Samuel Pepys
This biography of Samuel Pepys describes not only his life in England in the 1600s but also the many struggles the rulers and parliament were going through. Not only was the country facing a war with the Dutch, but in 1665 a plague killed one-sixth of the people in London, and a year later the Great Fire destroyed a large part of the city.
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) was the fifth of the 11 children his mother gave birth to over a period of 14 years. In his younger days, Samuel witnessed the execution of King Charles I, but later he worked under such British rulers as Oliver Cromwell, Charles II, James I and II, and finally William of Orange. Although he was briefly sent to prison several times in his lifetime, he was able to became a member of Parliament and was made president of the Royal Society. He became quite wealthy working as clerk and secretary for the British Navy Board and became a friend with John Milton, Isaac Newton, and William Penn, whose son later founded Pennsylvania.
But what Pepys became best known for was his diary, which exposed nearly 10 years of his younger life. His marriage to Elizabeth went well, but he also wrote of his sexual romances outside of marriage, which included young maids, tavern girls, and other married women. At the same time, he easily became jealous of his wife’s interests in other men. He once admonished a younger brother who fathered a child out of marriage. But that he and Elizabeth were unable to have children might have had something to do with it.
Pepys had given up on his diary before Elizabeth died after 15 years of marriage. Mary, the woman he lived with soon after his wife’s death, was never mentioned except in letters.
Samuel Pepys wrote one book about the British Navy, but it received very little notice. His diary was more popular but was turned down by publishers until the last 1800s. Claire Tomalin’s book on Pepys’life and his diary was published in 2002.