Read At Day's Close: Night in Times Past Online
Authors: A. Roger Ekirch
Burnap, John, 143
burning daylight, 109
Burt, Edward, 92
Burton, Robert, 289, 292
Butler, Peter, 172
Butler, Samuel, 18
Butzbasch, Johannes, 239
Byng, John (Viscount Torrington), 137, 270, 295–96
Byrd, William, II, 109, 298, 317
caban unnos,
238
Calfhill, James, 16
Campbell, Thomas, 18
Campion, Thomas, 97, 213
candle coal, 102–3
candle-lighting, 109, 122, 138
Candlemas, 69
candles, 5, 40, 51, 59, 104–7,
105,
109–11, 142, 192–93, 210, 214, 333
beeswax, 69–70, 104–6
burglars deterred by, 101
at Church festivals, 70
clipping with, 101,
101
cost of, 106
fires caused by, 51–52
in lanterns, 67, 68, 73, 74, 124–25
magical properties of, 100–101
for nocturnal labor, 156, 162, 163
reading by, 207
servants’ use of, 52, 109–10
in shrines, 71–72
in Spanish Holy Week processions, 70
spermaceti, 104–6
as street lighting, 68
tallow, 68, 106, 107, 162, 207, 336
taxation of, 106
wasting, 109–10
windows illuminated by, 63–64, 68–69, 199, 254
candlewood, 104, 108–9, 162, 236
Cannon, John, 205–6, 243, 314
Canterbury Tales, The
(Chaucer), 163, 282, 301
Caraccioli, Marquis de, 314
Caravaggio, 225
Carbonnier, Jean, 84, 85
Cardano, Girolamo, 310, 315
Carlyle, Alexander, 132
Carnival, festival of, 152, 249, 254
carpenters, 157, 161
Carter, Landon, 113, 170, 236–37, 240, 256
Carter, William, 40
Cassiodorous, 75
Castel of Helthe
(Elyot), 265
Catalonia, 66
Catholic Church, 61, 69–72, 206, 330
British recusants of, 229
canonical hours of, 137
of Counter Reformation, 70
dreams as viewed by, 318
early morning prayer encouraged by, 302–3
extramarital sex prohibited by, 191
festivals of, 70–71,
70,
71,
152, 187–88
heretics vs., 151, 228
illuminated shrines of, 71–72
in Ireland, 194
magic banned by, 64
night’s darkness as sacred in, 71, 72, 74, 155, 335
sacraments of, 69–70
Catlin, John, 245
Cats, Jacob, 120, 205
Cavendish, Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle, 214, 220, 316
cave shelters, 278
Ceba, Ansaldo, 191
Cereta, Laura, 202, 208
cesspools, emptying of, 165–67
Chagga people, 303
Chalkers gang, 224
Chamberlayne, William, 62
chamberpots, 27–28, 271, 296–97, 305
Change in the Village
(Sturt), 337
Channel Islands, 242
Chapman, George, 220–21
Charivaris,
253–54
Charke, Charlotte, 95
Charles I, King of England, 265
Charles II, King of England,
29,
226, 253
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 219
Charles VI, King of France, 210, 226
Charlton, Jasper, 171
Chateaubriand, François-René, Vicomte de, 207
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 130, 163, 193, 282, 301, 311
Chevet, Robin, 180–81
children, 109, 278, 308–10
abandoned, 237
fear of darkness in, 3, 5–6, 119–22
illegitimate, 149–50, 200, 237, 281
magic and, 143
night games for, 122
nightmares of, 292
nocturnal excursions of, 118, 119–22, 123–24
parental intimidation of, 120–21
phases of the moon learned by, 128–29
witches’ sabbaths and, 21
see also
infants
chimneys, 51, 99–100, 101–2, 274, 293
Chlotar II, King, 75
Christian II, King of Denmark, 226
Christian IV, King of Denmark, 226
Christianity, xxvi, 15, 20, 65, 119, 191, 228
ghosts in, 18
God’s creation of light in, 4, 69
in magic charms, 99, 142–43
Satan in, 21
see also
Catholic Church; Protestantism
church bells, 69, 90, 133
curfew rung by, 77–78
evil spirits frightened by, 70
as fire alarms, 79
Church Fathers, 59
Churchill, Charles, 217–18, 227–28
Church of England, 70, 229
Church of Scotland, 198
church towers, 138
lookouts in, 77
as solitary retreats, 203
churchyards, 16, 51, 237
ghosts in, 140
mishaps in, 24
sexual activity in, 190
Cibber, Colley, 297
circadian rhythms, 14, 174–75, 334
Clap, Margaret, 230
Clare, John, 129, 227, 255
Clarendon Code, 229
Clay, Samuel, 128
Clayton, Rev. James, 158
Clayton, Rev. John, 60
cleanliness, personal, 135
Cleaver, Robert, 110
Clegg, James, 119
Clifford, Mary, 277
clipping, 101,
101
clocks, 138, 264
close-stools,
275,
297
“Clothier’s Delight, The,” 162
cloth workers, 156, 160, 164, 173, 174
clubs, social, 329
coal, 102–3
Coalbrookdale, iron foundry, 327,
327
coal gas lamps, 331, 332–34,
332,
335, 336–37
Cobbett, William, 107
cock-crow, 138, 140
Cock Lane Ghost, 325
Cocq, Capt. Frans Banning, 82
Coe, William, 24, 185
Cogan, Thomas, 262, 263, 274, 310
Cokburne, Jon, 301
Coke, Sir Edward, 36, 92, 241
Cole, Rev. William, 112
Collier, Mary, 163, 306
collieries, 24
Collinson, Humphrey, 40
colts, 18
Columella, 168, 173
comets, 10,
11,
326
communal sleep, 278–84
advantages of, 280–81
broken sleep in, 308
designated positions of, 278–79
fear of darkness allayed by, 280
guests in, 279, 296
illnesses spread by, 288
intimate conversations in, 280, 281
marital relationship in, 282–84
proper behavior for, 279–80
of servants, 281–82
sleep disturbed by, 296
solitary sleep vs., 281, 297
violence in, 282, 283–84
Compendium Maleficarum
(Guazzo), 307
Complaint, The, or Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality
(Young), 153, 207
Complaints of Poverty, The
(James), 298
Compleat Gentleman, The
(Peacham), 218
concoction, 263
conduct books, 214, 282
Connolly, Thomas, 106
constables, 65, 77, 79–80, 81, 82, 83
as “midnight magistrates,”
83,
85
consumerism, 326–27
Conti, Alessandro, 230
Cooper, John, 94
Corbaccio, The
(Boccaccio), 220
Coren, Stanley, 261
corn huskings, 177–78
corpses,
see
dead bodies
Cosimo, Duke of Tuscany, 297
cosmology, popular, 12
cotton mills, 327, 330
courts, 21, 59, 84–89
courtship, 190, 194–202
nocturnal excursions in, 196–97
restrictive controls on, 191
serenading in, 198
as spinning bees, 194–96
youth dances in, 196
see also
bundling
Coutumes de Beauvaisis,
87
Coverdale, Miles, 194
Cowper, Countess Mary, 228
Cowper, Dame Sarah, 9, 97, 119, 123, 145, 173, 206, 225–26, 233, 265, 268, 273, 281, 286–87, 288–89, 290
Cowper, Sir William, 287
Cowper, William, 308, 311
crab catching, 176–77,
177
Craft, Margaretha, 284
Cresswell, Nicholas, 248–49
crime, criminals, 31–47, 56, 66, 76, 139
approaching walls at night as, 62
attributed to witches, 21–22
dark nights preferred for, 39–40
daylight as evidence of derangement in, 40
dead, on gibbets, 141–42
demonic beings impersonated by, 40–41
identities concealed in, 40
in interval of wakefulness, 306–7
lights extinguished in, 40
magic used by, 41–42
neighbors and, 68, 88, 115–17
nightwalkers and, 31–32
pedestrian targets of, 39
petty, 237–52
rising incidence of, 329–34
street lighting and, 330–31, 332–34, 336
timetable of, 36
torture in interrogation of, 85
variations in, 32–33
and victims’ cries for help, 40, 115–17
witchcraft in, 21–22
see also
nightwatch; violence;
specific crimes
criminal justice, 12, 84–89
night courts in, 85–86
nocturnal offenses in, 86–88
Crosby, Michael, 144
cross-dressing, 216, 220
crossroads, ghosts of, 19
Crowne, John, 32
crows, 15
Crusius, Jacobus Andreas, 41, 168
Cryters, Canon Arnold, 220
cunning-men, 98, 112, 313
curfews, 63–66, 118, 155, 324
on apprentices, 256
church bells’ tolling of, 77–78
decline of, 72
derivation of term, 63
household, 233
laws on, 64–65
personal, 266
curtained beds, 274,
275,
279, 297
curtained windows, 150, 270
curtain lectures, 283
Cymbalum Mundi
(Des Périers), 117
Cymbeline
(Shakespeare), 106
Cyril of Jerusalem, Saint, 59, 202
Czeisler, Charles A., 304
Dahomey, 4
Damned Crue gang, 224
Dane, John, 158, 178
Dark Cully, 193
dark lanterns, 40, 67
darkness:
antiquity of, 3–5
appeal of for criminals, 39–40, 128, 237–43
celestial phenomena in, 10–13,
11, 13
in children, 3, 5–6, 199–22
communal sleep and, 280
Cowper on, 123
cultural differences in, 4–5
decline in, 326
depression and, 290
fear of, 3–6, 7–30, 75
ghosts in, 18–19
hearing in, 9
insurgencies and, 256–58
intimacy of, 178, 192–93, 281–83, 339
noxious vapors in, xxxi–xxxii, 12–15
personal autonomy and, 152–53, 227–28
poor visibility in, 8–9, 16, 23, 24, 25, 36, 45
prayer during, 59–60, 71
at rest time, 60, 261–62
as sacred time, 59, 74, 179
self reflection during, 310–11
storytelling and, 179–80
wild animals in, 28–30
see also
demonic beings; mishaps, nocturnal
Dark Night of the Soul, The
(St. John of the Cross), 302
Darwin, Erasmus, 329
Davenant, Sir William, 48, 118, 203, 233
Davis, Joseph, 39
day, daylight, 9, 109, 111, 127, 149, 152, 158, 188, 206, 211
burglaries in, 38
clothing in, 135
crimes committed in, as evidence of derangement, 40
drawn curtains in, 150
night as negation of, 60
robberies in, 34, 36
sleep during, 218
day-laborers, 157
day-witches, 4
dead bodies:
disposal of, 167–68
funeral wakes for, 194
on gibbets, 141–42
night vigils for, 64, 114
nocturnal burials of, 213, 229, 237
theft of, 237
dead of night, 138–40, 257, 300
death, 7, 18, 223, 292
crib, 292
darkness equated with, 4
demonic warnings of, 18, 19
in dreams, 317
in early morning hours, 14
from fright, 19, 22
from mishaps, 24, 25–26, 28, 235, 246
from nightmares, 292
from noxious vapors, 14
planetary influence on, 12
in sleep, 268–69,
269,
272
sleep likened to, 286
of suicides, 18, 19
by witchcraft, 21–22
see also
murder, murderers
Deavill, Richard, 322
De Beatis, Antonio, 43
debtors, 237–38, 290
Dee, John, 317
Defoe, Daniel, 27–28, 39, 125, 136, 167, 189, 193, 230, 231, 250
Dekker, Thomas, 13–14, 66, 82, 158, 237–38
demonic beings, 4, 6, 8, 15–23, 28, 120, 183, 325
criminals masquerading as, 40–41
dead of night favored by, 139–40
declining belief in, 325–26
distinct identities of, 17–18
malevolent powers of, 16
in Middle Ages, 20–21
skeptics of, 23
sleep disturbed by, 291–92
whistling in the dark and, 143
see also
evil spirits; Satan; witches
Démonolâtrie, La
(Rémy), 302, 307
“De Natura Rusticorum,” 240
Denmark, 48, 89, 99, 125, 141
arson punishment in, 54
burglaries in, 41
crime victims aided in, 68
fires in, 48, 49, 50
kings of, 226
lookouts in, 77
murders in, 43
night courts of, 85
nightwatch’s verses in, 78
nightwatch weapons in, 77
youth gangs in, 246
De Praestigiis Daemonum
(Weyer), 23
depression, 289, 290
De Republica Anglorum
(Smith), 115
Description of England
(Harrison), 301
Des Périers, Bonaventure, 117
devil,
see
Satan
“Devil’s lontun,” 18
Dialogues on the Passions, Habits, and Affections Peculiar to Children,
122
Diebeskerze,
42
diet, 124, 271
Dietz, Johann, 19, 47, 145
Diggers, 319
Dinka people, 4
Direction for the Health of Magistrates and Studentes, A
(Gratarolo), 265