Boston’s 17th-Century Burying Grounds

The Grim Reaper made frequent visits to colonial Boston.

Disease and the difficulties of childbirth sent many men, women, and children to an early grave.

Seven smallpox epidemics had struck Boston by 1730.

The 1721 outbreak infected over half of Boston’s 11,000 population and left 850 dead.

Almost a quarter of Boston’s 17th-century grave markers are for children below the age of 10.

Losing a spouse to disease meant that remarriage was not only encouraged but was important to the survival of their families.

Headstone carving designs often symbolized the omnipresence of death.

Skull and Crossbones headstone design. Credit Robert Linsdell
Skull and Crossbones headstone design. Credit Robert Linsdell

Headstone Carving Symbols

Used since the medieval period as a symbol of mortality and reflecting the Puritan religious influence, the Winged Skull or Death’s Head is the most common headstone carving design in Boston’s oldest burying grounds.

Winged Skull or Death's Head headstone carving
Winged Skull or Death’s Head headstone carving

Moving up on the cheerfulness scale is the much more genial Winged Face or Cherub.

Also called a “Soul Effigy“, it was a common headstone carving in the mid 1700s.

Winged Face of Cherub Headstone carving
Winged Face of Cherub Headstone carving

Popular after the American Revolution, the Urn-and-Willow symbolizes both death and mourning.

Urns are classical symbols of death because of their ancient use for holding ashes.

Weeping willows, as the name implies, symbolize sorrow at the loss of a loved one.

Urn and Willow Headstone carving
Urn and Willow Headstone carving
Three headstone carving designs placed side by side. Credit Ingfbruno
Three headstone carving designs placed side by side. Credit Ingfbruno

Wealthy Bostonians enthusiastically embraced Heraldic designs such as coats-of-arms which symbolized lineage and status.

The fruit around the edges symbolized eternal plenty.

Heraldic Headstone carving
Heraldic Headstone carving

Boston’s 17th-Century Burying Grounds

Within Boston’s three oldest burying grounds lie the remains of many of America’s pilgrims and Patriots of the American Revolution.

All three are on the Freedom Trail—a 2.5 mile path through downtown Boston passing 16 sites of historical significance.

Boston's Freedom Trail
Boston’s Freedom Trail
Map of Boston, Massachusetts
Map of Boston, Massachusetts

King’s Chapel Burying Ground

Of Boston’s three 17th-century burying grounds, the oldest is King’s Chapel Burying Ground—simply called “the burying place” when it was first opened in 1630 on the outskirts of the new Puritan Settlement.

King’s Chapel Burying Ground, Boston, 1833

Seeking religious freedom and new economic opportunity in the “New World”, those buried here in the first 30 years were predominantly English-born immigrants.

King's Chapel Burying Ground
King’s Chapel Burying Ground

Over 1,000 people are buried in the tiny space, but only 600 gravestones and 29 tabletop tombs remain.

King's Chapel Burying Ground
King’s Chapel Burying Ground

Copp’s Hill Burying Ground

Established in 1659 and located in Boston’s North End, Copp’s Hill Burying Ground was the city’s second cemetery and was originally named “North Burying Ground”.

1200 marked graves include remains of notable Bostonians from the colonial era up to the 1850s.

Looking worse for wear, the gravestones protrude at odd angles, some leaning towards the water in Boston Inner Harbor, as if pulled by a giant magnet.

Copp's Hill Burying Ground
Copp’s Hill Burying Ground
Copp's Hill Burying Ground
Copp’s Hill Burying Ground

Ivy covers these old stones as Mother Nature tries to reclaim all traces of the dead.

But when even these stones finally return to nature, the stories of those they mark will live on in the hearts and minds of others.

Copp's Hill Burying Ground
Copp’s Hill Burying Ground

Rank has its privileges, even in death.

And so it was for Cotton Mather, a Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphleteer.

Mather played a prominent role in the case of the Irish Catholic washerwoman “Goody” Ann Glover, who was convicted of witchcraft and the last person to be hanged in Boston as a witch.

But it is his later involvement in the Salem witch trials for which Cotton Mather is best remembered.

An accused ‘witch’ during the witch trials in the late 1600s. Credit Jessolsen
Trivia
Goodwife, usually abbreviated to Goody, was a polite form of address for women used in England, Scotland, and Colonial America.

After Ann Glover’s daughter was accused of stealing laundry by her employer Martha Goodwin’s own daughters, Ann found herself being accused of making the Goodwin children ill through witchcraft.

The majority of Boston’s population in the 1680s was Puritan and prejudiced against Catholics and foreigners.

A scandalous old Irishwoman, very poor, a Roman Catholic and obstinate in idolatry.Cotton Mather

Believing that the inability to say the Lord’s prayer in English was the mark of a witch, Goody Glover’s recital in Irish at her trial did not go down well with her accusers.

Whether Goody Glover chose not to speak English, or couldn’t speak it well enough is unclear, but either way she was sentenced to death on November 16, 1688, becoming the first Catholic martyr to be killed in Massachusetts.

300 years later, Boston City Council proclaimed November 16 as Goody Glover Day.

Mather Tomb at Copp's Hill Burying Ground
Mather Tomb at Copp’s Hill Burying Ground

Legend has it that the holes in Daniel Malcolm’s gravestone (below) were made by British soldiers using it as target practice.

Captain Malcolm was a member of the Sons of Liberty opposed to the Townshend Acts which were passed by the British parliament to raise revenue in the colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges and would eventually lead to the Boston Massacre of 1770.

Daniel Martin gravestone, Copp's Hill Burial Ground
Daniel Martin gravestone, Copp’s Hill Burial Ground

Granary Burying Ground

Founded in 1660, Boston’s third-oldest cemetery is the final resting place for many notable revolutionary patriots.

Buried here are Paul Revere, the five victims of the Boston Massacre, and three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine.

Gateway to the Granary Burying Ground, Tremont Street, Boston, 1881
Gateway to the Granary Burying Ground, Tremont Street, Boston, 1881

The cemetery has 2,345 grave-markers, but historians estimate that as many as 5,000 people are buried here.

Granary Burying Ground
Granary Burying Ground
Granary Burying Ground
Granary Burying Ground

When you’re as revered as Paul Revere, you get a prominent memorial.

Paul Revere's memorial at the Granary Burying Ground
Paul Revere’s memorial at the Granary Burying Ground

Paul Revere is best known for alerting the colonial militia to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord in the early stages of the Revolutionary War.

Paul Revere’s midnight ride

Paul Revere also created the famous engraving of the Boston Massacre of 1770 in which British soldiers shot and killed people while under attack by a mob.

Three people in the crowd of demonstrators were killed instantly and two died later—all are buried in the Granary Burying Ground.

The bloody massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.
The bloody massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.
Boston Massacre Victims at Granary Burying Ground
Boston Massacre Victims at Granary Burying Ground

Another Patriot of the Revolution resting in this peaceful place is the merchant and statesman John Hancock—a signer of the Declaration of Independence with one of the world’s most famous and stylish signatures.

John Hancocks Signature

As one of the colonies’ wealthiest men, Hancock used his money and influence to support the colonial cause.

Accused by the British of smuggling in 1768, his sloop Liberty was confiscated.

Although charges were later dropped, his ship was never returned—instead being refitted for service in the British Royal Navy.

Allegedly, Bostonians working for Hancock had locked a British customs official in the ship’s cabin to evade taxes while they unloaded a cargo of Madeira wine.

John Hancock's memorial at the Granary Burying Ground
John Hancock’s memorial at the Granary Burying Ground

Samuel Adams was a statesman, philosopher and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

Resting in Granary Burying Ground, he was one of 12 children born in a time of high infant mortality. Only two of his siblings lived past their third birthday.

Samuel Adams's memorial at the Granary Burying Ground
Samuel Adams’s memorial at the Granary Burying Ground

Adams’s 1768 Massachusetts Circular Letter calling for non-cooperation among colonial Patriots prompted the occupation of Boston by British soldiers and eventually resulted in the Boston Massacre of 1770, the Boston Tea Party of 1773, and the American Revolution of 1776.

July 4th at Granary Burying Ground. Credit Peter H. Dreyer, City of Boston Archives
July 4th at Granary Burying Ground. Credit Peter H. Dreyer, City of Boston Archives

There are many more tales from this fascinating period in America’s history.

Next time you’re in Boston, be sure to walk the Freedom Trail, stop to look at the 17th-century burying grounds, and marvel at the stories they hold.

Versailles: the Grandest Palace of Them All

King Louis XIV was so proud of Versailles that he would often give tours to visiting dignitaries himself and even wrote the first guidebook.

Ah, here he comes now. Why don’t we just see if we can tag along on his next tour.

Equestrian portrait of Louis XIV of France by René-Antoine Houasse, c.1670
Equestrian portrait of Louis XIV of France by René-Antoine Houasse, c.1670
Greetings.
Welcome to my home, my court, and of course, my playground: Versailles.
I am Louis XIV, the greatest French King who ever lived.
Those closest to me say I am the best King in the world!
It is true, no … ?
Be careful with your answers, my friends …
Ah, but enough about me, let us enjoy this tour of my magnificent home.
We shall begin with les jardins … excusez moi, the gardens.
Come, come, my little petit pois, follow me …

To say that Louis liked space is somewhat of an understatement. By the end of his reign, Versailles covered a staggering 37,000 acres—bigger than the city of San Francisco.

After the revolution, only a fraction remained, but even so, today it still covers 2,014 acres—twice the size of New York’s Central Park—making it the largest royal domain in the world.

The Palace of Versailles c. 1668 by Pierre Patel
The Palace of Versailles c. 1668 by Pierre Patel

It takes aerial views to fully appreciate the sheer scale of Versailles. The multiple wings and hidden courts of the palace are just part of a huge complex around the town of Versailles.

Aerial view of the Palace of Versailles
Aerial view of the Palace of Versailles

The landscaped Gardens of Versailles have 200,000 trees, and each year, 210,000 flowers are planted.

Aerial view of the Grand Trianon, Domain of Versailles
Aerial view of the Grand Trianon, Domain of Versailles

At almost a mile long, the Grand Canal appears to vanish into the distance.

Aerial View of the Domain of Versailles. Credit ToucanWings
Aerial View of the Domain of Versailles. Credit ToucanWings

Built in the shape of a cross, the Grand Canal runs east to west, traversed by arms running north to the Trianon Palace (a little getaway for the King) and south to the Menagerie (a precursor to the modern zoo).

This east-west orientation was no coincidence. It meant that the sun would rise and set in alignment with the palace.

Grand Canal, Versailles
Grand Canal, Versailles
Palace of Versailles seen from the end of the Grand Canal
Palace of Versailles seen from the end of the Grand Canal
Orangery Garden and the Swiss Ornamental Lake, Versailles. Credit ToucanWings
Orangery Garden and the Swiss Ornamental Lake, Versailles. Credit ToucanWings
Orangery Garden and the Swiss Ornamental Lake, Versailles. Credit ToucanWings
Orangerie Garden and the Swiss Ornamental Lake, Versailles. Credit ToucanWings

Housing more than a thousand trees in planters, most of which are citrus, the Orangerie is a grand extension to the gardens built to store delicate plants during the winter months.

The Orangerie of the Château de Versailles c. 1695
The Orangerie of the Château de Versailles c. 1695

Citrus fruits were expensive and highly prized in the 17th century and the preserve of the wealthy.

Between May and October, the plants are moved outdoors to the Parterre Bas for display.

Orangerie at Versailles. Credit Panoramas
Orangerie at Versailles. Credit Panoramas

While the French populace starved, Louis was far too preoccupied with his water problem to notice.

He couldn’t get enough water pumped to the gardens to run his 1400 fountains simultaneously.

Along came the architect André Le Nôtre (1613–1700) to the rescue—the undisputed master of the baroque garden. His skills with mechanical engineering, chemistry, and horticulture made Versailles’s fountains a reality.

Le Nôtre created a network of reservoirs and canals stretching for 18 1/2 miles outside the château. A massive pumping machine thought to be the Eighth Wonder of the World brought water from the Seine River.

View over the palace gardens and the palace at Versailles in c.1860
View over the palace gardens and the palace at Versailles in c.1860

Leakage and breakdowns of the pump meant that it only supplied half the required amount of water. So Louis gave the go-ahead for an extravagant plan to divert water from the River Eure over 60 miles away.

One tenth of France’s entire military worked on the project, digging a canal and aqueduct, plus all the shipping channels and locks to keep the workers supplied with raw materials.

Were it not for the outbreak of war bringing the work to a halt, Louis’s big water problem would have been solved.

Fountain in the Gardens of Versailles. Credit edwin.11
Fountain in the Gardens of Versailles. Credit edwin.11
Le Bassin d'Apollo - the Greek god Apollo rising from the sea in a four-horse chariot. Credit J. degivry
Le Bassin d’Apollo – the Greek god Apollo rising from the sea in a four-horse chariot. Credit J. degivry
Fountain in the Parc de Versailles. Credit edwin.11
Fountain in the Parc de Versailles. Credit edwin.11
Fountain in the Parc de Versailles. Credit Gaudry daniel
Fountain in the Parc de Versailles. Credit Gaudry daniel
Gardens of Versailles. Credit G CHP 2
Gardens of Versailles. Credit G CHP 2

Scattered throughout the gardens are over three hundred statues and sculptures of everything from flute playing shepherds (Acis), to daydreaming princesses (Ariadne), to sea monsters, and Trojan priests (Laocoön) being attacked by giant serpents.

Acis Playing His Flute by Jean-Baptiste Tuby, 1674
Acis Playing His Flute by Jean-Baptiste Tuby, 1674
Daydreaming Ariadne at Versailles. Credit Yair Haklai
Daydreaming Ariadne at Versailles. Credit Yair Haklai
Sea monster sculpture in the Gardens of Versailles. Credit Gaudry daniel
Sea monster sculpture in the Gardens of Versailles. Credit Gaudry daniel
Laocoön and his sons (1696). Credit Adesio2010
Laocoön and his sons (1696). Credit Adesio2010
Louis XIV of France by Nicolas-René Jollain Le Vieux
Louis XIV of France by Nicolas-René Jollain Le Vieux
Ah, there you are my little petit bonbons.
As you can see, I’m working on my next building project.
How did you like mes jardins? … excusez moi, my gardens?
Exquisite, no?
Bon. You answered correctly. You are keeping your head today.
Come along, come along, follow me—we have much to see inside …
Marble Courtyard at the Palace of Varsailles
Marble Courtyard at the Palace of Varsailles

At the beginning of each day would be a routine called the leveethe royal awakening ceremony.

To see the King rubbed down with rose-water, watch him shave, or even go to the bathroom, was considered a great honor.

The King's Apartment, Palace of Versailles
The King’s Apartment, Palace of Versailles
Palace of versailles, Hall of Mirrors. Credit Thibault Chappe
Palace of versailles, Hall of Mirrors. Credit Thibault Chappe

Following this elaborate wake-up ritual, Louis would then pass through the Hall of Mirrors on his way to the chapel.

Facing the gardens and the rising sun, shafts of sunlight would stream into the room, filling it with a golden light.

Halls of Mirrors at Versailles. Credit Myrabella
Halls of Mirrors at Versailles. Credit Myrabella

Self-styled the “Sun King”, Louis chose the sun as his personal symbol.

Naturally, his courtiers thought the sun shined out of his derrière. One look from Louis in their direction had their heads spinning.

When the King condescends to glance at someone, that person considers his fortunes made and says to others “the King looked at me!”Primi Visconti, chronicler to the French court

Cunning as he was, Louis was a master at keeping people dangling with the words, “we’ll see.”

Louis's sun symbol on the gates of Versailles. Credit Dennis Jarvis
Louis’s sun symbol on the gates of Versailles. Credit Dennis Jarvis

In the chapel, he required all in attendance to face him, not the altar, so that they could witness the King worshipping God.

He saw himself as the living embodiment of the Greek God Apollo—god of music, prophecy, healing, and the sun.

Chapel in Palace of versailles. Credit Thibault Chappe
Chapel in Palace of versailles. Credit Thibault Chappe
Chapel in Palace of versailles. Credit Thibault Chappe
Chapel in Palace of versailles. Credit Thibault Chappe
Royal chapel of the Palace of Versailles. Credit Jebulon
Royal chapel of the Palace of Versailles. Credit Jebulon
Louis XIV, King of France
Louis XIV, King of France
Bonjour, my little petit fours.
How do you like my stockings? Ooh la la! You will not find a finer pair in all the world!
Bon. You answered correctly.
I must leave you now for my little “coucher”—my sundown ceremony.
Enjoy yourselves, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do …
Au revoir.

Bravado might well have been Louis’s middle name—he certainly had the stats to back up the swagger:

700 rooms, over 2,000 windows, 1,250 fireplaces, 67 staircases, 5000 pieces of furniture, 6000 paintings, 352 chimneys, hundreds of mirrors (357 in the Hall of Mirrors alone), dozens of chandeliers (43 in the Hall of Mirrors), and even its own opera house!

The Palace of Versailles stands at a crossroads in history. Copied throughout Europe, it marks the pinnacle of decadence and the beginning of the end for absolute monarchy.

Queen's grand apartment. Credit Dom Crossley
Queen’s grand apartment. Credit Dom Crossley
Bedchamber of the dauphin. Credit Tim Schapker
Bedchamber of the dauphin. Credit Tim Schapker
Small apartment of the king - Louis XVI Library. Credit Fanny Schertzer
Small apartment of the king – Louis XVI Library. Credit Fanny Schertzer
Small apartment of the king in the Palace of Versailles. Credit Lional Allorge
Small apartment of the king in the Palace of Versailles. Credit Lional Allorge
Antechamber of the Emperor at Grand Trianon at Château de Versailles. Credit Moonik
Antechamber of the Emperor at Grand Trianon at Château de Versailles. Credit Moonik
The peace salon, Versailles. Credit Coyau
The peace salon, Versailles. Credit Coyau
Grand Condé's reception in Versailles by Jean-Léon Gérôme
Grand Condé’s reception in Versailles by Jean-Léon Gérôme
Stairway inside the Petit Trianon. Credit Trizek
Stairway inside the Petit Trianon. Credit Trizek
Pet Salon Petit Trianon, Versailles. Credit Heleashard
Pet Salon Petit Trianon, Versailles. Credit Heleashard
The King's Desk. Louis XV's roll-top secretary, designed between 1760 and 1769. Credit TCY
The King’s Desk. Louis XV’s roll-top secretary, designed between 1760 and 1769. Credit TCY
Royal Opera House, Versailles. Credit Tanya Hart
Royal Opera House, Versailles. Credit Tanya Hart
Visit of Queen Victoria to Paris in 1855, the dinner offered by Napoleon III in the hall of the Opera of Versailles, August 25, 1855
Visit of Queen Victoria to Paris in 1855, the dinner offered by Napoleon III in the hall of the Opera of Versailles, August 25, 1855

Who were the real heroes of Versailles? Not those who lounged in its luxuries, surely?

The real heroes were the architects, builders, laborers, and the 30,000 soldiers drafted in to help, many of whom died from fever and disease in the swampy conditions of the early Versailles.

We salute you, citizens of France. You did not die in vain. Your work lives on as a testament to human achievement.

The construction of the Palace of Versailles by Adam Frans van der Meulen
The construction of the Palace of Versailles by Adam Frans van der Meulen

Such excesses don’t last forever. The revolution brought sweeping change and streets filled with the blood of the decadent.

And across a blue ocean, a new country was in its infancy. A land that would welcome the downtrodden masses with open arms.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Emma Lazarus
Château de Versailles at night. Credit Romaric Juvanon
Château de Versailles at night. Credit Romaric Juvanon

References
Wikipedia.
The Sun King’s Garden: Louis XIV, Andre Le Notre and the Creation of the Gardens of Versailles by Ian Thompson.
The Khan Academy.

The 17th-Century Hampton Court Beauties

Depicting the most glamorous ladies from the court of King William III and Queen Mary II, the Hampton Court Beauties are a series of portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller, commissioned by the Queen herself.

They adorn the state rooms of King William III at Hampton Court Palace.

… the principal Ladies attending upon her Majesty, or who were frequently in her retinue; and this was the more beautiful sight, because the originals were all in being, and often to be compar’d with their pictures.Daniel Defoe

Queen Mary II was a fashion trendsetter and a collector of fine china, particularly blue and white porcelain. Her household account book of 1694 lists 31 mantuas and gowns, taffeta, velvet and satin fabrics, satin shoes with gold and silver lace, gloves, furs, fringes, ribbons, and fans.

Queen Mary II by William Wissing
Queen Mary II by William Wissing

The late 17th century was a decadent, sensual era when great beauty could be an instrument of ambition, a passage to pleasure, and a ride to riches.

Handsome rewards lay ahead for royal mistresses like Nell Gwyn, the long-time mistress of King Charles II of England and Scotland. Her son by the King was made the Duke of St Albans and married into the established aristocracy.

Capturing beauty in portraiture became a preoccupation of portrait artists who developed their own techniques to heighten natural beauty. Dutch artist William Wissing had a particular way of bringing a fashionable blush to a lady’s cheeks. He would take her by the hand and dance her about the room until the exercise gave the desired complexion.

Vote for your favorite beauty from the court of Queen Mary.

References
Contains affiliate links
Wikipedia.org
The Royal Collection
A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain by Daniel Defoe
everythingieverloved (images)

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I may receive an affiliate commission. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

When is a Night Watch not a Night Watch? When it’s Rembrandt’s most famous painting.

Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch’ is arguably the most famous painting in the Netherlands.

It was painted in 1642, during the Dutch Golden Age—a time when Dutch trade, science, military, and art led the world.

With the largest fleet of merchant ships, the Dutch Republic had built a vast colonial empire, and the County of Holland had become  the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world.

Dutch East-India trading ship 1600
Dutch East-India trading ship 1600

This was a time when militia groups in Amsterdam—elite citizens who had helped defend the city against the Spanish Empire—paraded ceremoniously in public displays of civic pride.

It was one such group—the Amsterdam civic guard company of musketeers—that commissioned Rembrandt to paint “The Night Watch.”

But there’s something odd about the name “Night Watch”: it was not the name of the original painting.

By the end of the 18th century, the painting had accumulated so many layers of varnish and dirt, that it looked like the scene took place at night—and hence, it was misnamed “The Night Watch”.

The below image depicts how it might have looked when obscured by the build up of varnish.

The Nightwatch by Rembrandt, 1642 (simulated partially obscured by layers of varnish and dirt)
The Night Watch by Rembrandt, 1642 (simulated partially obscured by layers of varnish and dirt)

Art historians believe the original name would have been similar to other contemporary portraits, essentially named after the most prominent subjects in the painting: “Officers and Men of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh.”

When the painting was cleaned, it was clear that although still dark because of the Italian Baroque style, it depicted a daytime event.

The Nightwatch by Rembrandt, 1642 (cleaned)
The Night Watch by Rembrandt, 1642 (cleaned)

In the Night Watch, Rembrandt takes group portraits in a new and exciting direction. He imposes a hierarchy on the figures, throwing the two central figures in a glowing baroque light to make them stand out. It’s almost as though a spotlight is casting a dark shadow of the captain’s outstretched hand onto the dazzling pale yellow uniform of his lieutenant.

Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh
Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh

There is so much going on in the painting to emphasize movement. There is a story unfolding.

Skill with the musket was this militia group’s specialization, and we see three stages in the use of the firearm.

(Left) a militiaman pours gunpowder down the barrel of his musket; (top-right) a small helmeted figure fires his hun into the air—the plume of smoke seen behind the lietenant's hat; (bottom-right) a third figure blows out used powder from the musket pan.
(Left) a militiaman pours gunpowder down the barrel of his musket; (top-right) a small helmeted figure fires his gun into the air—the plume of smoke seen behind the lieutenant’s hat; (bottom-right) a third figure blows out used powder from the musket pan.

There’s an interesting narrative around the strangely glowing figure of a girl to the left of center. She is believed to be a mascot for the musketeers. At her waist, she carries a dead chicken, the prominent claws of which symbolize the emblem of the Musketeers.

The girl mascot carrying symbols of the Amsterdam Militia
The girl mascot carrying symbols of the Amsterdam Militia

Shown below is the chain of the Amsterdam Company of Arquebusiers (musketeers). Some of the links are decorated with claws—the emblem of the musketeers, as depicted by the little girl mascot above.

The Amsterdam Militia's Chain
The Amsterdam Militia’s Chain

The Musketeers would hold shooting contests, and the winner–the “king” of the guild–was allowed to wear the chain for a year.

Rembrandt skillfully involves the viewer in the story—almost as if the figures are interacting with us. The spear of the lieutenant and the Captain’s hand have almost a 3D quality and appear to enter the space of the onlooker.

As the dog barks at the excitement of the drumming (below, bottom left), and the standard-bearer hoists up the flag of the militia, the captain is calling together the group—to stop what they are doing and move forward.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the history lesson from Rembrandt as much as we have.

Click to see the real painting hanging in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam thanks to Google Maps

Sources
wikipedia.org.
Khan Academy.
Rembrandt’s Nightwatch: the Mystery Revealed by Georges Boka, Bernard Courteau.

Happy Thanksgiving

For millennia people have given thanks for a good harvest with special ceremonies.

The Thanksgiving tradition in North America—the fourth Thursday in November in the US and the second Monday of October in Canada—has its roots in old England.

The First Thanksgiving by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1915
The First Thanksgiving by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1915

Days of thanksgiving started to gain significance in England during the English Reformation. It was a time when there were 95 Church holidays, not including Sundays. This meant that people were required to stop work and attend church 147 days of the year.

Religious reforms reduced the number of Church holidays to 27 but added new “Days of Fasting” and “Days of Thanksgiving”. Disasters like floods, drought, and plagues were marked by fasting, and military successes or national good fortune celebrated with thanks. One such thanksgiving holiday in England turned into an annual affair. Guido Fawkes’ failed attempt to blow up Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a thanksgiving day that is now known as “Guy Fawkes Day” and celebrated each year on November 5.

It was these fasting and thanksgiving traditions that Pilgrims and Puritans brought with them from old England in the 1620s and 1630s as they settled America.

Thanksgiving Turkey. Credit: TheKohser
Thanksgiving Turkey. Credit: TheKohser

In 1621, a group of Pilgrims in Plymouth Massachusetts invited local Wampanoag Indians to share a meal with them to give thanks for the first good harvest.

Instead of turkey, it was venison on the menu—provided by the native Americans. Pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes weren’t available yet in New England.

It wasn’t until 1789 that President George Washington announced the first national Thanksgiving holiday.

But before Thanksgiving became an annual holiday nationwide, it took 30 years of campaigning from writer Sara Josepha Hale, (author of  “Mary Had a Little Lamb”) and another presidential announcement—this time in 1863 from Abraham Lincoln.

Today, Thanksgiving is a time to be with family and to give thanks.

We have many things to be grateful for in the modern world—just a few are listed below as food for thought.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!

Further Reading

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The Execution of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plotters – Hanged, Drawn and Quartered

The Sinister Plot

In 1605, a group of rural English Catholics from England’s heartlands banded together to hatch a plot to assassinate King James I and blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of England’s Parliament on 5th November 1605.

Led by Robert Catesby, the ultimate purpose was to install King James’s daughter as Catholic head of state—the nine-year-old Princess Elizabeth.

Detail from a contemporary engraving of the Gunpowder Plotters.
Detail from a contemporary engraving of the Gunpowder Plotters.

English Catholics had been persecuted since Henry VIII separated the English Church from the Pope and became supreme head of an independent Church of England.

Following a five-year reprieve under Queen Mary from 1553, persecution of Catholics returned with Queen Elizabeth I. When Elizabeth died, new hopes of religious tolerance under her successor King James I of England and VI of Scotland were re-ignited.

But English Catholics would be sorely disappointed as repression continued under King James. The die was cast. King James and Parliament would have to be destroyed.

Robert Catesby’s fellow plotters were John Wright, Thomas Wintour, Thomas Percy, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby and Francis Tresham.

The plotters had leased a cellar beneath the House of Lords, where they had stockpiled gunpowder and wood. Guy Fawkes, who had 10 years of military experience, was put in charge of the explosives and would ultimately light the fuse.

The Foiled Plot

An anonymous letter exposing the Gunpowder Plot reached authorities, who searched Westminster Palace the morning of 5th of November. There was Guy Fawkes, stood guarding the explosives.

Guy Fawkes by Charles Gogin - 1870
Guy Fawkes by Charles Gogin – 1870

Torture and Execution

When asked by one of the interrogators what he was doing in possession of so much gunpowder, Fawkes answered that his intention was,

to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains.

Not the most diplomatic of answers, even though it oddly earned him the admiration of King James. But he would pay dearly for his insolence. In a letter of 6 November James wrote:

The gentler tortours are to be first used unto him, et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur , and so God speed your good work.

The torture would be “light” at first, meaning using manacles (placed in handcuffs and hung from the wall), then becoming more severe and ending with the dreaded rack.

After a three-day stretch on the rack, Fawkes succumbed to the extreme pain and revealed the identities of his co-conspirators. The observer Sir Edward Hoby remarked,

Since Johnson’s been in the Tower, he beginneth to speak English.

Not for the Squeamish

If the victim was stretched too far on the rack, cartilage, ligaments or bones would snap and pop. Further tortures could be administered while the recipient was confined—burning with torches or candles, or tearing out fingernails and toenails with pincers. Racks often led to excruciating dislocations of shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles.

Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered.

Such was the cost of High Treason (criminal disloyalty to the state)—the most severe punishment available: hanging, drawing, and quartering. Perhaps it would more appropriately be termed “Drawn, Hanged, and Quartered” because that was the order of the humiliation, torture, and death:

Stage 1: drawn backward to the place of execution, by a horse, with their head nearest the ground.

Stage 2: hanged until nearly dead, genitals cut off and burnt before their eyes, and their bowels and hearts removed.

Stage 3: quartered (chopped into four pieces), decapitated and the dismembered parts of their bodies displayed so that they might become “prey for the fowls of the air”.  

Put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both.
A 1606 etching by Claes (Nicolaes) Jansz Visscher, depicting Fawkes's execution
A 1606 etching by Claes (Nicolaes) Jansz Visscher, depicting Fawkes’s execution

One Last Stroke of Luck?

Having watched his co-conspirators mutilated, Fawkes was the last to take the scaffold. Weak from days of torture, Fawkes began to climb the ladder to be hanged until almost dead. His wits still about him, he jumped. Crack went his neck as he fell to his death and avoided the agony of the latter part of his execution. His lifeless body was cut into quarters and the body parts distributed to “the four corners of the kingdom” for public display as a deterrent. If you look closely at this image of the old London Bridge, you can see heads on display in the lower right corner, as was the custom for traitors.

Drawing of London Bridge from a 1682 panorama
Drawing of London Bridge from a 1682 panorama

Ever since that fateful day in 1605, Britons have celebrated “Guy Fawkes Night” and burned Guy Fawkes in effigy every November 5th, along with organized fireworks displays and often fairground attractions.

Guy Fawkes Night 2010 - Battle
Credit: Shane Global, flickr.
Guy Fawkes Night 2010 - Battle
Credit: Shane Global, flickr.
Circling
Credit: Lucy, flickr.

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Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot. With her usual combination of careful scholarship and a nose for a good subject, Fraser has now told the plotters’ story. It is such a good yarn that one wonders why nobody has tried to popularize it before. — The New York Times Book Review, Michael Elliott.

Heads Will Roll – The Beheading of Charles I

There was a chill breeze blowing as Charles stepped out onto the execution scaffold on that cold, gray afternoon of January 30, 1649.

Charles had requested two shirts to lessen the chance that he would shiver, and that the crowd might mistake it for fear.

The season is so sharp as probably may make me shake, which some observers may imagine proceeds from fear. I would have no such imputation.

Only those on the scaffold could hear Charles’s last words.

I shall go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be.
An executioner's block in tHe Tower of London. Image credit John Morris, flickr
An executioner’s block in the Tower of London. Image credit John Morris, flickr

It was two o’clock in the afternoon and Charles knelt to put his head on the block.

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Normally, execution blocks were about 2 ft high, which meant the accused could kneel. But the block used for Charles was only 10″ high, and he had to lie prone, exacerbating the humiliating experience. (Source: A King Condemned: The Trial and Execution of Charles I).

The executioner lined up the axe, and Charles stretched his arms out in front of him to signal he was ready. Back went the axe and then down it came, slicing clean through Charles’s neck in a single stroke.

Contemporary German print of Charles I’s beheading vs what really happened.

A moan rose from the crowd, “as I never heard before and desire I may never hear again”, according to observer Philip Henry.

In one sense, Charles had been lucky, for it only took one pass for his head to come clean off. Quite often, the block bounced under the axe’s impact and the executioner would have to adjust his aim and take another swipe.

The Burial of Charles I by Charles West Cope

The execution of Charles I is unique in British history. It symbolized the death of the divine right theory that a monarch has the right to rule directly from the will of God. It was the birth of constitutional politics.

What is the last thought that passed through his mind before the axe fell? Let us hope for the unfortunate Charles, that it was memories of a happier time.

An Episode in the Happier Days of Charles I by Frederick Goodall – 1853.
Charles I Receiving a Rose from a Young Girl by Eugene Louis Lami, 1829

Charles I Trivia

  • Out of 135 judges, only 68 turned up for his trial. Most did not want to be associated with regicide (the killing of a king).
  • The persecutors allowed Charles to take a last walk in St James’s park with his dog.
  • He ate bread and wine at his last meal.
  • The chosen executioner refused to perform the deed and others had to be bribed £100 (about $10,000 today) and allowed to wear masks to hide their identity.
  • Spectators paid to dip handkerchiefs in his blood in the belief that it would have healing powers.
  • When his son returned to become king of England as Charles II in 1660, anyone still alive who had signed his father’s death warrant was tried and executed for regicide.

Additional Learning

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Charles I: The Downfall Of A King
How did Charles I’s rule collapse in just fifty days?
Watch Episode One FREE with ads on Amazon Freevee.