The Stuarts in 100 Facts

by Andrea Zuvich

  These are just some of the men who were important figures during the civil wars. Others included William Waller, the 1st Duke of Hamilton, Henry Ireton, and more. There were so many figures during this time that it’s simply impossible to include them all here.

  74. JOHN CHURCHILL, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH, WAS A GREAT MILITARY LEADER

  John Churchill is unquestionably one of the greatest military leaders in British history. He understood the importance of discipline and preparation. Churchill’s rise from a mere page to one of the most powerful men in the Late Stuart courts is astonishing.

  We cannot omit the women in Churchill’s life because three of them were integral to his success: his sister Arabella, his lover and cousin, Barbara Villiers, and his wife, Sarah. Arabella was the mistress of James, Duke of York. As such, she was able to get her brother the position of page in the York household. Barbara Villiers was King Charles II’s mistress, and possessed a voracious sexual appetite. She took the handsome young Churchill into her bed, and an oft-told tale of Churchill’s youth is of how he was caught in his cousin Barbara’s bedchamber by the king. Instead of getting angry, the king laughed it off, claiming the young man needed to do it to get his bread. Indeed, beautiful Barbara gave Churchill £4,500, which he took and invested wisely. Sarah Jennings became Churchill’s wife in 1678 and her friendship with Princess Anne (later Queen Anne) would eventually bring the couple into greater power and wealth than ever before.

  In the summer of 1685, Churchill, Lord Feversham and the Duke of Grafton led the Royalist army on behalf of the king and firmly thrashed Monmouth’s rebels throughout the West Country, before finally crushing them completely at the Battle of Sedgemoor. Three years later, another nephew, William of Orange, attacked James II’s throne and was so popular that James’s army left to join up with the Dutchman. Churchill left as well, which was an unexpected sucker-punch to James.

  The new King William III never really trusted Churchill, the turncoat. How could he? James had trusted him completely, only to be abandoned in his hour of need. William’s wife and queen, Mary, trusted him so little that she had him thrown into the Tower of London.

  Churchill’s power declined during William and Mary’s reign only to reach unprecedented heights during the reign of their successor, Anne. This is when Churchill really got rolling. William III had had a life-long mission to defeat Louis XIV, but never really managed to do it. When Charles II of Spain died childless in 1701, he named Philippe of Anjou as his successor. The prospect of a massive empire of French and Spanish territories (including New World land and trade) was hugely disconcerting. Louis claimed no such thing would happen, and William III warned everyone not to trust Louis’s word. No one believed him and Louis invaded the Spanish Netherlands. The War of the Spanish Succession had broken out and would last until 1714. Churchill teamed up with Prince Eugene of Savoy and the Dutch Republic to form the Great Alliance. Churchill’s name would go down in history for the Grand Alliance’s victories at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704 (which was utterly horrific, with over 20,000 deaths) and the Battle of Ramillies in 1706.

  75. THE DUTCH AND THE ENGLISH DIDN’T GET ON

  In the twenty-first century, relations between The Netherlands and the United Kingdom are very good. This was certainly not the case in the middle of the seventeenth century, with the Anglo-Dutch Wars. The Netherlands at this time was known as the United Provinces or the Dutch Republic. There was a fourth Anglo-Dutch war, but that didn’t take place until the end of the eighteenth century. The Dutch during the Stuart period had a powerful, efficient navy led by competent and courageous admirals. The First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–4) was fought during the early part of Cromwell’s Republic. Admiral Maarten Tromp was killed during the Battle of Scheveningen in 1653, and this was a big upset for the Dutch. General-at-Sea Robert Blake fought for the Commonweath in this war (the town of Bridgwater in Somerset is home to the Blake Museum, which is a gem for aficionados of Blake and the Stuart era).

  The Second Anglo-Dutch War took place from 1665 to 1667 (never mind Charles’s mistresses, this was the important stuff!). This war kicked off following the British takeover of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (which was then renamed New York) and the fact that the Dutch had an incredibly successful global trade network – they pretty much dominated international trade at this point. Holmes’s Bonfire on 10 August 1666 saw the English sail up the Vlies estuary and set fire to over 100 Dutch merchant ships. In June of 1667, Michiel de Ruyter, one of the Dutch Republic’s greatest naval admirals, led the Raid on the Medway – which resulted in a huge victory for the Dutch. They first captured the English defensive fortress at Sheerness, which was the only protective measure for the ships at port in the Medway. The Dutch set fire to six ships and sailed back home with the Royal Charles – England’s flagship! This was a crushing blow to English morale, as the Royal Charles (previously named Naseby) was a superb first-rate ship with eighty-two guns and a capacity for 650 crew. After such a thrashing, Charles begrudgingly had to get serious about peace negotiations and the war was brought to an end with the Peace of Breda in 1667. Three years after this had been signed, Charles secretly allied himself with Louis XIV in what’s known as the Secret Treaty of Dover.

  What’s interesting to note that despite the fact that blood ties united the nations – Charles was the uncle of the Republic’s Stadtholder Prince of Orange – this wasn’t enough to prevent the Third Anglo-Dutch War, which began in 1672 (the year that the Dutch call Rampjaar, or ‘Disaster Year’) and ended in 1674. This was ended with the Treaty of Westminster in 1674, which stipulated that all the islands taken by the English would be restored to the Dutch, as well as the sugarcane-rich colony of Suriname. New York, having been taken back by the Dutch, was once again in England’s possession. Three years later, William III of Orange married the English princess Mary of York. Ultimately, William became King of England in 1689. Life’s funny like that.

  76. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN OF THE LATE STUART COURTS WERE IMMORTALISED IN ART

  Beauty throughout history has been a means to power for the individuals lucky enough to possess it. This was very much the case in the Late Stuart courts. There were two series of paintings that depicted the most beautiful court ladies, and both were highly indicative of the prevailing mood of each time in which they were painted.

  The first, popularly known as The Windsor Beauties, was painted by court portraitist Peter Lely and commissioned by the Duchess of York, Anne Hyde. Anne Hyde, the first wife of James II when he was still the Duke of York, was the mother of his two eldest daughters Mary and Anne – both of whom became queens. Anne Hyde was not known for her beauty. Indeed, many thought she was decidedly plain, and so it is interesting to note that a portrait of Anne was included in Windsor Beauties. There were ten ‘beauties’ and they were: Barbara Villiers, the Duchess of Cleveland; Elizabeth Hamilton, Countess of Grammont; Henrietta Boyle, Countess of Rochester; Minette, Madame d’Orleans; Frances Brooke, Lady Whitmore; Elizabeth Brooke, Lady Denham; Mary Bagot, Countess of Falmouth; Elizabeth Wriothesley, Countess of Northumberland; Mrs Jane Myddleton (née Needham); and Lady Frances Teresa Stuart. Frances was pursued ardently – and unsuccessfully – pursued by Charles II. She was distantly related to the royals, and her intoxicating beauty was so great that she was the model for Britannia.

  What is striking about The Windsor Beauties is the languid, sensual, even decadent aura they give off. A common criticism of these paintings is that many of the ladies depicted look the same! Lely was a very much in-demand artist, and he at his peak he was churning out one portrait after another, so it’s no surprise that he was forced to standardise them.

  During the reign of William and Mary, a new series of portraits of court beauties was commissioned, this time by Anne Hyde’s daughter Mary, who was the lovely queen herself. Unlike Lely’s Windsor Beauties, these Hampton Court Beauties, by court painter Kneller, were less overtly sensual – and this fact in itself shows the significant differen
ce in the moral standards from King Charles II’s reign and that of William and Mary. The ladies who were chosen for this series were: Frances Whitmore, Lady Middleton; Margaret Cecil, Countess of Ranelagh; Lady Mary Bentinck, Countess of Essex; Mary Scrope, Mrs Pitt; Diana de Vere, the Duchess of St Albans; Isabella Bennet, Duchess of Grafton; Carey Fraser, Countess of Peterborough; and Mary Compton, Countess of Dorset. It has often been remarked that these ladies were plainer-looking than those of the Windsor Beauties, and perhaps there is some truth to this. That being said, Mary wanted to select ladies not only for their beauty, but also for their virtue. Most of the Hampton Court Beauties are can be seen in the King’s Eating Room in William III’s State Apartments at Hampton Court Palace.

  77. A KING’S TOUCH WAS BELIEVED TO CURE DISEASE

  For centuries, kings were believed to possess the divine power of healing. King Charles II, even though he was known for being a rational and rather sceptical man, often took part in the ceremony of ‘Touching for the King’s Evil’. This was a superstitious custom that maintained that if a king touched a person suffering from scrofula, that person would be cured. Scrofula is a kind of tuberculosis that affected the lymph glands.

  According to some historians, the origins of this custom date back to fifth-century France and it was first started in England under King Edward the Confessor, who ruled from 1042 to 1066. Even John Flamsteed, who became the first Astronomer Royal in 1675, was a chronically ill man and was touched by King Charles II in an effort to cure him. Charles took part in many of these ceremonies because he understood the value of ritual and tradition. In 1684, Adenochoiradelogia, or Kings-Evil-Swellings by John Brown was published. The title is a bit of a mouthful, but this rather long work was fully devoted to the King’s Evil, what it was, ways to treat it, and of course, the cure that could come from a sovereign’s touch. According to this book, Charles II touched around 4,000 people a year, which brings the amount of people he touched to over 92,000.

  During his Progress throughout the West Country, Charles II’s eldest illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, once was asked to touch a maid suffering from scrofula. He graciously obliged and she, according to the story, was cured as result. More than likely, however, this was a useful propaganda tool for those who supported Monmouth’s claim to the throne, as it would prove that he was of royal blood and fit to be king. William III, who was even more sceptical than his uncle Charles, begrudgingly performed the King’s Evil only on one occasion, going so far as to tell one invalid before him, ‘God grant you better health and more sense.’ Ouch. In the eighteenth century, Queen Anne continued this practice. One of the people she touched was two-year-old Samuel Johnson. This infant grew up to become the renowned Dr Johnson who famously compiled the Dictionary of the English Language, which was published in 1755. The coin, or touch piece, that she hung around Johnson’s neck is now located at the British Museum in London. Queen Anne, who died in 1714, was the last British monarch to perform this ceremony.

  Scrofula, or tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis, though considered quite prevalent during the Stuart period, decreased substantially during the next couple of centuries; however, it now appears to have re-emerged, following the AIDS pandemic.

  78. BEHN, CAVENDISH AND ASTELL WERE SUCCESSFUL STUART-ERA FEMALE WRITERS

  In a time when most women tended to accept their roles in society, there was a small handful of women (usually from the merchant or upper classes) who did things a little differently. Aphra Behn, who we believe may have been born in around 1640, is widely considered to be the first woman to make a living as a professional writer. She wrote several plays during the Restoration, including Abdelazar: The Moor’s Revenge and Oroonoko. These plays were often set in exotic places and featured equally exotic characters, which were probably inspired by her time in Suriname. However, Behn wasn’t only a playwright and poet; there is reason to believe that she may also have been a spy. She was a supporter of the Stuarts and probably held Jacobite sympathies. Unfortunately, we don’t know much more about her, and she remains a truly fascinating and mysterious figure of the Restoration era. She died shortly after William and Mary came to the throne and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

  Lady Margaret ‘Mad Madge’ Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was another seventeenth century authoress. She was the wife of William Cavendish. In The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World, published in 1666, a woman finds herself in another world, reached only through the North Pole. In this work, Cavendish gave us an early kind of science fiction. She not only enjoyed writing but was also thoroughly interested in science. In the 1660s, she wrote Observations on Experimental Philosophy and Grounds of Natural Philosophy.

  Mary Astell, born in 1666, brought her strongly held views about women’s roles to the literary table. Astell’s A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest, By a Lover of Her Sex was first published in 1694. In this, she urged women to try to improve their minds and not only their physical beauty and fashion. Although she never married, she nevertheless wrote her opinions about the marital state in Some Reflections Upon Marriage, Occasioned by the Duke and Dutchess of Mazarine’s Case; Which is Also Considered, in 1700. In this, she posed the question, ‘If all Men are born free, how is it that all Women are born Slaves?’ Astell also attacked male vanity in her An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex in 1696. Astell died in 1731.

  These ladies weren’t the only ones turning their hand to writing. Earlier in the Stuart era, Anglo-Welsh Katherine Philips was both a poetess and a translator of French works. She was known by the name of Orinda, and by the time of her death in 1664 she was known as ‘The Matchless Orinda’. Over in France, Madame de la Fayette was anonymously publishing her works including the excellent La Princesse de Clèves (1678), and La Princesse de Montpensier (1662). In New Spain, now Mexico, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz wrote many poems considered to be a great contribution to the literature of the Spanish Golden Age. Finally, in Italy in 1678, Elena Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman to earn a doctorate degree.

  79. THE GREAT FIRE MADE A GREAT MESS

  One simply cannot mention the Stuart period without mentioning the Great Plague and the Great Fire. Both major events were seen by the most devout as punishment from God. Fires were a common problem in Early Modern London. The Great Fire followed a period of exceptionally dry weather. The houses in London were notoriously tightly packed and constructed from wood. This, plus the dry weather, meant only one thing – it was the perfect setting for an inferno. On 2 September 1666, a fire broke out in a bakeshop on Pudding Lane and quickly spread to the neighbouring buildings.

  Sir Thomas Bloodworth, the Lord Mayor at the time, thought it was just another fire and vulgarly replied, ‘Pish! A woman might piss it out!’ Not so, Mr Mayor, for the fire grew worse. There were firehooks, which were used to bring down buildings in order to stop the flames, and there were also water squirts, which would have been useful for a small fire but absolutely useless for a blazing conflagration such as this.

  People began to flee, taking their families and whatever few possessions they could carry. It wasn’t long before people started blaming Catholics, the French and the Dutch, and some innocent men were viciously attacked in the streets. Samuel Pepys dug a hole in his yard to bury his valuables. King Charles II, his brother James, and the Duke of Monmouth actively worked to stamp out the fire. It was feared that the fire would reach the Tower of London, where a stockpile of gunpowder was kept. Miraculously, the wind changed course and the fire died down. St Paul’s Cathedral and the Royal Exchange were destroyed, along with thousands of houses and public buildings. Surprisingly, there appears to have been few deaths in the great blaze.

  The aftermath of the Great Fire was a major operation. There was much to be cleared away before new construction could begin, but some people came back to start rebuilding their homes and businesses. This put a spanner in the works for people who had been working on plans,
such as Sir Christopher Wren, who stepped up to offer the king his plans for reconstructing the city within a week of the inferno.

  The fire may have been catastrophic, but from the ashes a new city emerged. The poet John Dryden composed the poem Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders in 1666 and in this he wrote about the ‘prodigious fire’. A 160-foot permanent Monument to the Great Fire of 1666 was designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke and erected near Pudding Lane, where the fire began. This column was built between 1671 and 1677, and visitors can climb the 311 steps to the top for a nice view of the surrounding area.

  80. THREE MAJOR AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES WERE FOUNDED DURING THE STUART ERA

  In 1620, Puritans boarded the Mayflower and sailed from Southampton, England, to the New World. They may have left the Old World behind in order to start their new lives but Britain and America are still bound together by many ties, and many of those began in the Stuart era. Several universities were founded in the New World during this time. While the majority of the eight colleges referred to as ‘Ivy League universities were founded in the eighteenth century, Harvard and Yale are two that were founded during the seventeenth century.

  Harvard University is named after English clergyman John Harvard. Harvard, himself a graduate of the prestigious English institution of Cambridge University, emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where he died in 1638. Robert Keayne, who was born in Windsor, England, in 1595, also emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where he became the founder and first captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. In his will, Keayne left a substantial amount of money to Harvard College. Hugh Peter, a chaplain in the New Model Army and for Oliver Cromwell, was also instrumental in the founding of Harvard. Founded in 1636, this university has the distinction of being the oldest institution of higher education in America.