Open City: London, 1500–1700 exhibition material

This article offers a comprehensive list of each piece included in Open City: London, 1500–1700 one of the Exhibitions at the Folger.

London Observed

According to old stories, England—or Albion—was settled by the Trojan prince Brutus, the great grandson of Aeneas, after many years of wandering. Troynovant, or New Troy, was the name of the capital. Such mythic tales were only beginning to be questioned in the England of Queen Elizabeth. New sources of evidence were sought in written records, archaeological finds, and systems of mapping. London came into focus as a subject of historical study as voyages of discovery and trade to new parts of the world awoke English interest in the origins of their own society.

The first written reference to London is thought to have been made by Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus. His Annales, written in the second century AD, told the story of Boadicea, a British warrior widow who led a native rebellion against the Roman governor, Suetonius, in 61 AD. In describing Suetonius’ decision not to defend London, Tacitus characterized the city as “not greatly famous by the name of a colonie, but for concourse of Merchants, and provision of all things necessary, of great fame and renow[n]e.”

Centuries later, headmaster of Westminster School (for boys) William Camden set out to write an account of Roman Britain. Intending to emphasize Britain’s place in the Roman Empire, Camden ended up surveying the history and topography of England, county by county. Adapting the Greek term for place, Camden’s “chorographical description” of the nation became a landmark in English history writing.

But perhaps best known is John Stow's Survey of London, which provides the one indispensible source of information about London at the turn of the seventeenth century. His Survey is organized as a systematic walk around the walls, through the gates, and into the wards of his native city. Stow’s sources included the memories of older contemporaries, the records of the city, and charters of the recently dissolved monasteries. He aimed to preserve the memory of the medieval city passing out of existence. His account was adapted over the years as London grew and changed.

For visual depictions of the city, we can turn first to the "Nuremberg Chronicle," a world history mixing a Christian view of providential history, from Creation to Last Judgment, with new humanist influences from Italy. The “Nuremberg Chronicle” combined some fairly realistic depictions of late fifteenth-century cities with purely fanciful, interchangeable views. London clearly was not of sufficient importance to the publisher Koberger to invest in a custom woodcut. Instead, the woodcut used to depict London in the Latin edition also depicted Troy, Pisa, Ravenna, and others.

Other visuals of London can be found in maps of the city. John Norden's small but user-friendly map of London offers a scale of distances and an alphabetical key to major streets, homes, and public buildings in London. Norden emphasized London’s civic governance by adding the coats of arms of the major trading companies. His was the first map of London to focus closely on the city apart from the seat of national government in Westminster. By contrast, Franz Hogenberg's map Londinum Feracissimi Angliae Regni Metropolis features the medieval city walls, but the view takes in the whole area extending from the seats of national government at Westminster and Whitehall Palace in the west to the broadening of the Thames for ocean-going traffic in the east. Several streets and intersections are labeled, but the most reliable points of orientation to the city are the river landings and other landmarks that can be seen best from the river. St. Paul’s Cathedral is centered in the view. This is a rare surviving depiction of the medieval St. Paul’s. The cathedral is shown complete with its spire, even though the spire had burnt in 1561.

Items included

Case 1

Wall between cases 1 and 2

Changing Cityscape, Vanishing Monasteries (case 2)

Large compounds owned by a number of religious orders dominated London’s medieval landscape. To their supporters, these monasteries were places of prayerful retreat and charitable giving. To their detractors, they were centers of greed and hypocrisy. Henry VIII’s decision to close (or “dissolve”) England’s monasteries revealed another view: monasteries harbored enemies to the state. His decision caused one of the greatest shifts in land ownership in London’s history. While the king and select courtiers enjoyed the spoils, the city adjusted to waves of repurposing and rebuilding.

Henry VIII closed British monasteries in waves. The 1534 Act of Supremacy required each religious house to acknowledge the king as the Supreme Head of the English Church. With the First Act of Suppression in 1536, Henry VIII closed smaller monasteries and pensioned some of the monks. With the Second Act of Suppression, shown here, Henry stressed (improbably) that the surrender of monasteries had been voluntary, and he addressed the messy legalities of ownership, leases, liberties, and privileges. By 1540, over eight hundred monasteries were closed.

But these closures were confusing. A lease of three tenements and a wharf in St. Margaret's Parish, Southwark illustrates uncertainty over the impact of Henry’s new laws. The Fraternity of Our Blessed Lady had leased the properties to a waterman for fifty years on condition that he not use any of the properties as “common hostelries or brothel houses.” But on the back, someone has written: “These three leases are in question to be new made according to the words of the corporation of King Henry the VIII.” In other words, did the fraternity still control the properties?

Pictured in William Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, St. John’s Priory in Clerkenwell had one of the more colorful histories of the major London monasteries. St. John’s was the English headquarters of the crusading order of the Knights Hospitallers. They had been founded to assist pilgrims to Jerusalem, and by the time of the dissolution, they were fighting the Ottomans from Malta. Like Blackfriars, St. John’s served the Office of Revels after the dissolution. Within a decade of its closure, some stones from this monastery were diverted to the Lord Protector Somerset’s new home on the Strand.

Fifty years after the dissolution, Thomas Norton responded to a request for first-hand information about Henry VIII’s intentions in closing the monasteries. His correspondent was employed by Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth I’s master spy. With a long list of strategies and manipulations, Norton fingered Thomas Cromwell as the mastermind, “the man that by his zeale his wisdom and his Courrige was godes instrument to carry all to good effect.” Norton concludes his letter by recommending others who may have relevant information, including the Recorder of London.

For a history of the English Reformation from the Protestant point of view, John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, as the Actes and Monuments was popularly known, is the seminal text. It went through multiple editions, with the text growing steadily. In the woodcut above, Henry VIII and his advisors Archbishop Cranmer and Chancellor Thomas Cromwell triumphantly vanquish Pope Clement with a bible and a sword. Among those looking on in horror in the pope’s party are Cardinal Pole, Bishop John Fisher, and Catholic monks, recognizable by their tonsured hair.

Items included

  • FACSIMILE. John Foxe. First volume of the ecclesiasticall history contaynyng the actes and monuments of thynges past. London: John Daye, 1570. Call number: STC 11223 vol. 2; displayed p.1201, LUNA Digital Image.
  • England and Wales. Anno tricesimo primo Henrici octavi. London: Thomas Berthelet, 1539. Call number: STC 9397; displayed p. XVII.
  • Thomas Norton. Contemporary copy of letter from Thomas Norton, Sharpenhoe, Bedfordshire, to Francis Mylles. August 31, 1581. Call number: X.c.62; displayed Fol 1. LUNA Digital Image and Transcription of letter.
  • William Dugdale. Monasticon Anglicanum. London: Aliciæ Warren, 1661. Call number: D2486; displayed p. 504, LUNA Digital Image
  • St. Margaret’s Parish, Southwark. Lease from St. Margaret’s Parish, Southwark to Thomas Glover, waterman. January 21, 1537. Call number: Z.c.34 (60) and LUNA Digital Image.

Shakespeare's Townhouse (pilaster before case 3)

William Shakespeare was a shrewd investor. He profited handsomely as a shareholder in his acting company, the King’s Men. In 1597, he purchased New Place, one of the finest homes in Stratford, and he seems to have retired there by the spring of 1613. But at that time, he also purchased a London townhouse at Blackfriars as an investment.

This is Shakespeare’s copy of the deed. He made a cash deposit of £80 on a sales price of £140. The three trustees for the sale included John Heminges, who co-edited Shakespeare’s complete works after his death. Also after his death, Shakespeare’s trustees sold the Blackfriar’s property.

Items included

  • Henry Walker. Bargain and sale from Henry Walker, citizen and minstrel of London, to William Shakespeare. March 10, 1612/13. Call number: Z.c.22 (45) and LUNA Digital Image.

Blackfriars: Changing Hands, Changing Functions (case 3)

Blackfriars was a Dominican monastery that commanded the western flank of the walled city, with extensive river frontage. After the dissolution of the monasteries, Blackfriars was repurposed for everything from aristocratic town homes to rehearsal (and later, performance) space for a children’s choir. Blackfriars also served as a warehouse for the Office of the Revels. In 1596, James Burbage bought the large hall where several medieval parliaments had met to establish an indoor theater.

As a former monastery, Blackfriars enjoyed certain legal “liberties” which kept it outside London’s jurisdiction, though it was inside the city walls. After King Henry VIII appointed Sir Thomas Cawarden Master of the Tents and Revels in 1544, Cawarden established headquarters at Blackfriars. A list of “moneye payd for stuf” in the move includes one item that speaks to the desecration of the parish church of St. Ann’s on the property: a payment for carting “the great altar stone . . . to Blachynglye.” Bletchingly was Anne of Cleves’ country manor, where Cawarden was steward. When the Catholic Queen Mary came to the throne, St. Ann’s parishioners forced Cawarden to make restitution.

As a warehouse for the Office of the Revels, Blackfriars saw its share of extravagance. Two manuscripts record, respectively, some expenses involved in moving items, and an inventory of items stored in Blackfriars. The expense account also gives a behind-thescenes look at the preparations for a royal coronation. A list of forty-six tailors begins on this page, some working “daies” and “nyghtes” to prepare for Edward VI’s coronation in 1547. Other charges in the manuscript have to do with the building and transportation over water of a “mount,” probably a parade float. Among the items being stored at the Office of the Revels at Blackfriars are loans to the City of London for Edward VI’s coronation procession. They include one long garment “blewe sarcenett [fine silk] fryngyd yelowe of yt self A cape purpull velvett fryngyd with golde.” Stephen Cobbe, George Todlowe, and William Mosyne are the citizens being entrusted with these loans.

Today, we know the name Blackfriars in association with the theater there. The Children of the Chapel Royal were the first actors in the Burbages’ Blackfriars. Francis Beaumont wrote The Knight of the Burning Pestle, a burlesque of romance and adventure, for them. It features a citizen grocer, his wife, and their apprentice, the kind of respectable citizens who attended plays at Blackfriars. But these citizens refuse to behave at the theater. Instead, they repeatedly interrupt and redirect the plot of the play. Beaumont calls attention to how easily the boundaries between actors and audiences are transgressed in London’s theaters.

Shakespeare’s complex tragedy, Othello, was written for the Globe, but it also played at the more intimate, and more expensive, Blackfriars. Othello was a black soldier in the Venetian republic, who has won the heart of an aristocratic lady. In its explorations of Othello’s place in Venetian society, the play insistently counterpoints dark against light, black against white. Before he kills his wife, Othello says, “Put out the light, and then put out the light.” The line may have sent a chill through Blackfriars’ candlelit spaces.

Items included

Edward V's Coronation (wall above case 3)

  • Wall Panel: "The coronation of King Edward V"

Trade Companies (pilaster before case 4)

Incorporation bestowed a charter and a legal personality. Cities and craft and trade companies were alike corporate bodies with legal standing — and all depended on the royal prerogative. With this dense grid of repeating squares, Benjamin Wright educated people in the codes of city (or “corporation”) and company (or guild) coats of arms. The first twelve are the “great” companies of London — the wealthiest companies from which the Lords Mayor were elected. A total of sixty companies are represented, with the watermen bringing up the rear. Certain civic privileges were restricted to freemen of the companies, but women participated in the trades, through their family businesses. Many widows managed their shops.

Items included

  • Benjamin Wright. The armes of all the cheife corporations of England wt the Companees of London. London, 1596. Call number: STC 26018 and LUNA Digital Image.

Cheapside (case 4)

Fair and honest trade was the goal of London’s markets, though it could remain elusive, despite multiple layers of regulation. Cheapside was London’s largest market, and it was also one of London’s busiest thoroughfares. The street was lined with the stores of citizen-shopkeepers, including the deluxe Goldsmiths’ Row. In temporary stalls, traders from surrounding counties sold their goods. Street hawkers plied their wares among the throngs. The conduits, or water fountains, were popular gathering spots and important public works. The Cheapside Cross was a central symbol of faith, and the Standard an occasional place of execution.

One of the most vivid images of Cheapside Market appears in Hugh Alley's Caveat for the City of London, shown here. Alley was a freeman of the city of London. He was also a whistle-blower, a task that was encouraged by laws that rewarded informers with a portion of whatever fines were collected. Writing to the Lord Mayor, Alley warned against the three main abuses of the food markets: forestalling (setting oneself up as a middle man), engrossing (monopolizing enough of the supply of a product to sell at an inflated price), and regrating (buying goods in one market for resale in another).

Along with abuses in the markets came opportunities. Most young men in London were trained in trades through apprenticeships—and many came from around the country for the opportunity, like John Turke (son of John Turke, fishmonger of London). Turke was bound apprentice to Edward Fisher (merchant adventurer and skinner) for nine years. The minimum term was seven years, and with successful completion of an apprenticeship, one would be freed into a trade company. For better or for worse, companies were a stabilizing force in society. They had certain responsibilities for regulating their trade—and vested interests in maintaining their privileges. Beyond that, only freemen could become citizens and their privileges extended to the governance of the city. Freemen signed an oath of loyalty to the monarch, the city, and its customs.

Companies held status as incorporated bodies only as a privilege granted by the king. A petition to the king from the Vintners Company seeks a restatement of their traditional rights. They object to encroachments on their trade from two directions: by importers and by coopers (who made the barrels in which wine was sold).

Anxieties about a changing London are revealed in plays like Thomas Middleton's A Chast Mayd in Cheapside. Moll is the daughter of a goldsmith who owns one of the luxury shops in Cheapside. Moll’s father seems willing to sell his daughter to the wealthiest suitor, even after he is informed that the suitor’s last name, Whorehound, is a good indicator of his character. Most of the action of Middleton’s play appears to confirm moral anxieties about an increasingly wealthy London: everything has its price.

Items included

Pilaster before case 5

  • FACSIMILE from the British Museum. Tittle-Tattle; Or, the several Branches of Gossipping. Woodcut, ca. 1560–1600. 18th impression. Reg. #1973, U.216.

Parish Life and Alternatives To It (case 5)

  • FACSIMILE. Thomas Trevelyon. Trevelyon miscellany. Manuscript, 1608. V.b.232; displayed fol. 33v-34r (image 1, image 2).
  • Bill of Mortality for August 24–August 31, 1609. London, 1609. STC 16743.8 (image).
  • Church of England. Book of Common Prayer. London: Richard Grafton, 1549. STC 16274; displayed sig Oviii recto (image).
  • Church of England. Articles to be enquired of in the generall visitation of Edmonde Bishoppe of London. London: John Cawood, 1554. STC 10248; displayed cii-ciii (image).
  • John Véron. Notes of two sermons preached by Mr. Véron. March 8, 1559/60. X.d.501; displayed fol. 3 (image).
  • Alessandro Magno. Account of Alessandro Magno’s journeys to Cyprus, Egypt, Spain, England, Flanders, Germany and Brescia. Manuscript, 1557–65. V.a.259; displayed 167v-168r (image).

Wall above case 5

  • Plan of pews and the names of their holders. Manuscript, ca. 1600. X.d.395 (image).

Pilaster after case 5

  • FACSIMILE from The Society of Antiquaries, London. John Gipkyn. Diptych of Old St Paul’s. Oil on panel, 1616. SOA 235452, SOA 235453, SOA 235454.

St. Paul’s Cathedral (case 6)

  • James Pilkington. The burnynge of Paules Church in London. London: William Seres, 1563. STC 19931 copy 1; displayed title page (image).
  • Henry Farley. St Paules-Church her bill for the Parliament. London: George Eld, 1620. STC 10690; displayed title page (image).
  • Charles I, king of England. His Majesties commission, and further declaration: concerning the reparation of Saint Paul’s Church. London: Robert Barker, 1633. STC 9256; displayed title page (image).
  • William Dugdale. The History of St. Pauls Cathedral in London. London: Thomas Warren, 1658. D2482; displayed plate 164 (image).
  • Edward Benlowes. On St. Paul’s Cathedral. London: Dan. King, 1658. K487 copy 1 (image).
  • FACSIMILE. Detail from Robert Morden and Philip Lea. This Actuale Survey of London, Westminster, & Southwark. London, ca. 1725. MAP L85c no. 18 (image).

Wall between cases 6 and 7

  • Wall panel featuring a floorplan of St. Paul’s Cathedral and callouts describing the varied activities that took place there.

Royal Exchange (case 7)

  • Wenceslaus Hollar. Byrsa Londinensis. Etching. London, 1644? ART Vol. d86 no. 1 (image).
  • John Chapman. Sir Thomas Gresham. Stipple engraving. London: John Wilkes, 1806. ART File G831 no.2 (size XS) (image).
  • FACSIMILE. Stephen Harrison. The arch’s of triumph erected in honor of the high and mighty prince. London: John Sudbury and George Humble, ca. 1613. STC 12863a Copy 1; displayed p. 4 (image).
  • A Larum for London. London: Edward Allde, 1602. STC 16754 copy 1; displayed title page (image).
  • Thomas Heywood. If you know not me, you know no bodie. London: Nathaniell Butter, 1606. STC 13336.2; displayed title page (image).
  • Georg von Schwartzstät, Freiher von Offenbach. Diary of Georg von Schwartzstät, Freiher von Offenbach’s travels in the Netherlands, England, France and Germany. Manuscript, 1609. V.a.316; displayed after opening after fold-out engraving of St. Paul's (image).
  • Wenceslaus Hollar. Winter. Etching. London, 1643. ART 252- 175.4 (size M) (image).

Southwest Corner

  • Wenceslaus Hollar. Ad Londinum Epitomen & Ocellum. London & Antwerp, 1647 [central panel in facsimile, courtesy of The British Museum]. MAP L85c no.29 parts 1-2 (image 1) (image 2).

Northwest Corner

  • Wall panel on playhouses, featuring images illustrating the Globe, visitor impressions, and theater as empire.

Playhouses (case 8)

  • James I, king of England. A Proclamation for the due and speedy execution of the statute against rogues, vagabonds, idle and dissolute persons. London: Robert Barker, 1603. STC 8333; displayed sheet 2 (image).
  • Ben Jonson. The workes of Benjamin Jonson. London: William Stansby, 1616. STC 14751 copy 1; displayed p. 72 (image).
  • Thomas Middleton. A game at chesse. London: 1625? STC 17882.2; displayed title page (image).
  • William Shakespeare. The late and much admired play, called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. London: William White and Thomas Creede, 1609. STC 22335 copy 2; displayed title page (image).
  • Ben Jonson. The new inne, or, The light heart. London: Thomas Harper, 1631. STC 14780; displayed title page (image).
  • Henry Marsh. Wits, or, Sport upon Sport. London: for Henry Marsh, 1662. W3218; displayed title page (image).
  • England and Wales. An Order of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for suppressing of publique play-houses, dancing on ropes, and bear-baitings. London: Edward Husband, 1647. E1709A (image).
  • Thomas Dekker. Receipt from Thomas Dekker to Philip Hynchlow. January 18, 1598/99. X.d.319; displayed verso (image).

Bartholomew Fair and Smithfield (case 9)

  • Richard Grafton. Brief treatise conteyning many proper tables and rules. London: John Charlewood, 1576. STC 12156 copy 1; displayed F6v-F7r (image).
  • Anne Askew. First examinacyon of Anne Askewe. Wesel: Dirik van der Straten, 1546. STC 848; displayed title page (image).
  • Robert Crowley. The confutation of thirteen articles. London: Steven Mierdman?, 1548. STC 6083; displayed plate after A8 (image).
  • Ben Jonson. The workes of Benjamin Jonson. London: John Beale, John Dawson, Bernard Alsop and Thomas. Fawcet, 1640. STC 14754 Copy 4 pt. 1; displayed A5 (image).
  • FACSIMILE from Houghton Library, Harvard University. The solemn mock procession of the Pope, cardinals, Jesuits, fryers etc. through the city of London. November 17, 1679. London: Jonathan Wilkins, 1680. p EB65.A100.680s4.
  • FACSIMILE. J. Bluck. Bartholomew Fair. London: R. Ackerman’s Repository of Arts, 1808. ART vol. b3 no.193 (image).
  • Charles I, king of England. A proclamation prohibiting the keeping of Bartholomew Faire and Sturbridge Faire. London: John Lichfield and William Turner, 1625. STC 8793 (image).

Pilaster before case 10

  • FACSIMILE. Detail from Franz Hogenberg. Londinum Feracissimi Angliae Regni Metropolis. Engraving. London, 1574. MAP L85c no.27 (image).
  • Wenceslaus Hollar. Bird’s-eye plan of the west central district of London. Etching. London, ca. 1660. ART 264- 511 (Size L) (image).

Westward, Ho: The Development of Covent Garden (case 10)

  • Richard Brome. Five new plays. London: Andrew Crook and Henry Brome, 1659. B4872 copy 2; displayed p. 1 of “The Weeding of Covent Garden” (image).
  • James Howell. Londinopolis. London: John Streater, 1657. H3091; displayed p. 350 (multiple images).
  • Orders formerly conceived and agreed to be published…concerning the infection of the plague. London: Richard Cotes, 1646. O401; displayed title page (image).
  • Henry Herbert. Letter signed from Henry Herbert, London, to Mr. Michaell Mohan. October 13, 1660. X.c.96 (image).
  • William D’Avenant. The cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru. London: Henry Herringman, 1658. D321; displayed title page (image).
  • FACSIMILE from The British Museum. Wenceslaus Hollar. Piazza in Covent Garden. London, 1645–50. G,6.10.
  • John Ferrers. Letter from John Ferrers, Preston, to Thomas Parker. April 15, 1682. X.c.118 (image).

Wall between cases 10 and 11

  • The mournfull Cryes of many thousand Poore Tradesmen, who are ready to famish through decay of Trade. London, 1648. 265657 (image).

Church Against Church (case 11)

  • The Ambiguous Confessor. Engraving. London?, ca. 1650. 249539 ART (size M) (image).
  • Thomas Edwards. Gangræna. London: Ralph Smith, 1646. E237 Bd.w. E228; displayed Section 3 p. 113 (multiple images).
  • Francis Howgill. Some of the misteries of Gods kingdome declared. London: for Thomas Simmons, 1658. Collected and bound together with numerous Quaker pamphlets. H3179; displayed closed (image).
  • Jasper Crosse. The dolefull lamentation of Cheap-side Crosse. London: F.C. and T.B., 1641. D1837; displayed title page (image).
  • Samuel Loveday. An answer to the lamentation of Cheap-side Crosse. London: T.A., 1642. 150- 407q; displayed title page (image).
  • Anna Trapnel. The Cry of a Stone. London, 1654. 157- 082q; displayed title page (image).
  • Isaac Penington. Some considerations propounded to the Jewes. London, 1660. P1192; displayed title page (image).

Pilaster after case 11

  • Charles II, king of England. A proclamation concerning building, in, and about London and Westminster. London: John Bill and Christopher Barker, 1661. C3250 (image 1) (image 2) (image 3).

Fire and Plague (case 12)

  • London’s Dreadful Visitation, or a collection of all the Bills of Mortality for this present year. London: Edward Cotes, 1665. L2926.2; displayed recto of folded leaf following sig. O4 (image) with title page shown in facsimile (image).
  • Penelope Patrick. Receipt Book of Penelope Jephson. Manuscript, 1671, 1674–75. V.a.396; displayed fol. 12v-13r (image 1) (image 2).
  • Samuel Wiseman. On the dreadfull fire of London the 2 of Sep 1665 [i.e. 1666]. Manuscript, 1681. X.d.423; displayed leaf 3 (image).
  • William Sancroft. Lex ignea, or the school of righteousness. London: Timothy Garthwait, 1666. 134- 119q; displayed title page (image).
  • Fire Office (London, England). A Table of the Insurance Office at the Back-side of the Royal Exchange. London: Thomas Milbourne, 1682. 219411; displayed broadsheet (image).

Pilaster after case 12

  • Wenceslaus Hollar. A Generall Map of the Whole Citty . . . by which may bee computed the proportion which is burnt. London, 1666. Art Vol. d71 no.13.