"While we can’t be certain from historical records if it was monks who made the first mechanical clocks, we do know that they first appeared in the 14th century.
"Their first mention is in the Italian physician, astronomer and mechanical engineer Giovanni de Dondi’s treatise Tractatus Astrarii, or Planetarium. De Dondi states that early clocks used gravity as their power source and were driven by weights.
"Drawing of the bottom section of De Dondi’s astronomical clock. Giovanni de Dondi "These weren’t the accurate clocks we see today – they probably kept time to within 15-30 minutes a day. These early clocks started popping up in city centres but, since they did not have a face, they used bells to signal the hours. These signals began to organise the market times and administrative needs of each city.
"Coiled springs as a method of releasing energy for clocks began to appear in Europe in the 15th century. This didn’t do anything to improve accuracy, but it could reduce the size of the clock. So, time became more of a personal as well as status object – you only have to look at oil paintings where subject’s watches are proudly displayed.
"The Dutch scientist Christian Huygens first applied the pendulum to a clock in about 1656. This bolstered their accuracy to within 15 seconds a day, because each swing now took almost exactly the same time to complete.
"As a result, time could be used more accurately in scientific observations, including of the stars. It also meant that clocks could now show an accurate minute hand."
Second Part. My Soul is ravish’d with Delight When you I think upon; All Griefs and Sorrows take the Flight, And hastily are gone; The fair Resemblance of your Face So fills this Breast of mine, No Fate nor Force can it displace, For Old-long-syne. Since Thoughts of you doth banish Grief, When I’m from you removed; And if in them I find Relief, When with sad Cares I’m moved, How doth your Presence me affect With Ecstacies Divine, Especially when I reflect On Old-long-syne. Since thou has rob’d me of my Heart By those resistless Powers, Which Madam Nature doth impart To those fair Eyes of yours; With Honour it doth not consist To hold a Slave in Pyne, Pray let your Rigour then desist, For Old-long-syne. ’Tis not my Freedom I do crave By deprecating Pains; Sure Liberty he would not have Who glories in his Chains: But this I wish, the Gods would move That Noble Soul of thine To Pity, since thou cannot love For Old-long-syne.
Pepys doesn't mention it, but it's POSSIBLE he knew an earlier version of Auld Lang Syne:
Our version was written by Robert Burns in 1788. However, Burns acknowledged his poem was based upon much older folk verses.
The phrase 'auld lang syne' or 'old long syne' probably dates back even further: one of the earliest versions that remains somewhat familiar was written by Robert Ayton, a Scottish poet, born in c.1570.
Historian Kenneth Elliot has also discovered source material for the tune that would have accompanied Ayton's lyrics:
Old Long Syne First Part. Should old Acquaintance be forgot, And never thought upon, The Flames of Love extinguished, And freely past and gone? Is thy kind Heart now grown so cold In that Loving Breast of thine, That thou canst never once reflect On Old-long-syne? Where are thy Protestations, Thy Vows and Oaths, my Dear, Thou made to me, and I to thee, In Register yet clear? Is Faith and Truth so violate To the Immortal Gods Divine, That thou canst never once reflect On Old-long-syne? Is’t Cupid’s Fears, or frosty Cares, That makes thy Sp’rits decay? Or is’t some Object of more Worth, That’s stoll’n thy Heart away? Or some Desert, makes thee neglect Him, so much once was thine, That thou canst never once reflect On Old-long-syne? Is’t Worldly Cares so desperate, That makes thee to despair? Is’t that makes thee exasperate, And makes thee to forbear? If thou of that were free as I, Thou surely should be Mine: If this were true, we should renew Kind Old-long-syne. But since that nothing can prevail, And all Hope is in vain, From these rejected Eyes of mine Still Showers of Tears shall rain: And though thou hast me now forgot, Yet I’ll continue Thine, And ne’er forget for to reflect On Old-long-syne. If e’er I have a House, my Dear, That truly is call’d mine, And can afford but Country Cheer, Or ought that’s good therein; Tho’ thou were Rebel to the King, And beat with Wind and Rain, Assure thy self of Welcome Love, For Old-long-syne.
In Tudor and Stuart times, personal gifts were given at New Year rather than at Christmas. This is a 17th Century dance called "New Year's Gift" from Thomas Middleton's Inner Temple Masque, or "Masque of Heroes", 1619. The composer is unknown.
"WAITS – Musicians of the lower order, who in most towns play under the windows of the chief inhabitants at midnight, a short time before Christmas, for which they collect a Christmas-box from house to house.
"They are said to derive their name of waits from being always in waiting to celebrate weddings and other joyous events happening in the district."
The idea of sign posts was not widespread at the time. And the ones that existed were not easily read white poles with bars sticking out indicating in big black letters which road lead where.
By the 18th century, common London vernacular called them
"PARSON - A guide post, hand or finger post by the road for directing travelers: compared to a parson, because like him, it sets people in the right way."
Look at the article and you'll see four photos of a Guide Post column, presumably from a cross roads, which dates from 1686. Each side of the column tells you where one road leads. So the coach driver would have to stop, dismount, and walk around the column to assess his options. https://alondoninheritance.com/lo…
"... a man may pass, at any hour in the night, all over that wild city [Paris], with a purse in his hand and no danger ..."
Not the case in London: and hadn't been for years:
"NIPPER - A cut-purse; so called by one Wotton who in the year 1585 kept an academy for the education and perfection of pickpockets and cut-purses; his second school was near Billingsgate, London. As in the dress of ancient times many people wore their purses at their girdles, cutting them was a branch of the light fingered art, which is now lost, although the name remains." https://alondoninheritance.com/lo…
In the House of Lords today they receive a letter from Charles II attached to a Petition from Sir Aubrey De Veer Knight of the most Honourable Order of the Garter (sic).
Why would Montagu Bertie, Earl of Lindsay think he should be the Earl of Oxford? "The office of Lord Great Chamberlain descended to to Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey following the death of his cousin Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford, as being the closest heir male." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob… WHY? There were legitimate Oxford sons.
After the Restoration, Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey was re-appointed to the Privy Council, admitted as Lord Great Chamberlain, and appointed Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire. He was made a Knight of the Garter on 1 April, 1661, and officiated as Lord Great Chamberlain at the coronation of Charles II ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon…
So Lindsay "won" the Great Chamberlain contraversy -- but there was another very honorable living Earl of Oxford:
Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, KG, PC (28 February 1627 – 12 March 1703) was the son of Robert de Vere, 19th Earl of Oxford and his wife Beatrix van Hemmend.
Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford was a Royalist during the English Civil Wars, and for this he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was richly rewarded for his loyalty by Charles II after the Restoration in 1660. ... https://www.geni.com/people/Aubre…
"Hoping, but failing, to become Lord Chamberlain, Aubrey de Vere was offered the Colonelcy of The Blues. He was made Chief Justice in Eyre of the Forest south of Trent 1660-1673; Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse from 1661." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aub…
Aubrey seems to have been seen as legitimate, so why did the honored position of Lord Chamberlain go to Lindsay? And how could Lindsay now think he should be the Earl of Oxford?
The only answer I can come up with is that King Charles I must have played favorites and not honored tradition.
Does anyone know? None of the websites I've visited even mention this broohaha.
"In honour of Saint John we thus do keep good Christmas cheer; And he that comes to dine with us, I think he need not spare. The butcher he hath killed good beef, the caterer brings it in; But Christmas pies are still the chief if that I durst begin. Our bacon hogs are full and fat to make us brawn and souse; Full well may I reject thereat to see them in the house But yet the minced pie it is that sets my teeth on water; Good mistress, let me have a bit, for I do long thereafter. And I will fetch your water in to brew and bake withal, Your love and favour still to win when as you please to call. Then grant me, dame your love and leave to taste your pie-meat here; It is the best in my conceit of all your Christmas-cheer. The cloves and mace and gallant plums that here on heaps do lie, And prunes as big as both my thumbs, enticeth much mine eye. Oh, let me eat my belly-full of your good Christmas-pie; Except thereat I have a pull, I think I sure shall die."
For those subscribing to Academia, they have an article about reports of violence at the Restoration, with a section devoted to dueling:
News of the Duels – Restoration Duelling Culture and the Early Modern Press -- by Alexander Hay:
In August 1660, the Mercurius Publicus published the following' Royal Proclamation: “His Majesty … having' formerly in a Declaration published at Brussels November 24 1659, manifested his dislike of impious and unlawful duels, strictly command all his subjects whatever, that they do not by themselves or an" others, either by message, word, writing, or other ways or means, challenge, or cause to be challenged, any person or persons to in duel, nor to carry, accept, or conceal any challenge, nor actually to fight or be a second to any therein.
The proclamation went on to add: “His Majesty doth thereby declare, That every person that shall offend against the said Command, shall not only incur his Majesties highest displease but shall be incapable of holding any office in His Majesties service, and never after be permitted to come to the Court, or preferred, besides the suffering of such punishments as the Law shall inflict on such offenders.” https://www.academia.edu/27304247…
We're now into year 11 of the Lagina Brother's search. My theory that a certain captain known to Pepys and the Diary, who took weeks longer than necessary returning from the Caribbean bearing not as much treasure as was expected, was probably premature. It will take many more years unravelling the history of Oak Island, Nova Scotia.
If you'd like to see the sort of building tools they used in Pepys' day, plus a summary of this multi-themed treasure hunt uncovering the earliest history of European activity on the American continent ("It's Roman, baby!"): https://tvregular.com/2023/12/26/…
The Royal Navy was certainly there during Pepys' lifetime.
Yes, JB, I was amazed to learn that the Stuarts and the Bourbons played a form of billiards on dedicated tables, covered with baize. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
One problem all anti-dueling campaigners had to deal with was that, although all the kings – be they named James, Charles, Louis, William or George – SAID they disapproved of dueling, they were all reluctant to punish their favorites.
The first recorded duel was between David and Goliath. The Bible made dueling an honorable undertaking.
Duels became so common in France that Charles IX issued an ordinance in 1566: anyone taking part in a duel would be punished by death. This became the model for later edicts.
It didn't work: 10,000 Frenchmen are thought to have died during a 10-year period under Henry IV. Henry issued another edict against the practice, telling the nobles to submit their grievances to a tribunal of honor for redress instead. But dueling continued: between 1685 and 1716, French officers fought 10,000 duels, leading to over 400 deaths.
"If my info is correct, duelling wasn't officially banned in England until 1828."
Oh no -- dueling was constantly being banned. That made no difference -- when people wanted to fight, they went about it surreptitiously. The 1828 effort was the last ban, so it gets the credit.
Formal dueling with rapiers and later pistols (as opposed to taking an irritating person to a secluded place and beating the daylights out of him) was introduced into England during Queen Elizabeth’s reign with the spread of Italian honor and courtesy literature. Castiglione's Libro del Cortegiano (Book of the Courtier) published 1528 and Girolamo Muzio's Il Duello published 1550 stressed the need to protect one's reputation and social standing by formalizing the circumstances under which an insulted party should issue a challenge. Englishman Simon Robson published The Court of Ciuill Courtesie in 1577 which tells us dueling had become accepted. Italian fencing masters Rocco Bonetti and Vincento Saviolo also set up fencing schools in London.
By King James reign, dueling was accepted by the militarized peerage. One famous duel was held in 1613 in Holland between Edward Bruce, 2nd Lord Kinross and Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset over the beautiful Venetia Stanley, during which Bruce was slain. Yes, they went to Holland to evade James' wrath.
King James asked Solicitor-General Francis Bacon to prosecute would be duelists in the Court of Star Chamber; there were about 200 prosecutions between 1603 and 1625.
King James issued an edict against dueling in 1614, and is thought to have supported an anti-dueling tract by Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (the Wizard Earl). But dueling continued to spread from the court, mostly into the nobility who had served in the continental wars.
Dueling in England in the 1640s and 50s was checked by the Parliamentarians, whose Articles of War specified the death penalty for would-be duelists. Obviously this didn't apply to the Royalists, who continued to duel quite frequently, to Charles II’s consternation: he needed them alive and well.
Unsurprisingly, dueling in England increased with the Restoration.
This is the day Pepys gets a "thorough washing" while shooting the bridge -- in December, no less. Shiver -- thank goodness he was close to home. Less lucky people had to go to The Bear Tavern which made a lot of money drying off and warming up wet commuters. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
"Last year, government offices would have been officially open. Around Christmastime, the Pepyses received a brawn from Elizabeth Mountagu and, from Edward Mountagu, a dozen bottles of sack on 2 Jan. 1660 as a "New Year's gift" (L&M Vol. 1, p 4, note 1)."
"... my wife cut me a slice of brawn which I received from my Lady;"
David Q has done sterling work about Christmas for us. But 2 clarifications:
Lady JEMIMA Crew Montagu is married to Edward Montagu, Earl of Sandwich. He said Elizabeth -- and we have more than enough Elizabeths to deal with in the Diary!
And people gave their gifts to servants and trades people on or around Boxing Day (but it wasn't called that for a couple more centuries) -- and gifts to family and colleagues like Coventry on New Year's Day. (Why? The 3 Wise Men were not at the Nativity.)
Comments
Third Reading
About Clocks and watches
San Diego Sarah • Link
"While we can’t be certain from historical records if it was monks who made the first mechanical clocks, we do know that they first appeared in the 14th century.
"Their first mention is in the Italian physician, astronomer and mechanical engineer Giovanni de Dondi’s treatise Tractatus Astrarii, or Planetarium. De Dondi states that early clocks used gravity as their power source and were driven by weights.
"Drawing of the bottom section of De Dondi’s astronomical clock. Giovanni de Dondi
"These weren’t the accurate clocks we see today – they probably kept time to within 15-30 minutes a day. These early clocks started popping up in city centres but, since they did not have a face, they used bells to signal the hours. These signals began to organise the market times and administrative needs of each city.
"Coiled springs as a method of releasing energy for clocks began to appear in Europe in the 15th century. This didn’t do anything to improve accuracy, but it could reduce the size of the clock. So, time became more of a personal as well as status object – you only have to look at oil paintings where subject’s watches are proudly displayed.
"The Dutch scientist Christian Huygens first applied the pendulum to a clock in about 1656. This bolstered their accuracy to within 15 seconds a day, because each swing now took almost exactly the same time to complete.
"As a result, time could be used more accurately in scientific observations, including of the stars. It also meant that clocks could now show an accurate minute hand."
Excerpt from
https://theconversation.com/a-bri…
The rest of the article is about the development from prehistory to the modern day, globally.
About Monday 31 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Second Part.
My Soul is ravish’d with Delight
When you I think upon;
All Griefs and Sorrows take the Flight,
And hastily are gone;
The fair Resemblance of your Face
So fills this Breast of mine,
No Fate nor Force can it displace,
For Old-long-syne.
Since Thoughts of you doth banish Grief,
When I’m from you removed;
And if in them I find Relief,
When with sad Cares I’m moved,
How doth your Presence me affect
With Ecstacies Divine,
Especially when I reflect
On Old-long-syne.
Since thou has rob’d me of my Heart
By those resistless Powers,
Which Madam Nature doth impart
To those fair Eyes of yours;
With Honour it doth not consist
To hold a Slave in Pyne,
Pray let your Rigour then desist,
For Old-long-syne.
’Tis not my Freedom I do crave
By deprecating Pains;
Sure Liberty he would not have
Who glories in his Chains:
But this I wish, the Gods would move
That Noble Soul of thine
To Pity, since thou cannot love
For Old-long-syne.
To see the music, go to
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fb…
About Monday 31 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Pepys doesn't mention it, but it's POSSIBLE he knew an earlier version of Auld Lang Syne:
Our version was written by Robert Burns in 1788. However, Burns acknowledged his poem was based upon much older folk verses.
The phrase 'auld lang syne' or 'old long syne' probably dates back even further: one of the earliest versions that remains somewhat familiar was written by Robert Ayton, a Scottish poet, born in c.1570.
Historian Kenneth Elliot has also discovered source material for the tune that would have accompanied Ayton's lyrics:
Old Long Syne
First Part.
Should old Acquaintance be forgot,
And never thought upon,
The Flames of Love extinguished,
And freely past and gone?
Is thy kind Heart now grown so cold
In that Loving Breast of thine,
That thou canst never once reflect
On Old-long-syne?
Where are thy Protestations,
Thy Vows and Oaths, my Dear,
Thou made to me, and I to thee,
In Register yet clear?
Is Faith and Truth so violate
To the Immortal Gods Divine,
That thou canst never once reflect
On Old-long-syne?
Is’t Cupid’s Fears, or frosty Cares,
That makes thy Sp’rits decay?
Or is’t some Object of more Worth,
That’s stoll’n thy Heart away?
Or some Desert, makes thee neglect
Him, so much once was thine,
That thou canst never once reflect
On Old-long-syne?
Is’t Worldly Cares so desperate,
That makes thee to despair?
Is’t that makes thee exasperate,
And makes thee to forbear?
If thou of that were free as I,
Thou surely should be Mine:
If this were true, we should renew
Kind Old-long-syne.
But since that nothing can prevail,
And all Hope is in vain,
From these rejected Eyes of mine
Still Showers of Tears shall rain:
And though thou hast me now forgot,
Yet I’ll continue Thine,
And ne’er forget for to reflect
On Old-long-syne.
If e’er I have a House, my Dear,
That truly is call’d mine,
And can afford but Country Cheer,
Or ought that’s good therein;
Tho’ thou were Rebel to the King,
And beat with Wind and Rain,
Assure thy self of Welcome Love,
For Old-long-syne.
About Tuesday 1 January 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
In Tudor and Stuart times, personal gifts were given at New Year rather than at Christmas.
This is a 17th Century dance called "New Year's Gift" from Thomas Middleton's Inner Temple Masque, or "Masque of Heroes", 1619. The composer is unknown.
From BL Add. 10444
Alison Kinder: bass viol
Tamsin Lewis: violin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r…
About Waytes
San Diego Sarah • Link
"WAITS – Musicians of the lower order, who in most towns play under the windows of the chief inhabitants at midnight, a short time before Christmas, for which they collect a Christmas-box from house to house.
"They are said to derive their name of waits from being always in waiting to celebrate weddings and other joyous events happening in the district."
https://alondoninheritance.com/lo…
About Tuesday 16 June 1668
San Diego Sarah • Link
The idea of sign posts was not widespread at the time. And the ones that existed were not easily read white poles with bars sticking out indicating in big black letters which road lead where.
By the 18th century, common London vernacular called them
"PARSON - A guide post, hand or finger post by the road for directing travelers: compared to a parson, because like him, it sets people in the right way."
Look at the article and you'll see four photos of a Guide Post column, presumably from a cross roads, which dates from 1686. Each side of the column tells you where one road leads. So the coach driver would have to stop, dismount, and walk around the column to assess his options.
https://alondoninheritance.com/lo…
About Friday 28 June 1667
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... a man may pass, at any hour in the night, all over that wild city [Paris], with a purse in his hand and no danger ..."
Not the case in London: and hadn't been for years:
"NIPPER - A cut-purse; so called by one Wotton who in the year 1585 kept an academy for the education and perfection of pickpockets and cut-purses; his second school was near Billingsgate, London. As in the dress of ancient times many people wore their purses at their girdles, cutting them was a branch of the light fingered art, which is now lost, although the name remains."
https://alondoninheritance.com/lo…
About Saturday 29 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
A busy day at the House of Commons.
Curious that Adm. Penn chose not to be there.
About Friday 28 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thanks, Stephane.
About Friday 28 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
In the House of Lords today they receive a letter from Charles II attached to a Petition from Sir Aubrey De Veer Knight of the most Honourable Order of the Garter (sic).
Why would Montagu Bertie, Earl of Lindsay think he should be the Earl of Oxford?
"The office of Lord Great Chamberlain descended to to Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey following the death of his cousin Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford, as being the closest heir male."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob…
WHY? There were legitimate Oxford sons.
After the Restoration, Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey was re-appointed to the Privy Council, admitted as Lord Great Chamberlain, and appointed Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire. He was made a Knight of the Garter on 1 April, 1661, and officiated as Lord Great Chamberlain at the coronation of Charles II ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon…
So Lindsay "won" the Great Chamberlain contraversy -- but there was another very honorable living Earl of Oxford:
Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, KG, PC (28 February 1627 – 12 March 1703) was the son of Robert de Vere, 19th Earl of Oxford and his wife Beatrix van Hemmend.
Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford was a Royalist during the English Civil Wars, and for this he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was richly rewarded for his loyalty by Charles II after the Restoration in 1660. ...
https://www.geni.com/people/Aubre…
"Hoping, but failing, to become Lord Chamberlain, Aubrey de Vere was offered the Colonelcy of The Blues. He was made Chief Justice in Eyre of the Forest south of Trent 1660-1673; Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse from 1661."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aub…
Aubrey seems to have been seen as legitimate, so why did the honored position of Lord Chamberlain go to Lindsay? And how could Lindsay now think he should be the Earl of Oxford?
The only answer I can come up with is that King Charles I must have played favorites and not honored tradition.
Does anyone know? None of the websites I've visited even mention this broohaha.
About Friday 27 December 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
27 December is St. John's Day.
"A Carol for St. John's Day" - a 17th Century ballad about mince pies.
From "New Carrolls for this Merry Time of Christmas", 1661
Michael Palmer: tenor
Eleanor Cramer: bass viol
Robin Jeffrey: lute
Alison Kinder: recorder
from Passamezzo's CD "Old Christmas Returned"
https://passamezzo.bandcamp.com/a…
"In honour of Saint John we thus do keep good Christmas cheer;
And he that comes to dine with us, I think he need not spare.
The butcher he hath killed good beef, the caterer brings it in;
But Christmas pies are still the chief if that I durst begin.
Our bacon hogs are full and fat to make us brawn and souse;
Full well may I reject thereat to see them in the house
But yet the minced pie it is that sets my teeth on water;
Good mistress, let me have a bit, for I do long thereafter.
And I will fetch your water in to brew and bake withal,
Your love and favour still to win when as you please to call.
Then grant me, dame your love and leave to taste your pie-meat here;
It is the best in my conceit of all your Christmas-cheer.
The cloves and mace and gallant plums that here on heaps do lie,
And prunes as big as both my thumbs, enticeth much mine eye.
Oh, let me eat my belly-full of your good Christmas-pie;
Except thereat I have a pull, I think I sure shall die."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0…
About Thursday 27 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
For those subscribing to Academia, they have an article about reports of violence at the Restoration, with a section devoted to dueling:
News of the Duels – Restoration Duelling Culture and the Early Modern Press -- by Alexander Hay:
In August 1660, the Mercurius Publicus published the following' Royal Proclamation:
“His Majesty … having' formerly in a Declaration published at Brussels November 24 1659, manifested his dislike of impious and unlawful duels, strictly command all his subjects whatever, that they do not by themselves or an" others, either by message, word, writing, or other ways or means, challenge, or cause to be challenged, any person or persons to in duel, nor to carry, accept, or conceal any challenge, nor actually to fight or be a second to any therein.
The proclamation went on to add:
“His Majesty doth thereby declare, That every person that shall offend against the said Command, shall not only incur his Majesties highest displease but shall be incapable of holding any office in His Majesties service, and never after be permitted to come to the Court, or preferred, besides the suffering of such punishments as the Law shall inflict on such offenders.”
https://www.academia.edu/27304247…
See also:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Nova Scotia, Canada
San Diego Sarah • Link
We're now into year 11 of the Lagina Brother's search. My theory that a certain captain known to Pepys and the Diary, who took weeks longer than necessary returning from the Caribbean bearing not as much treasure as was expected, was probably premature.
It will take many more years unravelling the history of Oak Island, Nova Scotia.
If you'd like to see the sort of building tools they used in Pepys' day, plus a summary of this multi-themed treasure hunt uncovering the earliest history of European activity on the American continent ("It's Roman, baby!"):
https://tvregular.com/2023/12/26/…
The Royal Navy was certainly there during Pepys' lifetime.
About Sunday 23 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Yes, JB, I was amazed to learn that the Stuarts and the Bourbons played a form of billiards on dedicated tables, covered with baize.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Thursday 27 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONCLUSION:
One problem all anti-dueling campaigners had to deal with was that, although all the kings – be they named James, Charles, Louis, William or George – SAID they disapproved of dueling, they were all reluctant to punish their favorites.
The first recorded duel was between David and Goliath. The Bible made dueling an honorable undertaking.
Duels became so common in France that Charles IX issued an ordinance in 1566: anyone taking part in a duel would be punished by death. This became the model for later edicts.
It didn't work: 10,000 Frenchmen are thought to have died during a 10-year period under Henry IV. Henry issued another edict against the practice, telling the nobles to submit their grievances to a tribunal of honor for redress instead.
But dueling continued: between 1685 and 1716, French officers fought 10,000 duels, leading to over 400 deaths.
For more information, see
https://www.artofmanliness.com/ch…
https://www.britannica.com/topic/…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel
https://www.mentalfloss.com/artic…
P.S. Venetia didn't marry the "winner" -- she married her love, Kenelm Digby. But that's another story, from before the Diary.
About Thursday 27 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"If my info is correct, duelling wasn't officially banned in England until 1828."
Oh no -- dueling was constantly being banned. That made no difference -- when people wanted to fight, they went about it surreptitiously. The 1828 effort was the last ban, so it gets the credit.
Formal dueling with rapiers and later pistols (as opposed to taking an irritating person to a secluded place and beating the daylights out of him) was introduced into England during Queen Elizabeth’s reign with the spread of Italian honor and courtesy literature. Castiglione's Libro del Cortegiano (Book of the Courtier) published 1528 and Girolamo Muzio's Il Duello published 1550 stressed the need to protect one's reputation and social standing by formalizing the circumstances under which an insulted party should issue a challenge.
Englishman Simon Robson published The Court of Ciuill Courtesie in 1577 which tells us dueling had become accepted.
Italian fencing masters Rocco Bonetti and Vincento Saviolo also set up fencing schools in London.
By King James reign, dueling was accepted by the militarized peerage. One famous duel was held in 1613 in Holland between Edward Bruce, 2nd Lord Kinross and Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset over the beautiful Venetia Stanley, during which Bruce was slain. Yes, they went to Holland to evade James' wrath.
King James asked Solicitor-General Francis Bacon to prosecute would be duelists in the Court of Star Chamber; there were about 200 prosecutions between 1603 and 1625.
King James issued an edict against dueling in 1614, and is thought to have supported an anti-dueling tract by Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (the Wizard Earl). But dueling continued to spread from the court, mostly into the nobility who had served in the continental wars.
Dueling in England in the 1640s and 50s was checked by the Parliamentarians, whose Articles of War specified the death penalty for would-be duelists. Obviously this didn't apply to the Royalists, who continued to duel quite frequently, to Charles II’s consternation: he needed them alive and well.
Unsurprisingly, dueling in England increased with the Restoration.
About London Bridge
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Starlings" protected the bridge columns from erosion by the rushing Thames. Descriptions at https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
This is the day Pepys gets a "thorough washing" while shooting the bridge -- in December, no less. Shiver -- thank goodness he was close to home. Less lucky people had to go to The Bear Tavern which made a lot of money drying off and warming up wet commuters.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Tuesday 25 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Last year, government offices would have been officially open. Around Christmastime, the Pepyses received a brawn from Elizabeth Mountagu and, from Edward Mountagu, a dozen bottles of sack on 2 Jan. 1660 as a "New Year's gift" (L&M Vol. 1, p 4, note 1)."
"... my wife cut me a slice of brawn which I received from my Lady;"
David Q has done sterling work about Christmas for us. But 2 clarifications:
Lady JEMIMA Crew Montagu is married to Edward Montagu, Earl of Sandwich. He said Elizabeth -- and we have more than enough Elizabeths to deal with in the Diary!
And people gave their gifts to servants and trades people on or around Boxing Day (but it wasn't called that for a couple more centuries) -- and gifts to family and colleagues like Coventry on New Year's Day.
(Why? The 3 Wise Men were not at the Nativity.)
About Tobacco
San Diego Sarah • Link
We had a long discussion about the use of tobacco starting at
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Wednesday 26 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
We have a TOBACCO encyclopedia page:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…