Charles’s grandson, the Duke of Monmouth, is also not buried in Westminster Abbey due to the fact that he was executed for being a traitor, and so is buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London. Monmouth’s son with his wife Anna Scott, however – James Scott, Earl of Dalkeith, who became a well-respected soldier. When he died in 1705, he was buried in the Abbey.
Three Stuarts were laid to rest in France. Henrietta Maria, queen of England, was buried in the Basilique Royale de Saint-Denis along with her youngest daughter, Princess Henrietta (Minette). King James II, who as a result of being overthrown in 1688, lived in exile in France and was buried at the Chapel of Saint-Germain, but his tomb – along with the tombs of many other royals – was sadly destroyed during the many horrors of the French Revolution.
39. JOHN MILTON WAS BLIND AND IMPOVERISHED WHEN HE DIED
John Milton was one of the most important poets of the seventeenth century, and with his Paradise Lost, he remains one of the most important figures in English literature. Born in London’s Bread Street in 1608, Milton grew up to become a fervent republican (anti-monarchist) and a strong critic of church clergy, especially Archbishop Laud. He was educated at Cambridge University, from which he received two degrees. His personal life was controversial, for he wrote several pamphlets in favour of divorce and this was received with hostility. Milton was married three times and had three daughters from his first marriage.
During the English Civil Wars, he was a staunch supporter of Parliament; when the monarchy was abolished and Cromwell took the role of Lord Protector, as Cromwell’s secretary, Milton was considered to be his right-hand man. Milton was a brilliant propagandist. When the popular pro-Stuart propaganda Eikon Basilike was released just days after Charles I’s execution, Parliament had their work cut out for them. Eikon Basilike very much made Charles I into a martyr, and indeed he is referred by some as the Martyr-King. Milton was countered with Eikonoklastes, his 1649 Parliamentarian propaganda piece. It simply didn’t beat the emotional impact of the Eikon Basilike, but Milton fared better in his Defensio two years later.
He also wrote Areopagitica, which was A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England. In this monumentally important polemical tract, Milton opposed licensing and censorship of books, writing, ‘It will be primely to the discouragement of all learning, and the stop of truth, not only by disexercising and blunting our abilities in what we know already, but by hindering and cropping the discovery that might be yet further made in religious and civil wisdom.’ It was an early defence of free speech. His prose is elegant and often powerful – ‘He who destroys a good book kills reason itself.’
Fortunes rise and fall, and the pendulum of politics is a notoriously fickle mistress. With Cromwell’s death and the subsequent dissolution of the Republic, Milton soon found himself losing nearly everything. To say he was unhappy to see the return of kingship to the Three Kingdoms would be an understatement. Upon the Restoration, those who had been favoured under the Republic found themselves vilified under the new order. Milton’s radical views were complete anathema to those of the Restoration. Courtier and diarist John Evelyn interceded on Milton’s behalf, and that may well be the reason why Milton did not face prison time or worse.
One of Milton’s most moving poems is unquestionably his When My Light is Spent – in this poignant poem, Milton lamented the increasing loss of his eyesight. In 1667, his destitution meant he had to sell his copyright to Paradise Lost, for which he received a measly £10. When he died in 1674, completely blind and living in poverty, it was a pitiful end for such a talented individual. As is the fate for most writers, Milton came to more recognition posthumously.
40. MOST OF WHITEHALL PALACE WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE IN 1698
Whitehall Palace was one of the most important palaces in British history. Originally York Place, it was a residence for archbishops. When Cardinal Wolsey’s power was on its descent, Henry VIII took possession of the sprawling palace for himself. Since then, Whitehall had become the main base from which monarchs would attend to affairs of state. It was at Whitehall Palace on 28 January 1547 that Henry VIII died. It was at Whitehall that his daughter Elizabeth promenaded with her ‘Frog’, the Francis, Duke of Anjou during negotiations for a possible marriage between them in 1581. And it was in the Star Chamber where Mary Queen of Scots was declared guilty. Whitehall Palace was also where Elizabeth gave her Golden Speech to members of the Commons in 1601. It was also here that one of the most shocking events in British history occurred, when Charles I was publicly beheaded outside the Banqueting House. Whitehall also served as the site where Charles II made a speech at the Restoration.
All this history came to a fiery end when a terrible inferno broke out in 1698. According to reports from the time, a careless maidservant left clothing to dry by a fireplace, which caught fire and quickly spread throughout the palace. The majority of the sprawling Tudor complex was destroyed, with the exception of the Banqueting House, which is a magnificent building in itself and boasts one of the most beautifully painted – and strongly symbolical – ceilings in the world. It was here that foreign ambassadors had been received and masques had once been performed. During Elizabeth I’s reign, three banqueting houses were constructed. The Banqueting House itself was designed by Inigo Jones, following its predecessor’s destruction by fire in 1619. Jones was deeply influenced by the architecture he had seen abroad, and he incorporated features such as Ionic columns; it was constructed between 1619 and 1622.
Also lost in the 1698 blaze was the Whitehall Mural by Hans Holbein the Younger, depicting Henry VII, Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII, and his third wife, Jane Seymour. Fortunately for us, however, Remigius van Leemput painted a small copy of the mural in 1667 during the reign of Charles II. A portion of Holbein’s original cartoon (large drawing or study) was happily not destroyed and is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
This hadn’t been the first time a fire had broken out at Whitehall during William’s reign. In 1691, the Stone Gallery and the Duchess of Portsmouth’s apartments had caught fire. Following the second (and most destructive) inferno, King William III – who by then was ruling alone, his wife having been dead for four years– had it turned into a Royal Chapel. It largely remained a chapel until late into the reign of Queen Victoria, at which point it was turned into the Royal United Services Museum. In the late twentieth century, that museum was removed and it ultimately became looked after by the charitable organisation Historic Royal Palaces, which looks after it and several other castles and palaces.
41. JAMES II’S FOLLOWERS WERE KNOWN AS THE JACOBITES
King James II, openly and devoutly Catholic in a time when Catholics were regarded with fear, suspicion, and hatred, was an unpopular monarch by the time he ascended the throne in 1685. As he was the legitimate king, however, there were those who supported him, particularly following his exile in 1688. These followers were known as Jacobites (from the Latin Jacobus = Jacob = James). There were three major Jacobite periods – one directly following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the 1715 uprising, and finally the 1745. Those who supported the Protestant cause with William III of Orange were known as the Williamites. Whig history has been particularly kind to the Glorious Revolution, and this interpretation has come under severe criticism from revisionist historians in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
When King James II, ‘The King Over the Water’, died – still in exile – in 1701, his son James Francis Edward Stuart became King James III, a fact ignored by everyone except his father’s loyal supporters, the Jacobites. It was by no means certain that a Protestant succession would continue, and some important members of William III’s and Anne’s courts kept the communication channels open with the exiled royals. Pamphlets, including Seasonable queries relating to the birth and birthright of a certain person, from 1714, brought up some pertinent questions. From a completely neutral view of the situation, the young prince really
had been denied his birthright.
On 1 August 1714, Queen Anne died and the throne passed to another branch of royals descended from James I – the Hanoverians (also known as the Georgians). There was no question of Anne’s half-brother James Francis Edward getting a chance at the throne, for he was a staunch Catholic. John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, led the Jacobite Rising of 1715 but the Georgian army defeated this rebellion.
James Francis Edward married the Polish noblewoman Maria Clementina Sobieski, who was a granddaughter of the Polish hero Jan Sobieski III (of Battle of Vienna fame). The couple had two sons, Charles Edward and Henry Benedict. The latter became a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, but the former became the leader of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 and was known as The Young Pretender’, and, more famously, Bonnie Prince Charlie. The Jacobites fought against King George II’s army and were defeated at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746. The Jacobite defeat resulted not only in the loss of many men, but it even destroyed the culture of the Scottish Highlands. Why? The Scots, in particular the Highlanders, were largely Jacobite. In the year following this final pro-Stuart rebellion, George II’s government issued the Act of Proscription, in which traditional Highland dress (tartans, kilts, etc.) was banned.
Even though over 300 years have passed since the revolution overthrew James II in 1688, some of the more radical modern-day Jacobites do not regard the current monarch of the United Kingdom as legitimate because they only count the line of those who have directly descended from James II and Mary of Modena.
42. KENSINGTON PALACE BECAME A ROYAL RESIDENCE IN THE LATE STUART PERIOD
Now the home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their family, Kensington Palace wasn’t always a royal abode. Kensington was once a sleepy, verdant village outside of London and renowned for its purity of air. Royals have only inhabited the house since the late seventeenth century, when William III and Mary II moved in. A Jacobean house was built in 1605 for Sir George Coppin, three years after an earlier Neyt Manor structure was razed. Following Coppin’s death in 1619, it was purchased by the Finch family. Much later on, the house was named ‘Nottingham House’ because Sir Heneage Finch was the Earl of Nottingham (since 1681).
In 1688, what is known as the Glorious Revolution occurred, in which James II was ousted from power by his nephew and son-in-law, William of Orange, and James’s daughter and William’s wife and cousin, Mary. In 1689, William and Mary were crowned King and Queen, and they soon set out to find where to live. Why? You may well wonder, considering that they already had St James’s Palace and Whitehall Palace. But Whitehall rested in an area by the River Thames that was full of fog, smoke, and generally unpleasant air. This wreaked havoc with King William’s chronic asthma and so more verdant climes were sought. They soon purchased Nottingham House from Daniel Finch, the 2nd Earl of Nottingham (who happened to be his Secretary of State), for a whopping £14,000–18,000.
After this, they hired Sir Christopher Wren to expand and modernise the Jacobean building into something bigger and more fashionable. Construction work went on between 1689–90. Unfortunately, Mary was a bit impatient with what she perceived to be the slow progress of the building. This can probably be attributed to her desire to make a comfortable home for William. Her over-eagerness to get the building works completed meant that the workman built too quickly, and so the quality of their work became a secondary consideration. As a result of this, November 1689 saw part of the newly built building fall down, ‘killing seven or eight workman’ – this tragedy also occurred during renovation work to Hampton Court Palace.
The gardens were redone at this time as well, with heavily manicured box hedging elaborately formed in the formal Baroque (modern) style, which was then so popular. William and Mary spent nearly the same amount on these magnificent gardens as they did on the house! They both loved gardening and their previous homes in the Dutch Republic (the Netherlands), especially Paleis Het Loo, also had wonderfully symmetrical parterres in this elegant style. In 1690, the interior of the house began to be decorated with glorious woodcarvings from Baroque carver Grinling Gibbons. Outside the Queen’s Entrance, the monogram of William and Mary is clearly visible above the doorway.
William and Mary’s felicity was but short-lived, for Mary died in December 1694. William died eight years later in 1702, at which point Anne became queen. Her greatest contribution to Kensington Palace was the Orangery, which was designed by Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh and built in 1704–5.
43. SOME STUART LADIES HAD KILLER BEAUTY REGIMES
Lady Venetia Stanley was one of the most celebrated beauties of her day. Married to Kenelm Digby and widely admired, one can suppose she tried everything within her power to maintain that great beauty once the effects of age began to take their toll. One of the things she used was viper wine – a wine which had viper venom mixed into it. Sir Kenelm Digby went into her bedchamber one morning and found her dead – but in such a state as to make her seem as though she was only asleep. The distraught widower had the great Flemish Baroque painter Anthony van Dyck paint her on her deathbed. Van Dyck also created another sumptuous posthumous portrait of Lady Digby between 1633 and 1634.
While it has never been proven that the viper wine killed Venetia, Lady Digby, many ladies – especially in the early part of the Stuart era and earlier than that in the Elizabethan age – could die from their makeup. White porcelain skin was very much desired in the Early Modern era, and women who didn’t naturally have the shade would resort to sometimes-deadly means of obtaining it. Lead-based cosmetics, particularly ceruse, were used to paint the skin white and lead poisoning did occur. Over time, such makeup eventually had damaging effects upon the skin. Some makeup contained arsenic and mercury! Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), an extremely toxic herbaceous plant, was used since ancient times as a cosmetic. During the Stuart era, some women continued to use this potentially deadly plant in eye drops to make their eyes shine beautifully.
44. SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN WAS THE MAN
He was an architect, scientist, inventor, astronomer and mathematician. Nearly everything Christopher Michael Wren put his hand to was done well. Even his contemporaries highly esteemed him; John Evelyn called Wren ‘an incomparable genius’. Born in Wiltshire, England, in 1632, he was just a boy when the civil war broke out, and his father was the Dean of Windsor. His uncle, Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ely, was imprisoned in the Tower of London for eighteen years until the Restoration.
Wren enjoyed an excellent formal education and attended the University of Oxford, from which he obtained his MA. Later on, he became Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College. Wren was also one of the founding members of the Royal Society – an institution that continues to this day. In 1661, Wren was the top astronomer in the country when he was appointed Savilian Professor of Astronomy. This was a huge boost to his career. Like most of his colleagues, Wren attempted to solve the problem of longitude, but was unsuccessful. With the use of a telescope, Wren observed Saturn and the moon.
As an architect, he left us some truly masterful works of architecture, including St Paul’s Cathedral, the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich and the Monument to the Great Fire of London. Post-Fire London saw the erection of fifty-one new churches designed by Wren. His work was heavily influenced by the architecture designed by the Italian Baroque architect Bernini, and Wren was very pleased to meet him when he travelled to Paris in 1665. Bernini’s work at the Vatican and the Louvre speak for themselves, and it’s no wonder that Wren drew inspiration from them. By the end of his life, London was very much Wren’s London.
A man of his time, he enjoyed frequenting coffeehouses. Wren was also a family man. His first wife, Faith, gave birth to two sons but died from smallpox in 1675. His surviving son with Faith, Christopher Wren Jr, would later compile information about his father and family, which was published as Parentalia. In 1677, Wren married his second wife Jane Fitzwilliam, who bore him another two children before she too died in 1680 from tuberculosis.
He never remarried.
By the time of his death in 1723 at the then very old age of ninety-one, Wren had already firmly put his stamp on the world and upon London’s skyline. He was laid to rest in St Paul’s Cathedral – arguably his greatest architectural achievement. His tomb has the fitting epitaph, ‘If you seek his monument, look about you.’ Few people in history achieved as much as Wren did in his lifetime, and that’s why he was The Man.
45. CROMWELL WAS KING IN ALL BUT NAME
From gleefully being the third signature on Charles I’s death warrant to becoming the most powerful man in the Three Kingdoms, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell was unquestionably a king in all but name. A descendent of Thomas Cromwell’s sister, Oliver may have refused the crown when it was offered to him in 1657, but by having taken the position of Lord Protector, the regicide (killer of Charles I) took up residence in the former king’s palaces, including Whitehall Palace and Hampton Court Palace. Both palaces were refurbished and remodelled to an extent. In the latter, Cromwell had his apartments decorated with mythological tapestries and paintings. He and his wife would walk around with their own retinues.
Cromwell also demanded that everyone refer to him as ‘His Highness’, and his family became a de-facto royal family. His favourite daughter, Bettie, was indulged as if she were a princess. Her wedding was like that of a royal wedding and at her death she was buried in Westminster Abbey. Privately, Cromwell enjoyed music and had a small staff of musicians. This may come across as rather strange, given how church music during the Interregnum had been prohibited and church organs destroyed.
The Stuarts in 100 Facts Page 7