So that was that for the Tudors. Hugely entertaining and occasionally bonkers as a family but for the common folk, especially those in Norwich, life under the Tudors had been pretty bloody grim.
March 1603 … Enter stage left in a spiffy silk doublet, King James the Sixth of Scotland, son of Mary, Queen of Scots and now also by default King James the First of England. The first and the least ghastly of an utterly appalling quartet of Stuart monarchs, he actually started quite well, hobnobbing with Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones and commissioning a new translation of the Bible in 1604 (completed in 1611) which stands, along with Shakespeare's plays as the pinnacle of the English language (in my pedantic opinion).
He also fancied himself an author, having written a book on prosody in the Scottish tongue while still a teenager. I have a nineteenth century copy of his 1597 book "Dæmonologie" which sounds exciting but is disappointingly as dull as ditch-water, even though it was said to have influenced Shakespeare in writing Macbeth.
James was creepily fascinated by witchcraft and magicks and enjoyed personally torturing women accused of witchcraft (boy's gotta have a hobby, just a shame it was repellent) but perhaps he would have been more wisely occupied in learning to write. I mean Dæmonologie is just awful and my copy has been relegated to the stacks of "never-read-agains" in the third bedroom (next step, the charity shoppe).
Bugger all happened at Norwich Castle under his reign, though Norfolk's Blickling Hall (home of the Boleyns) got a couple of nice Jacobean fire surrounds and a spiffy new ceiling.
Jacobean fire surround at Blickling (at least "Jacobean Style" as it was finished two years after his death). Photo courtesy Old Dive.
Looking for something positive to say about him, at the very least James the First gave us the bonfires and fireworks of November the Fifth, burning poor Guido Fawkes in effigy which cheered our childhoods mightily (chestnuts roasting on long, wobbly sticks, potatoes baked in the bonfire ash and the joys of apple-dunking). He also returned the monarchy to the traditional death of kings, expiring on 27th March 1625 from a particularly violent fit of arse-gravy. Huzzah!
My personal favourite things from his reign are not related to Norwich Castle: The "King James" Bible, The First Folio of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson's plays (the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson: 7 Vols: 2012 is a perennial joy) and James' employment of Inigo Jones to design his masques (right royal rave-ups) and who later designed the Queen's House at Greenwich and who himself employed the genius stonemason Nicolas Stone to construct the incomparable Tulip Stair (I've got a whole other talk on that for some time later).
Before his poor sore bottom dribbled its last, James' court had descended into a den of "bawds and catamites" (as his successor complained) "bringing much dishonour to our family" though it sounds fun to me …
The one thing James did for Norwich was to encourage the revival of the Worsted industry and most especially "Norwich Stuffs" which saw a rise in the standard of living of the "middling sorts" of Norwich, the skilled weavers and merchants, but as in all supply and demand economies, the poor labouring spinners and weavers in their leaky Norwich garrets and in their ruinous wattle and daub cottages around Worsted itself were kept in abject poverty, the profits only trickling down as far as the fat purses of their masters (plus ça change … &c).
Things were about to get mad and messianic under James' successor, Charles the First, he of the spaniels, poodle-perm eighties hairdo and an ego bigger than Trump's, believing himself the voice of God on earth (what a dickwad). Norwich's part in his downfall will follow, as will a side-trip to Hull to meet Sir John Hotham and his son, also Sir John Hotham and to take a peek at my personal favourite piece of Civil War memorabilia.
Sources:
Acts and Monuments: Foxe: Old Dive's 1621 edition.
The History of the Reformation of the Church of England: Gilbert Burnett: Old Dive's 1730 edition.
Clark's Lives - The Marrow of Ecclesiastical History: Samuel Clark: Old Dive's 1675 edition.
A Discourse - Wherein is Examined What is Particularly Lawfull During the Confusions and Revolutions of Government: Anthony Ashcam: 1648 (Old Dive's copy which discusses what the hell to do if you're about to execute the king) in three parts (which influenced the policies of the Protectorate)
Francis
Blomefield: An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of
Norfolk: Volume 3: The History of the City and County of Norwich:
published 1753 to 1775
Norfolk Museums Service and the Norfolk Archæological Society
East Anglian Archæology Vol. 132: Norwich Castle: Excavations and Historical Survey: 1978-1988: Part II: c.1345 to Modern: Elizabeth Shepherd-Popescu: 2009
Cromwell, Our Chief of Men: Antonia Fraser: 1973
Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn with Life: H. B. Wheatley: 1906: 4 Vols
Samuel Pepys' Diaries: H. B. Wheatley: 1911: 8 Vols (expurgated) bound in a rather lovely cornflower blue
The Diary of Samuel Pepys: Latham and Matthews: Folio Soc. Limited Edition: 11 Vols (unexpurgted)
Narcissus Luttrell's Diaries (ongoing transcription project by Old Dive)
The Interregnum, 1648 - 1660, Studies of the Commonwealth, Legislative, Social and Legal: F. A. Inderwick; 1891 (an exceedingly good read, despite the dull title; I lucked onto an inscribed and signed first edition for next to nothing … yay!)
Notable Historical Trials: Vol 2 of 4: Chapter III: The Trial of Charles I: Justin Lovell (ed) 1999
The History of England Vol 3: Civil War: Peter Ackroyd: 2014
The Printed Plans of Norwich 1558-1840, A Carto-Bibliography: Raymond Frostick: 2002
Norwich Cathedral - Church, City and Diocese: 1096 - 1996: Various Eds. 1996
Norwich Cathedral Close: Roberta Gilchrist: 2005
Norwich Since 1550: ed: Carole Rawcliffe & Richard Wilson: 2004
Norwich - The Growth of a City: Barbara Green & Rachel M R Young: Norfolk Museums Service: 1981
Norwich Houses Before 1700: Vernacular Architecture, Vol 14: 1983
2 comments:
Wow. Those are some fireplaces. That is some staircase. Art is everywhere you go in England.
John and I visited the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, so at least I can say I've viewed the Queen's House from afar. I'll need to take a closer look next time.
It's definitely worth the walk down the hill from the observatory, Petrea, though the walk back up is not so good for my old knees.
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