In those days you worked for as long as you had to. The Navy Board had 4 Commissioners and had to meet 2x a week; a quorum was 2 Commissioners. Since business people stopped in to conduct business, a Commissioner or 2 would need to be there during working hours, whatever they were (Pepys has not told us), just in case a decision was needed. Every Commissioner had 2 clerks, so they probably handled most of the walk-in business. My guess is they had a schedule so every Commissioner was "on first" equally. Batten and Penn are now also MPs., and Parliament usually sat in the morning, so the Navy Board "sitting" was generally in the afternoon to accommodate them. A project comes in, and Pepys will respond until it's done. Including Sundays.
As the Dowager Countess of Grantham famously said, "What's a weekend?" Trades Unions have not been invented yet. People were desperate for these jobs and benefits.
I think the level of food served on board ship would be vastly different when moored in a port, from being on a month's long sea voyage. They did take livestock and throw in the occasional line to catch fish, but that only gets you so far. Notes on Navy Victualling at https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
And as to how Slater learned his culinary skills, we will never know.
I don't think so, Michael. I think gold and/or silver coins. Bank notes were an 18th century innovation in Britain. And why go to the Exchequer for an IOU or Letter of Credit, which would hardly warrent an immediate note of being "carried home"? You immediately carry something bulky or heavy or valuable.
"Among others, the famous Tom Fuller is dead of it;"
I wonder how Pepys met Dr. Fuller, never mind became his friend. He doesn't tell us in the Diary. Yes, Fuller was a Cambridge man, but way before Pepys' time. His parish was in Dorset, and he was all over England during the Civil Wars. So they must have met during Fuller's time at the Savoy during the Commonwealth. That they were friends says a lot about them both.
Dr. Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) "caught a fever, and died of it at his lodgings in Covent Garden on 15 August, 1661, and was buried at Cranford Church; his funeral procession included 200 clergymen from London." https://archive.org/stream/histor… link
RIP, Thomas Fuller -- I know Pepys thought about you, usually on Sundays when he read your books, and I think he missed you.
Thomas Fuller was born to Rev. Thomas Fuller, rector of St. Peter's in Aldwinkle, Northants,, and Judith Davenant, whose family included William Davenant, the poet laureate of England at the time, and John Davenant, the bishop of Salisbury. http://www.enotes.com/topics/thom…
"Nothing that has been said about Fuller’s moderation must be construed into a charge against him of ... time-serving. It is true that, if not exactly ... a puritan, he was probably more definitely anti-Roman than was usual on the cavalier side. "But he saw active service in the non-combatant way at Basing, at Oxford with Hopton and at Exeter; his London residence in 1643 gave opportunity for hardly less active exercise in the royalist cause, for several of his sermons at the Savoy were strong, and, in the circumstances, not very safe, advocacies of that cause, and of the indissolubly allied cause of prelacy. "He publicly and, for him, pretty sharply rebuked Milton’s anonymous tractate 'Of Reformation … in England'; "was in his turn sharply taken to task by a Yorkshire puritan divine, John Saltmarsh; and was stopped (arrested) for a time by the Commons’ orders, when proceeding to Oxford with a safe conduct from the Lords. ... 'As a man, he seems to have been perfectly honest and sincere; a better Christian than most men on either side; not quite destitute, perhaps, of a certain innocent vanity and busybodiness; but without a drop of bad blood in his composition. It is, however, as a man of letters that we are here principally concerned with him." https://archive.org/stream/histor… link from entry to Dr. Fuller's bio page)
Dr. Fuller was a corpulent man. Once as he was riding with a gentleman by the name of Sparrowhawk, he could not resist the opportunity of passing a joke upon him: "Pray, what is the difference (said he) between an owl and a sparrowhawk?" The other answered this sarcastic question as follows: "An owl is fuller in the head, fuller in the body, and fuller all over.” FROM Eccentric biography; or, Sketches of remarkable characters, ancient and modern. 1801.
Amazingly, no one has compiled a "complete works of" for Fuller yet, but his sermons were printed by him for distribution, and still seem to be available. https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the…
"... where Sir G. Downing (my late master) was chairman, and so but equally concerned with me."
I read this as Downing being the Chair of the Board of Trade delegation -- and so Pepys had the pleasure of being his equal in the negotiations, in which they were equally concerned about the safety of the merchant fleet.
Stephen Fox – from his Parliamentary bio: He was granted arms in 1658, and at the Restoration he was promoted to the Board of Green Cloth and given some small Hampshire leaseholds forfeited by one of the regicides. The big step in his career was his appointment as Paymaster to the Guards in January 1661: his job was to maintain the good morale of these troops by paying them without long delays and heavy arrears.
This might be the impetus for Pepys going to see Fox, "Tell me, have you got an ideas on how you are you going to do that?"
"To the Comptroller’s house, where I read over his proposals to the Lord Admiral for the regulating of the officers of the Navy, in which he hath taken much pains, only he do seem to have too good opinion of them himself."
L&M: Sir Robert Slingsby's "A discourse upon the past and present state of his Majesty's navy" (1660); printed in John Tanner's "Discourses" from the MS Pepys preserved.
L&M's Companion article on Sir William Batten is a bit confusing to me. Here's the highlight about the children:
He [Sir W] married twice -- first in 1625 to Margaret, daughter of William Browne, cordswainer, of London (through whom he acquired the house in Walthamstow) ... all his children came from this first marriage.
The eldest, William, was a barrister admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1646. He married Margaret Alcock of Rochester in 1658. Benjamin Batten was a naval lieutenant. Martha Batten married William Castle the shipbuilder. Mary Batten married one Leming from Colchester. (A widow, Mary Leming of St. Mary's Colchester, died in 1671. Her husband, James, may have been Batten's son-in-law if the date of his death can be reconciled with Pepys' statement that he was dying as early as 1662.)
L&M's Companion article on Sir William Batten is a bit confusing to me. Here's the highlight about the children:
He [Sir W] married twice -- first in 1625 to Margaret, daughter of William Browne, cordswainer, of London (through whom he acquired the house in Walthamstow) ... all his children came from this first marriage.
The eldest, William, was a barrister admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1646. He married Margaret Alcock of Rochester in 1658. Benjamin Batten was a naval lieutenant. Martha Batten married William Castle the shipbuilder. Mary Batten married one Leming from Colchester. (A widow, Mary Leming of St. Mary's Colchester, died in 1671. Her husband, James, may have been Batten's son-in-law if the date of his death can be reconciled with Pepys' statement that he was dying as early as 1662.)
L&M's Companion article on Sir William Batten is a bit confusing to me. Here's the highlight about the children:
He [Sir W] married twice -- first in 1625 to Margaret, daughter of William Browne, cordswainer, of London (through whom he acquired the house in Walthamstow) ... all his children came from this first marriage.
The eldest, William, was a barrister admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1646. He married Margaret Alcock of Rochester in 1658. Benjamin Batten was a naval lieutenant. Martha Batten married William Castle the shipbuilder. Mary Batten married one Leming from Colchester. (A widow, Mary Leming of St. Mary's Colchester, died in 1671. Her husband, James, may have been Batten's son-in-law if the date of his death can be reconciled witj Pepys' statement that he was dying as early as 1662.)
So I don't see anything to support Louise's statement that Martha was a widow. Maybe there is another reference somewhere???
We have an Encyclopedia page for Executions, so let's keep discussion about the Venner execution today here, and put thoughts on the rational for executions in general at https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
There's an interview with David A. Guba, Jr. (PhD, Temple University) is a historian of drugs, violence, and colonialism in modern France & Europe and an Assistant Professor of History at Bard Early College in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of “Axed from History: Executioners in Early Modern Europe,” published online * , which explores the largely ignored and mythologized history of the men (and women) who served as executioners in Early Modern Europe. His research in this area focuses on the lives and legacies of the Sanson family of executioners, who supplied 7 consecutive generations of axmen to the French state from the reign of Louis XIV through the Revolution to the reign of Louis Philipe I (1684-1847) at: https://www.cassidycash.com/ep-14…
* I have been unable to find this textbook on line. If you find it, please share.
Unfortunately the interview is now behind a paywall, so I excerpted the part on the recruitment of executioners at https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
John -- don't you think it would be more correct to say SOME executioners believed this -- and used this rationale to make it possible to go through with the deeds?
This is a link to an interview with David A. Guba, Jr. (PhD, Temple University) a historian of drugs, violence, and colonialism in modern France & Europe and an Assistant Professor of History at Bard Early College in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of “Axed from History: Executioners in Early Modern Europe,” published online *, which explores the largely ignored and mythologized history of the men (and women) who served as executioners in Europe. https://www.cassidycash.com/ep-14… Cassidy has now put it behind a paywall, so here's my version of the part about recruiting executioners:
Being an executioner was considered an unclean job. The people in the profession were often appointed because of being born into a family of executioners, and therefore had little chance of any social mobility.
DJ explains that between 1500 to 1800, executioners were appointed by the crown and mostly came from one of 3 sources.
The dominant source of executioners were families: This was a hereditary position in England, Germany, and France with the families Brandons, Pierrepoints, Giomes, Sansons in France, and famous Smitz in Germany [which were] a father/son combination. Executioners were born into a system of social pollution/contamination, where they were considered spiritually profane if your job was to be a 'murderer'. This made the executioner someone who was to be physically avoided, not touched, so every aspect of the execution was handled by that person or their family acting as the assistants.
Second, executioners could be recruited in prisons, through a system of reprieve from punishment. It was a work-release program. Murderers could avoid their punishment if they volunteered to be an executioner.
The third way executioners were procured for the enforcement of capital punishment was through military prisons. DJ indicates this third method was not widely used during Shakespeare's lifetime, but by the late 17th and 18th centuries, military prisons and converting prisoners to executioners was well established.
@@@
So the author reports a lot of coersion in this process. The "victims" had to psyche themselves up to perform executions and beatings, year in, year out
I've lost my reference for this, but I read that in Poland, I think it was, they couldn't find anyone to be the executioner. So they changed the law to allowing a male relative of the victim to act as executioner, otherwise other punishments would be found (transportation, etc.).
* I have been unable to find it on line. Share the link if you can, please.
"There I left my wife and came back, and sat with Sir W. Pen, who is not yet well again."
Pepys has done this a lot recently, so the conversation must have gone further than the latest office problem, and what to do about the Davis' leads conflict. My impression is that Pepys likes Slingsby and Penn, but not Batten.
The other day Pepys said "... I perceive none of our officers care much for one another, but I do keep in with them all as much as I can" after another visit -- so that might reflect a Penn opinion.
Batten had been Penn's commanding officer in the Parliamentary navy; Slingsby was also a navy man -- but on the Royalist side. They were all used to command, and probably despised desk jobs and office duties. Plus when money is short, everyone sees their personal pet project as being more worthy of funding than anyone else's, and it's logical they would squabble over everything, including the price of pencils. I imagine Pepys sitting, silently observing, as the rest negotiate, complain, pout and grumble until he figures out a compromise that he can record in the Minutes.
So now we are into Venner's Second Uprising, here are some details. Since I'm not clear about which event happened on what day, it necessarily summarizes 4 days of unrest:
"After Major Gen. Harrison was hung drawn and quartered, Venner had decided on an armed uprising against the restoration. "On January 6th they gathered in Swan Alley armed with halberds, swords and blunderbuses. At their head was a woman in armour. Shouting ‘HEADS ON PIKES’ ‘KING JESUS’ ‘NOBILITY IN CHAINS’ they rose up to overthrow the monarchy, all governments, the city of London corporation, the mayor, and the established church. They aimed to humble the lofty and raise up the humble. "For four days they fought a ferocius war in central London defeating far greater forces. "They seized St. Paul's Cathedral, stormed the Compter prison, tried to kidnap the Lord Mayor, defeated an entire force of 1,200 of the King’s bodyguard. Venner killed 3 men alone in Threadneedle Street with his halberd. "Finally it took a charge of Gen. Monck’s cavalry into a line of Fifth Monarchists with blunderbuses in Threadneedle Street to defeat them. "Venner was wounded 19 times, survivors were executed on the spot or hung drawn and quartered later."
"This morning, both Sir Williams and I by barge to Deptford-yard to give orders in businesses there; and called on several ships, also to give orders, ..."
"In 1662, 'Concerned about meetings of armed dissidents near Deptford in January, the king directed a constable with a band of volunteers to seize all concealed weapons in Blackheath Hundred. "In March, London authorities discovered that the grocer Thomas Bone had some 12 lbs. of powder and 6 bullets. Bone not only had ties to the Fifth Monarchist preacher Anthony Palmer, who told him "thes times cannot last long" but was also sending provision to men incarcerated in the Tower for treason'."
More information can be found in the book, 'Radical Underground in Britain, 1660-1663' by Richard Lee Greaves.
Comments
Third Reading
About Thursday 24 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
"What exactly is Pepys' working week?"
In those days you worked for as long as you had to.
The Navy Board had 4 Commissioners and had to meet 2x a week; a quorum was 2 Commissioners.
Since business people stopped in to conduct business, a Commissioner or 2 would need to be there during working hours, whatever they were (Pepys has not told us), just in case a decision was needed.
Every Commissioner had 2 clerks, so they probably handled most of the walk-in business.
My guess is they had a schedule so every Commissioner was "on first" equally.
Batten and Penn are now also MPs., and Parliament usually sat in the morning, so the Navy Board "sitting" was generally in the afternoon to accommodate them.
A project comes in, and Pepys will respond until it's done. Including Sundays.
As the Dowager Countess of Grantham famously said, "What's a weekend?"
Trades Unions have not been invented yet.
People were desperate for these jobs and benefits.
About John Slater
San Diego Sarah • Link
Kentish Karen -- A description of Adm. Montagu's kitchen aboard ship in May 1660 can be found at https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
I think the level of food served on board ship would be vastly different when moored in a port, from being on a month's long sea voyage. They did take livestock and throw in the occasional line to catch fish, but that only gets you so far.
Notes on Navy Victualling at
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
And as to how Slater learned his culinary skills, we will never know.
About Wednesday 23 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
Two days ago Michael Cook asked "Sam took home £200. Thats over £30,000 at todays value. Will we hear what this was for?"
Yesterday the Pepys bought glasses. Today, paying the balances for books, wine, pictures etc. Money in, money out.
About Monday 21 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
I don't think so, Michael. I think gold and/or silver coins. Bank notes were an 18th century innovation in Britain. And why go to the Exchequer for an IOU or Letter of Credit, which would hardly warrent an immediate note of being "carried home"? You immediately carry something bulky or heavy or valuable.
About Friday 16 August 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Among others, the famous Tom Fuller is dead of it;"
I wonder how Pepys met Dr. Fuller, never mind became his friend. He doesn't tell us in the Diary. Yes, Fuller was a Cambridge man, but way before Pepys' time. His parish was in Dorset, and he was all over England during the Civil Wars. So they must have met during Fuller's time at the Savoy during the Commonwealth. That they were friends says a lot about them both.
Dr. Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) "caught a fever, and died of it at his lodgings in Covent Garden on 15 August, 1661, and was buried at Cranford Church; his funeral procession included 200 clergymen from London."
https://archive.org/stream/histor… link
RIP, Thomas Fuller -- I know Pepys thought about you, usually on Sundays when he read your books, and I think he missed you.
About Thomas Fuller (b, author)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thomas Fuller was born to Rev. Thomas Fuller, rector of St. Peter's in Aldwinkle, Northants,, and Judith Davenant, whose family included William Davenant, the poet laureate of England at the time, and John Davenant, the bishop of Salisbury.
http://www.enotes.com/topics/thom…
"Nothing that has been said about Fuller’s moderation must be construed into a charge against him of ... time-serving. It is true that, if not exactly ... a puritan, he was probably more definitely anti-Roman than was usual on the cavalier side.
"But he saw active service in the non-combatant way at Basing, at Oxford with Hopton and at Exeter; his London residence in 1643 gave opportunity for hardly less active exercise in the royalist cause, for several of his sermons at the Savoy were strong, and, in the circumstances, not very safe, advocacies of that cause, and of the indissolubly allied cause of prelacy.
"He publicly and, for him, pretty sharply rebuked Milton’s anonymous tractate 'Of Reformation … in England';
"was in his turn sharply taken to task by a Yorkshire puritan divine, John Saltmarsh; and was stopped (arrested) for a time by the Commons’ orders, when proceeding to Oxford with a safe conduct from the Lords. ...
'As a man, he seems to have been perfectly honest and sincere; a better Christian than most men on either side; not quite destitute, perhaps, of a certain innocent vanity and busybodiness; but without a drop of bad blood in his composition. It is, however, as a man of letters that we are here principally concerned with him."
https://archive.org/stream/histor… link from entry to Dr. Fuller's bio page)
Dr. Fuller was a corpulent man. Once as he was riding with a gentleman by the name of Sparrowhawk, he could not resist the opportunity of passing a joke upon him: "Pray, what is the difference (said he) between an owl and a sparrowhawk?"
The other answered this sarcastic question as follows: "An owl is fuller in the head, fuller in the body, and fuller all over.”
FROM Eccentric biography; or, Sketches of remarkable characters, ancient and modern. 1801.
Amazingly, no one has compiled a "complete works of" for Fuller yet, but his sermons were printed by him for distribution, and still seem to be available.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the…
About Tuesday 22 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... where Sir G. Downing (my late master) was chairman, and so but equally concerned with me."
I read this as Downing being the Chair of the Board of Trade delegation -- and so Pepys had the pleasure of being his equal in the negotiations, in which they were equally concerned about the safety of the merchant fleet.
About Tuesday 22 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
Stephen Fox – from his Parliamentary bio:
He was granted arms in 1658, and at the Restoration he was promoted to the Board of Green Cloth and given some small Hampshire leaseholds forfeited by one of the regicides.
The big step in his career was his appointment as Paymaster to the Guards in January 1661: his job was to maintain the good morale of these troops by paying them without long delays and heavy arrears.
This might be the impetus for Pepys going to see Fox, "Tell me, have you got an ideas on how you are you going to do that?"
About Tuesday 22 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
"To the Comptroller’s house, where I read over his proposals to the Lord Admiral for the regulating of the officers of the Navy, in which he hath taken much pains, only he do seem to have too good opinion of them himself."
L&M: Sir Robert Slingsby's "A discourse upon the past and present state of his Majesty's navy" (1660); printed in John Tanner's "Discourses" from the MS Pepys preserved.
About William Batten
San Diego Sarah • Link
L&M's Companion article on Sir William Batten is a bit confusing to me. Here's the highlight about the children:
He [Sir W] married twice -- first in 1625 to Margaret, daughter of William Browne, cordswainer, of London (through whom he acquired the house in Walthamstow) ... all his children came from this first marriage.
The eldest, William, was a barrister admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1646. He married Margaret Alcock of Rochester in 1658.
Benjamin Batten was a naval lieutenant.
Martha Batten married William Castle the shipbuilder.
Mary Batten married one Leming from Colchester.
(A widow, Mary Leming of St. Mary's Colchester, died in 1671. Her husband, James, may have been Batten's son-in-law if the date of his death can be reconciled with Pepys' statement that he was dying as early as 1662.)
About Benjamin Batten
San Diego Sarah • Link
L&M's Companion article on Sir William Batten is a bit confusing to me. Here's the highlight about the children:
He [Sir W] married twice -- first in 1625 to Margaret, daughter of William Browne, cordswainer, of London (through whom he acquired the house in Walthamstow) ... all his children came from this first marriage.
The eldest, William, was a barrister admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1646. He married Margaret Alcock of Rochester in 1658.
Benjamin Batten was a naval lieutenant.
Martha Batten married William Castle the shipbuilder.
Mary Batten married one Leming from Colchester.
(A widow, Mary Leming of St. Mary's Colchester, died in 1671. Her husband, James, may have been Batten's son-in-law if the date of his death can be reconciled with Pepys' statement that he was dying as early as 1662.)
About Martha Castle (b. Batten)
San Diego Sarah • Link
L&M's Companion article on Sir William Batten is a bit confusing to me. Here's the highlight about the children:
He [Sir W] married twice -- first in 1625 to Margaret, daughter of William Browne, cordswainer, of London (through whom he acquired the house in Walthamstow) ... all his children came from this first marriage.
The eldest, William, was a barrister admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1646. He married Margaret Alcock of Rochester in 1658.
Benjamin Batten was a naval lieutenant.
Martha Batten married William Castle the shipbuilder.
Mary Batten married one Leming from Colchester.
(A widow, Mary Leming of St. Mary's Colchester, died in 1671. Her husband, James, may have been Batten's son-in-law if the date of his death can be reconciled witj Pepys' statement that he was dying as early as 1662.)
So I don't see anything to support Louise's statement that Martha was a widow. Maybe there is another reference somewhere???
About Tuesday 22 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
The answer to Christopher Hudson's question about the rebuilding of Mercer's Hall can be found at
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
And I agree Gerald: I question the spelling every day -- my own included (and I can't blame scanning errors!).
About Monday 21 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Sam took home £200. Thats over £30,000 at today's value. Will we hear what this was for?"
Read on, Michael -- maybe we will, and maybe we won't. Only time will tell.
About Saturday 19 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
We have an Encyclopedia page for Executions, so let's keep discussion about the Venner execution today here, and put thoughts on the rational for executions in general at https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Executions
San Diego Sarah • Link
There's an interview with David A. Guba, Jr. (PhD, Temple University) is a historian of drugs, violence, and colonialism in modern France & Europe and an Assistant Professor of History at Bard Early College in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of “Axed from History: Executioners in Early Modern Europe,” published online * , which explores the largely ignored and mythologized history of the men (and women) who served as executioners in Early Modern Europe. His research in this area focuses on the lives and legacies of the Sanson family of executioners, who supplied 7 consecutive generations of axmen to the French state from the reign of Louis XIV through the Revolution to the reign of Louis Philipe I (1684-1847) at:
https://www.cassidycash.com/ep-14…
* I have been unable to find this textbook on line. If you find it, please share.
Unfortunately the interview is now behind a paywall, so I excerpted the part on the recruitment of executioners at
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
If you want to look up the details of any execution, you'll probably find it at
http://www.executedtoday.com
About Saturday 13 October 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
John -- don't you think it would be more correct to say SOME executioners believed this -- and used this rationale to make it possible to go through with the deeds?
This is a link to an interview with David A. Guba, Jr. (PhD, Temple University) a historian of drugs, violence, and colonialism in modern France & Europe and an Assistant Professor of History at Bard Early College in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of “Axed from History: Executioners in Early Modern Europe,” published online *, which explores the largely ignored and mythologized history of the men (and women) who served as executioners in Europe.
https://www.cassidycash.com/ep-14…
Cassidy has now put it behind a paywall, so here's my version of the part about recruiting executioners:
Being an executioner was considered an unclean job. The people in the profession were often appointed because of being born into a family of executioners, and therefore had little chance of any social mobility.
DJ explains that between 1500 to 1800, executioners were appointed by the crown and mostly came from one of 3 sources.
The dominant source of executioners were families:
This was a hereditary position in England, Germany, and France with the families Brandons, Pierrepoints, Giomes, Sansons in France, and famous Smitz in Germany [which were] a father/son combination.
Executioners were born into a system of social pollution/contamination, where they were considered spiritually profane if your job was to be a 'murderer'. This made the executioner someone who was to be physically avoided, not touched, so every aspect of the execution was handled by that person or their family acting as the assistants.
Second, executioners could be recruited in prisons, through a system of reprieve from punishment. It was a work-release program. Murderers could avoid their punishment if they volunteered to be an executioner.
The third way executioners were procured for the enforcement of capital punishment was through military prisons. DJ indicates this third method was not widely used during Shakespeare's lifetime, but by the late 17th and 18th centuries, military prisons and converting prisoners to executioners was well established.
@@@
So the author reports a lot of coersion in this process. The "victims" had to psyche themselves up to perform executions and beatings, year in, year out
I've lost my reference for this, but I read that in Poland, I think it was, they couldn't find anyone to be the executioner. So they changed the law to allowing a male relative of the victim to act as executioner, otherwise other punishments would be found (transportation, etc.).
* I have been unable to find it on line. Share the link if you can, please.
About Sunday 20 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
"There I left my wife and came back, and sat with Sir W. Pen, who is not yet well again."
Pepys has done this a lot recently, so the conversation must have gone further than the latest office problem, and what to do about the Davis' leads conflict.
My impression is that Pepys likes Slingsby and Penn, but not Batten.
The other day Pepys said "... I perceive none of our officers care much for one another, but I do keep in with them all as much as I can" after another visit -- so that might reflect a Penn opinion.
Batten had been Penn's commanding officer in the Parliamentary navy; Slingsby was also a navy man -- but on the Royalist side. They were all used to command, and probably despised desk jobs and office duties.
Plus when money is short, everyone sees their personal pet project as being more worthy of funding than anyone else's, and it's logical they would squabble over everything, including the price of pencils.
I imagine Pepys sitting, silently observing, as the rest negotiate, complain, pout and grumble until he figures out a compromise that he can record in the Minutes.
About Monday 7 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
So now we are into Venner's Second Uprising, here are some details. Since I'm not clear about which event happened on what day, it necessarily summarizes 4 days of unrest:
"After Major Gen. Harrison was hung drawn and quartered, Venner had decided on an armed uprising against the restoration.
"On January 6th they gathered in Swan Alley armed with halberds, swords and blunderbuses. At their head was a woman in armour. Shouting ‘HEADS ON PIKES’ ‘KING JESUS’ ‘NOBILITY IN CHAINS’ they rose up to overthrow the monarchy, all governments, the city of London corporation, the mayor, and the established church. They aimed to humble the lofty and raise up the humble.
"For four days they fought a ferocius war in central London defeating far greater forces.
"They seized St. Paul's Cathedral, stormed the Compter prison, tried to kidnap the Lord Mayor, defeated an entire force of 1,200 of the King’s bodyguard. Venner killed 3 men alone in Threadneedle Street with his halberd.
"Finally it took a charge of Gen. Monck’s cavalry into a line of Fifth Monarchists with blunderbuses in Threadneedle Street to defeat them.
"Venner was wounded 19 times, survivors were executed on the spot or hung drawn and quartered later."
An excerpt from https://ianbone.wordpress.com/201…
About Monday 27 January 1661/62
San Diego Sarah • Link
"This morning, both Sir Williams and I by barge to Deptford-yard to give orders in businesses there; and called on several ships, also to give orders, ..."
Nonconformity was still an issue in Deptford (last year's tension is reported https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… ]
"In 1662, 'Concerned about meetings of armed dissidents near Deptford in January, the king directed a constable with a band of volunteers to seize all concealed weapons in Blackheath Hundred.
"In March, London authorities discovered that the grocer Thomas Bone had some 12 lbs. of powder and 6 bullets. Bone not only had ties to the Fifth Monarchist preacher Anthony Palmer, who told him "thes times cannot last long" but was also sending provision to men incarcerated in the Tower for treason'."
More information can be found in the book, 'Radical Underground in Britain, 1660-1663' by Richard Lee Greaves.
This excerpt is from
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