10/25/2015
I spent the whole of today at the Museum of London near St. Paul's Cathedral. The guide from the Imperial War Museum told me about this place, and it seemed pretty interesting. It's the history of London from prehistoric ages all the way to modern day, and focuses a lot on the 1600s-1800s, my favorite periods.
Maps along the way show the rise and fall of the London settlements over time. Some were due to environment or social changes, as pre-Roman tribes settled alternately near the river Thames, then moved away from the river then back again. When the Romans conquered the area, they settled on a stretch where the river was tamer and easier to cross and called this Londonium.
Typical Romans, they built a wall around the city for defense purposes and then began to build a fortress on what is now the Tower of London. The tower was strategically placed at the east corner of London because that's where the ships would come in from the sea--so they can see invaders long before the invaders can reach London.
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| Roman Wall |
But even in Roman times, there were periods where the city flourished, and long years where the city was scarcely populated due to inflation, better opportunities elsewhere, and foreign wars where Rome withdrew its military from London to fight on the front lines, etc.
By the time the German Anglo-Saxons came along, London was a shadow of its former glory. Romans had left the area a hundred years ago and the place was in ruins. You can see the ruins of the original Roman wall that fortified the area just outside the museum. The Anglo-Saxons just built on top of this wall to fortify themselves against the Vikings and called the place Lundenwic. Small kingdoms develop, like East Saxons, West Saxons, and South Saxons. We know these areas today too: Essex, Wessex, Sussex.
They skip over the Norman Conquest for some reason (I love reading about William the Conqueror!) and went straight to The Black Death. The plague had come over from Asia with the black rat. Within 7 months, a fifth of London's population was dead (100k dead), which was relatively light compared to Europe. 400k died in France. Doctors would quarantine houses with plague patients for 40 days, thus infecting the patients' family too. These patients would open the windows and spit on their neighbors or passersby because they were bitter--houses in London back then were usually 3 stories high, and each story juts out progressively more so it gives a visual impact that the house is leaning forward. The top levels were so compacted, people could reach out their bedroom window and shake their neighbors' hands.
I joined two free tours today which both lasted an hour. I'm finding out that most museums in London offer free tours, but don't advertise it. So you always have to ask the front desk. This is a ticketed event so even though it's free, you still need to get a ticket. The first covered the plague, Great Fire and Civil War (where it's Charles I vs. Cromwell, and Cromwell beheads Charles I. Public sentiment changes over time however, and soon the British were clamoring to have a king again. They invite Charles II, Charles's I son, back from exile to take the throne. The first thing Charles II does is dig up Cromwell's body, behead it and stick it on a pike on the London Bridge. Talk about petty!)
The population of London was so condensed and the living conditions so squalor (there was no sewage system; people threw their poop out onto the streets. The river Thames was also a good refuse dump...which people promptly drank from). It's no bloody wonder the plague spread as quickly as it did.
We'd seen in the V&A shoe exhibit how the rich would wear elevated clogs on top of their shoes, sort of like high heels so that their pretty satin shoes wouldn't touch the shit on the streets. Anyway, the rich fled London, settling into the clean countryside air, giving rise to the new boroughs of what we now call Chelsea, Kensington, Mayfair, Marylebone. They're posh even today. So for the most part, it was really only the poor who were affected by the plague.
After the Black Death finally passed, Londoners rejoiced. Anyone and everyone who found themselves still amongst the living were amazed that they'd actually survived, and so a whole new age of revelry and debauchery commenced. Much like the 1920s flapper age, which was a reaction to the harsh decade directly preceding it (WWI).
Some people became very rich in the process of stripping (and looting) churches during the dissolution phase.
Henry's not one for humble modesty, is he?
These copper plates are significant because they are the first known engraved maps of London.
You can see that this only gives a portion of London. The other plates that complete this map are in a German museum. When the Museum of London contacted them, asking if they could possibly buy the plates, the Germans refused.
London in the medieval ages:
You can see all the buildings crammed onto the London Bridge above.
The current Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is actually reconstructed using the Rose Theatre's plans. They weren't able to find the Globe's original plans, so they used the Rose instead.
The flag would change colors based on what kind of play they were performing that day. This was the original way of advertising the plays, since there was no direct form of communication back then. A red flag might signify a romance, a black, tragic, a white, comedy. Don't quote me on the colors, I'm just tossing out potential associations.
Performances began at 3pm and lasted two hours with no intervals. If it rained, the audience either got wet or paid one penny extra to sit in the galleries.
The procession of Charles II into London to accept his crown:
This is the king who grew up in exile, his father Charles I having been beheaded by Oliver Cromwell. He died with no legitimate son, though he had many illegitimate children with his many, many mistresses. His subjects resented having to pay for the upkeep of his mistresses and children--many of who dukedoms and such were created for. Diana, Princess of Wales, was descended from one of these illegitimate sons.
His mistresses were some of the most famous women in their day. We've seen their portraits: the actress Nell Gwyn (at the National Portrait Gallery and Wallace Collection); Louise de Kerouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth; Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine. He's the king who, on his deathbed, asked his brother to look after his mistresses: "Be well to Portsmouth and let not poor Nelly starve."
Finally, after London recovers from the plague, what happens next? A great fire. The Great Fire of London decimated over 10,000 houses within 4 days before it was finally controlled. When the fire first started (by a baker on Pudding Lane who forgot to turn off his oven. Pudding back then does not mean what it means today. Pudding was the offal of animal that was collected in buckets and thrown into the Thames), the mayor of London's reaction was: no action. He thought the fire would put itself out by the end of the day, which is why the fire grew so big and out of control. Had he ordered everyone to action, the fire would've been contained a lot sooner and not so much damage would have occurred.
The population panicked and everyone grabbed their stuff and began to flee--not many people stayed behind to help put out the fire. King Charles II was one of the heroes to emerge, joining in on the action and throwing buckets of water. London had several fires before, but never as big as this. So each time they had a fire, they'd just rebuild using wood. They never learned. Until this time.
There's a tool on display that has an iron hook at one end. This is used to latch onto a house and pull the whole building down. Kind of like a wrecking ball for their day. The mayor said he didn't want to give the order to tear the houses down because he didn't have the homeowners' permission...even though the houses were being ravaged by the fire anyway! Had they began pulling the houses down, they could've created a border barrier to contain the fire. Nope.
After this fire, it became mandatory to have house insurance. All buildings by law had to have a nonflammable facade such as stone or brick, which contributed to the beautiful whitewashed stone houses we see today in London. Since the city was pretty much decimated, this was the perfect opportunity to rebuild in a grander fashion. Before the fire, everyone built on top of each other, so it became very congested and helped the plague spread its wings.
Christopher Wren suggested wider streets, so firemen can actually reach every house if necessary. He was the lead architect in rebuilding London and is credited with spacing buildings further apart so future fires can't jump from one building to another. A sewage system was added. Foreigners who came to visit noted how grand the city looked. Just think: had there not been a fire, London would've never been rebuilt into what it is now. It would just be a collection of medieval wooden houses. All the people who wanted to have their houses rebuilt had to get the approval of the city surveyors. Stakes were driven into the ground to denote the borders of one's properties. But at night, some property owners would move the stakes to make their properties bigger. When the surveyors found out about this, they started imposing strict fines...and a possible three-month jail sentence!
The second tour focused on 1600s-1800s and the vast disparity between the rich and poor. London's rich were the richest in the world, and London's poor were the poorest in the world--most children would not reach the age of 10. The city becomes heavily polluted by the factories--The Great Smog kills 10k people over one summer!
People had pretty rotten teeth back then, though the toothbrush had been invented. The rich had fake teeth made of ivory (sometimes hippopotamus ivory!) and it was very much a status symbol. It became fashionable after dinner at dinner parties to remove your fake teeth and place it on a plate next to you, so people can see that you're rich enough to afford fake teeth. Go figure. This particular toothbrush set belonged to Queen Caroline, George III's wife.
There's a lovely display of costumes in the Pleasure Garden area, but no flash photography allowed so I couldn't take any pictures. With the rise of an affluent middle class, leisure time became more popular and things to wile away the time--like Pleasure Gardens--boomed in business. The gardens charged a fee of 1 shilling for entrance, but did not discriminate between poor and rich. So this was the only place that the different classes could mingle respectably. The dress code was smart, so if you're poor and want to get in, better wear your master's clothing! Oftentimes people complained that they couldn't tell the difference between classes here because a maid might show up in her mistress's clothes.
They skip over the Norman Conquest for some reason (I love reading about William the Conqueror!) and went straight to The Black Death. The plague had come over from Asia with the black rat. Within 7 months, a fifth of London's population was dead (100k dead), which was relatively light compared to Europe. 400k died in France. Doctors would quarantine houses with plague patients for 40 days, thus infecting the patients' family too. These patients would open the windows and spit on their neighbors or passersby because they were bitter--houses in London back then were usually 3 stories high, and each story juts out progressively more so it gives a visual impact that the house is leaning forward. The top levels were so compacted, people could reach out their bedroom window and shake their neighbors' hands.
 |
| Elizabeth plate |
The population of London was so condensed and the living conditions so squalor (there was no sewage system; people threw their poop out onto the streets. The river Thames was also a good refuse dump...which people promptly drank from). It's no bloody wonder the plague spread as quickly as it did.
We'd seen in the V&A shoe exhibit how the rich would wear elevated clogs on top of their shoes, sort of like high heels so that their pretty satin shoes wouldn't touch the shit on the streets. Anyway, the rich fled London, settling into the clean countryside air, giving rise to the new boroughs of what we now call Chelsea, Kensington, Mayfair, Marylebone. They're posh even today. So for the most part, it was really only the poor who were affected by the plague.
After the Black Death finally passed, Londoners rejoiced. Anyone and everyone who found themselves still amongst the living were amazed that they'd actually survived, and so a whole new age of revelry and debauchery commenced. Much like the 1920s flapper age, which was a reaction to the harsh decade directly preceding it (WWI).
Some people became very rich in the process of stripping (and looting) churches during the dissolution phase.
Henry's not one for humble modesty, is he?
These copper plates are significant because they are the first known engraved maps of London.
You can see that this only gives a portion of London. The other plates that complete this map are in a German museum. When the Museum of London contacted them, asking if they could possibly buy the plates, the Germans refused.
London in the medieval ages:
You can see all the buildings crammed onto the London Bridge above.
 |
| Rose Theatre |
The current Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is actually reconstructed using the Rose Theatre's plans. They weren't able to find the Globe's original plans, so they used the Rose instead.
The flag would change colors based on what kind of play they were performing that day. This was the original way of advertising the plays, since there was no direct form of communication back then. A red flag might signify a romance, a black, tragic, a white, comedy. Don't quote me on the colors, I'm just tossing out potential associations.
Performances began at 3pm and lasted two hours with no intervals. If it rained, the audience either got wet or paid one penny extra to sit in the galleries.
The procession of Charles II into London to accept his crown:
This is the king who grew up in exile, his father Charles I having been beheaded by Oliver Cromwell. He died with no legitimate son, though he had many illegitimate children with his many, many mistresses. His subjects resented having to pay for the upkeep of his mistresses and children--many of who dukedoms and such were created for. Diana, Princess of Wales, was descended from one of these illegitimate sons.
His mistresses were some of the most famous women in their day. We've seen their portraits: the actress Nell Gwyn (at the National Portrait Gallery and Wallace Collection); Louise de Kerouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth; Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine. He's the king who, on his deathbed, asked his brother to look after his mistresses: "Be well to Portsmouth and let not poor Nelly starve."
Finally, after London recovers from the plague, what happens next? A great fire. The Great Fire of London decimated over 10,000 houses within 4 days before it was finally controlled. When the fire first started (by a baker on Pudding Lane who forgot to turn off his oven. Pudding back then does not mean what it means today. Pudding was the offal of animal that was collected in buckets and thrown into the Thames), the mayor of London's reaction was: no action. He thought the fire would put itself out by the end of the day, which is why the fire grew so big and out of control. Had he ordered everyone to action, the fire would've been contained a lot sooner and not so much damage would have occurred.
 |
| Typical London house architecture during Great Fire |
The population panicked and everyone grabbed their stuff and began to flee--not many people stayed behind to help put out the fire. King Charles II was one of the heroes to emerge, joining in on the action and throwing buckets of water. London had several fires before, but never as big as this. So each time they had a fire, they'd just rebuild using wood. They never learned. Until this time.
 |
| Painting of the Great Fire |
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| How fast the fire spread, and where it spread to |
There's a tool on display that has an iron hook at one end. This is used to latch onto a house and pull the whole building down. Kind of like a wrecking ball for their day. The mayor said he didn't want to give the order to tear the houses down because he didn't have the homeowners' permission...even though the houses were being ravaged by the fire anyway! Had they began pulling the houses down, they could've created a border barrier to contain the fire. Nope.
 |
| Tool to pull houses down |
Christopher Wren suggested wider streets, so firemen can actually reach every house if necessary. He was the lead architect in rebuilding London and is credited with spacing buildings further apart so future fires can't jump from one building to another. A sewage system was added. Foreigners who came to visit noted how grand the city looked. Just think: had there not been a fire, London would've never been rebuilt into what it is now. It would just be a collection of medieval wooden houses. All the people who wanted to have their houses rebuilt had to get the approval of the city surveyors. Stakes were driven into the ground to denote the borders of one's properties. But at night, some property owners would move the stakes to make their properties bigger. When the surveyors found out about this, they started imposing strict fines...and a possible three-month jail sentence!
 |
| Queen Victoria's childhood dolls |
The second tour focused on 1600s-1800s and the vast disparity between the rich and poor. London's rich were the richest in the world, and London's poor were the poorest in the world--most children would not reach the age of 10. The city becomes heavily polluted by the factories--The Great Smog kills 10k people over one summer!
 |
| Mrs. Jamieson is carted around in one of these in Cranford |
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| Newgate Gaol door |
People had pretty rotten teeth back then, though the toothbrush had been invented. The rich had fake teeth made of ivory (sometimes hippopotamus ivory!) and it was very much a status symbol. It became fashionable after dinner at dinner parties to remove your fake teeth and place it on a plate next to you, so people can see that you're rich enough to afford fake teeth. Go figure. This particular toothbrush set belonged to Queen Caroline, George III's wife.
 |
| Admiral Horatio Nelson's Sword of Honor |
There's a lovely display of costumes in the Pleasure Garden area, but no flash photography allowed so I couldn't take any pictures. With the rise of an affluent middle class, leisure time became more popular and things to wile away the time--like Pleasure Gardens--boomed in business. The gardens charged a fee of 1 shilling for entrance, but did not discriminate between poor and rich. So this was the only place that the different classes could mingle respectably. The dress code was smart, so if you're poor and want to get in, better wear your master's clothing! Oftentimes people complained that they couldn't tell the difference between classes here because a maid might show up in her mistress's clothes.
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| Promoting British-made goods has always been a very British tradition |
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| St. Paul's Cathedral took more than 50 years to rebuild after the Great Fire |
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