Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys was the author of probably the most important primary source historians have for London during the Restoration. Pepys kept a meticulous journal for ten years which chronicled his daily life, trips to the theatre, personal relationships, and important events in London. Born a tailor's son on 23 February 1633, Pepys studied at Cambridge as a sizar (a poor student whose schooling was funded by the university). He married his wife Elizabeth, who was then fourteen, in 1655. However, their marriage was troubled from the start and she walked out in early 1656. Information about this period of Pepys' life is sketchy at best, but it is known that she returned to him before the end of 1657.
Pepys was plagued by bladder stones for much of his early life, until he made the decision to have a notably risky and painful surgery for them in 1658. The surgery was successful, however, and Pepys celebrated its anniversary for many years afterwards. After he recovered from his surgery, he found the job where he would truly establish himself, as Clerk of the Acts to the Royal Navy Board. Pepys was highly competent and through diligent work and powerful friends (his cousin and patron was to become the first Earl of Sandwich), he worked his way up through the Navy and in society.
He began to keep his famous diary on 1 January, 1660. Pepys wrote mostly in shorthand, as was common at the time, and using a system unique to himself that he kept a closely-guarded secret. He wrote an entry every day; if ever he could not get to his books, he memorized what he wanted to say and kept it in his head until he could write it down. Because Pepys lived and kept his diary through so many significant events (the Restoration, the Great Plague of London, the Great Fire of London), and because he wrote with both an entertaining voice and meticulous detail, his diary has become famous where scores of contemporaries did not.
It has been speculated that his operation in 1658 made him sterile, but there is no proof except that Pepys remained childless all his life. He loved his wife, but that did not mean that he remained faithful to her, as unfaithfulness was typical at the time; she caught him with his hand in the "cunny" of her companion Deb Willet. However, he also may have had some interest in adolescent boys, which was also typical at the time. He described many boys as "pretty", the same word he used for women (as opposed to the more masculine "handsome"), and he referred to Will Howe, one of the servants of his patron, as "such a boy". As quoted in A Gay History of Britain, when talking about a time he shared a bed with Howe on a visit to the Earl of Sandwich's house, Pepys says that he "'did intend to lie' with Howe, 'but he and I fell to play with one another, so that I made him go to lie with' Mr. Shipley the steward. 'So I lay alone all night.'" That said, there is no evidence that he ever engaged in sodomy himself and in fact wrote about it in his diary as "buggery is now almost grown as common among our gallants as in Italy, and the very pages of the town begin to complain of their masters for it...but blessed be God, I do not to this day know what is the meaning of this sin, nor which is the agent nor which is the patient."
As a well-educated, wealthy man, Pepys often visited the theatres of London; many of his entries begin with "To the theatre to see..." He was also very interested in music and played several instruments, and loved wine, reading, and science. After he stopped writing the diary because he feared it was affecting his eyesight, he became a member of Parliament, was arrested in the Tower of London under probably fabricated charges of leaking naval secrets to France, and eventually died on 26 May 1703 (his wife had died in 1669), surrounded by his immense personal library of over 3000 books, including all the bound volumes of his diary.
Sources: Samuel Pepys by Claire Tomalin, A Gay History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Men Since the Middle Ages by Matt Cook
Pepys was plagued by bladder stones for much of his early life, until he made the decision to have a notably risky and painful surgery for them in 1658. The surgery was successful, however, and Pepys celebrated its anniversary for many years afterwards. After he recovered from his surgery, he found the job where he would truly establish himself, as Clerk of the Acts to the Royal Navy Board. Pepys was highly competent and through diligent work and powerful friends (his cousin and patron was to become the first Earl of Sandwich), he worked his way up through the Navy and in society.
He began to keep his famous diary on 1 January, 1660. Pepys wrote mostly in shorthand, as was common at the time, and using a system unique to himself that he kept a closely-guarded secret. He wrote an entry every day; if ever he could not get to his books, he memorized what he wanted to say and kept it in his head until he could write it down. Because Pepys lived and kept his diary through so many significant events (the Restoration, the Great Plague of London, the Great Fire of London), and because he wrote with both an entertaining voice and meticulous detail, his diary has become famous where scores of contemporaries did not.
It has been speculated that his operation in 1658 made him sterile, but there is no proof except that Pepys remained childless all his life. He loved his wife, but that did not mean that he remained faithful to her, as unfaithfulness was typical at the time; she caught him with his hand in the "cunny" of her companion Deb Willet. However, he also may have had some interest in adolescent boys, which was also typical at the time. He described many boys as "pretty", the same word he used for women (as opposed to the more masculine "handsome"), and he referred to Will Howe, one of the servants of his patron, as "such a boy". As quoted in A Gay History of Britain, when talking about a time he shared a bed with Howe on a visit to the Earl of Sandwich's house, Pepys says that he "'did intend to lie' with Howe, 'but he and I fell to play with one another, so that I made him go to lie with' Mr. Shipley the steward. 'So I lay alone all night.'" That said, there is no evidence that he ever engaged in sodomy himself and in fact wrote about it in his diary as "buggery is now almost grown as common among our gallants as in Italy, and the very pages of the town begin to complain of their masters for it...but blessed be God, I do not to this day know what is the meaning of this sin, nor which is the agent nor which is the patient."
As a well-educated, wealthy man, Pepys often visited the theatres of London; many of his entries begin with "To the theatre to see..." He was also very interested in music and played several instruments, and loved wine, reading, and science. After he stopped writing the diary because he feared it was affecting his eyesight, he became a member of Parliament, was arrested in the Tower of London under probably fabricated charges of leaking naval secrets to France, and eventually died on 26 May 1703 (his wife had died in 1669), surrounded by his immense personal library of over 3000 books, including all the bound volumes of his diary.
Sources: Samuel Pepys by Claire Tomalin, A Gay History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Men Since the Middle Ages by Matt Cook