1.
Peter Lely
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Sir Peter Lely was a painter of Dutch origin, whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court. Lely was born Pieter van der Faes to Dutch parents in Soest in Westphalia, Lely studied painting in Haarlem, where he may have been apprenticed to Pieter de Grebber. He became a master of the Guild of Saint Luke in Haarlem in 1637 and he is reputed to have adopted the surname Lely from a heraldic lily on the gable of the house where his father was born in The Hague. He arrived in London in around 1641, which was marked by the death of Anthony van Dyck in December and his early English paintings, mainly mythological or religious scenes, or portraits set in a pastoral landscape, show influences from Anthony van Dyck and the Dutch baroque. Lelys portraits were well received, and he succeeded Anthony van Dyck as the most fashionable portrait artist in England and he became a freeman of the Painter-Stainers Company in 1647 and was portrait artist to Charles I. His talent ensured that his career was not interrupted by Charless execution, and he served Oliver Cromwell, whom he painted warts and all, in the years around 1650 the poet Sir Richard Lovelace wrote two poems about Lely – Peinture and See what a clouded majesty. After the English Restoration in 1660, Lely was appointed as Charles IIs Principal Painter in Ordinary in 1661, with a stipend of £200 per year, Lely became a naturalised English subject in 1662. The young Robert Hooke came to London to follow an apprenticeship with Lely before being given a place at Westminster School by Richard Busby, demand was high, and Lely and his large workshop were prolific. After Lely painted a head, Lelys pupils would often complete the portrait in one of a series of numbered poses. As a result, Lely is the first English painter who has left a mass of work. On Lely’s death in 1680 his executors employed a dozen such slaves to complete for sale the many unfinished canvases stacked about his studio and his most famous non-portrait work is probably Nymphs by a fountain in Dulwich Picture Gallery. Lely played a significant role in introducing the mezzotint to Britain and he encouraged Dutch mezzotinters to come to Britain to copy his work, laying the foundations for the English mezzotint tradition. He died soon afterwards at his easel in Covent Garden, while painting a portrait of the Duchess of Somerset, and was buried at St Pauls Church, Covent Garden. Some items in it which had acquired by Lely from the Commonwealth dispersal of Charles Is art collections. He was replaced as court portraitist by Sir Godfrey Kneller, also a German-born Dutchman, whose style drew from Lelys, between them they established the basic English portrait style followed by less fashionable painters for decades. Amongst Lelys pupils were John Greenhill and Willem Wissing, a horse was also named after him, finishing fourth in the 1996 Grand National. Peter Lelys works Millar, Oliver Lely, Sir Peter Grove Dictionary of Art,19, pp. 119–125 Millar, Oliver Sir Peter Lely 1618-80, National Portrait Gallery,1978. Painting in Britain 1530 to 1790, fourth Edition, New York, Viking Penguin,1978
2.
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
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Rupert was a younger son of the German prince Frederick V, Elector Palatine and his wife Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of James I of England. Thus Rupert was the nephew of King Charles I of England, who made him Duke of Cumberland and Earl of Holderness, and his sister Electress Sophia was the mother of George I of Great Britain. Prince Rupert had a varied career and he was a soldier from a young age, fighting against Spain in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years War, and against the Holy Roman Emperor in Germany during the Thirty Years War. Aged 23, he was appointed commander of the Royalist cavalry during the English Civil War, becoming the archetypal Cavalier of the war and he surrendered after the fall of Bristol and was banished from England. He served under Louis XIV of France against Spain, and then as a Royalist privateer in the Caribbean, Rupert died in England in 1682, aged 62. Rupert is considered to have been a quick-thinking and energetic cavalry general, in the Interregnum, Rupert continued the conflict against Parliament by sea from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, showing considerable persistence in the face of adversity. As the head of the Royal Navy in his years, he showed greater maturity and made impressive and long-lasting contributions to the Royal Navys doctrine. As a colonial governor, Rupert shaped the geography of modern Canada—Ruperts Land was named in his honour. He also played a role in the early African slave trade, Ruperts varied and numerous scientific and administrative interests combined with his considerable artistic skills made him one of the more colourful individuals of the Restoration period. Rupert was born in Prague in 1619, at the start of the Thirty Years War, to Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and Elizabeth Stuart and he was given his name in honour of King Rupert of Germany, a famous Wittelsbach ancestor. Ruperts father was a member of the Holy Roman Empire. This support was not forthcoming, resulting in a defeat at the hands of his Catholic enemies at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. Ruperts parents were mockingly termed the Winter King and Queen as a consequence of their reigns in Bohemia having lasted only a single season. Rupert was almost left behind in the rush to escape Ferdinands advance on Prague, until Kryštof z Donína. Rupert accompanied his parents to The Hague, where he spent his years at the Hof te Wassenaer. Ruperts mother paid her children little attention even by the standards of the day, apparently preferring her pet monkeys, the result was a strict school routine including logic, mathematics, writing, drawing, singing and playing instruments. As a child, Rupert was at times badly behaved, fiery, mischievous, nonetheless, Rupert proved to be an able student. By the age of three he could speak some English, Czech and French, and mastered German while still young and he excelled in art, being taught by Gerard van Honthorst, and found the maths and sciences easy
3.
English Civil War
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The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists over, principally, the manner of Englands government. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, the monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. The term English Civil War appears most often in the singular form, the war in all these countries are known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Unlike other civil wars in England, which focused on who should rule, this war was more concerned with the manner in which the kingdoms of England, Scotland, the two sides had their geographical strongholds, such that minority elements were silenced or fled. The strongholds of the royalty included the countryside, the shires, on the other hand, all the cathedral cities sided with Parliament. All the industrial centers, the ports, and the advanced regions of southern and eastern England typically were parliamentary strongholds. Lacey Baldwin Smith says, the words populist, rich, at times there would be two groups of three lines allowing one group to reload while the other group arranged themselves and fired. Mixed in among the musketeers were pikemen carrying pikes that were between 12 feet and 18 feet long, whose purpose was to protect the musketeers from cavalry charges. The Royalist cavaliers skill and speed on horseback led to early victories. While the Parliamentarian cavalry were slower than the cavaliers, they were better disciplined. The Royalists had a tendency to chase down individual targets after the initial charge leaving their forces scattered and tired, Cromwells cavalry, on the other hand, trained to operate as a single unit, which led to many decisive victories. The English Civil War broke out fewer than forty years after the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, in spite of this, James personal extravagance meant he was perennially short of money and had to resort to extra-Parliamentary sources of income. Charles hoped to unite the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland into a new single kingdom, many English Parliamentarians had suspicions regarding such a move because they feared that setting up a new kingdom might destroy the old English traditions which had bound the English monarchy. As Charles shared his fathers position on the power of the crown, at the time, the Parliament of England did not have a large permanent role in the English system of government. Instead, Parliament functioned as an advisory committee and was summoned only if. Once summoned, a continued existence was at the kings pleasure. Yet in spite of this role, Parliament had, over the preceding centuries. Without question, for a monarch, Parliaments most indispensable power was its ability to tax revenues far in excess of all other sources of revenue at the Crowns disposal
4.
Restoration (England)
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The term Restoration is used to describe both the actual event by which the monarchy was restored, and the period of several years afterwards in which a new political settlement was established. It is very used to cover the whole reign of Charles II. Richard Cromwells main weakness was that he did not have the confidence of the army, after seven months, an army faction known as the Wallingford House party removed him on 6 May 1659 and reinstalled the Rump Parliament. Charles Fleetwood was appointed a member of the Committee of Safety and of the Council of State, on 9 June 1659, he was nominated lord-general of the army. However, his leadership was undermined in Parliament, which chose to disregard the armys authority in a fashion to the post-First Civil War Parliament. A royalist uprising was planned for 1 August 1659, but it was foiled, however, Sir George Booth gained control of Cheshire, Charles II hoped that with Spanish support he could effect a landing, but none was forthcoming. Booth held Cheshire until the end of August when he was defeated by General Lambert, the Commons, on 12 October 1659, cashiered General John Lambert and other officers, and installed Fleetwood as chief of a military council under the authority of the Speaker. The next day Lambert ordered that the doors of the House be shut, on 26 October a Committee of Safety was appointed, of which Fleetwood and Lambert were members. Lambert was appointed major-general of all the forces in England and Scotland, the Committee of Safety sent Lambert with a large force to meet George Monck, who was in command of the English forces in Scotland, and either negotiate with him or force him to come to terms. It was into this atmosphere that Monck, the governor of Scotland under the Cromwells, lamberts army began to desert him, and he returned to London almost alone. The Presbyterian members, excluded in Prides Purge of 1648, were recalled, Fleetwood was deprived of his command and ordered to appear before Parliament to answer for his conduct. On 3 March 1660, Lambert was sent to the Tower of London, Lambert was incarcerated and died in custody on Guernsey in 1694, Ingoldsby was indeed pardoned. On 4 April 1660, Charles II issued the Declaration of Breda, Monck organised the Convention Parliament, which met for the first time on 25 April. On 8 May it proclaimed that King Charles II had been the monarch since the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649. Constitutionally, it was as if the last nineteen years had never happened, Charles returned from exile, leaving the Hague on 23 May and landing at Dover on 25 May. He entered London on 29 May, his birthday, to celebrate his Majestys Return to his Parliament,29 May was made a public holiday, popularly known as Oak Apple Day. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661, some contemporaries described the Restoration as a divinely ordained miracle. The sudden and unexpected deliverance from usurpation and tyranny was interpreted as a restoration of the natural, the Cavalier Parliament convened for the first time on 8 May 1661, and it would endure for over 17 years, finally being dissolved on 24 January 1679
5.
Charles II of England
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Charles II was king of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was king of Scotland from 1649 until his deposition in 1651, Charles IIs father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim, after 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649. Charless English parliament enacted laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England, Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of his reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1670, he entered into the treaty of Dover. Louis agreed to aid him in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay him a pension, Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oatess revelations of a supposed Popish Plot sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charless brother, the crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and ruled alone until his death on 6 February 1685. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed, Charless wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no live children, but Charles acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses. He was succeeded by his brother James, Charles II was born in St Jamess Palace on 29 May 1630. His parents were Charles I and Henrietta Maria, Charles was their second son and child. Their first son was born about a year before Charles but died within a day, England, Scotland and Ireland were respectively predominantly Anglican, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. At birth, Charles automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, at or around his eighth birthday, he was designated Prince of Wales, though he was never formally invested. During the 1640s, when Charles was still young, his father fought Parliamentary, by spring 1646, his father was losing the war, and Charles left England due to fears for his safety. Charles I surrendered into captivity in May 1646, at The Hague, Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter, who later falsely claimed that they had secretly married
6.
Renaissance
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The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
7.
William Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
8.
Othello
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Othello is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603. It is based on the story Un Capitano Moro by Cinthio, Roderigo is upset because he loves Desdemona and had asked her father for her hand in marriage. Iago hates Othello for promoting a younger man named Cassio above him, whom Iago considers less capable a soldier than himself, Iago convinces Roderigo to wake Brabantio and tell him about his daughters elopement. Meanwhile, Iago sneaks away to find Othello and warns him that Brabantio is coming for him. Brabantio, provoked by Roderigo, is enraged and will not rest until he has beheaded Othello, but he finds Othellos residence full of the Duke of Venices guards, who prevent violence. News has arrived in Venice that the Turks are going to attack Cyprus, Brabantio has no option but to accompany Othello to the Dukes residence, where he accuses Othello of seducing Desdemona by witchcraft. Othello defends himself before the Duke of Venice, Brabantios kinsmen Lodovico and Gratiano, Othello explains that Desdemona became enamoured of him for the sad and compelling stories he told of his life before Venice, not because of any witchcraft. Iago, still in the room, takes note of Brabantios remark, the party arrives in Cyprus to find that a storm has destroyed the Turkish fleet. Othello orders a celebration and leaves to consummate his marriage with Desdemona. In his absence, Iago gets Cassio drunk, and then persuades Roderigo to draw Cassio into a fight, Montano tries to calm an angry and drunk Cassio down, but end up fighting one another. Montano is injured in the fight, Othello reenters and questions the men as to what happened. Othello blames Cassio for the disturbance and strips him of his rank, Iago persuades Cassio to importune Desdemona to convince her husband to reinstate Cassio. Iago now persuades Othello to be suspicious of Cassio and Desdemona, when Desdemona drops a handkerchief, Emilia finds it, and gives it to her husband Iago, at his request, unaware of what he plans to do with it. Othello reenters and vows with Iago for the death of Desdemona and Cassio, after which he makes Iago his lieutenant. Act III, scene iii, is considered to be the point of the play as it is the scene in which Iago successfully sows the seeds of doubt in Othellos mind. Iago plants the handkerchief in Cassios lodgings, then tells Othello to watch Cassios reactions while Iago questions him. Iago goads Cassio on to talk about his affair with Bianca, a local courtesan, later, Bianca accuses Cassio of giving her a second-hand gift which he had received from another lover. Othello sees this, and Iago convinces him that Cassio received the handkerchief from Desdemona, enraged and hurt, Othello resolves to kill his wife and asks Iago to kill Cassio
9.
Desdemona
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Desdemona is a character in William Shakespeares play Othello. Shakespeares Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, when her husband is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the Republic of Venice, Desdemona accompanies him. There, her husband is manipulated by his ensign Iago into believing she is an adulteress, the role has attracted notable actresses through the centuries and has the distinction of being the role performed by Margaret Hughes, the first actress to appear on an English public stage. Othello has its source in the 1565 tale, Un Capitano Moro in Gli Hecatommithi by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio, Cinthios tale may have been based on an actual incident occurring in Venice about 1508. The only named character in Cinthios story is Disdemona, the name derives from Greek δυσ + δαίμων, which means ill-fated, unfortunate, i. e. the antonym of Eudaimonia. Léone Teyssandier notes that it may indeed be how Othello views his wife, the other characters are identified only as the Moor, the ensign, the ensigns wife, and the squadron leader. In the original, the ensign lusts after Disdemona and is spurred to revenge when she rejects him, unlike Shakespeares Othello, the Moor in Cinthios story never repents the murder of his wife. Both he and the ensign escape immediate prosecution but are killed much later, Cinthio also drew a moral that European women are unwise to marry the temperamental males of other nations. While Shakespeare followed Cinthios tale very closely in composing Othello, he deviated significantly in some details and he invented Desdemonas father, Brabantio, and her dissolute Venetian admirer, Roderigo. He invented the entire first act in which Iago arouses Brabantios prejudices against Othello, Shakespeare considerably expanded the role of Cinthios ensigns wife. In Cinthio, she is simply Disdemonas companion but in Shakespeare she becomes Desdemonas attendant, in Cinthio, the ensign filches Disdemonas handkerchief from a sash at her waist, his wife is not involved in the mischief as is Shakespeares Emilia. Later, Cinthios ensigns wife learns of her husbands villainy in the handkerchief deception, unlike Shakespeares Emilia, Cinthos ensigns wife lives to tell what she knows of Disdemonas death long after her husband and the Moor are dead. Disdemonas death in Cinthio is strikingly different from Desdemonas death in Shakespeare, in the plays first act, Desdemona has eloped with Othello, a Moor in the service of the Venetian Republic. Before the Duke of Venice, his councilmen, and her father, she proclaims her love for Othello and her father reluctantly accepts the union, but warns Othello that she will some day deceive him. When Othello is sent to Cyprus in the line of duty, Desdemona accompanies him with his ensigns wife, in act 2, Othellos lieutenant, Cassio is disgraced in a brawl, and falls from Othellos favour. Lago suggests to Cassio that he importune Desdemona to intercede for him, meanwhile, Iago persuades Othello that Desdemona has formed an illicit relationship with Cassio. Yet the passion of her love both arouses and unnerves her husband too, adding to the seeds of fear and suspicion, when Emilias husband Iago sees Desdemonas handkerchief, he appropriates it and forbids Emilia to disclose its whereabouts to Desdemona. Iago plants the article in Cassios room, eventually, Othello sees Cassio with the handkerchief and accepts it as confirmation of Desdemonas infidelity
10.
Samuel Pepys
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Samuel Pepys FRS was an administrator of the navy of England and Member of Parliament who is most famous for the diary that he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man. Pepys had no experience, but he rose to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II through patronage, hard work, and his talent for administration. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy, the detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War. Pepys was born in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, London on 23 February 1633, the son of John Pepys, a tailor and his great uncle Talbot Pepys was Recorder and briefly Member of Parliament for Cambridge in 1625. His fathers first cousin Sir Richard Pepys was elected MP for Sudbury in 1640, appointed Baron of the Exchequer on 30 May 1654, Pepys was the fifth of eleven children, but child mortality was high and he was soon the oldest survivor. He was baptised at St Brides Church on 3 March, Pepys did not spend all of his infancy in London, for a while, he was sent to live with nurse Goody Lawrence at Kingsland, just north of the city. In about 1644, Pepys attended Huntingdon Grammar School before being educated at St Pauls School, London and he attended the execution of Charles I in 1649. In 1650, he went to Cambridge University, having received two exhibitions from St Pauls School and a grant from the Mercers Company. In October, he was admitted as a sizar to Magdalene College, he moved there in March 1651, later in 1654 or early in 1655, he entered the household of another of his fathers cousins, Sir Edward Montagu, who was later created 1st Earl of Sandwich. From a young age, Pepys suffered from stones in his urinary tract – a condition from which his mother and brother John also later suffered. He was almost never without pain, as well as other symptoms, by the time of his marriage, the condition was very severe. In 1657 Pepys decided to undergo surgery, not an option, as the operation was known to be especially painful. Nevertheless, Pepys consulted surgeon Thomas Hollier and, on 26 March 1658, Pepys stone was successfully removed and he resolved to hold a celebration on every anniversary of the operation, which he did for several years. However, there were long-term effects from the operation, the incision on his bladder broke open again late in his life. The procedure may have left him sterile, though there is no evidence for this. In mid-1658 Pepys moved to Axe Yard, near the modern Downing Street and he worked as a teller in the Exchequer under George Downing. On 1 January 1660, Pepys began to keep a diary and he recorded his daily life for almost ten years
11.
Electoral Palatinate
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Its rulers served as prince-electors from time immemorial, were noted as such in a papal letter of 1261, and were confirmed as electors by the Golden Bull of 1356. The Counts Palatine of the Rhine held the office of Imperial vicars in the territories under Frankish law and their climax and decline is marked by the rule of Elector Palatine Frederick V, whose coronation as King of Bohemia in 1619 sparked the Thirty Years War. After the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, the lands were further afflicted by the Reunion campaigns launched by King Louis XIV of France. Ruled in personal union with the Electorate of Bavaria from 1777, the office of a Count palatine at the Frankish court of King Childebert I was already mentioned about 535. Up to the 10th century, the rule of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties was centered at the palace in Aachen. In 985, Herman I, a scion of the Ezzonids, is mentioned as count palatine of Lotharingia and his territories were centered in the Rhineland proper around Cologne and Bonn, but extended south to the Moselle and Nahe Rivers in Lorraine. The southernmost point was near Alzey, from about 1085/86, after the death of the last Ezzonian count palatine Herman II, the Palatinate lost its military importance in Lotharingia. The territorial authority of his successor Henry of Laach was reduced to the counties along the Upper Rhine, various noble dynasties competed to be enfeoffed with the Palatinate by the Holy Roman Emperor, among them the House of Ascania, the House of Salm and the House of Babenberg. The first hereditary Count Palatine of the Rhine was Conrad, a member of the House of Hohenstaufen, the territories attached to this hereditary office in 1156 started from those held by the Hohenstaufens in the Donnersberg, Nahegau, Haardt, Bergstraße and Kraichgau regions. Much of this was from their ancestors, the Salian emperors, and apart from Conrads maternal ancestry. These backgrounds explain the composition of Upper and Rhenish Palatinate in the inheritance centuries onwards, about 1182, Conrad moved his residence from Stahleck Castle near Bacharach up the Rhine River to Heidelberg. Upon Conrads death in 1195, the Palatinate passed to the House of Welf through the—secret—marriage of his daughter Agnes with Henry of Brunswick, when Henrys son Henry the Younger died without heirs in 1214, the Hohenstaufen king Frederick II enfeoffed the Wittelsbach duke Louis I of Bavaria. The Bavarian House of Wittelsbach eventually held the Palatinate territories until 1918, as this region was politically connected to the Rhenish Palatinate, the name Upper Palatinate became common from the early 16th century in contrast to the Lower Palatinate along the Rhine. With the Treaty of Pavia in 1329, the Wittelsbach emperor Louis IV, from that time forth, the Count Palatine of the Rhine was usually known as the Elector Palatine. The Elector Palatine, now based in Heidelberg, adopted Lutheranism in the 1530s, in 1619, Frederick V accepted the throne of Bohemia from the Bohemian estates. He was soon defeated by the forces of Emperor Ferdinand II at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, called the Winter King because his reign in Bohemia only lasted one winter, Frederick was put under the ban of the Empire in 1623. Frederick Vs territories and his position as Elector were transferred to the Catholic Duke of Bavaria, Maximilian I, although technically Elector Palatine, he was known as the Elector of Bavaria. From 1648 he ruled in Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate alone, but retained all his Electoral dignities, after Frederick Vs death, his wife Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, worked tirelessly to have the Palatinate restored to her family and to the Protestant cause
12.
Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia
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Elizabeth Stuart was, as the wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, Electress Palatine, and briefly, Queen of Bohemia. Due to her husband’s reign in Bohemia lasting for just one winter and she was the second child and eldest daughter of James VI and I, King of Scots, England, and Ireland, and his wife, Anne of Denmark. She was also the granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots and she was four years older than her brother Charles, who became Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland. With the demise of the Stuart dynasty in 1714, her grandson succeeded to the British throne as George I of Great Britain, the reigning British monarch, Elizabeth II, is Elizabeth Stuarts direct descendant of the 10th and 11th generation through different paths. Elizabeth was born at Falkland Palace, Fife, on 19 August 1596 at 2 oclock in the morning, at the time of her birth, her father was King of Scots only. Named in honour of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the young Elizabeth was christened on 28 November 1596 in the Chapel Royal at Holyroodhouse, a couple of years later the kings second daughter, Margaret, was placed in their care as well. Elizabeth did not pay attention to this younger sister, as even at this young age her affections were with her brother. When Elizabeth I, the Queen of England, died in 1603, Elizabeth Stuarts father, James, along with her elder brother, Henry, Elizabeth made the journey south toward England with her mother in a triumphal progress of perpetual entertainment. Elizabeth remained at court for a few weeks, but there is no evidence that she was present at her parents coronation on 25 July 1603 and it seems likely that by this time the royal children already had been removed to Oatlands, an old Tudor hunting lodge near Weybridge. On 19 October 1603 an order was issued under the privy seal announcing that the King had thought fit to commit the keeping and education of the Lady Elizabeth to the Lord Harrington and his wife. Under the care of Lord Harington at Coombe Abbey, Elizabeth met Anne Dudley, the conspirators chose Elizabeth after considering the other available options. Prince Henry, it was believed, would perish alongside his father, Charles was seen as too feeble and Mary too young. Elizabeth, on the hand, had already attended formal functions. The conspirators aimed to cause an uprising in the Midlands to coincide with the explosion in London and she would then be brought up as a Catholic and later married to a Catholic bridegroom. The plot failed when the conspirators were betrayed and Guy Fawkes was caught by the Kings soldiers before he was able to ignite the powder, Elizabeth was given a comprehensive education for a princess at that time. This education included instruction in history, geography, theology, languages, writing, history, music. She was denied instruction in the classics as her father believed that Latin had the effect of making women more cunning. By the age of 12, Elizabeth was fluent in languages, including French
