If I could Time Travel

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London, 17th Century

King James VI & I

King William III & Queen Mary

My expertise is the 17^th century, specifically the 1660’s, 1660-1669, I know, a very narrow view of then London. But in order to ‘know’ of my time, I must explore the years around this decade, generally from James VI & I to William of Orange. I delve into books that date from the 17^th century to now, seeking new and interesting information that abounds from that time. 

Center aisle of St Paul's

If I could, I’d leap into time machine and zoom back to that era, see the dirt encrusted cobblestones, the pissing conduit and the great conduit along Cheapside. I’d find the London stone and sit on it. I would ask a gentleman to take me into St Paul’s Church, a broken down place where the exterior walls bulged under the weight of the stone building. Less than savory folk camped along the main aisle. Cromwell’s soldiers had made the church into stables during the civil wars. The stink of people who had traversed within its walls over several centuries pervaded the columns.

St. Paul's in ruin after 1666 fire

London was loud and dirty. Coal smoke fogged the lanes during winter, and settled on all things, crusting surfaces with grit.

But people are people everywhere. They love and hate. They wonder at what the government is doing to them, how they will cope. Like today.

We haven’t changed over the centuries but I’d still love to travel back to London in the 17^th century, watch from afar as St Paul’s Church burned during the 1666 great fire. According to my sources, with its decay and scaffolding, it took about an hour to burn. Only an hour. The lead roof melted, rained down the church’s sides like a fiery rain and streamed downhill toward the Thames.

Ah, London. Back in the day. 

Many thanks to Wikicommons, Public Domain.

Finding the Facts by Katherine Pym

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Sir David Kirke

Research is a powerful thing. It opens the eyes and expands the mind... that is, if you find sources that don't conflict with each other. For instance, when writing Pillars of Avalon, we found David Kirke was to be knighted by King Charles I in Scotland. David was an Englishman, not a Scotsman. He resided in London with his wife and family. If he were to be knighted in another country, would he be a knight of Scotland or England? This brought about a lot of digging through the annals of history. Deep faraway history.

King Charles I

King Charles I was in need of money. His kingdom in chaos, Parliament gave him fits when he wanted more taxes, so he dismissed Parliament. Since he was the sovereign and believed in the divine right of kings, he proclaimed to rule alone.

He still needed money, so he started knighting men. Once dubbed, the new knight would register their names (even as the register was notoriously in error), and pay their fees. Many refused to do so. As a result posterity lost sight they had been knighted, even as they signed their documents and letters as John Doe, Knight.

When in Scotland, new knights were mandated to register their names with the Lyon King in Edinburgh. Those knighted in England were to register with Herald's College in London. The fee was extensive, upwards to £108, and pretty hefty for that time.

Since the king was in Scotland, and he did not like David very much, he decided to knight him in a country that did not like the English, and the fact, if he registered his knighthood with the Lyon King, he would be considered a Scottish knight.

Digging into who was knighted and where, I found David's name as one who had been honored in Scotland. Then I found a list of who had been knighted alongside him, but the list did not include David's name.

The Kirke's family crest

This is when a historical story becomes fiction. I could not go to Scotland or England to search the archives, data that may have burned in London during the great fire of 1666. I had to work with what I found, sometimes going back several centuries, sometimes in conflict with other data. I could not verify this but if a reliable source mentioned David as being knighted in Scotland, I went with it. I had him defy the standing process and have his certificate registered in London so that he would be considered an English knight. Even if it did not appear in the register.

So, we have Sir David Kirke and Lady Sara Kirke. His knight bachelor did not extend to his sons, even as Lady Sara requested King Charles II to extend it, but from my records, there is no record of him acknowledging or honoring her request.

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Many thanks to :

Shaw, William Arthur & Burthchaell, George Dames, The Knights of England, Volume 1, a complete record from the earliest time to the present day of the knights of all the orders of chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of knights bachelors. Printed and Published for the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, Lord Chamberlain’s Office, St. James’s Palace, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906

And Wikicommons, Public Domain 

Recipes of 16th & 17th centuries England by Katherine Pym

 

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17th Century Chef

I don’t cook, well maybe sometimes. I like a pristine kitchen and cooking takes away from that. I don’t hunt through recipe books, but I do take naps when cooking shows are on television. I put the sound down low and the chef's droning takes me to slumber-land almost immediately. What I do find interesting are recipes from earlier centuries. This was a time of exploration. Every season, new items were brought back to England. It was an exciting time.

Bear in mind some of the following recipes include very expensive ingredients and most middling families could not afford them.  I found only one reference in the 1660’s of a cook-stove (range), so not sure if there were many in the field. Most families cooked their dinners in the hearth, bent over until their backs were sore.

So, here we go. Maybe, for those who like to cook/bake, you’ll find a lovely holiday recipe to try:

NOTE: the language is as written nearly 400 years ago but you’ll be surprised how easy it is to read. Also, based on some of the ingredients (some of the quantities boggle the mind), it's a wonder many adults survived past middle age. And some did. In my research, I've seen some adults get quite old, ages 70+.

To Stew a Leg of Lamb the best way:

Slice it and lay it in order in your stewing pan, seasoned with salt and nutmeg, adding a pound of butter, and half a pint of claret, with a handful of sliced dates, and the like quantity of currants, and make the sauce with the yolk of two eggs, a quarter of a pint of verjuice¹, and two ounces of sugar. Boil them up and put them to the meat, serving all up hot together.

To make collops² of veal the best way:

Slice your veal fat and lean, beat half a dozen eggs with salt, grate a nutmeg, and stamp or chop a handful of thyme.  Add a pint of stewing oysters, and stew them together with a pound of sweet butter.  Make anchovy sauce, and strew the dish over with capers, and so serve it up.

To Roast a Shoulder of Mutton with Oysters the best way:

Take one not too fat nor too lean, open it in divers places, stuff your oysters in with a little chopped peny-royal³, baste it with butter and claret wine, then serve it up with grated nutmeg, yolks of eggs, ginger, cinnamon, butter and red wine vinegar.

To Stew a Rump of Beef in the best order:

Season it with nutmeg, salt and sugar, lay the bony side downward, slice a dozen shallots, cast in a bunch of rosemary, elder, vinegar and water, of each three pints, suffer it to stew over a gentle fire in a close stew pan two hours, and then with the gravy dish it up with sippits⁴.

How to Roast a Hare the Best Way:

The hare being flea’d⁵, lard her with small slips of bacon lard, stick her over with cloves, the ears being stripped and left on, then make a pudding of grated bread, beaten cinnamon, grated nutmeg, currants, cream, sugar and salt.  Make it up with white wine or claret wine, and put it into the belly.  When tying the hare to the spit, roast it by a gentle fire, which done, make sauce of cinnamon, ginger, nutmegs, prunes, grated bread and sugar.  Boil them up to a thickness, and laying the divided pudding on either side of the hare, serve it up with the sauce.

To Roast a fillet of beef
Take a fillet which is the tenderest part of the beef, and lieth in the inner part of the surloyn, cut it as big as you can, broach it, and be careful not to broach it through the best of the meat, roast it leisurely, & baste it with sweet butter, set a dish to save the gravy while it roasts, then prepare sauce for it of good store of parsley, with a few sweet herbs chopp'd smal, the yolks of three or four eggs, sometimes gross pepper minced amongst them with the peel of an orange, and a little onion; boil these together, and put in a little butter, vinegar, gravy, a spoonful of strong broth, and put it to the beef.

To Roast a fillet of beef Otherways.
Sprinkle it with rose-vinegar, claret-wine, elder-vinegar, beaten cloves, nutmeg, pepper, cinamon, ginger, coriander-feed, fennil-seed, and salt; beat these things fine, and season the fillet with it then roast it, and baste it with butter, save the gravy, and blow off the fat, serve it with juyce (juice) of orange or lemon, and a little elder-vinegar.

Or thus (To Roast a fillet of beef).
Powder it one night, then stuff it with parsley, tyme, sweet marjoram, beets, spinage, and winter-savory, all picked and minced small, with the yolks of hard eggs mixt amongst some pepper, stuff it and roast it, save the gravy and stew it with the herbs, gravy, as also a little onion, claret wine, and the juyce (juice) of an orange or two; serve it hot on this sauce, with slices of orange on it, lemons, or barberries.

1.      Acid juice from sour or unripe fruit - the lightly fermented juice of unripe grapes or crab apples (lemon juice works too). 

2.      Slices. 
3.      Mint or basil.
4.      Croutons.
5.      Skinned

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Many thanks to Robert May The Accomplisht Cook (London: 1660) & Wikicommons, Public Domain.

 

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My Support by Katherine Pym

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My best, and most recent support is Jude Pittman, my partner in the Canadian Bride Series. She told me how good the chapters of Pillars of Avalon were, with its in depth historical research and finished chapters that she edited. For this I will be eternally grateful, because...

Few of my friends enjoy novels of 17^thcentury London. My family says: Hey Kath/Mom, that’s great you have another book out, but I won’t read it. I can’t get past seeing you while I read or hear your voice. 

My sons would definitely hear my voice if they read Erasmus T Muddiman, whose exploits came from them. I’ve often wondered how they reached adulthood considering some of the stunts they pulled. They crawled up the side of the house and jumped off the roof or Tarzaned from the house to the garage. They swung off trees and chased avalanches while skiing. One of my critique partners said her sons weren’t anything like mine, which made me wonder. I thought most boys did crazy things when teenagers. 

My dear husband leaves me alone for hours at a time, and eventually beta-reads my chapters, 5-10 of them at a time. He lets me know if anything doesn’t make sense. 

I dedicate my stories to people but I don’t know if they read them. When I tell them of the dedication, their eyes widen and they say: “Gee, thanks.”  

In the end, I am my most ardent supporter. I constantly think how the plot should progress, have my heroine or hero jump through hoops to keep the narrative moving. I don’t allow them to fight or be too cruel. I must like them, and the story. The ending must agree with my sensibilities. 

After all, besides my critique partners who don’t always read every chapter, I’m the only one who must truly enjoy my story. 

For a short time, Erasmus T Muddiman is FREE. 

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