On June 29, 1613 during the first on-stage production of Henry VIII, the Globe Theater of Shakespeare fame burned to the ground. Quickly erected and quickly raised, the theater reminds fans of the Elizabethan era that even the best figures from history had their problems.
Shakespeare and his band of thespians known as “The Chamberlain’s Men” performed theater in the round which meant that the audience and the actors had the intimate experience of close proximity. There were no female actors at the time as such a practice was illegal and viewed as obscene. So whether the character was Romeo or Juliet, the actor was male and this was not strange. In fact, the tradition of male actors playing female leads continues today in British pantomime (Christmas Plays) performances.
As theater developed into its modern form, the plays, performances and skills of the various actors and writers were a constant source of conversation. Those who performed best, created the most drama and put on the most captivating stories were rewarded with packed houses and good reviews in the morning papers. For this reason, special effects played a large role in productions and Shakespeare and his company were no exception to this as during his life, he was just another writer trying to improve his credentials.
Without modern safety equipment such as fire extinguishers and smoke alarms and without the close proximity of a municipal fire brigade, devastating structural fires were common during the period. In fact it would be only a few decades later that the Great Fire of London (1666) would take place, raising a vast portion of the capital to the ground.
When it comes to historic English writers, one conjures images of Shakespeare, Bacon, Shelly, even Chaucer (for those with a penchant for prolifically pretentious prose), forgetting that some of England’s most historic writings were recorded in the diaries of a less than famous Londoner. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), son of an English tailor and member of the English parliament, was responsible for some of the most accurate and detailed coverage of London’s great fire and the crowning of Charles II.
Born into a reasonably well off family with ten siblings, Pepys was educated at Cambridge and left college to be the secretary to the Earl of Sandwich. He married a 15 year old girl a year later and by 1660 was working as the Clerk of the King’s ships in the Royal Navy. On January 1, 1660 Pepys began to keep a diary.
His diaries were written in a shorthand style and covered both his own activities as well as the events of London on a daily basis. His position as an MP meant his days were spent mingling with many notables of the period. Politicians, dukes, earls, even artists and architects made their way into Pepys’ diaries, providing for historians additional insights into their favorite personages and events.
“Great fears of the Sickenesses here in the City, it being said that two or three houses are already shut up. God preserve us all” - April 30, 1665
Pepys is known for his comments on the plague that was spreading through England at the time. Known as the Black Death, the plague took thousands of lives and resulted in mass grave pits throughout the city. Pepys’ was one of the few on the ground providing descriptions of the deaths and its effect on the people of London.
“By and by Jane comes and tells me that she hears that above 300 houses have been burned down tonight by the fire we saw, and that it is now burning down all Fish Street, by London Bridge. So I made myself ready presently, and walked to the Tower; and there got up upon one of the high places, . . .and there I did see the houses at the end of the bridge all on fire, and an infinite great fire on this and the other side . . . of the bridge. . .” - September 2, 1666
In September of 1666, a great fire swept through London, killing the plague and devastating the city. Believed to have started because the royal baker forgot to turn off the oven, the Great Fire of London took out over eighty percent of the town. It took four days for the wind to blow the fire out. 13,000 homes burnt, many lost everything. Pepys did not evacuate during the fire; rather, he went to where the fire was and recorded details of its path and wake. Pepys did not run, he wrote, scribbling his way into history.
Christopher Wren rebuilder of London after the fire and architect of Charles II is also noted in Pepys’ diary. Indeed, the coronation of the king is recorded with both detail and opinion by Pepys’. It was the journalist’s nature to record both his life and the life of his city and give his opinion on both.
Throughout his life, Pepys paid a lot of attention to his health. It is rumored he celebrated his recovery from a gall bladder operation every year on the anniversary of the surgery. His eyesight had never been the best and eventually it would cause him to stop writing his diary. He was 36 in 1669 when he decided to save what was left of his eyesight and quit writing forever.
After the diaries ended, Pepys’ life continued to grow and change. He had a brief stint as a politician, became very involved in the navy, assisted the country during the war with Holland and was accused of treason. After six weeks in the tower of London for supposedly selling state secrets to the French, Pepys’ was released and continued his work for the navy. In 1684 he held the position of Secretary to the Admiralty. One wonders how vivid and exciting the diaries would have been if Pepys had continued to write throughout the rest of his career.
Always a lover of books, Pepys spent his short retirement (1689-1703) cataloging his personal library of three thousand volumes. When it was bequeathed to his nephew after his death, the library included his nine years of diaries. In 1719, Pepys’ diary was translated from short to long hand. It would be published for the first time in 1815. Even today, Pepys’ diary is read in classrooms and libraries across the world and serves as a historic insight into one of Britain’s most tumultuous periods.
| It was almost a century after Pepys’ death that his diaries were published and people began to realize his skill and accuracy in writing and recording British history. Pepys’ could be considered an accidental journalist and social historian of his time. For some people, Pepys serves as an inspiration to pay attention, record the details and hopefully, through pen and ink, become a part of human history. |
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