid to not-family.) She's probably a resentful, rebellious 20-year-old who wants to be entitled to lay abed and eat bonbons. Pepys has delivered a wake-up call. It's much easier to start stricked and ease up when appropriate, than start out lax and have to discipline later.
About Sunday 31 December 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
Happy 2019 John and John
About Monday 31 December 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
MEANWHILE, in Irvine, Scotland: James Blackwood and John M’Coul, two Covenanter martyrs, met their ends today:
Mostly from The Homes, Haunts, and Battlefields of the Covenanters.
The martyrs in question, who were among many of that profession in these years, were executed by Cornelius Anderson, a condemned fellow-Covenanter who, days before in Ayr, miserably consented to turn hangman in order to save his own life.
STOP PASSENGER
THOU TREADEST NEAR TWO MARTYRS
JAMES BLACKWOOD & JOHN M’COUL
who suffered at IRVINE
on the 31st of December 1666
REV xii. 11th
These honest Country-men whose Bones here lie
A Victim fell to Prelates Cruelty;
Condemn’d by bloody and unrighteous Laws
They died Martyrs for the good old cause
Which Balaams wicked Race in vain assail
For no Inchantments ‘gainst Israel prevail
Life and this evil World they did contemn
And dy’d for Christ who died first for them
‘They lived unknown
Till Persecution dragged them into fame
And chas’d them up to Heaven’ [Cowper lines -ed.]
-- Erected by Friends to Religious Liberty - 31st Dec. 1823.
As at other executions, the men were probably executed in the town and their heads displayed at Irvine’s mercat cross before they were spiked, probably on a burgh gate, for public display.
This was part of the reprisals from the Pentland Rising in November. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Bate's 'Elenchus Motuum Nuperorum in Anglia'
San Diego Sarah • Link
Since there is no page for George Bate, I'm sharing some notes about him gleaned from his church:
In the Belfrey-chancel of Kingston-on-Thames’ All Saints church is a monument to the memory of Doctor George Bate, who died in 1668; and his wife Elizabeth, who died in 1667 of a consumption, which was hastened by the fire of London.
Dr. George Bate was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society, and eminent in his profession (fn. 122). He was principal physician to King Charles, Oliver Cromwell, his son Richard, and to Charles II; having the art of ingratiating himself with all parties. -- 122 Biograph. Brit.
Cromwell held Dr. Bate in high esteem, although he had written in defense of King Charles; and Cromwell sent for him in Scotland, when he lay ill there in 1651 (fn. 123). -- 123 Whitlock's Memorial, p. 494.
Dr. George Bate is said to have recommended himself to the royal party after the Restoration, by a report industriously spread that he had given Cromwell a dose which hastened his death; but this story appears to be built on a slender foundation (fn. 124). -- 124 It is only mentioned by Wood, Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 424.
Dr. George Bate was an author; his principal work was an account of the commotions in England; a second part of which was published in 1661. In this he is said to have been assisted by Lord Chancellor Clarendon (fn. 125). -- 125 Ibid.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
About Michael Herring
San Diego Sarah • Link
Michael Herring, a merchant of Coleman Street, had money dealings with Montagu which had to do with some property in Worcester, before the start of the Diary.
The index refers to a note in Vol. 1, p. 55 in the L&M edition.
About Wednesday 15 February 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
Rev. Thomas Fuller Sr. (1608-1661) was full of good thoughts for hard times. Pepys reveals later in the Diary that he was at Cambridge with his son, Rev. Thomas Fuller Jr., which may account for his interest in this book today.
I found two of his bon mots:
"A man's best fortune, or his worst, is his wife."
and
“A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat them, the better they be.”
I hope Pepys remembers one and forgets the other.
About Scallops
San Diego Sarah • Link
In medieval times, Rye Bay fish (herring, mackerel, cod, sole, plaice and whiting) were reserved for the king’s table. Perhaps Pepys' scallops came from here too?
Gleaned from:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fooda…
On steeply rising ground, Rye in Sussex lies to the west of Camber, one of the five medieval Cinq Ports, its church spire providing a beacon for fishermen as it has for centuries. Cobbled streets are studded with fine old buildings … Down on the River Rother estuary, a spanking new quay has turned it from one of the most dangerous to one of England’s finest working quays.
Free-moving scallops – bivalve molluscs found in all the world’s oceans – do not attach themselves to ropes or rocks like mussels or oysters, and their white flesh (or muscle) and coral roes are protected by distinctive fan-shaped shells, the ancient emblem of St. James. They are the pilgrim mussel, the coquille St. Jacques, packed with vitamin B12 and a rich source of omega 3 fatty acids, potassium and magnesium.
In other words, they are great for your cardiovascular health; and they also deliver selenium, helping to neutralize the negative effects of free radicals.
The deep, clean and high-salinity waters of Rye Bay, rich in minerals washed from the Wealden soil, have become the main source of winter income for the 10 or so scallop boats that head three miles out before lowering up to five ''rakes’’ on either side, designed to flip the shells up and into nets.
Rye’s scallops are still crucial to the town and the old adage that one fisherman at sea creates 10 jobs holds true with its rich history and easy accessibility to London. This is all part of Rye’s charm, and when the sun bursts through the clouds you could be forgiven for believing that the Kent/East Sussex borderlands are God’s own country. Here the sky, land and sea are knitted together by the screams of the gulls into a pocket of raw beauty. Come May 1, the season will end, allowing the scallops six months to breed and grow.
Meanwhile, Rye will survive the winter months defiantly, reliant on the tenacity and imagination of its inhabitants and the hard-won profits delivered by its world-beating scallops.
About Oranges
San Diego Sarah • Link
"China oranges" -- In some Indo-European languages, the words for orange allude to the eastern origin of the fruit and can be translated literally as "apple from China".
The earliest mention of the sweet orange in Chinese literature dates from 314 B.C. ... Citrus fruits — among them the bitter orange — were introduced to Sicily in the 9th century during the period of the Emirate of Sicily.
The sweet orange was unknown until the late 15th century or the beginnings of the 16th century, when Italian and Portuguese merchants brought orange trees into the Mediterranean area. Shortly afterward, the sweet orange quickly was adopted as an edible fruit. It also was considered a luxury item and wealthy people grew oranges in private conservatories, called orangeries.
By 1646, the sweet orange was well known throughout Europe.
Louis XIV of France had a great love of orange trees, and built the grandest of all royal Orangeries at the Palace of Versailles. At Versailles potted orange trees in solid silver tubs were placed throughout the rooms of the palace, while the Orangerie allowed year-round cultivation of the fruit to supply the court. When Louis condemned his finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, in 1664, part of the treasures which he confiscated were over 1,000 orange trees from Fouquet's estate at Vaux-le-Vicomte.
For more, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ora…