tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56159352011-04-21T20:24:01.061-04:00Black Hound: The Baroque History BlogThe world ended on March 8, 1701/1702 just in case you didn't notice. Well, I did. And that's what this is all about.jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comBlogger1311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1094002307732680002004-08-31T21:29:00.000-04:002004-08-31T21:31:47.733-04:00I can't believe it. Finally. Fucking finally. I can update this thing. It has been literally months that I couldn't blog one damn word because every time I tried to do it, the new Blogger 'upgraded' interface hosed me wholesale. So I switched my browser to Firefox and I'm able to make the interface work. And no, that doesn't get Blogger off the hook. It's not like fucking IE is the new kid on thejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1082999804610495662004-04-26T13:13:00.000-04:002004-04-26T13:19:47.793-04:00Wonderful new book in my hands. New to me at least. Published in 1967. The Royal Apothecaries, Leslie G. Matthews. Published by the Wellcome HIstorical Medical Library.
Excellent information on the Dutch contingent of apothecaries in service to His Majesty, as well as details related to the costs for opening the King's body and embalming same.
Find this one if you can.jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1081862270920478062004-04-13T09:14:00.000-04:002004-04-13T09:20:40.920-04:00I know I've been remiss in posting, but this blog has it's own particular function which really doesn't have anything to do with you. It's like the overflow bottle on a car radiator. Used to catch the excess that bubbles.
In other words, this is for the extraneous thoughts that are dashing around when I'm trying to concentrate on the main event. Clears the mind. Fortunately for me, I have been jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1081305823277880072004-04-06T22:42:00.000-04:002004-04-06T22:46:26.420-04:00By the year 1696, all hopes for the Stuart succession rested on the shoulders of one frail boy, William Henry (YES, another William Henry), the Duke of Gloucester. He was the only surviving child of Princess Anne (Queen Mary's sister and William's cousin).
The boy was born on 24 July 1689, named after his uncle, the King, who also stood as his godfather. As the boy grew up he developed a great jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1080655231673259212004-03-30T08:57:00.000-05:002004-03-30T09:03:07.810-05:00I'm done beating my head against the wall on the Irish forfeitures. I've tried too many times to boil this down to Blog level and it can't be done. Not to my satisfaction, which is the only satisfaction that counts.
If you really need to know what this is about, and you really should so you don't die completely ignorant, then find this book -- J.G. Simms, The Williamite confiscation in Ireland jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1079629118785193432004-03-18T11:58:00.000-05:002004-03-18T12:01:03.110-05:00The Williamite confiscation of Irish lands was the last of a series which in the course of a century and a half changed the ownership of the greater part of Ireland. The history of the Williamite forfeitures cover 13 years between the Battle of the Boyne and the final disposal of the forfeited estates. In the course of these proceedings most of the Catholics who still owned land ran the gauntlet jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1079021002535428382004-03-11T11:00:00.000-05:002004-03-11T11:05:39.780-05:00Against my better judgement I'm going to try and explain the Irish forfeitures. I'm not sure that it is such a great idea since what can be blogged with reasonableness won't really convey the depth of the issues involved. So I guess you'll get the down and dirty version because Christ knows I can't impart to you in 25 words or less the backstory and subtleties of all this that it has taken me jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1078947039889840002004-03-10T14:29:00.000-05:002004-03-10T14:32:55.890-05:00For it is not enough to be a seaman, but it is necessary to be a painful seaman; for a seabred man of reasonable capacity may attain to so much art as may serve to circle the earth's globe about; but the other, wanting the experimental part, cannot. For I do not allow any to be a good seaman that hath not undergone the most offices about a ship, and that hath not in his youth been both taught andjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1078756193296719112004-03-08T09:27:00.000-05:002004-03-08T09:32:07.216-05:00The Death of the King -- from the Parliamentary record ...
On the 3d of March, the king had a short fit of an ague, which he regarded so little, that he said nothing of it; and the next day he seemed so well recovered of the lameness in his knee, that he took several turns in the gallery at Kensington; but at length, finding himself tired and faint, he sate down on a counch, and fell asleep, jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1078341370449443872004-03-02T14:27:00.000-05:002004-03-03T14:18:19.640-05:00Happenings from the month of March --
3/5/1689: His majestie hath been pleased to constitute Arthur Herbert, esq., the earl of Carberry, sir Michael Wharton, sir Thomas Lee, sir John Chiceley, sir John Lowther of Whitehaven, and William Sacheverel esq. commissioners for executing the office of lord high admiral of England.
3/14/1690: There is prepared for the kings service in Ireland an oven jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1078255418318653882004-03-02T14:18:00.000-05:002004-03-02T14:28:02.670-05:00Looks like my free time is planned out for the next year. And, please, no comments like 'get a life'. At least reenactors actually get out of their houses and interact with real people on a regular basis. Then again, I guess we could sit in front of the boob tube and watch compelling television like Fear Factor and whatever other reality shows the great unwashed and uneducated partake of. Thanks,jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1078111180736269152004-02-29T22:19:00.000-05:002004-02-29T22:22:37.780-05:00I've always liked this letter. Written from an English wife to her soldier-husband in the year 1703 before the battle of Blenheim. The actual identity of writer and receipient are lost to history, as is whether the question of his survival, but the sentiment lives on.
Since my dear encourages me to the only pleasure I have or ever can think of in your absence, which is by expressing my kindnessjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1077807402439505402004-02-26T09:56:00.000-05:002004-02-26T09:58:44.903-05:00Thus lived and died William the Third, King of Great Britain, and Prince of Orange. He had a thin and weak body, was brown haired, and of a clear and delicate constitution: he had a Roman eagle nose, bright and sparkling eyes, a large front, and a countenance composed to gravity and authority; all his senses were critical and exquisite. He was always asthmatical, and the dregs of the smallpox jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1077735601425586612004-02-25T13:59:00.000-05:002004-02-25T14:02:03.826-05:00Louis 14 planned a great invasion of England in 1692, but the English and Dutch fleets under Sir George Rooke won the battle of La Hogue in that same year, and all fear of invasion was over -- for the moment. [The invasion spectre would reappear in 1696 as part and parcel of the plot to assasinate King William.]
But in 1692, the immediate danger was over. 'During several days the bells of Londonjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1077655851893760302004-02-24T15:50:00.000-05:002004-02-24T15:52:52.686-05:00Chocolate! Most particularly "Robert Inwood's Secret Invention for Chocolate". At least that is what he claimed in an advertisement in the Daily Courant in 1704.
Whereas the author of the new invention for chocolate hath given a general satisfaction in making the finest and cleanliest in the world with that pleasure, that he can afford it 12d. a pound cheaper than the drugster, in any in London,jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1077420836349887662004-02-21T22:26:00.000-05:002004-02-21T22:35:54.780-05:00Economic conditions in England starting at the end of the 16th century through the middle of the 17th century were, to say nothing else, piss poor. Employment was scarce and population was rising, making the fiscal crunch ever more dramatic and deadly. The overarching solution that seemed apparent for the bulk of the nation's poor was to migrate to London. Unfortunately, the overall conditions injhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1077311348193249312004-02-20T16:07:00.000-05:002004-02-20T16:11:05.576-05:00"Excavations in a medieval moat around Oxford Castle have so far yielded the remains of 60 to 70 criminals, mostly men in their twenties, executed during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. Archaeologists believe that dozens more await discovery.
The victims, all of whom are thought to have been hanged, seem to have been denied a Christian burial. They were interred in unconsecrated ground, jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1077138402256944682004-02-18T16:05:00.000-05:002004-02-18T16:08:37.670-05:00The Lexington Papers; or some account of the Courts of London and Vienna; at the conclusion of the seventeeth century. Extracted from the official and private correspondence of Robert Sutton, Lord Lexington, British Minister at Vienna, 1694-1698.
The Lexington papers were discovered in 1850 in a partially concealed closet in Kelham Library. They contained the offical and private correspondence jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1076963231289666872004-02-16T15:26:00.000-05:002004-02-16T15:29:04.513-05:00Whilst the clamour of the crowd in the square of Buytenhof, which grew more and more menacing against the two brothers, determined John de Witt to hasten the departure of his brother Cornelius, a deputation of burghers had gone to the Town-hall to demand the withdrawal of Tilly's horse.
It was not far from the Buytenhof to Hoogstraet (High Street); and a stranger, who since the beginning of thisjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1076880085283500632004-02-15T16:20:00.000-05:002004-02-15T16:23:59.013-05:00"King William was of an opinion, an' please your honour, quoth Trim, that every thing was predestined for us in this world; insomuch, that he would often say to his soldiers, that 'every ball had its billet.' He was a great man, said my uncle Toby."
"Your honour remembers with concern, said the corporal, the total rout and confusion of our camp and army at the affair of Landen; every one was jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1076625945445675402004-02-12T17:45:00.000-05:002004-02-12T17:47:34.340-05:00She can say it better than I can:
Prince William had a passion of patriotism most uncommon in Princes and hardly to be explained; of mingled, alien blood himself, surrounded by French, English and German, slighted and thwarted by the Dutch Government and a section of the Dutch people, William III had yet for the Netherlands a love and devotion rare in pure-blooded patriots with no grievance jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1076543557650207352004-02-11T18:51:00.000-05:002004-02-11T18:54:25.513-05:00James II died at 3 pm on Friday, September 16th, 1701, at St. Germains in France, 13 years after losing his crown to the Prince of Orange. But his remains didn't rest easy, as you will see.
In his will James asked to be buried privately in the parish church of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, but Louis 14 made other arrangements. James's body was embalmed with the idea that it would one day be repatriatedjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1076426630288714152004-02-10T10:23:00.000-05:002004-02-10T10:25:37.140-05:00Goings on in the month of February courtesy of Narcissus Luttrell --
2/13/1689: The earl of Wiltshire is made lord Chamberlain to the queen, countess of Darby groom of the stole to the queen, lord Lovelace captain of the band of pensioners and justice in eyre on this side Trent, the sieur Overkirk master of the horse, and mareschal Schomberg master of the ordnance.
2/23/1689: The dukes of jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1076272986414816402004-02-08T15:41:00.000-05:002004-02-08T15:44:51.200-05:00I dug up a little bit more on Betty Villiers and her husband, Lord George Hamilton. Yeah, I know it should all be in one entry, but this shit comes to me in fits and starts kind of like stomach cramps. How I could forget this, I don't rightly know since it involves money, and lots of it. And I really do need to explain the Irish Forfeitures since they pop up here again, but it is a big, twisted jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1075931866520591972004-02-04T16:54:00.000-05:002004-02-04T16:59:27.950-05:00With the runup to the secret negotiations of the Partition Treaty in the spring of 1698, the French ambassador to England, Tallard, had two private audiences with King William III. The first was purely complimentary according to the strict etiquette of the times. The second was more substantive.
Both were reported dutifully to Louis 14 and contain many of Tallard's impressions of England and jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1075751304923401602004-02-02T14:45:00.000-05:002004-02-02T14:50:03.590-05:00King William's standing orders from as far back as 1672 were that in the wake of a battle (1) the local populations were never to be harmed or their property stolen, and (2) the dead on the field were to be left untouched and the wounded were not to be molested. Offenders were dealt with in a summary fashion.
Coming into Ireland, the bulk of William's troops were his old campaigners from the jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1075314374925783672004-01-28T13:18:00.000-05:002004-01-28T13:27:48.856-05:00Lilibulero. The song that "rhymed King James out of three kingdoms", according to Lord Wharton who penned the lyrics. Thomas Wharton (1648-1715), 1st Marquess of Wharton, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a famous rake and freethinker who wrote the words to Henry Purcell's famous song "Liliburlero", basically a re-arrangement of an older tune called "Quickstep".
Wharton was described as "a loose jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1075166934174165522004-01-26T20:27:00.000-05:002004-01-26T20:30:26.360-05:00During the month of June it became increasingly obvious that James's army would have to confront King William's army. That fact alone served to increase William's good humour. The English courtiers left behind in London would hardly have recognized their cold and rather surly monarch in the man that was traversing Ireland.
As one of the King's officers who waited on him at supper remarked, "He jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1075063630198893972004-01-25T15:43:00.000-05:002004-01-25T15:48:40.950-05:00On June 4, 1690, King William left London for Ireland and he was damn glad about it. His Majesty was in a great good humor at the prospect of 'being under canvas' again. Going on a military campaign was a perfect pleasure for him as "he was sure he understood that better than how to govern England." (Burnet History 4)
King Billy was relieved to leave behind the political squabbling in Parliamentjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1074865571996194982004-01-23T08:45:00.000-05:002004-01-23T08:47:40.466-05:00The christening of little William Henry was the occasion for a dysfunctional family quarrel. William's mother, Mary, and his grandmother, Amalia, fought bitterly over the choice of names. Mary wanted Charles. Amalia insisted on Willem Hendrik. On January 15, 1651, the day of the christening, while everyone was waiting in the Grote Kerk in the Hague, the argument still raged. Amalia won the day jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1074633187430293362004-01-20T16:12:00.000-05:002004-01-20T16:17:19.030-05:00Usually this blog is nothing more than colorful unrelated factoids. It's not true history. But today I am going to think out loud in historical terms as I'm trying to work through some theoretical models for my own work on the cultural transformation of the Williamite world. This is where you want to leave the room.
I've been mulling over a few things. Most particularly the state of intellectualjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1074538019106239182004-01-19T13:45:00.000-05:002004-01-19T13:52:06.543-05:00Party like it's 1689. [Or 1690 if you're using N.S.]
Twelfth Night celebrations at Whitehall Palace that year found King William in an unusally good mood. After a grand dinner hosted by the Duke of Shrewsbury, Queen Mary retired to Kensington with her sister, Princess Anne, to play at cards, leaving the King, the Earl of Marlborough, the Earl of Godolphin, the Earl of Selkirk, and others to jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1074483597154626982004-01-18T22:37:00.000-05:002004-01-18T22:41:21.343-05:00In the year of the Rampjaar (1672), the French swarmed through the Netherlands. The only real defense was to open the sluices and the dykes and flood the country in advance of the French armies. Naturally this was an onerous policy and one that was heavily resisted by the officals of the Dutch provinces.
The 22 year old Prince of Orange was adamant, and would not be dissuaded from this course ofjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1074175003439673992004-01-15T00:06:00.000-05:002004-01-15T08:58:03.873-05:00The Reduction of Ireland. That's what it's called. Makes it sound like the latest diet craze. What it means is 'reduce' Ireland to 'submission'. And no doubt the Irish were getting damn tired of it. But it would happen yet again starting in 1689.
Why? [Well, I'll tell you.] Because the ousted James II, with backing from Louis 14, lands in Ireland with an army intent on taking first Ireland and jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1074088449016086652004-01-14T08:51:00.000-05:002004-01-14T08:55:28.483-05:00I've been asked to expound on the Archbishop of Canterbury's role after Queen Mary's death in convincing King William to be shed of his mistress. Okey dokey.
To set the stage. Queen Mary dies of smallpox and the King, according to the Calendar of State Papers, was 'drowning in sorrow'. (Cal. S.P. Dom. William III. July 1- Dec 31, 1695, p.301) He had been weeping hysterically during the course ofjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1074005961699520812004-01-13T09:51:00.000-05:002004-01-13T10:00:40.186-05:00On this day (January 13) in 1696, at Kensington was signed
"A Warrant for a patent under the great seal of Scotland, creating Lord George Hamilton, son of the Late Duke of Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, Viscount Kirkwell and Lord Degmont [Dechmont] in that kingdom, in consideration of the services of his ancestors to the Crown, and especially of the service of the said late Duke, who was most jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1073954570772202072004-01-12T19:42:00.000-05:002004-01-12T19:48:48.140-05:00Tidbits for the month of January:(all dates N.S.)
01/23/1689: The prince [of Orange] has also ordered, that for the future no officer in his army shall sell any office or place under him, but that they shall be given to such as best deserve them: they are also required to take an oath to be faithful to him and the protestant religion.
01/08/90: The king has declared his final resolutions to goejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1073916294008674952004-01-09T13:07:00.001-05:002004-01-12T09:06:12.216-05:00Because the air of London was so heavily polluted and because King William was asthmatic, he found out quite quickly that he could not live at Whitehall Palace. Hampton Court was an alternative, but it was too far away from the center of London to accommodate regular business.
To solve the commuting problem William bought Kinsington House from the Earl of Nottingham for 18,000 guineas. The brickjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1073671905875572142004-01-09T13:07:00.000-05:002004-01-09T13:13:01.233-05:00This one is for The Mookie. Which Mookie? Hell, there's only one.
This is the portrait I told you about. Done by Sir Godfrey Kneller. A copy is hanging in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. God only knows why. But in my unvarnished opinion, this is the one portrait that I have seen that is a genuinely good likeness of King William III. And what do I base that on? The funeral effigy, jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-107357133020102452004-01-08T09:14:00.000-05:002004-01-08T09:18:39.763-05:00The Royal College of Physicians had many purposes, and one of these was the harrying of Quacks. An anonymous publication, The Anatomies of the True Physician and COunterfeit Mountebank, 1605, vividly portrays the Quacks.
Runagate Jews, the cut-throats and robbers of Christians, slow-bellied monks who had made their escape from their cloisters, Simoniacal and perjured shavelings, busy St. jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1073485210072218552004-01-07T09:18:00.000-05:002004-01-07T09:21:56.903-05:00Bedlam. A corruption of Bethlehem, applied to the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in Bishopsgate, London, founded in 1247. In 1402 it was known as a hospital for lunatics. In 1675 a new hospital, still for lunatics, was built in Moorfields. If bull-baiting was a popular sport, a cheaper one was to watch and tease these unhappy people after paying one penny for admission.
The Mohocks. The jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1073424040351418052004-01-06T16:19:00.000-05:002004-01-06T16:21:52.670-05:00A seaman sailing in the Mediterranean under Sir John Harman during the years 1669-1671 had this to say about a sailor's diet --
Our beef and pork is very scant,
I'm sure of weight, one half it want;
Our bread is black, and maggots in it crawl,
That's all the fresh meat we are fed withal.
When we these things to Sir John Harman say,
Our purser mends the matter for a day,
Thinking to make us wearyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1073336834735479842004-01-05T16:04:00.000-05:002004-01-05T16:08:26.250-05:00Het Loo. King William's favorite home. It was located in the province of Gelderland in the middle of the Veluwe Forest. He had bought the property in 1684 and had lavished a fortune on having the house built. The gardens were laid out by Le Notre, and the house itself was built according to the plans of the Dutch architect, Jacob Roman and the French Huguenot, Daniel Marot.
Throughout his life, jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1073264089894030062004-01-04T19:47:00.000-05:002004-01-04T19:56:00.670-05:00I was thinking about dipping into the Irish Forfeitures, which is part of the context of the previous letter, but I can't figure out a way to reduce the subject to 25 words or less -- at least at the moment. So, in default, I'll do the Earl of Galway, who was an unwilling participant in the Forfeiture crisis.
Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny and Earl of Galway. (1648-1720). As you can guess jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1073107413648711212004-01-03T00:21:00.000-05:002004-01-03T00:25:04.186-05:00I've always liked this letter. Yes, the content is undoubtedly puzzling to the uninformed, but just listen to the style of the words. Hear Clio speak.
William III to the Earl of Galway. Hampton Court, May 2-13. 1700.
It is a good while since I writ to you last. The reason is, that, being always uncertain of the issue of the last session of Parliament, I was unwilling to answer any of your jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1072998800517204392004-01-01T18:11:00.000-05:002004-01-01T18:22:14.576-05:00Monsieur le Cardinal. No, Not Mazarin. Not Richelieu. This "Cardinal" can clear the room of men in under 10 seconds flat. Still confused? (Of course you are.) Read on.
How nice that History has brought us information about the menstrual cycles of two important women of the 17th century, and how it inconvienced their new husbands on their wedding nights. I'm sure everyone involved is pleased as jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1072883136522339152003-12-31T09:58:00.000-05:002003-12-31T10:06:42.873-05:00Govard Bidloo (1649-1713). Born in Amsterdam on the 21st of March, 1649, he died in Leiden on 30 April, 1713, at the age of 64. His importance in this tale is that he was chief physician-in-ordinary to King William III.
Little is known about his education, but he must have received some traditional classical instruction, for at the age of 23 he translated a Latin anatomical treatise into Dutch. jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1072798348313321182003-12-30T10:29:00.000-05:002003-12-30T10:33:33.310-05:00The last two coronation tidbits. Believe me, there's tons more but these are the last two for the moment.
The coronation anthem. The major anthem used in W&M's coronation was "The Lord is a Sun and a Shield", composed by John Blow. [Yes, John BLOW. I couldn't make this shit up.] Since this clip is done in period style you may find that it sounds flat. That's because it is -- at least to our jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1072661106122972432003-12-28T20:20:00.000-05:002003-12-28T22:59:18.200-05:00You know that saying, "Shit happens"? Well, it did. At the coronation of William & Mary in 1689.
Problem #1: Just hours prior to the coronation, an express letter arrived for Mary from her father, the deposed James II, warning her not to go through with the ceremony. As her father, this letter said, he "had hitherto been willing to make excuses for what had been done, and thought her obedience jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1072117103700777972003-12-22T13:16:00.000-05:002003-12-22T13:22:42.716-05:00One of the biggest problems with the Coronation of William & Mary was that the main actor, William, didn't want to take the stage. He denigrated the service as foolish and smacking of Popery and felt that the approval of Parliament and the Declaration of Rights were all he needed to take the crown and get down to business. Government could be 'secular' in Holland where William was stadhoulder, jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1071809983738382672003-12-18T23:59:00.000-05:002003-12-19T00:00:37.090-05:00The image of the dual monarchy of William and Mary that was officially presented in documents and ceremonies, such as the Coronation was, on the surface, that of two equal monarchs, but details showed that Mary was subordinate to her husband. And the Devil is in the details, as they say. To our modern eye these differences may seem to subtle to matter, but in an age that relied heavily on jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1071685956929608802003-12-17T13:17:00.000-05:002003-12-17T13:36:02.920-05:00The Coronation Chair was made for King Edward I in 1300 to enclose the famous Stone of Scone (Destiny), which he brought [if you're a Scot you might use the word 'looted'] from Scotland to the Abbey in 1296. This is a better picture of the chair were you can really see the Stone underneath.
It is made of oak and painted with patterns of birds, foliage and animals on a gilt ground. The figure of jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1071580354601676202003-12-16T08:04:00.000-05:002003-12-16T08:20:42.436-05:00The Coronation. April 12, 1689. This is going to be broken up into parts because there's a lot to show and tell -- pomp, circumstance, historical uniqueness, and my favorite, lots of gold and jewels.
I'm going to try and walk you through the ceremony and show you the regalia, give you a clip of one of the coronation anthems, talk about what went right and what went wrong, the historical jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1071521899873443832003-12-15T15:50:00.000-05:002003-12-15T16:07:27.640-05:00The Ring. [Not the one that will 'in the darkness bind them', although I can't say I wouldn't mind having it myself. At the very least a set of Ring Wraiths of my own.]
This is the story of the ring that was found on King William's body after he died. All the contemporary eyewitness accounts record a ring -- a gold ring with a lock of the late Queen's hair in it. Some say it 'was the ring with jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1071445850283565342003-12-14T18:49:00.000-05:002003-12-14T18:54:22.610-05:00So, you think your weather sucks? How about it being so cold that the river Thames freezes solid. John Evelyn, the famous diarist, described the Frost Fair that took place on the Thames in 1684.
1st January. The weather continuing intolerably severe, streets of booths were set upon the Thames; the air was so very cold and thick, as of many years there had not been the like.
6th. The river quitejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1071083571854875212003-12-10T14:10:00.000-05:002003-12-10T14:16:27.170-05:00Some fashion notes.
It was a silken fop which I spied walking the other day through Westminster-Hall, that had as much ribbon about him as would have plundered six shops, and set up twenty country pedlars; all his body was dressed like a maypole, or a Tom-a-Bedlam's cap. A frigate newly rigged kept not half such a clatter in a storm, as this puppet's streamers behold, and the colours were red, jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070999165014207622003-12-09T14:44:00.000-05:002003-12-09T14:46:49.420-05:00I really like to read newspapers. No, not the New York Times or the Washington Post. More like the Post Boy and the London Gazette. And like today, people post ads for their lost dogs -- even King Charles II.
From Mercurius Publicus, July 1660:
We must call upon you again for a black dog, between a greyhound and a spaniel, no white about him, only a streak, on his breast, and tail a little jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070929967230692832003-12-08T19:31:00.000-05:002003-12-08T19:39:59.640-05:00Jonathan Swift's account of the Duel between Lord Mohun and the Duke of Hamilton in 1712 (back up a few blogs if you don't know what I 'm talking about .... I guess that's a given.)
Swift described the encounter the same day it happened in a letter to Mrs. Dingley.
Before this comes to your hands, you will have heard of the most terrible accident that hath almost ever happened. This morning, atjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070842490621668042003-12-07T19:10:00.000-05:002003-12-07T19:18:40.123-05:00Although not yet formal parties in the Williamite era, the terms Whig and Tory described divisions that already existed in Parliament which would eventually lead to the emergence of true party government.
To oversimplify:
Whigs, also known as the Country party, could be painted generally as liberal, tolerant of some religions other than the established Church of England and strongly committed jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070758339987519942003-12-05T19:11:00.001-05:002003-12-06T19:53:02.153-05:00In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, there was only one true democracy on earth -- the pirate brotherhood. Whenever a man joined a pirate crew he had to take an oath on a Bible or an axe (now we're talkin') that he would obey the ship's articles. Although the articles might differ in various particulars from ship to ship, the general aim was to safeguard individual liberties, and to ensure jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070586017871695572003-12-04T19:56:00.000-05:002003-12-04T20:03:03.153-05:00It is not understatement to say that the success of Prince William's plan to invade England in 1688 depended on 4 men. At the Dutch end it was managed by William Bentinck with the aid of Zuylestein & Dijkvelt. In England the leading role was played by Henry Sidney, 'the great wheel on which the Revolution rolled.' (afterwards Earl of Romney and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland)
Bentinck was jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070484027216987352003-12-03T15:38:00.000-05:002003-12-04T09:33:49.233-05:00The trials of Charles Mohun, 4th BARON MOHUN (c. 1675-1712 )
In the autumn of 1692 England was not in a particularly jolly state. There was a great deal of dissatisfaction in the country at large. The King's land campaign in Flanders had been unsuccessful with the bloody defeat at Steenkirk. The initial success of the Navy at the Battle of La Hogue had never been followed up and the Channel was jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070423804615376062003-12-02T22:54:00.000-05:002003-12-02T22:58:26.796-05:00The East India Company. More correctly, a Parliamentary witchhunt regarding payoffs by the East India Company. Year 1695. Targets -- the Earl of Portland and King William III. [One of these days I really should explain the significance of the Earl of Portland aka Hans William Bentinck. Suffice to say, he was the King's best comrade from the time they were 16 and was known as the King's 'second jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070308478153184622003-12-01T14:50:00.000-05:002003-12-01T15:01:05.576-05:00The Whitehall fires.
Whitehall Palace was the official residence of the English monarchs located
in the middle of London directly on the Thames River. The last monarch to reside there full-time was James II. William III was asthmatic and disliked staying at Whitehall (and in London in general) because of its damp river-side location and the high level of air pollution that tainted the city. jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070221993678681462003-11-30T14:51:00.000-05:002003-11-30T22:44:13.030-05:00Two of England's royal homes were victims of fire during the tenure of William and Mary -- Whitehall Palace and Kinsington House. Whitehall caught fire twice during King William's reign. Once in 1691 and more seriously in 1698. The fire at Kinsington House (in November of 1691) was the least serious, but it started as the Whitehall fires, by the carelessness of a servant.
About 3:30 a.m. in thejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070143486685840692003-11-29T17:04:00.000-05:002003-11-29T17:05:21.733-05:00An earthquake in Belgium? Really. Not something you would expect. It was certainly not expected in September of 1692 during the end of that year's campaign season.
William was camped with his army at Gram in Flanders when on the 18th of September an earthquake occurred. The event is recorded by Constantijn Huygens, the King's personal secretary, as he was sitting in his tent having dessert.
jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1070070597178258902003-11-28T20:49:00.000-05:002003-11-28T20:50:57.686-05:00A few tidbits culled from various London newspapers from late November over 300 years ago:
11/16/1689: The 16th, his majestie came to the house of lords and gave the royal assent to these acts: An act granting to their majesties an aid of 2s. in one pound for one year; An act for declaring the rights of the subject, and settling the succession of the crown; An act for naturalizing William Watts,jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069979523637670522003-11-27T19:12:00.000-05:002003-11-27T19:32:36.420-05:00Since today is the grand American day of gluttony, something food related would be nice. Of course, you realize that turkeys were not common coin in 17th c. Europe as they are a native American bird. [No, of course you don't. What was I thinking.]
Anyway ... how about a 'receipt' To boyle a capon in white broth. At least it's poultry. [Assuming you know what a capon is -- and I'm not assuming jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069861076386237022003-11-26T10:36:00.000-05:002003-11-29T17:21:10.466-05:00How about something with a dog reference, since I would willingly spend all the rest of my days without sight of another human being, surrounded only in the company of canines. Them I understand.
When Prince William was 6 years old he was taken to pay a call on a visiting Swedish prince. Even as young as he was, it was necessary for him to learn and to participate in the formal duties of his jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069768284808443292003-11-25T08:46:00.000-05:002003-11-29T22:50:23.890-05:00"King William's death has made me sad. .... Last autumn Lenor sent me an almanach for this year and King William's death is clearly predicted as follows: 'NB (Mars) h (the Sun) March 20th 1702; a potentate goes to his grave,/This pleases not a few,/That's how it goes when one departs To make room for the new'." (Orleans, Letters from Liselotte, 107)
Who is Liselotte, and why would she care that jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069682661028643832003-11-24T09:00:00.000-05:002003-11-24T09:04:50.750-05:00With the dreaded holiday season upon us, and the prospect of my family crawling out of their holes, it's nice to realize that the family moments of even Kings and Queens can be no less appealing.
With the restoration of Prince William's uncle in 1660, William's mother, Mary, hopped a boat to Merrie Olde England to participate in the festivities. She didn't get much partying in before she fell jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069532547117599842003-11-22T15:19:00.000-05:002003-11-22T15:22:54.856-05:00I'm repeating this anecdote because I think it's cute and it would have been terrifically funny if it had actually happened. It didn't -- not even close, but as often happens, popular folktales get caught up in the historical web and are transmitted as historical fact. That being said:
While traveling through a village near Windsor one day, William III's carriage was approached by a woman who, jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069422657866732412003-11-21T08:49:00.000-05:002003-11-21T08:51:24.733-05:00Back up one blog if you haven't read the bullshit about Prince William's iron hand in reforming his infantry forces.
In one of Clio's interesting little quirks [she's a Muse who has a sense of humor], at the same time that the young Prince of Orange wasworking to instill order from the chaos that was the Dutch army, across the field of battle a Frenchman was doing much the same for King Louis'sjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069338432026353122003-11-20T09:26:00.000-05:002003-11-20T09:30:18.623-05:00In 1672, with the French army swallowing up the Netherlands, the responsibility for the defense of the Dutch Republic was handed to the 22 year old Prince of Orange, whose only military experience had come from books.
It was up to William to rebuild the Dutch army which had been severely neglected by the DeWitts. One key act by the Prince was to engage George Frederick, Count van Waldeck, one ofjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069259736335945332003-11-19T11:33:00.000-05:002003-11-19T11:37:38.216-05:00From the time he took his financial affairs into his own hands, at the age of 18, William Henry was a very careful money manager. The coffers of the House of Orange were in a pitiful state, having been squandered by his father and his mother through careless spending and zero management of the estates.
William's frugality and money managing skills were regarded, by members of his class, as beingjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069176344197286762003-11-18T12:23:00.000-05:002003-11-18T12:28:39.263-05:00Paerden. No, not 'paerden me'. Horses. As in:
Tot transport van de 4000 parden smacken, roeyers, gallioots en boots 120, in elck schip 36 paerden, den een doorden anderen, ... be alle de paerden in elck schip 6 man; het volck van de paerden verteert nogh 3280 man; ... (Memorie met de Heer Herbert, Admirael Bastiaensen, Secretaris de Wildt en Capitein Callenburg den 19 September 1688)
Got it? (jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069086233704295702003-11-17T11:21:00.000-05:002003-11-17T13:07:46.996-05:00Impressment was a common tactic in manning the British Navy. Not so in the Dutch Republic. In this era it was extremely rare for the Dutch to use press gangs. When they did it was an extraordinary circumstance, such as the invasion of England in 1688.
In July of 1688 the States General voted to expand the Dutch navy by upwards of 9,000, virtually doubling its strength. Many of the 9,000 were jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1069040782474308312003-11-16T22:32:00.000-05:002003-11-16T22:48:45.983-05:00Buggery and the British Navy, 1700-1861. By Arthur N. Gilbert. Journal of Social History 10 (1976): 72-98.
I had to get up and walk out of the library tonight because I was laughing so hard I was crying. Not at Gilbert's work. It's excellent. And it's a serious topic in regards to how English law handled the issue of sodomy. But the fucking (!) testimony from several of these court martials jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1068908313053292902003-11-15T09:56:00.000-05:002003-11-15T10:02:10.360-05:00In the Navy ... wasn't that a Village People song? 'Enuff said.
Just some stray tidbits about the Navy in the era of William III. The classic work on this subject is by John Ehrman, The Navy in the War of William III, 1689-1697, Its State and Direction (Cambridge, 1953). Outside of Ehrman's 50 year old work, the subject of William III's navy, and particularly his Mediterranean policy, remains jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1068819034449666012003-11-14T09:08:00.000-05:002003-11-14T09:10:54.326-05:00Press this.
The Williamite wars required prodigious numbers of men in arms, both on land and on the sea. Bounty money was offered to help voluntary recruitment, but a common tactic to fill the ranks was to 'press' men into service. The press gangs were regularly unleashed to press 'all loose and idle persons' to fight for King and country, whether they wanted to or not.
The tactics used by thejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1068733224286384052003-11-13T09:19:00.000-05:002003-11-13T09:20:43.030-05:00After the Prince of Orange landed at Torbay on November 5, 1688, there were more than a few anxious days spent waiting for the men and arms promised by the English opponents to James II. Slowly the pledged support came trickling in and the Prince's army began it's advance through the west country towards London.
The first major city to open its gate to the Prince was Exeter, where he made a jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1068648708409920772003-11-12T09:50:00.000-05:002003-11-12T09:52:19.563-05:00Let me interrupt this Baroque reverie with a bit of 18th century pissing and moaning.
I HATE sewing menswear. I do. I really, really do. Especially a frock coat with 22 buttons and 22 buttonholes that have to be worked by hand. I swear I'm leaving pins in the seams.
Now (releasing the homicidal grip on my Ginghers) .....
How about that 'Protestant Wind'? No, it was not the Dutch version of 'jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1068558909092203522003-11-11T08:53:00.000-05:002003-11-11T08:55:06.900-05:00The Elector of Brandenburg. Another family tie that binds. But this was one of the rare ones that didn't suck.
The Elector had married the daughter of Amalia von Solms (William III's bitch of a grandmother), and so became William's uncle by marriage. And a damned fine uncle he was. Brandenburg became a refuge for William. When things were turning to shit in his public or professional life, he jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1068475518451212602003-11-10T09:42:00.000-05:002003-11-10T09:45:15.716-05:00One of the qualities that King William's critics claimed that he lacked was a sense of humor, having been used to the "Hail fellow, well met" familiarity of King Charles II. The truth was that King William actually had a fairly well sharpened sense of humor, but he kept it bottled up unless in familiar company.
On occasion it would slip out, such as the time Queen Mary went shopping at the "jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1068301181334324592003-11-08T09:18:00.000-05:002003-11-29T17:24:04.733-05:00I'm on my way to surrender Fort Mifflin to the British. It's like the movie, Groundhog Day. Once was not enough. 226 years later and it's still being done. And it's a bit brisk today, true to history -- thanks for that one, Clio. Temperature in the mid-40's, the wind is blowing, and we're going to be down by the water. Hooray.
So what's the big deal with Fort Mifflin?
From I-95 North: take jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1068212490788277462003-11-07T08:40:00.000-05:002003-11-07T22:20:41.923-05:00Charles Talbot, 12th Earl and 1st Duke of Shrewsbury.
Never was a greater mixture of honour, virtue and good sense in any one person than in him; a great man, attended with a sweetness of behaviour and easiness of conversation which charm all who come near him; nothing of the stiffness of a statesman, yet the capacity and knowledge of a piercing wit. He speaks French and Italian as well as his jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1068130456872661262003-11-06T09:53:00.000-05:002003-11-06T09:54:14.586-05:00Master of the Horse. Yep. That's the job I want.
One of the Great Officers of the King's Household. In William's reign it was filled by Henri de Nassau, Monseigneur de Auverquerque.
All matters that are 'out of doors' and connected with the horses of the sovereign, as well as the stables and coachhouses, the stud, the mews and THE KENNELS are within his jurisdiction.
That's right -- DOGS. jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1068040346736653912003-11-05T08:50:00.000-05:002003-11-05T08:55:56.910-05:00And now to the marriage.
First and foremost it was a match typical of the times. Its purpose was to forward a political agenda and create a strategic alliance via family connections. And just as his father had done, this William of Orange would find the best political advantage in marrying the Princess Royal of England.
Mary was the most eligible Protestant princess in Europe and considered a jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067951909760634492003-11-04T08:17:00.000-05:002003-11-04T08:18:28.216-05:00November 4th was King William's birthday and his wedding anniversary.
The birthday first.
The future William III of England was born on his mother’s nineteenth birthday in the year 1650 in an atmosphere of profound gloom. His father had died of smallpox only eight days before, and the room in the Binnenhof, [the Orange family residence at The Hague], was draped in black. The young widow, Mary jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067869418077953542003-11-03T09:20:00.000-05:002003-11-03T09:23:36.600-05:00Men without jobs and the women who are stupid enough to put up with it. That's the story for today.
Moll Jones. Who became a Shoplifter for Love of her Husband. Executed at Tyburn, 18th of December, 1691.
Moll was raised in a decent enough family, and was brought up to the making of hoods and scarves for a living. Unfortunately for her, she hooked up with a bum of an apprentice and fell in jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067793020226714122003-11-01T20:26:00.000-05:002003-11-02T14:05:36.926-05:00I guess you could call this 'Runs with Musket'.
For a woman to serve as a sailor or soldier in the armies and navies of the era was easier than you might think.
Medical inspections on enlistment were rare, and clothing could disguise the female form, especially if the breasts were bound. Long hair was not uncommon, and was the preferred style among many soldiers.
With many young, male jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067722856378700652003-11-01T16:40:00.000-05:002003-11-01T16:41:11.490-05:00Jean Herault de Gourville (1625-1703) was a confidant of the great noblemen of Europe, and secret plenipotentiary of Louis 14th. At the age of 78 he wrote his memoirs. His remarks concerning his relations with the Prince of Orange are not without interest, especially because William was quite free with Gourville, and regarded him as a friend, a word the Prince did not use loosely.
William wrote jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067609316694174192003-10-31T09:07:00.000-05:002003-10-31T09:08:35.790-05:00He had a term for people like this: temporal provincials - people who were ignorant of the past, and proud of it.
Temporal provincials were convinced that the present was the only time that mattered, and that anything that had occurred earlier could be safely ignored. The modern world was compelling and new, and the past had no bearing on it. Studying history was as pointless as learning Morse jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067523089565995282003-10-30T09:10:00.000-05:002003-10-30T09:11:19.236-05:00I can't let Charles Sackville go by without a bit more storytelling.
Born in January, 1637. Died in January, 1705/06. Known as Lord Buckhurst until 1677 when he inherited his father's title and became the 6th Earl of Dorset and Middlesex.
He aspired to be a wit and a poet and was reputedly half-decent at both. He was part of the infamous "Merry Gang" of debauchers that surrounded Charles II jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067437037885927222003-10-29T09:16:00.000-05:002003-10-29T09:17:17.120-05:00600 to 1.
No, not the odds of you actually understanding anything that is on this page. 600 to 1 is the ratio of servants to monarch that was needed to maintain the King's service, splendor and comfort. That covers everyone from the Great Officers of the Crown down to the kitchen maids. It's a lot of bodies to take care of the needs of just one guy. Then again, as was sung in one of the jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067349423290398252003-10-28T08:56:00.000-05:002003-10-28T09:02:19.580-05:00With all the time, effort and pounds sterling that went into the redecorating of King William's dining rooms, it might be interesting to talk about what this guy ate. Or not.
He really had very distinct tastes in food, formed no doubt from his childhood routine. When he was in his minority, he would have breakfast between 6 and 7 AM in the summer, and between 7 and 8 AM in the winter. [Christ. Ajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067261423352095782003-10-27T08:27:00.000-05:002003-10-27T08:30:22.650-05:00I found it! Can't believe it. Last night Madame Littel-Beaupepys and I were bemoaning the fact that I have never been able to find a picture of Lord Zuylestein. Struck us as odd since he was made an English peer (1st Earl of Rochford) and noblemen had their portraits painted. From our lips to God's ear, and she was definitely listening.
In the course of some bread-and-butter research, there he jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067192276870976332003-10-26T13:09:00.000-05:002003-10-26T13:24:59.153-05:00I'd be negligent if I didn't bullshit more about the military campaigns. After all, King William was a professional soldier -- that was his business. He spent all of his adult life fighting Louis 14. And I don't mean in a virtual sense.
William was a real soldier. Pistol and sabre in hand. Right up front. He charged at the head of his cavalry and he led the rearguard actions. The first guy out jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067097730234284892003-10-25T11:58:00.000-04:002003-10-25T12:02:10.150-04:00One of the things I really love about King William's reign are the numbers of extraordinary characters who peopled it. Names that stand out as leading lights in their own fields and in history proper. How amazing that they should all congregate in one place at one time and personally cross this King's path.
To name a few:
Dr. John Locke -- You remember him from history or political science, jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5615935.post-1067002171904503822003-10-24T09:22:00.000-04:002003-10-24T09:29:31.686-04:00Willem Hendrik Zuylestein.(1645-1709) Yes, another William Henry. I told you so. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Dutchman named William Henry in this era.
This particular W.H. is a cousin of the Prince of Orange/King of England, only a cousin from a side of the Nassau family that stems from a bit of extracurricular activity. Zuylestein and William III had the same grandfather -- jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01908730849525047042noreply@blogger.com