A 17th-century compound microscope.
(click on image for larger view)
The Life of the ‘Lost Prince’
The life and death of Henry Stuart, the “lost prince” who would have been King Henry IX had he survived into adulthood, is the subject of an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
Born in 1594, he died in 1612 at the age of 18, struck down by typhoid fever. His younger brother later acceded to the throne, becoming the doomed King Charles I.
During his short life, Henry was a focus for developments in the visual arts, architecture, music and literature. He amassed an impressive art collection and established a court to rival any in Europe.
So beloved was the young prince that his death precipitated a national outpouring of grief.
In scenes that would be echoed almost 400 years later with the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, crowds lined the streets as the cortege travelled to Westminster Abbey and a contemporary record notes:
“There was to bee seene an innumerable multitude of all sorts of ages and degrees of men, women and children… some weeping, crying, howling, wringing of their hands, others halfe dead, sounding, sighing inwardly, others holding up their hands, passionately bewayling so great a losse, with Rivers, nay with an Ocean of teares.”
Yet he is hardly a household name. Catharine MacLeod, curator of the exhibition, said: “The Civil War, that huge rupture in the mid-17th century, overshadowed everything that went before and today Henry is all but forgotten.
“This exhibition gives us a glimpse into the spectacular and culturally rich life of this exceptional prince.”
The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart runs from October 18 2012 - January 13 2013
Portrait of Eleanor Needham, Lady Byron (1627 - 64), as St Catherine 1665c.
By Sir Peter Lely
Mistress to Charles II before his restoration, described by Samuel Pepys as “the King’s seventeenth whore abroad”.
Yep, that’s right- on this day in 1630 (29th May) the world became a whole lot more fabulous as Charles Stuart, later to become King Charles II of England, was born.
Of course, we all know what he looked like, because…
Yes those English monarchs who decided to invade and fuck up many other countries were such spiffing chaps! I know we in Ireland certainly loved having him and his predecessors in charge.
Better than Cromwell surely? And it wasn’t just English monarchs who invaded other countries in those days.
Being better than Cromwell isn’t a glowing recommendation. Of course they did, but it was English monarchs that invaded my country and this was the post that came across my dash. Not being the only ones doesn’t make them any less of shitty horrible people.
^^ Yeah, this.
How does anyone think being better than Crowmell is any sort of valid gauge of a person’s not being an evil fucker status!
People vilify and condemn Oliver Cromwell for what he did in Ireland - and obviously rightfully so - but his beliefs and attitude toward Ireland were by no means unique. Whoever had ended up coming over here from England to quell us, would have been just a big a shit head as he was.
And the ironic thing is, even though Cromwell was all anti-monarchy and pro-republic, he still thought the same way about the Irish people that all the English monarchs did (apart from possibly James II).
Charles II was pro-religious toleration and sympathised with Catholics, he even converted to Catholicism on his deathbed. After what Cromwell did in Ireland because of his zealous protestantism, Charles II rule meant a period or relative peace in Ireland. Of all the kings of this period I felt he was an unusual target for that kind of criticism. That’s all. I’m not defending anything his ancestors did, or the way English monarchs have behaved to other countries.
I’m a republican for gods sake!
King Charles II and Louise de Kéroualle
By Henri Gascar
This is the only ‘double portrait’ of Charles and one of his mistresses to survive (Louise is shown in the background with her attendants). It reflects as bold a statement as would have been acceptable of Louise’s enduring relationship with the King, commissioned, as presumably it was, by Louise herself.
Portrait of Anna Boudaen Courten by Saloman Mesdach, 1619 the Netherlands, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
I love the fabric
Prince James Francis Edward Stuart and Princess Louisa Maria Theresa Stuart
by Nicolas de Largillière 1695
Known as ‘The Old Pretender’, James Stuart was the only surviving son of James II and Mary of Modena. He was secretly conveyed to France when his father abandoned the throne in 1688. On his father’s death in 1701 his supporters in exile proclaimed him king of England, and five years later he made the first of several attempts to reclaim the English throne. He was deeply attached to his younger sister Louisa Maria, who was born at the exiled court at St. Germain-en-Laye. James II commissioned this portrait of his children from Largillière when the family was living in exile. The inscription on the urn tells us that James was seven and Louisa three at the time at which it was painted. Both Louisa and the large greyhound that her brother strokes direct the viewer to look at the prince and to acknowledge him as the rightful inheritor of the British throne. The dog is one of the many elements in the portrait which symbolise both the loyalty of Louisa to her brother and of the Jacobins to James II and his son.
Portrait of Susanna Reael by Isaack Luttichuys, 1656 the Netherlands, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Click for a larger image. The pattern on the lace is amazingly detailed.
Yep, that’s right- on this day in 1630 (29th May) the world became a whole lot more fabulous as Charles Stuart, later to become King Charles II of England, was born.
Of course, we all know what he looked like, because he’s one of those iconic historical figures with an epic story and a…
Oak Apple Day
Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day was a holiday celebrated in England on 29 May to commemorate the restoration of the English monarchy, in May 1660. In some parts of the country, the day was also known as Shick Shack Day, Oak and Nettle Day or Arbor Tree Day.
In 1660, Parliament declared 29 May a public holiday:
“Resolved, That a Bill be prepared for keeping of a perpetual Anniversary, for a Day of Thanksgiving to God, for the great Blessing and Mercy he hath been graciously pleased to vouchsafe to the People of these Kingdoms, after their manifold and grievous Sufferings, in the Restoration of his Majesty, with Safety, to his People and Kingdoms: And that the Nine-and-twentieth Day of May, in every Year, being the Birth Day of his Sacred Majesty, and the Day of his Majesty’s Return to his Parliament, be yearly set apart for that Purpose…” , -Journal of the House of Commons: volume 8: 1660-1667
The public holiday, Oak Apple Day, was formally abolished in 1859, but the date retains some significance in local or institutional customs. It is, for example, kept as Founder’s Day in the Royal Hospital Chelsea (founded by Charles II in 1681). During the course of the day the statue of Charles II in Figure Court is partly shrouded in oak leaves, and all participants in the Parade and spectators wear sprigs of oak leaves to commemorate the King’s escape from forces after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The statue was re-gilded in 2002 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
Traditional celebrations to commemorate the Oak Apple Day often entailed the wearing of oak apples (a type of plant gall, possibly known in some parts of the country as a shick-shack) or sprigs of oak leaves, in reference to the occasion after the Battle of Worcester in September 1651, when the future Charles II of England escaped the Roundhead army by hiding in an oak tree near Boscobel House. Anyone who failed to wear a sprig of oak risked being pelted with bird’s eggs or thrashed with nettles.
These ceremonies, which have now largely died out, are perhaps continuations of pre-Christian nature worship. The Garland King who rides through the streets of Castleton, Derbyshire, at the head of a procession, completely disguised in a garland of flowers, which is later affixed to a pinnacle on the parish church tower, can have little connection with the Restoration, even though he dresses in Stuart costume. He is perhaps a kind of Jack in the Green and the custom may have transferred from May Day when such celebrations were permitted again after having been banned by the Puritans.
Events still take place at Upton-upon-Severn, Northampton, Aston on Clun in Shropshire, Marsh Gibbon in Buckinghamshire, Great Wishford in Wiltshire when villagers gather wood in Grovely Wood, and Membury in Devon. The day is generally marked by re-enactment activities at Moseley Old Hall, one of the houses where Charles II hid in 1651.
At some Oxford and Cambridge halls a toast is still drunk to celebrate Oak Apple Day.
