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Category Archives: 17th Century
The Ghost Dragon
Creepy History 47. Happy Halloween from Windows into History! All October we have been looking at quotes from old books about ghosts and other scary things in our Creepy History series. Let’s take one last look at News from the … Continue reading
Posted in 17th Century, Books, Creepy History, History
Tagged Dragons, Ghosts, Giants
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Trees on the Moon
Snippets 102. One of the very earliest works of what we would now term “science fiction” was the Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon, by Cyrano de Bergerac (yes, he was a real person, not just … Continue reading
Posted in 17th Century, Books, Fiction, History, Science Fiction, Snippets
Tagged Cyrano de Bergerac, Moon
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A Chat with a Ghost
Creepy History 21. In 1681 clergyman Joseph Glanvill wrote Sadducismus Triumphatus, exploring the world of the supernatural, with a particular focus on witches and ghosts. He had a strong belief in this sort of thing, and felt that denying their … Continue reading
Posted in 17th Century, Books, Christianity, Creepy History, History
Tagged Ghosts, Joseph Glanvill
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Journals 11.1 – England in 1592 (Part 1)
Windows into History has concentrated principally on 19th Century travel journals so far, but this month we are going to look at something a little bit different, England as seen by Foreigners in the days of Elizabeth and James the … Continue reading
Posted in 16th Century, 17th Century, Books, Britain, England, History, Journals, London, Royalty, Travel
Tagged Elizabeth I, William Brenchley Rye
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The Lady’s New Years Gift, 1688 (Snippets 47)
George Savile, the Marquis of Halifax (1633-1695) was a member of the House of Lords, with a distinguished political career and a few publications under his belt when, in 1688, he departed from his political writings to pen a simple … Continue reading
Posted in 17th Century, Books, History, Snippets
Tagged Advice, Friends, Friendship, George Savile, Marquis of Halifax, New Year
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Games in the year 1600 (Snippets 25)
In 1600, Samuel Rowlands published one of his earliest collections of poems, under the slightly gruesome title The Letting of Humour’s Blood in the Head-vaine. He was not a popular poet in his day, but his work has proven valuable … Continue reading
Posted in 16th Century, 17th Century, History, Snippets
Tagged Games, Hobbies, Pastimes, Samuel Rowlands
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A strange new drink: tea! (Snippets 22)
The first ever importer of tea into Britain was a London merchant named Thomas Garraway. In the 1660s, tea began to be a fashionable drink in Britain, thanks to the wife of Charles II, Catherine of Braganza, who was a … Continue reading
Posted in 17th Century, History, Snippets
Tagged Catherine of Braganza, Charles II, Samuel Pepys, Tea, Thomas Garraway
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The Winteryest Winter (Snippets 6)
Between 1608 and 1814 London played host to the great “frost fairs”, on occasions when the winters were sufficiently cold for the Thames to freeze over. The most famous and long-lasting of these was during the winter of 1683-4, widely … Continue reading
Posted in 17th Century, 18th Century, England, London, Snippets
Tagged Frost Fairs, Royal Society of London, Thames, Weather, Winter
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Windows into History 