And in the House of Lords -- the sounds like the Committee John Evelyn mentioned being appointed to:
Bill for mending Streets and Highways. Hodie 1a vice lecta est Billa, "An Act for amending and keeping clean the Streets and Highways, in and about the City of Westm. and other Cities and Towns."
@@@
Happy to see the Earl of Sandwich in his chair today.
The House of Commons puts another nail in the coffin of the recent past:
Solemn League and Covenant. The Question being put, Whether the main Question, that the Instrument or Writing, called, The Solemn League and Covenant, be burned by the Hand of the Common Hangman, shall be put at this Time;
The House was divided thereupon:
And the Noes went forth.
The Lord St. John, Tellers for the Yeas: 228. The Lord Visc. Falkland, With the Yeas, Secretary Morris, Tellers for the Noes: 103. Sir Robert Barnam, With the Noes, So it passed in the Affirmative:
And the Question being put, That the Instrument or Writing, called, The Solemn League and Covenant, be burned by the Hand of the Common Hangman;
Resolved, upon the Question, That the Instrument or Writing, called, The Solemn League and Covenant, be burned by the Hand of the Common Hangman.
Resolved, upon the Question, That the Concurrence of the Lords be desired to this Vote.
"To the office, and sat there all the afternoon till 9 at night."
The Houses of Parliament sit in the morning, so Batten and Mennes need to be away from the office. The Navy Board therefore moved their meetings to the afternoon -- and in this case they had so much business it ran overtime!
I wonder what was under discussion ... a fleet bound for Portugal????
I wish I'd seen this YouTube before I made my Pepys' pilgrimage last year. The one detail he missed that I noticed is that the big new building on the other side of the park is today's Trinity House. The film is part of his Pepys' tour, and obviously the building wasn't there in the 1660's, so that's pretty irrelevant.
Watch to the very end, because that's where you'll see a rendition of how the entrance to the Navy pews was configured outside the church, and photos of the destruction of St. Olave's during the Blitz. How remarkable so much was saved, including the Grinling Gibbons font.
A photo also mentions memorials to Mennes and Gauden(?) in St. Olave's which are also missing in the one hour film, and I didn't know to look for them.
I wish I'd seen this YouTube before I made my Pepys' pilgrimage last year. The one detail he missed that I noticed is that the big new building on the other side of the park is today's Trinity House. The film is part of his Pepys' tour, and obviously the building wasn't there in the 1660's, so that's pretty irrelevant.
Watch to the very end, because that's where you'll see a rendition of how the entrance to the Navy pews was configured, and photos of the destruction of St. Olave's during the Blitz. How remarkable so much was saved, including the Grinling Gibbons font.
Andrew Riccards memorial -- a large one! -- is in St. Olave's Hart Street, opposite Pepys' memorial. You can see it at about the 40 minute marker on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N…
Houses and Society in Norwich, 1350-1660 Urban Buildings in an Age of Transition by Chris King
First full archaeological study of the urban environment of Norwich when its power was at its height.
Norwich was second only to London in size and economic significance from the late Middle Ages through to the mid-17th century. This book brings together, for the first time, the rich archaeological evidence for urban households and domestic life in Norwich, using surviving buildings, excavated sites, and material culture.
It offers a broad overview of the changing forms, construction and spatial organisation of urban houses during the period, ranging across the social spectrum from the large courtyard mansions occupied by members of the mercantile and civic elite, to the homes of the urban "middling sort" and the small 2- and 3-roomed cottages of the city's weavers and artisans.
The so-called "age of transition" witnessed profound social and economic changes and religious and political upheavals, which Norwich, as a major provincial capital, experienced with particular force and intensity; domestic life was also transformed.
The author examines the twin themes of continuity and change in the material world and the role of the domestic sphere in the expression and negotiation of shifting power relationships, economic structures and social identities in the medieval and early modern city.
Hardcover 9781783275540 October 2020 $75.00 / £50.00
Ebook (EPDF) 9781787449329 October 2020 $24.95 / £19.99
"When, early in 1662, it was deemed advisable by the General Court of Massachusetts to congratulate Charles II upon his Restoration, and to send an agent to act for the general interests of the colony, a letter was written to Herbert Pelham, Esq., Major Nehemiah Bourne, Capt. Francis Willoughby, Mr. Richard Hutchinson (Treasurer of the Navy under the Commonwealth) and others, desiring that they would supply their representatives, upon their arrival, with such funds as they might require, on the account of the colony. By this time, however, both Bourne and Willoughby were preparing to leave the country."
Excerpt from https://www.colonialsociety.org/n… in a paper by Capt. William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, a Corresponding Member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. This is the only mention of Commissioner Richard Hutchinson of the Commonwealth Navy Board in the paper.
It illustrates his good reputation, wealth, and standing in the community
Recently Pepys remarked on Creed changing in the last year -- he'll drink alcohol on Sundays now. I.E. he's not as Puritan as he used to be. And we know from Pepys and Sandwich's chat last year, Sandwich is agnostic, while Pepys is doing his best to understand what belonging to the Church of England entails. So Sandwich's speaking "very slightingly of Mr. Creed, as that he had no opinion at all of him, but only he was forced to make use of him because of his present accounts ..." is because he finds Creed boring, but keeps him around because he is a known quantity, and as remarked above, there are neighborly ties. Obviously Pepys is fun to have around: He sings and plays many instruments, speaks French and Latin, is interested in the theater, reads good books other than the Bible, and is willing to bet on bowls contests, all of which made him good company last year while they waited to go to The Hague. These are not Puritan things to do. Creed just wouldn't have been so companionable last year.
Replacing Creed would involve time and investment in an unknown person who might come with other -- unspecified -- allegencies.
Nutmeg is the only spice Pepys names during the Diary, apparently, so this book dealing with the wider subject must belong here:
"Spice: The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World" By Roger Crowley Yale University Press
The story of the 16th-century’s epic contest for the spice trade, which propelled European maritime exploration and conquest across Asia and the Pacific
Spices drove the early modern world economy, and for Europeans they represented riches on an unprecedented scale. Cloves and nutmeg could reach Europe only via a complex web of trade routes, and for decades Spanish and Portuguese explorers competed to find their elusive source. But when the Portuguese finally reached the spice islands of the Moluccas in 1511, they set in motion a fierce competition for control.
Roger Crowley shows how this struggle shaped the modern world. From 1511 to 1571, European powers linked up the oceans, established vast maritime empires, and gave birth to global trade, all in the attempt to control the supply of spices.
Taking us on voyages from the dockyards of Seville to the vastness of the Pacific, the volcanic Spice Islands of Indonesia, the Arctic Circle, and the coasts of China, this is a narrative history rich in vivid eyewitness accounts of the adventures, shipwrecks, and sieges that formed the first colonial encounters — and remade the world economy for centuries to follow.
320 Pages, 155 x 234 mm, 37 b-w + 16 colour illus.+ 7 maps Published: 14 May 2024 £20.00 HARDCOVER; EBOOK Hardcover: 9780300267471 https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780…
17th Centuary boots: Today you can see a pair of Parliamentary cavalry boots left in Crediton, Devon, during the Civil Wars, if you are able to contact a member of the church council who have the key to their meeting chamber. To say they are sturdy, and would cost you a small fortune to possess today, is an understatement. But perhaps the cavalry man didn't find them that comfortable, and didn't mind leaving them behind, which must be a possibility.
@@@
When I was in my 20s, I lived in London, and thought nothing of walking 15 miles on a fine Sunday in May, exploring the city and seeing friends along the way. It's a glorious time, with blossoms and daffodils -- and the last of the bluebells. https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021…
"It is the Privilege, if you please the Prerogative (and it is a great one), of the common People of England, to be represented by the greatest, and learnedest, and wealthiest, and wisest Persons, that can be chose out of the Nation; and the confounding the Commons of England, which is a noble Representative, with the common People of England, was the First Ingredient into that accursed Dose, which intoxicated the Brains of Men with that Imagination of a Commonwealth; a Commonwealth, Mr. Speaker, a Government as impossible for the Spirit and Temper and Genius of the English Nation to submit to, as it is to persuade them to give their Cattle and their Corn to other Men, and to live upon Roots and Herbs themselves. I wish heartily that they who have been most delighted with that Imagination knew in Truth the great Benefit under the Government. There is not a Commonwealth in Europe, where every Man that is worth One Thousand Pounds doth not pay more to the Government than a Man of a Thousand Pounds a Year did ever to the Crown here before these Troubles. And I am persuaded that Monster Commonwealth cost this Nation more, in the few Years she was begot, born, and brought up, and in her Funeral (which was the best Expence of all), than the Monarchy hath done these Six Hundred Years."
Sandwich attended the opening of Parliament today -- I believe it's the first time since he accepted his place last year.
The speeches by the new Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Edward Turnour, Knight, and Chancellor Hyde, now the Earl of Clarendon, who usually acts as Speaker of the House of Lords, are interesting, because of their "Cavalier" narratives portraying King Charles as the martyr, the misguided followers of false leaders under Cromwell, the piety and wisdom of Charles II bring a new day and hope to England, etc. etc. They echo the belief that England was, as John Winthrop put it in 1630, "the City upon the Hill." I.E. In many cases they were turning Puritan narratives into Royalist narratives.
A sample: "You have made, Mr. Speaker, a very lively Description of the Extravagancy of that Confusion which this poor Nation groaned under, when they would throw off a Government they had lived and prospered under so many Ages, indeed from the Time of being a Nation, and which is as natural to them as their Food or their Raiment, to model a new one for themselves, which they knew no more how to do, than the naked Indians know how to dress themselves in the French Fashion; when (as you say) all Ages, Sexes, and Degrees, all Professions and Trades, would become Reformers, when the common People of England would represent the Commons of England; and abject Men, who could neither write nor read, would make Laws for the Government of the most heroic and the most learned Nation in the World; for sure none of our Neighbours will deny it to have a full Excellency and Perfection both in Arms and Letters. And it was the grossest and most ridiculous Pageant that great Impostor ever exposed to public View, when he gave up the Nation to be disposed of by a Handful of poor mechanic Persons, who, finding they knew not what to do with it, would (he was sure) give it back to him again, as they shortly did, which makes his Title compleat to the Government he meant to exercise. No Man undervalues the common People of England, who are in Truth the best and the honestest, aye, and the wisest common People in the World, when he says they are not fit to model the Government they are to live under, or to make the Laws they are to obey. Solomon tells us, there is a Time when one Man rules over another to his own Hurt; we have had abundant Instances of such a Time.
"... having some talk with Mr. Blackburn about his kinsman my Will, and he did give me good satisfaction in that it is his desire that his kinsman should do me all service, and that he would give him the best counsel he could to make him good. Which I begin of late to fear that he will not because of the bad company that I find that he do begin to take."
The care and education of teenage boys is always a challenge. Pepys is 28, and Will Hewer is 19, so it's hard for Sam to play the father/disciplinarian figure. Furthermore, Hewer's family is wealthy and well connected in navy circles -- albeit the tar/Commonwealth navy -- so Pepys doesn't want to do anything which could generate negative gossip from the Hewer family.
By far the best thing he can do is engage Blackburn in whatever remedial efforts will be made to curb Will's excesses, be it too much football on Tower Hill with local apprentices, or independent friendships with the other Commissioners and their families and servants.
Eric the Bish -- "This afternoon Mr. Hater received for me the 225l. due upon Mr. Creed’s bill in which I am concerned so much, which do make me very glad."
I think this must refer to yesterday's entry: "From thence to Sir G. Carteret, and there did get his promise for the payment of the remainder of the bill of Mr. Creed’s, wherein of late I have been so much concerned,"
L&M: Order for the payment of Creed's bill for £1,035. for expenses incurred as Deputy-Treasurer of the fleet, was made on 15 May: PRO, Adm. 20//1, p. 143.
If I'm right, Creed paid Pepys BEFORE he received his settlement, so I could be wrong. But maybe this is a case of the clerks dating the payout when they got around to recording the entry, and not the actual date of the payment.
At some point Pentecost, the day the holy spirit descended upon the apostles of Christ, became known as “Whitsunday”. Kalendarium gives a suggestion: "... popularly called Whitsuntide, the Dominica Alba of the middle ages, because the catechumens, newly baptized, appeared from Easter to Whitsuntide in white garments; hence White Sunday ..."
Whitsun falls on the 7th Sunday following Easter. The week following is called Whitsuntide or Whitsun Week.
In some churches, a wooden dove might be attached to the ceiling to represent the Holy Spirit during services, as described in Googe's translation of the disparaging but trustworthy Naogeorgus: "On Whitsunday whyte pigeons tame in strings from heaven flie. And one that framed is of wood still hangeth in the skie. Thou seest how they with Idols play, and teach the people to; None otherwise then little gyrles with puppets use to do."
Over time Whitsuntide became more about feasting and entertainment. While details vary, the week before was about collecting meat, drink, and coincidentally the local church's petty cash fund. The guilds of wealthier towns such as York, Chester and Wakefield took their rolling stages out of storage, loaded up the costumes and props to portray the temptation of Adam and Eve, Noah and his shrewish wife, and other biblical stories. ...
The Wakefield plays began in the mid-14th century. Smaller towns presented humbler scripts of biblical stories with less equipment, all salted with secular jokes.
The feasts around these festivities featured Whitsun Ales in most parishes. ...
Catechumen were baptisted. Players acted. Morris Dancers pranced and minstrels strolled. Food and strong ale were consumed.
A decorated tree at the door of the churchisr explained by the Medii Aevi Kalendarium: "An arbour, called Robin Hood's Bower, was erected in the church-yard, and here maidens stood gathering contributions."
Robin Hood was usually master of the archery competition featured in such festivals, keeping English bowmen practiced for military service. John Aubrey of a Wiltshire Whitsun in the early 17th century: "In every parish was a church-house, to which belonged spits, crocks, and other utensils for dressing provisions. Here the housekeepers met. The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at butts, &c. the ancients sitting gravely by, and looking on."
As the bow and arrow were replaced by firearms, the Robin Hood competitions faded into memory. They seem to have been replaced during the 16th century by horse racing. Extracted from https://vgs-pbr-reviews.blogspot.…
There were no dentists as such in Pepys' day, but those who undertook the drawing of teeth were members of the Barber-Surgeons' Company.
As this is the first, but far from the last, incident of dental pain that he records, please post your valuable "in general" observations to https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
The "this day" observations still belong here of course.
"... during King Philip's War (1675), the Indians were better armed than the Puritan/Pilgrim militias having a greater percentage of flintlocks over matchlocks (firelocks)"
A new book researched from family archives about King hilip's War: "Colonist Benjamin Waite, a devoted husband, father, and skilled military scout in King Philip's War, reluctantly obeys orders to guide a brutal attack against a camp of Algonquian Natives.
"After the catastrophic event, Benjamin is burdened with guilt and longs for peace. But the Algonquians, led by the revered sachem Ashpelon, retaliate with vengeance upon Ben's Massachusetts town of Hatfield, capturing over a dozen colonists, including his pregnant wife Martha and their 3 young daughters.
"Hatfield 1677 is a tale of 3 interwoven yet diverging journeys of strength and survival. Benjamin is driven by love and remorse to rescue his family; Martha is forced into captivity and desperately striving to protect her children; and Ashpelon is willing to risk everything to ensure the safety and freedom of his people.
"Based on the lives of the author's ancestors, this riveting and unforgettable novel gives voice to three vastly different experiences in North America during a time before the creation of the Declaration of Independence.
"Then, the land was but a wilderness and a battleground; equality was not yet perceived as self-evident; and liberty and happiness were nothing more than dangerous pursuits.
"Product Details: Price $17.99 Publisher Acorn Publishing Publish Date May 21, 2024 Pages 394 Language English Type Paperback EAN/UPC 9798885280778"
In Renaissance Italy, there was significant academic interest in the literal dimensions of hell as it was described in Dante Alighieri’s Inferno.
When Galileo was 24, Dante scholars were fiercely divided between two calculations made by 2 different Renaissance thinkers. Galileo, already a prominent mathematician, was invited by the Accademia Fiorentina (Florence Academy) to make his own estimation.
He ultimately affirmed one of the previous results, but made a major error when calculating the thickness of hell’s domed roof. He multiplied the width and thickness by the same amount before realizing that buildings don’t scale that way.
Later, Galileo published the square-cube law, which states that as an object increases in size, its volume gets larger than its surface area, meaning that supports need to grow disproportionately thicker than the rest of a structure. According to the law, there wouldn’t be a lot of Dante’s hell left if the roof were as thick as it needed to be.
It's hard for us 21st century beings to understand how the magical thinking of astrology was so accepted as fact in the 17th century. But the most educated did believe their fate was 'written in the stars':
Galileo Galilei made some major scientific strides in his time, particularly in the field of astronomy. He discovered 4 of Jupiter’s moons and the stars of the Milky Way, and determined that the surface of Earth’s moon isn’t smooth. Most famously, he vehemently believed, as Nicolaus Copernicus proposed before him, that the Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around — even as the Catholic Church labeled him a heretic for it. Despite his reputation as a skeptic, his cosmic beliefs included a little of what is now considered pseudoscience, too.
He was one of Europe’s most sought-after astrologers in his time, and wrote horoscopes for Italy’s elite. Some of his astrological tools are on display at the Galileo Museum in Florence, Italy
Galileo, a Pisces, practiced judicial astrology, which concerns human circumstances rather than just natural phenomena; clients consulted him for guidance on illness, travel, love, and other major events. He also wrote birth charts, including for himself and his children. Before he was tried by the church for his belief in heliocentrism, he was investigated for telling his clients that the stars governed their fates — although the church didn’t pursue the matter far.
Galileo’s faith in the zodiac may sound surprising, but at the time, it wasn’t unusual for astronomers to practice this kind of cosmic divination. Some patrons would even judge whether a scientist was worthy of their support by their astrology skills. Other astronomers held in high esteem today, including Johannes Kepler, Tycho Brahe, and Copernicus, also studied astrology.
Comments
Third Reading
About Friday 17 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
And in the House of Lords -- the sounds like the Committee John Evelyn mentioned being appointed to:
Bill for mending Streets and Highways.
Hodie 1a vice lecta est Billa, "An Act for amending and keeping clean the Streets and Highways, in and about the City of Westm. and other Cities and Towns."
@@@
Happy to see the Earl of Sandwich in his chair today.
About Friday 17 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
The House of Commons puts another nail in the coffin of the recent past:
Solemn League and Covenant.
The Question being put, Whether the main Question, that the Instrument or Writing, called, The Solemn League and Covenant, be burned by the Hand of the Common Hangman, shall be put at this Time;
The House was divided thereupon:
And the Noes went forth.
The Lord St. John, Tellers for the Yeas: 228.
The Lord Visc. Falkland, With the Yeas,
Secretary Morris, Tellers for the Noes: 103.
Sir Robert Barnam, With the Noes,
So it passed in the Affirmative:
And the Question being put, That the Instrument or Writing, called, The Solemn League and Covenant, be burned by the Hand of the Common Hangman;
Resolved, upon the Question, That the Instrument or Writing, called, The Solemn League and Covenant, be burned by the Hand of the Common Hangman.
Resolved, upon the Question, That the Concurrence of the Lords be desired to this Vote.
About Friday 17 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
"To the office, and sat there all the afternoon till 9 at night."
The Houses of Parliament sit in the morning, so Batten and Mennes need to be away from the office. The Navy Board therefore moved their meetings to the afternoon -- and in this case they had so much business it ran overtime!
I wonder what was under discussion ... a fleet bound for Portugal????
About St Olave, Hart Street
San Diego Sarah • Link
I wish I'd seen this YouTube before I made my Pepys' pilgrimage last year. The one detail he missed that I noticed is that the big new building on the other side of the park is today's Trinity House. The film is part of his Pepys' tour, and obviously the building wasn't there in the 1660's, so that's pretty irrelevant.
Watch to the very end, because that's where you'll see a rendition of how the entrance to the Navy pews was configured outside the church, and photos of the destruction of St. Olave's during the Blitz. How remarkable so much was saved, including the Grinling Gibbons font.
A photo also mentions memorials to Mennes and Gauden(?) in St. Olave's which are also missing in the one hour film, and I didn't know to look for them.
Good hunting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N…
About Seething Lane
San Diego Sarah • Link
I wish I'd seen this YouTube before I made my Pepys' pilgrimage last year. The one detail he missed that I noticed is that the big new building on the other side of the park is today's Trinity House. The film is part of his Pepys' tour, and obviously the building wasn't there in the 1660's, so that's pretty irrelevant.
Watch to the very end, because that's where you'll see a rendition of how the entrance to the Navy pews was configured, and photos of the destruction of St. Olave's during the Blitz. How remarkable so much was saved, including the Grinling Gibbons font.
The film is about an hour long.
Good hunting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N…
About Christiana Riccard
San Diego Sarah • Link
Andrew Riccards memorial -- a large one! -- is in St. Olave's Hart Street, opposite Pepys' memorial. You can see it at about the 40 minute marker on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N…
About Norwich, Norfolk
San Diego Sarah • Link
Houses and Society in Norwich, 1350-1660
Urban Buildings in an Age of Transition
by Chris King
First full archaeological study of the urban environment of Norwich when its power was at its height.
Norwich was second only to London in size and economic significance from the late Middle Ages through to the mid-17th century. This book brings together, for the first time, the rich archaeological evidence for urban households and domestic life in Norwich, using surviving buildings, excavated sites, and material culture.
It offers a broad overview of the changing forms, construction and spatial organisation of urban houses during the period, ranging across the social spectrum from the large courtyard mansions occupied by members of the mercantile and civic elite, to the homes of the urban "middling sort" and the small 2- and 3-roomed cottages of the city's weavers and artisans.
The so-called "age of transition" witnessed profound social and economic changes and religious and political upheavals, which Norwich, as a major provincial capital, experienced with particular force and intensity; domestic life was also transformed.
The author examines the twin themes of continuity and change in the material world and the role of the domestic sphere in the expression and negotiation of shifting power relationships, economic structures and social identities in the medieval and early modern city.
Hardcover
9781783275540
October 2020
$75.00 / £50.00
Ebook (EPDF)
9781787449329
October 2020
$24.95 / £19.99
330 Pages
12 colour, 80 b/w, 23 line illus.
Boydell Press
About Richard Hutchinson
San Diego Sarah • Link
"When, early in 1662, it was deemed advisable by the General Court of Massachusetts to congratulate Charles II upon his Restoration, and to send an agent to act for the general interests of the colony, a letter was written to Herbert Pelham, Esq., Major Nehemiah Bourne, Capt. Francis Willoughby, Mr. Richard Hutchinson (Treasurer of the Navy under the Commonwealth) and others, desiring that they would supply their representatives, upon their arrival, with such funds as they might require, on the account of the colony. By this time, however, both Bourne and Willoughby were preparing to leave the country."
Excerpt from https://www.colonialsociety.org/n…
in a paper by Capt. William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, a Corresponding Member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. This is the only mention of Commissioner Richard Hutchinson of the Commonwealth Navy Board in the paper.
It illustrates his good reputation, wealth, and standing in the community
About Tuesday 14 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
Recently Pepys remarked on Creed changing in the last year -- he'll drink alcohol on Sundays now. I.E. he's not as Puritan as he used to be.
And we know from Pepys and Sandwich's chat last year, Sandwich is agnostic, while Pepys is doing his best to understand what belonging to the Church of England entails.
So Sandwich's speaking "very slightingly of Mr. Creed, as that he had no opinion at all of him, but only he was forced to make use of him because of his present accounts ..." is because he finds Creed boring, but keeps him around because he is a known quantity, and as remarked above, there are neighborly ties.
Obviously Pepys is fun to have around: He sings and plays many instruments, speaks French and Latin, is interested in the theater, reads good books other than the Bible, and is willing to bet on bowls contests, all of which made him good company last year while they waited to go to The Hague. These are not Puritan things to do.
Creed just wouldn't have been so companionable last year.
Replacing Creed would involve time and investment in an unknown person who might come with other -- unspecified -- allegencies.
About Nutmeg
San Diego Sarah • Link
Nutmeg is the only spice Pepys names during the Diary, apparently, so this book dealing with the wider subject must belong here:
"Spice: The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World"
By Roger Crowley
Yale University Press
The story of the 16th-century’s epic contest for the spice trade, which propelled European maritime exploration and conquest across Asia and the Pacific
Spices drove the early modern world economy, and for Europeans they represented riches on an unprecedented scale. Cloves and nutmeg could reach Europe only via a complex web of trade routes, and for decades Spanish and Portuguese explorers competed to find their elusive source. But when the Portuguese finally reached the spice islands of the Moluccas in 1511, they set in motion a fierce competition for control.
Roger Crowley shows how this struggle shaped the modern world. From 1511 to 1571, European powers linked up the oceans, established vast maritime empires, and gave birth to global trade, all in the attempt to control the supply of spices.
Taking us on voyages from the dockyards of Seville to the vastness of the Pacific, the volcanic Spice Islands of Indonesia, the Arctic Circle, and the coasts of China, this is a narrative history rich in vivid eyewitness accounts of the adventures, shipwrecks, and sieges that formed the first colonial encounters — and remade the world economy for centuries to follow.
320 Pages, 155 x 234 mm, 37 b-w + 16 colour illus.+ 7 maps
Published: 14 May 2024
£20.00
HARDCOVER; EBOOK
Hardcover: 9780300267471
https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780…
About Sunday 12 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
17th Centuary boots: Today you can see a pair of Parliamentary cavalry boots left in Crediton, Devon, during the Civil Wars, if you are able to contact a member of the church council who have the key to their meeting chamber. To say they are sturdy, and would cost you a small fortune to possess today, is an understatement.
But perhaps the cavalry man didn't find them that comfortable, and didn't mind leaving them behind, which must be a possibility.
@@@
When I was in my 20s, I lived in London, and thought nothing of walking 15 miles on a fine Sunday in May, exploring the city and seeing friends along the way. It's a glorious time, with blossoms and daffodils -- and the last of the bluebells.
https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021…
About Friday 10 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONCLUSION:
"It is the Privilege, if you please the Prerogative (and it is a great one), of the common People of England, to be represented by the greatest, and learnedest, and wealthiest, and wisest Persons, that can be chose out of the Nation; and the confounding the Commons of England, which is a noble Representative, with the common People of England, was the First Ingredient into that accursed Dose, which intoxicated the Brains of Men with that Imagination of a Commonwealth; a Commonwealth, Mr. Speaker, a Government as impossible for the Spirit and Temper and Genius of the English Nation to submit to, as it is to persuade them to give their Cattle and their Corn to other Men, and to live upon Roots and Herbs themselves. I wish heartily that they who have been most delighted with that Imagination knew in Truth the great Benefit under the Government.
There is not a Commonwealth in Europe, where every Man that is worth One Thousand Pounds doth not pay more to the Government than a Man of a Thousand Pounds a Year did ever to the Crown here before these Troubles.
And I am persuaded that Monster Commonwealth cost this Nation more, in the few Years she was begot, born, and brought up, and in her Funeral (which was the best Expence of all), than the Monarchy hath done these Six Hundred Years."
Edward Turnour's encyclopedia entry
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Winthrop's "city on the hill" meaning
https://thehistoricpresent.com/20…
About Friday 10 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
Sandwich attended the opening of Parliament today -- I believe it's the first time since he accepted his place last year.
The speeches by the new Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Edward Turnour, Knight, and Chancellor Hyde, now the Earl of Clarendon, who usually acts as Speaker of the House of Lords, are interesting, because of their "Cavalier" narratives portraying King Charles as the martyr, the misguided followers of false leaders under Cromwell, the piety and wisdom of Charles II bring a new day and hope to England, etc. etc. They echo the belief that England was, as John Winthrop put it in 1630, "the City upon the Hill." I.E. In many cases they were turning Puritan narratives into Royalist narratives.
A sample: "You have made, Mr. Speaker, a very lively Description of the Extravagancy of that Confusion which this poor Nation groaned under, when they would throw off a Government they had lived and prospered under so many Ages, indeed from the Time of being a Nation, and which is as natural to them as their Food or their Raiment, to model a new one for themselves, which they knew no more how to do, than the naked Indians know how to dress themselves in the French Fashion; when (as you say) all Ages, Sexes, and Degrees, all Professions and Trades, would become Reformers, when the common People of England would represent the Commons of England; and abject Men, who could neither write nor read, would make Laws for the Government of the most heroic and the most learned Nation in the World; for sure none of our Neighbours will deny it to have a full Excellency and Perfection both in Arms and Letters.
And it was the grossest and most ridiculous Pageant that great Impostor ever exposed to public View, when he gave up the Nation to be disposed of by a Handful of poor mechanic Persons, who, finding they knew not what to do with it, would (he was sure) give it back to him again, as they shortly did, which makes his Title compleat to the Government he meant to exercise.
No Man undervalues the common People of England, who are in Truth the best and the honestest, aye, and the wisest common People in the World, when he says they are not fit to model the Government they are to live under, or to make the Laws they are to obey. Solomon tells us, there is a Time when one Man rules over another to his own Hurt; we have had abundant Instances of such a Time.
About Friday 10 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... having some talk with Mr. Blackburn about his kinsman my Will, and he did give me good satisfaction in that it is his desire that his kinsman should do me all service, and that he would give him the best counsel he could to make him good. Which I begin of late to fear that he will not because of the bad company that I find that he do begin to take."
The care and education of teenage boys is always a challenge. Pepys is 28, and Will Hewer is 19, so it's hard for Sam to play the father/disciplinarian figure.
Furthermore, Hewer's family is wealthy and well connected in navy circles -- albeit the tar/Commonwealth navy -- so Pepys doesn't want to do anything which could generate negative gossip from the Hewer family.
By far the best thing he can do is engage Blackburn in whatever remedial efforts will be made to curb Will's excesses, be it too much football on Tower Hill with local apprentices, or independent friendships with the other Commissioners and their families and servants.
About Friday 10 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
Eric the Bish -- "This afternoon Mr. Hater received for me the 225l. due upon Mr. Creed’s bill in which I am concerned so much, which do make me very glad."
I think this must refer to yesterday's entry:
"From thence to Sir G. Carteret, and there did get his promise for the payment of the remainder of the bill of Mr. Creed’s, wherein of late I have been so much concerned,"
L&M: Order for the payment of Creed's bill for £1,035. for expenses incurred as Deputy-Treasurer of the fleet, was made on 15 May: PRO, Adm. 20//1, p. 143.
If I'm right, Creed paid Pepys BEFORE he received his settlement, so I could be wrong. But maybe this is a case of the clerks dating the payout when they got around to recording the entry, and not the actual date of the payment.
About Whitsun
San Diego Sarah • Link
At some point Pentecost, the day the holy spirit descended upon the apostles of Christ, became known as “Whitsunday”. Kalendarium gives a suggestion: "... popularly called Whitsuntide, the Dominica Alba of the middle ages, because the catechumens, newly baptized, appeared from Easter to Whitsuntide in white garments; hence White Sunday ..."
Whitsun falls on the 7th Sunday following Easter. The week following is called Whitsuntide or Whitsun Week.
In some churches, a wooden dove might be attached to the ceiling to represent the Holy Spirit during services, as described in Googe's translation of the disparaging but trustworthy Naogeorgus:
"On Whitsunday whyte pigeons tame in strings from heaven flie.
And one that framed is of wood still hangeth in the skie.
Thou seest how they with Idols play, and teach the people to;
None otherwise then little gyrles with puppets use to do."
Over time Whitsuntide became more about feasting and entertainment.
While details vary, the week before was about collecting meat, drink, and coincidentally the local church's petty cash fund.
The guilds of wealthier towns such as York, Chester and Wakefield took their rolling stages out of storage, loaded up the costumes and props to portray the temptation of Adam and Eve, Noah and his shrewish wife, and other biblical stories. ...
The Wakefield plays began in the mid-14th century. Smaller towns presented humbler scripts of biblical stories with less equipment, all salted with secular jokes.
The feasts around these festivities featured Whitsun Ales in most parishes. ...
Catechumen were baptisted.
Players acted.
Morris Dancers pranced and minstrels strolled.
Food and strong ale were consumed.
A decorated tree at the door of the churchisr explained by the Medii Aevi Kalendarium: "An arbour, called Robin Hood's Bower, was erected in the church-yard, and here maidens stood gathering contributions."
Robin Hood was usually master of the archery competition featured in such festivals, keeping English bowmen practiced for military service. John Aubrey of a Wiltshire Whitsun in the early 17th century:
"In every parish was a church-house, to which belonged spits, crocks, and other utensils for dressing provisions. Here the housekeepers met. The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at butts, &c. the ancients sitting gravely by, and looking on."
As the bow and arrow were replaced by firearms, the Robin Hood competitions faded into memory. They seem to have been replaced during the 16th century by horse racing.
Extracted from https://vgs-pbr-reviews.blogspot.…
About Wednesday 8 May 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
There were no dentists as such in Pepys' day, but those who undertook the drawing of teeth were members of the Barber-Surgeons' Company.
As this is the first, but far from the last, incident of dental pain that he records, please post your valuable "in general" observations to
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
The "this day" observations still belong here of course.
About Saturday 11 February 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... during King Philip's War (1675), the Indians were better armed than the Puritan/Pilgrim militias having a greater percentage of flintlocks over matchlocks (firelocks)"
A new book researched from family archives about King hilip's War:
"Colonist Benjamin Waite, a devoted husband, father, and skilled military scout in King Philip's War, reluctantly obeys orders to guide a brutal attack against a camp of Algonquian Natives.
"After the catastrophic event, Benjamin is burdened with guilt and longs for peace. But the Algonquians, led by the revered sachem Ashpelon, retaliate with vengeance upon Ben's Massachusetts town of Hatfield, capturing over a dozen colonists, including his pregnant wife Martha and their 3 young daughters.
"Hatfield 1677 is a tale of 3 interwoven yet diverging journeys of strength and survival. Benjamin is driven by love and remorse to rescue his family; Martha is forced into captivity and desperately striving to protect her children; and Ashpelon is willing to risk everything to ensure the safety and freedom of his people.
"Based on the lives of the author's ancestors, this riveting and unforgettable novel gives voice to three vastly different experiences in North America during a time before the creation of the Declaration of Independence.
"Then, the land was but a wilderness and a battleground; equality was not yet perceived as self-evident; and liberty and happiness were nothing more than dangerous pursuits.
"Product Details:
Price $17.99
Publisher Acorn Publishing
Publish Date May 21, 2024
Pages 394
Language English
Type Paperback
EAN/UPC 9798885280778"
About Robert Boyle
San Diego Sarah • Link
Galileo also studied hell:
In Renaissance Italy, there was significant academic interest in the literal dimensions of hell as it was described in Dante Alighieri’s Inferno.
When Galileo was 24, Dante scholars were fiercely divided between two calculations made by 2 different Renaissance thinkers. Galileo, already a prominent mathematician, was invited by the Accademia Fiorentina (Florence Academy) to make his own estimation.
He ultimately affirmed one of the previous results, but made a major error when calculating the thickness of hell’s domed roof. He multiplied the width and thickness by the same amount before realizing that buildings don’t scale that way.
Later, Galileo published the square-cube law, which states that as an object increases in size, its volume gets larger than its surface area, meaning that supports need to grow disproportionately thicker than the rest of a structure. According to the law, there wouldn’t be a lot of Dante’s hell left if the roof were as thick as it needed to be.
Extracted fron https://historyfacts.com/famous-f…
About William Lilly
San Diego Sarah • Link
It's hard for us 21st century beings to understand how the magical thinking of astrology was so accepted as fact in the 17th century. But the most educated did believe their fate was 'written in the stars':
Galileo Galilei made some major scientific strides in his time, particularly in the field of astronomy. He discovered 4 of Jupiter’s moons and the stars of the Milky Way, and determined that the surface of Earth’s moon isn’t smooth. Most famously, he vehemently believed, as Nicolaus Copernicus proposed before him, that the Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around — even as the Catholic Church labeled him a heretic for it. Despite his reputation as a skeptic, his cosmic beliefs included a little of what is now considered pseudoscience, too.
He was one of Europe’s most sought-after astrologers in his time, and wrote horoscopes for Italy’s elite. Some of his astrological tools are on display at the Galileo Museum in Florence, Italy
Galileo, a Pisces, practiced judicial astrology, which concerns human circumstances rather than just natural phenomena; clients consulted him for guidance on illness, travel, love, and other major events. He also wrote birth charts, including for himself and his children. Before he was tried by the church for his belief in heliocentrism, he was investigated for telling his clients that the stars governed their fates — although the church didn’t pursue the matter far.
Galileo’s faith in the zodiac may sound surprising, but at the time, it wasn’t unusual for astronomers to practice this kind of cosmic divination. Some patrons would even judge whether a scientist was worthy of their support by their astrology skills.
Other astronomers held in high esteem today, including Johannes Kepler, Tycho Brahe, and Copernicus, also studied astrology.
Extracted from https://historyfacts.com/famous-f…