Read At Day's Close: Night in Times Past Online
Authors: A. Roger Ekirch
as Milky Way, 130
robberies, 33–36,
35,
43, 86
cries for help stifled in, 40
dark nights preferred for, 39–40
grave, 237
by highwaymen, 34–36, 39, 40, 41
murder in, 34, 35–36
nocturnal excursions and, 118–19, 137, 139, 141–42, 144
of pedestrians, 34, 137, 139
by prostitutes of their clients, 245
victim’s lights extinguished in, 40
weapons used in, 34, 36
Robin Good-fellow, 18
Rocco, Father, 72
Rochester, John Wilmont, Earl of, 223–24, 225, 226
role reversal, at festivals, 152
Rolfe, John, 321
Romans, ancient, 4, 62, 168, 228, 303
night life of, 5
nightwatch of, 75
time divisions of, 137, 138
Twelve Tables
of, 84, 87
Rome:
aristocratic gangs in, 225
carrying weapons banned in, 66
Church festivals in, 71
dark lanterns banned in, 67
darkness of night preserved by, 72, 74, 220, 335
disguises prohibited in, 152
great cloaks in, 136
illumination shrines in, 72
Jews of, 228
lower classes of, 235
nocturnal labor in, 160
sexual activity on streets of, 192, 220
street lighting banned in, 335
Romeo and Juliet
(Shakespeare), 192
Romulus, 62
Ronsard, Pierre de, 205
Rothair’s Edict,
87
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, xxv, 63, 74, 110, 122, 143, 144
“Roving Maids of Aberdeen’s Garland, The,” 196
Rowlands, Samuel, 31
Rowlandson, Margaret, 270
Rowlandson, Thomas,
96,
126,
299,
332
Rowth, Jane, 307
Ruddocke, Edward, 45–46
rues de la lanterne,
67
Rules of Civility, The,
45
Rush, Benjamin, 290
rushlights, 106–7, 111, 162, 207, 295, 336
Russia, 46, 108, 178, 181
bundling in, 200
space mirror of, 339
watchdogs, 95
Rust, Thomas, 168
Ryder, Dudley, 222, 291
Sabba da Castiglione, Monsignor, 13, 60
Sacchetti, Franco, 158, 193
Saenredam, Jan,
309
Samson, 303
Sand, George, 95
Sanderson, Robert, 116–17, 125, 305
Sanditon
(Austen), 331
Sanger, Abner, 169, 171, 174, 201
Satan, 6, 15–17,
17,
21, 60, 97, 98, 145, 156, 239, 240, 268
burglars’ impersonation of, 41
darkness as realm of, 15–16
at dead of night, 140
disguises of, 15
sleep and, 268
sleep disturbed by, 291–92
village sites associated with, 16
wild animals linked to, 30
witches’ covenant with, 21
Saxon Consistory, 213
sbirri,
76
scavengers, 64, 160, 165, 243
Schoole of Vertue, The,
264
scientific rationalism, 6, 325
Scot, Reginald, 20, 23, 99, 120
Scotland, 16, 24, 92, 138
arson by burglars in, 54
barred windows in, 93
bogwood in, 108–9
bundling in, 197–98, 199
collieries of, 24
criminal prosecutions in, 12
curtained beds in, 279
earthen floors as beds of, 276–77
farmers of, 168–69
fishing in, 171, 177
funeral wakes in, 194
group travel in, 142
kelpies in, 18
law courts of, 87
peat as fuel in, 103
pilfering in, 240
seaweed as fuel in, 103
spinning bees in, 178
spinning in, 164
watchdogs of, 95
witch hunts of, 20
Scowrers gang, 225
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), 290
seaweed, as fuel, 103
“Second Nun’s Tale, The” (Chaucer), 282
Sedley, Sir Charles, 223
Seekatz, Johann Konrad, 231,
232
Seine River, 26, 64
Semple, Robert, 325
sentries, 75, 79
servants, 28,
53,
66, 81, 94, 125, 142, 165, 188, 190, 193, 203, 233–35, 298
arson of, 54, 55
beds of, 277–78, 287, 297
bedtime duties of, 271
candles of, 52, 109–10
communal sleep of, 281–82
at family prayers, 272
indentured, 233
as laundresses, 164
magic employed by, 239
nightmares and, 292
of nobility, 212, 224
nocturnal excursions of, 234–35
nocturnal labor of, 158–60, 168, 170, 175, 176
pilfering by, 175, 240, 255
poaching by, 241
privacy and, 150
as private guards, 165
runaway, 234
social oversight of, 150–51
storytelling of, 3, 5, 120–21
youth dances of, 196
in youth gangs, 245, 247–48, 252
Sewall, Samuel, 28, 52, 91, 99, 314, 316, 317
sexual activity, 116, 191–97, 233, 268
adulterous, 191, 193–94, 314
in alehouses, 190, 192
in bundling, 200–201, 202
in dreams, 314
and extinguishing lights, 192–93, 195, 201, 218
at festivals, 194
of homosexuals, 230, 231, 281
in interval of wakefulness, 308–10
laws against, 191
in literature, 193
low light levels and, 192
marital, 282, 308–10
as masquerades, 216
nocturnal labor and, 175
public displays of affection and, 191
social class and, 191–92
social oversight of, 149–50
venues for, 190, 192, 193, 220
of young people, 192, 194–202;
see also
courtship
youth dances and, 196
see also
prostitutes, prostitution; rapes
Shakespeare, William, xxxi–xxxii, 8, 18, 82, 106, 127, 138–39, 140, 151, 192, 210, 227, 267, 286
shamans, dreams of, 317
sheep-stealers, 41, 172, 241
shepherds, 171–72
shepherd’s lamp, 129
Sheppard, Jack, 34
“She Went to Bed in the Dark,” 281–82
Shirley, James, 224
shoemakers, 158, 160
“wetting the block” ceremony of, 162
shrines, illuminated, 71–72
shutting-in, xxxii, 91–93, 138, 268
Sicily, 70–71, 121, 143
evening parties in, 212
white witchcraft in, 98
Sidney, Sir Philip, 286
Siena, 75, 86–87
sight, sense of, 8, 124, 128
Signori di Notte,
85
Silesia, 19
silversmiths, 156
slaves, 109, 113, 132, 233–35, 237, 298
amulets of, 99
arsons of, 55, 257
dogs of, 241
dreams of, 317
ghost stories used in control of, 256
insurrections of, 257–58
magic of, 99, 143, 239, 257–58
night-kingdoms of, 251–52
nocturnal excursions of, 233–34, 235, 236, 255–56
nocturnal labor of, 168, 170, 174, 176–77
personal gain of, 176–77
pilfering by, 240, 241, 256
runaway, 234
sleep of, 286, 287
social oversight of, 150–51
youth gangs of, 245, 246, 248–49, 251–52
sleep, xxv, xxvi–xxvii, 14, 24, 46, 51, 59, 60, 145, 261–62, 263–84, 285–87, 304
burglaries and, 37, 38, 42
as classless, 286, 287
communal,
see
communal sleep
concoction as impetus for, 263
in the day, 218
death in, 268–69,
269,
272
evolution of, 261
excessive, 264
historical indifference to, 262
immune system and, 14
as like death, 286
in literature, 267, 285–86
medieval medical view of, 263
modern research on, 268, 280, 303–4, 322–23
optimal temperatures for, 294
positions for, 271–72, 302
proper amount of, 264–65
quality of, 267–68
REM, 322–23
salutary effects of, 263–64
staying awake vs., 60, 77, 203, 338
time needed for lapsing into, 280–81
typology of, 267–68
vulnerability of, 268–69
of wild animals, 290, 303
see also
beds; bedtime rituals; bedtimes; broken sleep; dreams
sleep deprivation, 298–99
sleep disturbances, xxvi, 285–99, 302
anxiety in, 286, 289–90
beds and, 295–96, 297
communal sleep and, 296
demonic intruders in, 291–92
depression in, 289, 290
excretory needs and, 296–97, 305
fears in, 290–92
frigid temperatures and, 294, 297
illness in, 288–89, 297
insects and, 288, 294–95,
295,
297–98
of lower classes, 290, 297–99
nightmares in, 272–73,
291,
292
by nightwatch, 75, 78–79, 293
noisiness in, 291, 292–94, 297, 327
pain in, 288–89
reeking chamberpots and, 296–97
rural, 293
urban, 292–93
in wintertime, 290, 294
sleeping houses, 236
sleepwalking, 267, 319–20
smell, sense of, 133, 192
Smith, Samuel, 284
Smith, Sir Thomas, 115
Smith, Thomas, 116
smoking, 79, 189
Smollett, Tobias, 75, 135, 136, 212, 243, 306
smudges, 37
smugglers, 242–43, 244, 250
burglars’ impersonation of, 243
social activities, 185–202
dancing, 187, 194, 196, 235, 236
in drinking houses, 187–90;
see also
alehouses
drinking in, 186, 187, 188, 189–90
games of chance, 72, 186, 189,
189,
221, 328
of lower classes, 177–84, 235–37
music in, 187, 189
of nobility, 210–17,
see also
masquerades
see also
courtship; sexual activity; spinning and knitting bees; storytelling
social classes, xxvi, 134, 136
broken sleep and, 304
dress differences in, 8
lanterns and, 126–27
lower,
see
lower classes
masquerades and, 214, 216, 328–29
middle, 157, 186–87, 191–92, 208, 280, 304, 324–25, 326, 329, 330
nocturnal excursions and, 125, 126–27, 136–37
sexual attitudes and, 191
sleep as leveler of, 286, 287
solitude of, 203
street lighting and, 335–36
upper,
see
upper classes
social oversight, 333–34
of lower class, 150–51
by neighbors, 147–51, 153, 191–92
solitude, 202–9
needlework in, 208
personal piety in, 206–7
personal reflection in, 202–3, 207
social differences in, 203
writing in, 207–8
see also
reading
Somme River, 62
space mirror, Russian, 339
Spain, 20
burglaries in, 38
carrying weapons banned in, 66
Holy week processions in, 70
illuminated shrines in, 72
marranos
of, 228
murder weapons in, 43
ventas
of, 187
white witchcraft in, 98
youth dances in, 196
youth gangs in, 250
Spartans, 119–20
Spectator,
16–17, 216, 321
Spenser, Edmund, 286, 288
sperm whales, 104–6
Sperrgeld,
63
spinning, 164, 173, 174, 176
spinning and knitting bees, 178–79, 181, 184,
195
courtship at, 194–96
emotional support provided by, 183
French shelters for, 182
gossip exchanged in, 182–83
men’s views of, 183
oral readings at, 203
Spinnstube, A
(Beham),
195
sprites, 18
Spurmakers Guild of London, 156
squatters, 238
Squire Oldsapp: or, the Night Adventures
(D’Urfey), 222
“Squire’s Tale, The” (Chaucer), 301, 311
Stadtpir,
151
Stainhurst, Richard, 79
Standonck, Jean, 203
stars, 129–30, 138,
139,
234, 326
telling time by, 138, 236
in weather forecasting, 171
Statute of Artificers, 157
Statute of Winchester, 31, 75, 76
Steele, Richard, 218, 304
Steen, Jan,
189,
190
Steiner, George, 319
Sterne, Laurence, 271
stillborn infants, magic properties of, 41–42
St. John’s Eve, 140
Stockholm:
fire alarms in, 79
murders in, 46
nightwatch’s weapons in, 77
scaling city walls as crime in, 62
Stoddard, Solomon, 231
Stoeckhlin, Chonrad, 317
Stom, Matthias,
273
stormy petrals, as oil lamps, 107–8
storytelling, 179–82, 184
ghost stories in, 3, 5, 120–21, 180, 256
magic in, 179, 180
motifs of, 180–82
at spinning and knitting bees, 183
stoves, 102
Stower, Mary, 164
Strassenräubers,
36
straw pallets, 274, 276–77, 287
street lighting, 10, 26, 67–74, 332–37
Argand oil lamps in, 331
carrying lights mandated for, 67, 129
Catholic Church and, 69–72,
70,
71,
335
coal gas lamps in, 331, 332–34,
332,
335, 336–37
coast of, 73, 74
crime and, 330–31, 332–34, 336
electric, 337
illuminated shrines as, 71–72
inadequacy of, 73–74
increasing use of, 72–73
lanterns as, 67–68, 73, 74, 129, 246,
337
for military hostilities, 68–69
by oil lamps, 72, 73, 330–31
opposition to, 335
poor quality of, 74
problems of, 74
at public celebrations, 69
restricted to darkest nights, 68, 73, 74, 335
rural resistance to, 336–37