jeannine

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jeannine has written 14 articles:

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jeannine has posted 1,236 annotations/comments since 16 June 2004.

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First Reading

About Tuesday 1 July 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

"She is returning to England after her exile in France." Sorry to all for the choice of words and the wild chase I put the ladies on to correct me-- my intention was to answer Dirk's question about which queen was coming over, and "return from exile" wasn't intended in the literal sense, but more general. I'll be well aware to be more careful in the future! As Pedro has stated--the reason she is coming over is to meet her new daughter-in-law, Queen Catherine.

About Tuesday 1 July 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

"Fetch the Queen Mother over" refers to Charles Mother Henrietta Maria. She is returning to England after her exile in France. I believe (from reading elsewhere) that she will be living at her dowager home ~~Somerset House (~~ and that there may be remodeling/redecorating activity in process there to prepare it for her return). Also, I don't think that Sam is a very sea worthy sort so I am thinking that in addition to relieving his wife of concern that he could be leaving for France that he's also relieved himself to be remaining on solid ground.

About Monday 30 June 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

"The King and the Queen minding their pleasures at Hampton Court".
The King and Queen are still on their 'honeymoon', which will be over soon enough with a return to Whitehall and back to business as usual, but for now, the King is busy elsewhere. With all of the intense issues Pepys is concerned about, no small wonder he has such disgust with Charles II..... but as Strickland in her "Lives of the Queens of England" says of this time..."The new and brilliant scenes in which the convent-bred queen was now required to play the leading part were at first strange and fatiguing to her, and she took far more delight in the practice of her devotional exercises than in all the seductive gaieties which surrounded her. She heard mass daily and but for the earnest persuasions of the [Portuguese] ambassador, who it will be remembered was her godather, she would have spent more time in her chapel than was at all compatible with her duties as a wife and queen. It required all the influence of this prudent counsellor to induce her to go into public as often as she was required, or to tolerate the freedom of manners in that dissipated court, where infidelity and licentiousness walked openly unveiled. Catherine was wedded to the most witty and fascinating prince in the world, consitutionally good-humored, but without religion or moral principles, brave, reckless, and devoted to pleasure, requiring constant excitement and frequent change. The simplicity of his young queen's character, her freshness, innocence, and confiding fondness for himself, pleased him; the naivete of her manners amused him, and, as a new toy, she was prized and cherished for the first six weeks of the marriage. Nothing in fact, could exceed the lover-like devotion of his behavior for his royal bride for that period, which was spent in all sorts of pleasure and amusements that he could devise for her entertainment. Sylan sports, excursions in the fields, the parks, or on the Thames, occupied the court by day, while the evenings were devoted to comedies, music and balls, in which the king, his brother , and the lords and ladies joined, the king excelling them all in the air and grace of his dancing, which the queen applauded, to his great delight, while he continued to treat her with every possible demonstration of tenderness and respect." Charles is obviously busy with gaieties and can't let the issues of the Navy, budgets, etc. cut into his fun for the moment.......

About Monday 30 June 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

A few thoughts on the holes, the office and the "politics" surrounding all.
I am reading a book by Percival Hunt called "Samuel Pepys in the Diary" and it's a great little companion that seems to pull together different subjects and clarify them (book review to come when I'm done). In the section called "A Principal Officer" Hunt explores Sam's interactions with the senior officers that he works with and "pulls" together a picture that highlights Sam's thoughts on each man and and also helps to sort out the politics, etc. Interesting to note, Sam is 35 years younger then the oldest man he works with (Carteret) and 12 years younger that the youngest man he works with (Pett). These men have maturity, wealth, distinction and experience that Sam does not have. What Sam does have is drive to succeed and adapt himself to do so. He is becoming keenly aware of the motives of others around him and carefully carving out his path to help him navigate through the politics in order to establish himself and justify himself to his senior officers and hopefully the Duke and King. As his awareness level increases so does his understanding that he needs to be keenly aware of what is going on around him. What better way to observe the world when other don't know they are being watched. As we've seen with Sam, he could man handle some poor girl just about anywhere he wants, and making holes for that wouldn't be worth the effort, but adding another dimension to his learning (the art of observation) could be well worth the effort and have a larger payoff in the future.

About Biographies of related people

Jeannine  •  Link

"Memoirs of the Count de Grammont" are the memoirs of the Count as collected by his brother in law Alexander Hamilton. While Grammont had stories worth collecting, Hamilton had the talent to create a rare work and capture not only the court of Louis XIV at it's finest but to also capture the court of Charles II. To quote the "Biographical Sketch of Alexander Hamilton", which appears in this online edition "The History of Grammont may be considered as an unique; there is nothing like it in any language. For drollery, knowledge of the world, various satire, general utility, united with great vivacity of composition, Gil Blas is unrivalled: but, as a merely agreeable book, the Memoirs of Grammont perhaps deserve that character more than any which was ever written: it is pleasantry throughout, and pleasantry of the best sort, unforced, graceful, and engaging. Some French critic has justly observed, that, if any book were to be selected, as affording the truest specimen of perfect French gaiety, the Memoirs of Grammont would be selected in preference to all others. This has a Frenchman said of the work of a foreigner; but that foreigner possessed much genius, had lived from his youth, not only in the best society of France, but with the most singular and agreeable man that France could produce. Still, however, though Grammont and Hamilton were of dispositions very different, the latter must have possessed talents peculiarly brilliant, and admirably adapted to coincide with, and display those of his brother-in-law to the utmost advantage. Gibbon extols the "ease and purity of Hamilton's inimitable style;" and in this he is supported by Voltaire, although he adds the censure, that the Grammont Memoirs are, in point of materials, the most trifling; he might also in truth have said, the most improper. The manners of the court of Charles II. were, to the utmost, profligate and abandoned; yet in what colours have they been drawn by Hamilton? The elegance of his pencil has rendered them more seductive and dangerous, than if it had more faithfully copied the originals. From such a mingled mass of grossness of language, and of conduct, one would have turned away with disgust and abhorrence; but Hamilton was, to use the words of his admirer, Lord Orford, "superior to the indelicacy of the court," whose vices he has so agreeably depicted; and that superiority has sheltered such vices from more than half the oblivion which would now have for ever concealed them."
This memior is well worth the reading to anyone interested in the Court of Charles II and appears quoted in the work of many of the historians of the Stuart monarchy. It can be found at
http://www.pseudopodium.org/repre…

About Fiction set in Pepys' time

Jeannine  •  Link

In Good King Charles Golden Days: A True History That Never Happened is a play by George Bernard Shaw.

Shaw takes a fun and interesting point of view to create a gathering that never took place among 3 different gentlemen: Charles II, George Fox (founder of morally mighty society of friends) and Sir Issac Newton. To add a contrast to the tension created by the gentlemen he also throws in Lady Castlmaine, Louise de Keuroille (Mrs. Carwell, as the English refered to her) and Nell Gywnn. Act I is reserved for the fun of their interchanges. In Act II Charles shifts to a private conversation with his wife, Catherine of Braganza, and contempaltes his situation as an aging King.They bounce back and forth on past history and the acceptance and appreciation of each other that has come with age. A free read and a total look at a history that NEVER did happen.

http://www.gutenberg.net.au/ebook…

About Catherine of Braganza (Queen)

Jeannine  •  Link

Letters from Catherine's Mother Luisa.
In the Portuguese book, "Dona Catarina de Braganca" (currently being translated by Pedro) the author Augusto Casimiro expands upon the work of her previous biographers, providing insights not only into the life of Catherine, but also Portuguese-English political climate, the Portuguese culture and her family relations. Casimiro's biography includes family letters, currently housed in the Ajuda Palace in Lisbon. The following letters by Queen Regent Luisa to Catherine and her son-in-law King Charles II (written in her distinct version of old world Spanish and as translated by Dirk) touch on the private side of Catherine's departure to England and the private sadness behind the highly formal and stoic departure of Catherine from her family and reveal a side of her mother Luisa not publicly seen. In addition, the letter to Charles perhaps touches on a world-wise mother's instinct to protect her sheltered daughter from heartache, and has an almost haunting foreboding of the difficulties to come, as Charles, with his appetite for women always looked to the physical as opposed to the soul.

About Saturday 24 May 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

Glyn, Nothing I've ever read really says why Portsmouth but my guess is that it had to do with the fact that they were both anxious to marry immediately(Charles for the money and Portugal for the protection). Also, they actually got married twice but Pepys wouldn't know this. First, they had a secret Catholic ceremony as Catherine was a strict Catholic. Then they had a small Protestant wedding. The other factor against a big wedding is the differences in their religion and the general hatred and intolerance towards Catholics. Catherine never attended any Protestant church services and part of her wedding contract stipulated that she would be free to practice her religion. She always maintained a private chapel where she prayed and attended Catholic services.

About Saturday 24 May 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

Sorry Brad....don't want to spill the beans, but let's just say that the treatment given to her for the upcoming 20 plus years she lived in England (mostly by Charles, but also his mistresses, court, Parliment, and the English people) led Agnes Strickland (historian of English Queens)to call her one of the most mistreated Queens in English history. Davidson (historian) says "Catherine lived in her husband's court as Lot lived in Sodom" and that she lived a "blameless life" full of "unneccesary suffering". I'll copy the preface section of Davidson's book about her character into the background link on her.

About Catherine of Braganza (Queen)

Jeannine  •  Link

Catherine's marriage to Charles was critical to the independence of Portugal so as Donna Luisa negotiated this deal she promised Charles a large sum of money. When Sandwich arrived to collect the sums Donna Luisa admitted to him that most of the money was gone. Although she had the money to begin with, she had spent most of it when the Spanish army began invading Portugal. She was only able to pay half of the sum. At this time she was taking a huge chance that Sandwich would accept the offer (and Sandwich was taking a huge career chance by accepting the offer), but accept he did, and Portugal owed him immensely for this decision. When Catherine entered the ship Donna Luisa filled it with teas, spices, her jewelery, or anything she could find to fill the void of the money owed. She was desperate to have this marriage consummated. The small sum of gold that Catherine had for Sandwich was all that she had to give. Also, this can

About Saturday 24 May 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

"That the King of Portugall is a very fool almost, and his mother do all, and he is a very poor prince" --This is probably the kindest thing that anyone has ever said about Alfonso. He had a debilitating illness as a child and was left with a withered body, a totally defective mind and a tendency towards violence. Carte, in his "History of the Revolution of Portugal" describes him in the lowest terms and basically says that if a man was brought before the court on charges of murder or rape then Alfonso would welcome him to be one of his guards. In the initial years of his reign, he surrounded himself with a group where murder,rape, etc. were normal activity. He had little wit from an intelligence standpoint, and in today's terms would have been declared insane, but the line of succession doesn't look at quality of the line, just the birth order (ie. most sadly, the same holds true today,).....
Quick history -In the course of Alfonso's reign, he was incompetent so his mother was regent, he then "overthrew" her and the Count Castelmelhor took over the running of the government (he was a GOOD man). Alfonso married, his wife declared him impotent and left for a convent and requested an annulment. Alfonso's younger brother Pedro and Alfonso's ex, plotted against the Count, got him exiled (this is why he came to live as an exile in Somerset House where Catherine resided in 1667), overthrew Alfonso and then got married to each other and ruled.
In favor of Catherine with the mix that was her family, it's amazing that she turned out to be such a person of character and quality.

About Saturday 24 May 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

"The Queen hath given no rewards"
This mariage was critical to the independence of Portugal so as Donna Luisa negotiated this deal she promised Charles a large sum of money. When Sandwich arrived to collect the sums Donna Luisa admitted to him that most of the money was gone. Although she had the money to begin with, she had spent most of it when the Spanish army began invading Portugal. She was only able to pay half of the sum. At this time she was taking a huge chance that Sandwich would accept the offer (and Sandwich was taking a huge career chance by accepting the offer), but accept he did, and Portugal owed him immensely for this decision. When Catherine entered the ship Donna Luisa filled it with teas, spices, her jewelery, or anything she could find to fill the void of the money owed. She was desperate to have this marriage consummated. The small sum of gold that Catherine had for Sandwich was all that she had to give. Also, this can't be a reflection against her, as she didn't know any better.
It's pretty clear that Catherine was totally unaware of the "business" and politics behind her marriage, or the financial situation. At one point when the ship had almost landed she asked Sandwich for her jewels (which she thought he was safeguarding for her) and he had to explain to her that the jewels were no longer hers, but part of the payment.
It also appears that the only inkling of advice that her mother did give her was to instruct her never to let Lady Castlemaine in her presence. She did let her know that Charles had previously had a mistress, but in her innocence Catherine assumed that marriage would end this (it would be unthinkable for Catherine to even conceive that anyone could "sin" in that manner when they are married). Catherine entered England with little funds, wide eyes and high hopes--if she offended anyone along the way, it was more a reflection of her upbringing, cultural differences, lack of finances and lack of experience than any wilful intentions to be stingy or to slight anyone.

About Saturday 24 May 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

Background on the Queen's marriage, etc.
Usually before a royal bride steps foot on a ship she is married by proxy to be sure that the young lady is not a virgin setting forth in the world in an unproper manner.In the case of Catherine, Donna Luiza (her mother) made a "generous" offer to send Catherine unmarried. As Davidson says, "The fact was that the usual proxy marriage would be impossible in Portugal under the circumstances. Portugal had never been able to induce the Pope to acknowledge her as an independent kingdom, for the Papal See had the fear of Spain before its eyes, and refused to admit the titles of either Joao IV ot Alphonzo to be King. This placed Portugal in a delicate situation. In order to legalize by the sanction of the church the marriage of Catherine with a heretic prince it would have been necessary to get a dispensation from the then Pope, Alexander, and any such dispensation would only have called Catherine the daughter of the Duke of Braganca, not a royal princess of Portugal.This would have been impossible to consent to, and the diplomatic Queen-Regent at once saw that to make a virtue of a necessity, and get the credit of generosity with Charles, was the only way out of the unpleasant difficulty. If Catherine went unmarried to England, she could there be married by the style and titles that belonged to her. .....In point of fact, it was the greatest compliment ever paid a reigning monarch."
Catherine was most likely told how to behave by her mother and since she was ill and her nature was shy, she stayed in her quarters surrounded by her ladies. She would not have ventured out to mingle with the men on the ship-- she was a virgin and it was of great importance that her proper status and purity remain unquestioned. She also totally lacked exerience in socializing with men and had little guidance or preparation from her mother in these areas. Also, she did not speak English but was able to speak Portuguese (her native language) and Spanish. When she got to England she had to communicate with Charles in Spanish ~~ both of them struggling with different dialects, etc. so they had difficulites expressing themselves to each other from the start.
This marriage was incredibly critical to the nation of Portugal. They could not have survived as an independent nation without a strong alliance with a country that had a strong navy. They lived in fear of Spain and needed to establish an alliance with another "power" country.
Catherine may have been shy and very innocent but she had two very strong areas of commitment and devotion which influenced her entire life and supported her in the years she spent in England. She purely and whole-heartedly was devoted to her religion and to her homeland -- and never swayed in that devotion. She was not politically aware, had been kept innocent of politics all of her life and had not been prepared for the role of a queen. Donna Luisa did what she had to do for Portugal's independence, but she failed her daughter by not preparing her for her role as queen. Even though she was 24 (which was old for the time) Catherine came to England as a "young" and inexperienced girl, who literally went off in a child like excitement to marry her "Prince Charming". She went expecting to marry the legend and unfortunately for her ended up married to the man.

About Wednesday 14 May 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

A side anecdote from the future
Thougth I'd add this as an after thought -as this story gives an idea of the court and how things worked with the Mistresses, etc. This is from Carte's book on James Butler the Duke of Ormode. About 10 or so years in the future--Charles's lead Mistress, Louise (French, beautiful, arrogant, greedy and powerful) tells Elizabeth (wife of James, the Duchess of Ormond) that she wants to be invited for dinner. Louise, expects to be given a huge dinner party in her honor. Elizabeth, being a lady of class, knows that in public as a wife of a nobleman,she has to accept Louise with all of the politeness that good society would expect of a Lady and she consistently does. On the other hand, privately and as a woman of strong moral character, she has no tolerance for a fancy whore and no desire to mix with a women who would live in such a sinful, morally deprived manner. Elizabeth can not slight Louise, so she does exactly as asked and invites her to dinner. Elizabeth then totally dismisses her entire household, sending her daughters and any of the "good women" away so that when Louise shows up instead of a room full of people to bow down to her -- she is given an exceptional meal, well served, nothing undone --and nobody else there except Elizabeth (and the usual servants) to attend her. Needless to say, Louise is furious but never invites herself again. Nobody could criticize Elizabeth, who did exactly as asked --but did it on her own terms.

About Wednesday 14 May 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

Sam -Lady Jemina -Lasy Castlemaine & Morality & the Conflicts of Charles' court
A few comments follow from a few sources, mostly from Ollard's books "Cromwell's Earl" and "Image of the King (about the character of Charles I and Charles II)and other reading I've left summaries of in the further reading sections (related biogrpahies, etc.)

The Sandwich marriage, like the Pepys marriage was one based on "love". Jemina could be described as good, thoroughly devoted to her husband, moral and somewhat simple & pure in her ways. She she was working her way into the role of a "noble wife" and not born into affluence, upper class, etc. Her morals would reflect the beliefs of "good and church-going type wives", new to the court and its loose values. By character, she would want nothing to do with Lady Castlemaine, by necessity to support her husband's rise in status, she HAD to "go with the flow" so to speak, even if privately she would like to see any marriage include fidelity, as that's what is preached in church, etc.
The culture of the court was one where everyone who wanted to get ahead had to follow Charles' lead. The politics, backstabbing etc. that people used to raise themselves over others is rampant in Charles' reign. The other element was how changeable the environment was. If Charles liked one person on one day, then everybody followed that lead --if he disliked that person the next day then everyone moved in that direction --there was very little integrity and little consistency. For now Charles was infatuated with Lady Castlemaine, so everyone else was. Charles was the hot rock star of the time, she was the hot sex symbol of the time. Lady Castlemaine's character is CONSISTENTLY described as demanding, scheming, self-centered, greedy beyong words, hot tempered, low class, very sexual and unfaithful to every man (including Charles). The interesting thing about their relationship is that Charles didn't care about fidelity from his mistresses --he thought so little of people that he didn't expect her faithfulness, nor would he ever expect to give any faithfulness in return.
Pepys, as always, is so interesting because he struggled with things like this. Today Castlemaine is his idea of the hot sex symbol and he'd be lost without the fantasy, on another day he'd sit through a sermon condeming adultery and would fully agree with that too. He had some level of guilt over his own exploits outside of his marriage yet he still transgressed. This is probably why he's such a wonderful diarist --everything is in the moment and very fluid.

About Saturday 10 May 1662

Jeannine  •  Link

Roger's "Promotion to Earl"
When Charles made Roger Palmer the Earl of Castelmaine he did so in a manner where the title would flow through the children of Barbara (thus covering for the children that Charles would father, and cutting out any that Roger may go on to have in the future in the event that Barbara died). It was well known that he only got the title because of Barbara's relationship with the King and although this added insult to injury to Roger, he indignantly took the title. Barbara needed the title of "Lady" in order to have the status to be an attendant to the Queen. The irony of the whole thing, of course, is calling Barbara a "lady" when she is anything but by character.
Barbara clearly was planning her path to remain as chief mistress and would not be ursurped. She also understood that Charles had such an avoidance to anything that didn't go "smoothly" that her threats, etc. were her way of manipulating and controlling the situation. If she set up a scenario where his discomfort at the stress would be released by giving into her then she knew she could get her way. Not to add spoilers, but her antics remain consistent throughout her lifetime.
As we see this unfold, from a character point of view, this seedy and shifting behavior of Charles is also a constant --he would always take the "easy" way out of things and where Barbara had such a strong will it was easier for him to succumb to her than to bear the stress.