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Second Reading

About Thomas Venner

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VENVER, THOMAS (d. 1661), plotter; a cooper; resident in Massachusetts, 1638; Fifth-monarchy preacher in London; planned a rising, 1657; prisoner in the Tower of London, 1657-9; headed a rising to set up the Fifth monarchy, 1661; executed.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Sir William Batten

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BATTEN, SIR WILLIAM (d.1667), admiral; obtained letters of marque for the Salutation, 1626; surveyor of the Navy, 1638; second in command of Warwick's fleet, 1642; engaged in preventing assistance king by sea, 1643; resigned command, 1647, but resumed it on personal invitation of officers; joined Prince of Wales in Holland, where he was knighted; declined to serve against parliament and returned; reinstated surveyor of navy, 1660; M.P. for Rochester, 1661; master of Trinity House, 1663-7.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Friday 31 May 1661

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"my mother is grown now so pettish"

To take PET, To be in a PET, To be offended, to snuff at, to be angry.
PETTISH, apt to take Pet, or be angry, forward, peevish.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.

When a woman is "pettish", it never seems to be a man's fault. The more things change...

About William Prynne (MP Bath, Somerset)

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PRYNNE, WILLIAM (1600-1669), puritan pamphleteer; educated at Bath grammar school and Oriel College, Oxford; B.A., 1621; barrister, Lincoln's Inn, 1628; studied law, theology, and ecclesiastical antiquities; wrote against Arminianism from 1627, and endeavoured to reform the manners of his age; published 'Histriomastix,' directed against stage-plays, 1632; for supposed aspersion on Charles I and his queen in ' Histriomastix' was sentenced by Star-chamber, in 1634, to be imprisoned during life, to be fined 5,000l., and to lose both his ears in the pillory; continued to write in the Tower of London, and (1637) was again fined 5,000l., deprived of the remainder of his ears, and branded on the cheeks; released by Long parliament, and hie sentences declared illegal, November 1640; defended parliament in the press on the outbreak of war, and pursued Laud with great animosity; after Laud's execution published by order of the parliament the first part of an account of the trial, entitled 'Canterburies Doom,' 1646; devoted much attention to independency, which be detested as heartily as episcopacy; was equally opposed to the ascendency of the presbyterian clergy, his theory of ecclesiastical policy being thoroughly erastian; assailed the army in various pamphlets, 1647, and (1648) attacked it in the House of Commons; arrested by Pride, November 1648; retired to Swanswick, January 1649, and began a paper war against the government, demonstrating that he was bound to pay taxes to the Commonwealth neither in conscience, law, nor prudence, for which government imprisoned him for nearly three years without trial; on his release (1653) drew a parallel between Cromwell and Richard III, and (May 1658) forced his way into the House of Commons, which could only get rid of him by adjournment; walked into parliament at the head of the members; readmitted by Monck, 1660; asserted the rights of Charles II with such boldness as to be styled 'the Cato of the age' by a royalist, and was thanked by Charles II; M.P. for Bath in the Convention parliament, 1660; laboured zealously to restrict the Act of Indemnity and to disband the army; opposed the thirty-nine articles, and, in 1661, was reprimanded by the speaker for a speech against the Corporation Bill; appointed keeper of the records in the Tower of London; published his most valuable work, 'Brevia Parliamentaría Rediviva,' 1662. He published about two hundred books and pamphlets.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Peter Gunning

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GUNNING. PETER (1614-1684), bishop of Ely; ancestor of the famous beauties; fellow and tutor of Clare Hall, Cambridge, 1633; M.A., 1635; famous as royalist preacher when incumbent of Little St. Mary's; retired to Oxford, 1646; during the Commonwealth celebrated episcopalian service at Exeter Chapel, Strand; D.D., 1660; master of Clare College, Cambridge, and Lady Margaret professor of divinity, 1660; master of St. John's and regius professor, 1661; proctor for Canterbury and Peterborough in the lower house of convocation; prominent in Savoy conference; bishop of Chichester, 1669-75, of Ely, 1675-84; his 'Paschal or Lent Fast' (1662) republished, 1845.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Dr William Bates

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BATES, WILLIAM (1626-1699), presbyterian divine: B.A. King's College, Cambridge, 1647; held living of St. Dunstan's-in-the-West, London; ejected, 1662; royal chaplain and commissioner for Savoy conference, 1660; D.D. by royal mandate, 1661; made repeated unsuccessful efforts to obtain relief for nonconformists; published theologlcal writings.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Elias Ashmole

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ASHMOLE, ELIAS (1617-1692), antiquary and astrologer; educated at Lichfield; solicitor, 1638; joined royalists and in 1644 was appointed commissioner of excise at Lichfield; studied physics and mathematics at Brasenose College, Oxford; commissioner of excise, captain of horse and comptroller of ordnance, Worcester; Windsor Herald, 1660; held successively several government appointments; presented, 1677, his collection of curiosities to Oxford University, to which he subsequently bequeathed his library; M.D. Oxford, 1690; wrote or edited antiquarian and Rosicrucian works.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Jonas Moore

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MOORE, Sir JONAS (1617-1679), mathematician; clerk to Dr. Burghill, chancellor of Durham; mathematical tutor to the Duke of York, 1647; surveyor of Fen drainage system, 1649, publishing an account, 1685; sent to report on fortifications of Tangier, 1663; knighted; surveyor-general of the ordnance, 1663; published 'Arithmetik,' 1650, a 'New System of the Mathematicks,' (posthumous, 1681), and other works.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Capt. John Graunt

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GRAUNT, JOHN ( 1620-1674), statistician; was appointed original member of Royal Society, after his publication of 'Natural and Political Observations ... made upon the Bills of Mortality,' 1661; falsely charged with being privy to the great fire of 1666.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Dr Christopher Gibbons

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GIBBONS, CHRISTOPHER (1615-1676), organist; elder son of Orlando Gibbons; educated in Exeter choir; organist of Winchester Cathedral, 1638-61; at Restoration appointed to Chapel Royal, to Westminster Abbey, and court organist; Mus. Doc. Oxford, 1663; contributed to 'Cantica Sacra,' 1674; collaborated with Lock in music to Shirley's 'Cupid and Death,' 1663.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Dr Timothy Clarke

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CLARKE, TIMOTHY (d. 1672), physician; of Balliol College, Oxford; M.D., 1652; F.R.C.P., 1664; physician to Charles II; F.R.S.; friend of Samuel Pepys.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Thursday 28 March 1661

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Don't forget to click on the links in the diary entries, highlighted in blue. "the Theatre" above, for instance, has information about its location.

About George Villiers (1st Duke of Buckingham)

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VILLIERS, GEORGE, first Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628), court favourite; a younger son, by his second marriage, of Sir George Villiers; trained for a page's place; visited France, 1610-13; introduced to James I, 1614; appointed cupbearer, 1614; gentleman of the bedchamber, 1615: knighted and pensioned; master of the horse, 1616; K.G., 1616; created Viscount Villiers, 1616, and given an estate; created Earl of Buckingham, 1617, and Marquis of Buckingham, 1618 ; married a Romanist, Lady Katherine Manners, 1620; obtained tbe dismissal of his court rivals, the Howard family, 1618; undertook the administration, acting himself as lord high admiral, 1619; advised an expedition to the Palatinate, February 1620, but intrigued with Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, to defeat it, 1620 and 1621; parliament checked in its censure of the monopolies in which his brothers had speculated, by his disowning his brothers, 1621, sheltering himself behind James I's name, and dissolving parliament; shrank from supporting Bacon, 1621; dissuaded by Laud from professing Romanism, 1622; forced James I and Prince Charles to the Madrid journey, 1623; arrived with Charles at Madrid; quarrelled with the Spanish court, and left Madrid, August 1623; had been created Duke of Buckingham, 1623, in his absence; failing to force the council into war with Spain, 1624, had parliament called and the Spanish negotiations broken off; became warden of the Cinque ports, 1624; originally urged on the match with Henrietta Maria, 1624-5; took offence, 1625, on Richelieu's refusal of his terms, and grossly insulted King Louis; the expedition under Count Mansfeld sent by him to the Palatinate a few months before (January 1625) a failure; supplies refused by parliament if he was to have the sole conduct of the war, July, on which it was dissolved, August 1625; the squadron lent by him to Richelieu used contrary to his hopes by the French minister against Rochelle, 1625; irritated the French by setting on foot search for contraband of war; the Cadiz expedition under his favourite, Sir Edward Cecil, a failure, October 1625 ; promised large subsidies to Denmark and Holland, 1625, and planned the relief of Rochelle, 1626; the parliament of February 1626 dissolved, June 1626, to prevent it carrying out his impeachment; his overtures to Spain for peace rejected, February 1627; sent Pennington to make war on French shipping in March 1627; personally sailed to relieve Rochelle, June, but failed shamefully, July-October 1627, and was infatuated enough to reject French proposals for peace, December 1627; urged Charles I to raise a standing army, partly of German mercenaries, January 1628; action against him prevented by the prorogation of the parliament which had voted supplies on Charles I's acceptance of the Petition of Right, June 1628; urged on a new Rochelle expedition, and was assassinated by John Felton, 23 Aug., at Portsmouth.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About John Felton

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ON THE DUKE AND FELTON.

Awake, sad Brittaine, and advance at last
Thy drooping head: let all thy sorrowes past
Bee drown'd, and sunke with their owne teares; and now
O're-looke thy foes with a triumphant brow.
Thy foe, Spaine's agent, Holland's bane, Rome's freind,
By one victorious hand receiv'd his end.
Live ever, Felton: thou hast turn'd to dust,
Treason, ambition, murther, pride and lust.
---Poems and Songs Relating to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. F.W. Fairholt, 1850

About John Felton

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FELTON, JOHN (1595?-1628), assassin of the Duke of Buckingham; of a good Suffolk family; lieutenant at Cadiz, 1625; his application to Buckingham for a captain's commission scornfully refused, 1627; was incited by reading 'The Golden Epistles' to plan Buckingham's assassination, 1628; stabbed Buckingham at Portsmouth, 1628; described as a national benefactor In popular ballads; hanged.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Wednesday 1 May 1661

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"where Haselrigge and Scott and Walton did hold their councill, when they were here, against Lambert and the Committee of Safety"

In December 1659, Hazelrigge was commanding at Portsmouth, where he and other officers declared for a free parliament, in opposition to the schemes of Fleetwood and Lambert.
---Political Ballads. T. Wright, 1841.

About Maj.-Gen. John Lambert

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LAMBERT, JOHN (1619-1683) soldier; took up arms for the parliament at the beginning of the civil war; commissary-general of Fairfax's army, 1644; in command of a regiment in the new model, 1646; assisted Ireton in drawing up the 'Heads of the Proposals of Army,' 1647; commander of the army in the north, 1647; engaged against the royalist Scottish army, 1648; took part in the battle of Dunbar, 1650, of Worcester, 1651; deputy lord-lieutenant of Ireland, 1652; president of the council appointed by the officers of the army, 1653; was the leading spirit in the council of officers who offered the post of protector to Cromwell, and a member of the Protector's council of state; major-general of the army; a lord of the Cinque ports; retired on account of a breach with Cromwell about the regal title; М.P., Pontefract, 1659; supported Richard Cromwell and recovered his old position; member of the committee of safety and of the council of state, 1659; major-general of the army sent to oppose Monck's advance into England; deprived of his commands, 1660; arrested and committed to the Tower; escaped and collected troops, but without success, 1660; again committed to the Tower, 1661; sent to Guernsey, 1661; tried for high treason and condemned to death, 1662; sent back to Guernsey; imprisoned till death, 1664-1683.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.