Tuesday 22 September 1663

I up, well refreshed after my journey, and to my office and there set some things in order, and then Sir W. Pen and I met and held an office, and at noon to dinner, and so by water with my wife to Westminster, she to see her father and mother, and we met again at my Lord’s lodgings, and thence by water home again, where at the door we met Sir W. Pen and his daughter coming to visit us, and after their visit I to my office, and after some discourse to my great satisfaction with Sir W. Warren about our bargain of masts, I wrote my letters by the post, and so home to supper and to bed.

This day my wife showed me bills printed, wherein her father, with Sir John Collidon and Sir Edward Ford, have got a patent for curing of smoky chimneys.1 I wish they may do good thereof, but fear it will prove but a poor project.

This day the King and Queen are to come to Oxford. I hear my Lady Castlemaine is for certain gone to Oxford to meet him, having lain within here at home this week or two, supposed to have miscarried; but for certain is as great in favour as heretofore;2 at least Mrs. Sarah at my Lord’s, who hears all from their own family, do say so.

Every day brings newes of the Turke’s advance into Germany, to the awakeing of all the Christian Princes thereabouts, and possessing himself of Hungary. My present care is fitting my wife’s closett and my house, and making her a velvet coate, and me a new black cloth suit, and coate and cloake, and evening my reckoning as well as I can against Michaelmas Day, hoping for all that to have my balance as great or greater than ever I had yet.

23 Annotations

First Reading

jeannine  •  Link

Alexandre St. Michel (Elizabeth's Father)
"This day my wife showed me bills printed, wherein her father, with Sir John Collidon and Sir Edward Ford, have got a patent for curing of smoky chimneys."
Part IV of the article on Elizabeth is the summary of Alexandre's life as presented by Patrick Delaforce in his book on Elizabeth. He was a very interesting, spirited character and had applied for and been granted several patents. Delaforce's book was an interesting read and gave some good background on her family.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/indepth…

TerryF  •  Link

"Every day brings newes of the Turke’s advance into Germany, to the awakeing of all the Christian Princes thereabouts, and possessing himself of Hungary."

---
So begins the Habsburg-Turkish war, or the 1st Turkish war.

"After a period of quiescence following the Treaty of Sitva-Torok (1606) the Turks crossed the Danube in strength in 1663, ravaging Hungary, Moravia, and Silesia [Transylvania]." http://hungarian-history.hu/lib/h…

"The Ottoman Empire interfered in the affairs of Transylvania, always an unruly district, and this interference brought on a war with the Holy Roman Empire, which after some desultory operations really began in 1663. By a personal appeal to the diet at Regensburg Leopold [I, Holy Roman Emperor] induced the princes [of the Empire] to send assistance." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leop…

TerryF  •  Link

A bit off-topic, but the conflict will come up again:

"After the division of the Habsburg crown in 1555 between its Spanish and Austrian branches, the Austrian monarchy consisted of three major units, the hereditary provinces of Austria itself; the so-called crown of Wenceslas, comprising Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia; and the crown of St. Stephen, including Hungary, Transylvania, and Croatia. Bohemia and Hungary had became part of the Habsburg dominions in 1527 after the battle of Mohács, though much of Hungary was still contested. Indeed, only the continuing threat of the Turks in southeastern Europe could have united so disparate a group of peoples -Germans, Czechs, Magyars, Croats, Slovaks, Slovenes, Italians, Rumanians, Ruthenians - under a single head. Turkey may, in this sense be said to have engendered the Austrian monarchy; nor was it a coincidence that the final expulsion of Turkey from Europe in the early twentieth century should have been followed shortly after by the collapse and dismemberment of the Habsburg empire. The histories of Turkey and Austria rose and fell together." Greaves, Richard L. & Robert Zaller, Philip V. Cannistraro, Rhoads Murphey: Civilizations of the World, The Human Adventure, Second Ed.; New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1993. pp. 625ff.
http://hungarian-history.hu/lib/h…

Australian Susan  •  Link

No mention of "my father's boy". Had he been brought with them to act as a groom and deliver the horses back? Or did they use the same horses as hired when they set out? Is he a replacement for Wayneman?

dirk  •  Link

"the Turke’s advance"

Just a sidenote:
The use of "the Turke", as a personification of the Turkish army (referring to the Turkish Sultan as the single person in power of this mighty empire) is typical of the time. We'd now say "the Turks' advance" or more likely "the Turkish advance".

In the early 16th c. the **Grande** Turke or the **Great** Turke" was reserved to refer to Sultan Suleyman the Great or the Magnificent, the "world conqueror".
http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/g…

Robert Gertz  •  Link

And in about one generation the final defeat at Vienna will reveal the extent of the decay of the famed Janissaries and spell the beginning of the decline of the Ottomans. For Sam I wonder if the event affected him. Certainly there was no direct effect but it must given a certain relief to know that the Turks were definitely on the defensive at last.

Aqua  •  Link

A history that has been under studied by those under Christian influence, but necessary to comprehend to-days modern world.

TerryF  •  Link

Aqua, how very true: - Ecce Bosnia!

where, ignorant of history, Christian Orthodox Serbs massacred "Turks" - i.e. ethnic Bosnian Muslims stigmatized as Christ-killers at Kosovo by a 19c epic poem "The Mountain Wreath". http://www.rastko.org.yu/knjizevn…

Pedro  •  Link

“I hear my Lady Castlemaine is for certain gone to Oxford to meet him, having lain within here at home this week or two, supposed to have miscarried;”

In his biography of Catherine the Portuguese writer Casimiro says that on this day Castlemaine set of for Oxford two days after giving birth. (Which is strange?)

Xjy  •  Link

"the Turke's advance"
In use much later too. Very common in the 19th century and early 20th. "The Russian" (for the Tsar), etc.
Reflects the reality of absolute rulers, and the power of the commanders-in-chief even in constitutional regimes.
Also made the labyrinthine manouevrings and intrigues of international relations a bit more comprehensible - the stitching and ditching of alliances, eternal friendships betrayed before the ink was dry on the parchment etc. The "furies of private interest", in this case the land and its dynastic and revenurial repercussions, are easier to follow than the actual socio-economic development of various bits of a continent/world. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars changed all that for good, creating a bourgeois world instead of a feudal one, and nothing has been quite the same since... Bourgeois historians, still locked in the (quasi-feudal) national mindset, don't understand the bourgeois world.

language hat  •  Link

"ravaging Hungary, Moravia, and Silesia [Transylvania]."

Silesia is nowhere near Transylvania; it's now mostly in Poland, the bit just north of the Czech Republic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sile…

"ignorant of history, Christian Orthodox Serbs massacred 'Turks'"

Oh, please. We may not approve of the Serbian interpretation of history, but if Serbs are "ignorant" of history, what word remains to describe the status of, say, Americans in relation to that subject? Serbs are all too aware of history, and the conflation of "Turk" with "Moslem" is a common Balkan phenomenon, quite understandable in view of the history of the region.

TerryF  •  Link

The myth-making case is made by Michael Sells, an ethnic Serb, Professor of Comparative Religions at Haverford College (also an Arabist). An excerpt from his prize-winning book on the subject, *The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia* http://www.ucpress.edu/books/page… :
"The Kosovo Myth: Slavic Muslims portrayed as Christ-Killers in The Mountain Wreath

"In 1389, the Serb Prince Lazar was defeated and killed in a battle against Ottoman Turkish Sultan Murad II on the plain of Kosovo. While historians dispute the significance of the battle, in Serbian mythology it entailed the loss of Serb independence, a loss that was represented in cosmic terms. Lazar is portrayed as a Christ figure. He has a Last Supper with 12 Nobles, one of whom, Vuk Brankovic, is a traitor and gives the battle plans to the Turks. During the battle, the Christ-Prince Lazar is slain and with him dies the Serb nation, to rise again only with the resurrection of Lazar. 4 Turks are thus equated with Christ-Killers and Vuk Brankovic, the 'Turk within,' becomes a symbol (and ancestral curse) of all Slavic Muslims." http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archi…

Aqua  •  Link

Sign of affluence. "...No mention of "my father’s boy"...." Sam is now one of the Affluent now, like many, when thy have a few bob in the till, are acclimatised to he higher reaches of economic scale, quickly forget the problems of old. Samuell only mentions the lessors when they cross his path in a memorable way, usually negative.[the tally be interesting for sociologists.]

Robert Gertz  •  Link

To further go off topic but following an enjoyable diversion, I'd point out that the Sultan was often very ably assisted by his Christian vassals to defeat Christian armies. One Serbian vassal played a key role in the disasterous defeat of Christian powers at Nicopolis in 1397. I think we have to remember that while religion is a convenient way for us to divide the parties the real divisions are often tribal, even familial, as well. One reason for some of the relative peace in the Bosnian region over recent years has been, according to friends of mine-Croatian, Bosnian, American is that the US and NATO forces have gradually learned a bit about the real divisions and become skilled in dealing with them.

language hat  •  Link

"in Serbian mythology it entailed the loss of Serb independence"

Exactly. The Battle of Kosovo became the foundational historical myth of the Serbs, in much the same way as the Battle of Gettysburg became the foundational historical myth of the American South. The actual facts of history are subordinated to the emotional meaning attached to a particular event. My point was not about the mythological features of the Serbian interpretation of history, of which I'm well aware, but rather that it makes no sense to talk about Serbian "ignorance" of history. Serbs are all too aware of (not to say obsessed by) their history and would benefit from a little amnesia.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Looking to history

In the 1970s, Ian Paisley in Northern Ireland campaigned for political office under the slogan "Remember 1690" [Battle of the Boyne, when William III defeated forces led by the current Duke of York, later James II, then deposed in 1689] Slogans are not history, but they bolster myths. The new Prayer Book, which Sam is getting used to in Church had prayers for relief against "the Turk" and against infidels. These were only removed in the 1872 revision of the BCP.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Every day brings newes of the Turke’s advance into Germany, to the awakeing of all the Christian Princes thereabouts, and possessing himself of Hungary. "

From June onwards a large Turkish army under Ahmed Kiuprili operating from Turkish territory in E, Hungary overran Transylvania and parts of W Hungary. It now threatened Austria ("Germany"). The Diet at Ratisbon [ Regensburg ] ordered prayers to be offered at midday every day for the protection of the Empire. This advance of the Turks -- for the first time in a hundred years -- made a profound impression on W. Europe. For reports at this time see The Newes , 17 September, p. 23. Hamburg and the Hanse Towns felt the alarm. Pepys (in common with the English newspapers of the time) gives a fair amount of attention to these events. The danger did not pass until the Turks' defeat at St Gotthard (W. Hungary) in August 1664. (Per L&M footnote)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Okay Sam, great business mind, financial whiz of the family, and counter of pennies ... on Friday, 18 September: "... one Blinkhorne, a miller, of whom we might inquire something of old Day’s disposal of his estate, and in whose hands it now is; and by great chance we met him, and brought him to our inn to dinner; and instead of being informed in his estate by this fellow, we find that he is the next heir to the estate, which was matter of great sport to my cozen Thomas and me, to see such a fellow prevent us in our hopes, he being Day’s brother’s daughter’s son, whereas we are but his sister’s sons and grandsons; so that, after all, we were fain to propose our matter to him, and to get him to give us leave to look after the business, and so he to have one-third part, and we two to have the other two-third parts, of what should be recovered of the estate, which he consented to; and after some discourse and paying the reckoning, ..."

You and cousin Tom left Parson's Grove the next morning -- probably there were no lawyers there anyways. You then go sightseeing in the market town of St. Ives, where there must have been lawyers. If you were serious, you needed to document this legally-shaky agreement.

Sunday you are horsing around with your wife and Sandwich and Ferrers. Monday you get home and see the gang to catch up on activities. Tuesday you still appear to have done nothing. Now, if you do spend some money drawing up a legal agreement, you will have to go back to Parson's Grove to get miller Blinkhorne's signature. (Being a miller, he probably could sign the papers ... millers were leaders in their communities.) I conclude you know this conversation was a complete waste of time, and that you had no legal basis for the handshake in the first place, English law having been patrilineal at the time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat…

http://www.historytoday.com/mary-… says: "Millers were local autocrats; gentry were nominally superior, but no one willingly crossed a miller, not even the mill owner." Your third cousin x-times removed took you for one dinner, and you know it.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"having lain within here at home this week or two" -- I checked https://www.geni.com/people/Henry… and see that Henry Fitzroy was born at Whitehall. No wonder Ms. Sarah was first with the (wrong) news.
They also have his date of birth as September 28. Deduct 10 days and you have September 18 ... that mean Barbara Villiers Palmer, Lady Castlemaine started out for Oxford 4 days after giving birth. Hardy lady -- it was a full two day trip (I don't know the route):

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

"By 1667 a stage-coach service was providing three journeys weekly to London: Anthony Wood used it that year, leaving Oxford at 4 a.m. and arriving in the evening of the following day, having spent the night at Beaconsfield (Bucks.)." (fn. 185) 185. Wood's Life, ii. 109.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... and thence by water home again, where at the door we met Sir W. Pen and his daughter coming to visit us, and after their visit I to my office, ..."

Somehow Sam and Elizabeth always have time for a visit with Pepys' bete noire and his daughter. They obviously both like Pegg.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

We read last month that Charles II had grown cold towards Castlemaine ... maybe this is why:

"Henry 'the little' Jermyn's seduction of Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine was later described in all its erotic detail by Barbara’s lesbian lover, Delarivierre Manley. The affair, which ran parallel to Barbara's relationship with Charles II, almost certainly produced a child, the Duke of Grafton, whose paternity is usually attributed to Charles II."

http://anthonyadolph.co.uk/harry-…

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