The fire consumed the city for four days. A large part of the center was burnt down, with the majestic St. Paul. The flames even threatened the seat of the royal court in Whitehall. It was one of the greatest, if not the greatest disasters in the history of the city. From a later perspective, however, it can be considered a blessing.
In the 17th century, England slowly became an imperial state, and London was its political and commercial center. However, the dynamically developing country also had many internal problems. The civil war of 1642-49 ended with the beheading of King Charles I. Established in the same year, the English Republic became a de facto dictatorship. After the death of the lord protector - Oliver Cromwell, and later the resignation of his son and successor Richard Cromwell, the parliament decided to restore the Stuarts (1660). Although the coup was bloodless, and even many regicides escaped, it was a time of great political turmoil. The return of the king and the politics of Lord Chancellor Clarendon hit hard against the followers of non-state factions of Christianity. Mainly in the Puritans, who were the dominant religious group under Cromwell.
To the political turmoil and religious conflicts, one must add the war with the Netherlands. Its consequence for Londoners was, above all, tense relations and suspicion of merchants from that country.
However, the sixties of the seventeenth century were also the time of the development of maritime trade, ambitious colonial plans, and an increasing focus on the development of science and technology.
The most important sea trade routes were concentrated in London. As befits the capital of a country with imperial ambitions, it was one of the largest cities in Europe at the time. On the other hand, the city's structure was still medieval. Wooden buildings dominated, more and more tightly enclosed by walls that were still built by the Romans. Of course, the dirt flowed in gutters or in the river, and rats darted between the houses. The increasingly dense buildings and the growing number of inhabitants were like a ticking bomb. Something must have happened.
The plague outbreaks in Europe's populous cities were not uncommon. However, since the plague coincided year after year with a great fire, Londoners had reason to regard it as a real act of God.
The plague came from Europe. For a decade, it has been circulating from Moscow to Naples and Genoa. In 1665 it reached England, spreading mainly in poorer districts, in the suburbs of London (the so-called liberties).
At least 15% of London's population died of the plague. There have been officially 68,596 deaths. The peak of the disease was in September 1665, when over 7,000 people died. Londoners. At that time, the court and parliament resided in Oxford. What wealthier inhabitants also fled the city. Trade with the capital was stopped, and the houses of the infected were guarded by the guards. England was also in danger of closing national borders.
A year has passed since the peak of the epidemic. Londoners slowly returned to their activities. On the night of Sunday, September 2, 1666, a fire was started in a bakery on Pudding Lane. The cause was probably sparked that jumped from the stove to a nearby pile of wood. Information traveled faster than fire. Later that night, Samuel Pepys (the famous author of the diary of that time and the commander of the royal fleet at the time) noted that the maid informed him about the fire around 3 am. He had time to look, found it not that serious, and went back to bed. The Lord major of London, Thomas Bloodsworth, did a similar thing. His failure to react quickly is believed to have been one of the causes of the fire spreading.
However, the speed of the information spread probably saved the lives of many Londoners. Although the fire took heavy damage, relatively few people were killed.
Within hours, the fire spread from the bakery to the nearby houses. The Thames was a potential border from the south. There was some concern because the nearby London Bridge was densely built-up. Upon reaching the bridge, the fire spread to the northwest.
On the second day, the area of the fire continued to expand. It was believed then that the point that could resist the power of fire would be the cathedral of St. Paul. The gothic building towering over the city was built of stone and it might have had a chance to withstand a fire if it hadn't been overestimated. Residents began to take their furniture and set it up along the walls of the cathedral. Another version says that the bits of paper and fabric carried in the wind acted like torches when they reached the wooden roof of the cathedral. Anyway, on the third day, a fire engulfed the cathedral, and the wind quickly moved the flames further west. At around 11 p.m., however, he began to change direction, which slowed down the further spread of the fire. On the fourth day, the situation was well under control.
In 1666, there was no regular fire brigade in London. Small fires were extinguished by the residents and their neighbors on their own, and the whole city was involved in putting out larger fires. This explains the lack of professional organization and quick reaction to fire. The news of the fire spread quickly enough. However, there were no people dedicated to dealing with this problem.
The main method of extinguishing city fires (when the budding of the fire failed) was to demolish parts or entire buildings. This method was referred to, among others, by Tower guards. The London Tower had thick walls and was surrounded by a river, but on the third day after the explosion, it was obvious that this was not an obstacle to fire. The involvement of residents in removing flammable materials from the fire path was also of great importance.
The fire was slowly brought under control on the fourth day, although it took two more days to fully extinguish the main fires. Nevertheless, some places smoldered for up to several months.
The common experience of defeat did not extinguish the nationalist tendencies in Londoners. The ongoing war with the Netherlands and tense relations with France contributed to the spread of conspiracy theories. It was suspected that foreigners set the town on fire. When the Dutch, looking for shelter, started walking towards the fire camp, a rumor spread that they intended to finish off the Londoners who took part in extinguishing the fire. The enraged crowd headed towards the smoldering city.
On September 6, the situation was somewhat under control. But it was impossible to just go back to the city. The fire destroyed an area of approximately 300 acres or about half the city. The cathedral, the Royal Exchange, and the town hall (Guildhall) did not resist him, over 13.2 thousand people were burnt down. residential buildings and 87 parish churches. When Samuel Pepys returned to check if his house was still standing after the first control of the fire, he saw not only half of the city consumed by the fire. Many buildings on his street have been demolished to prevent fire from entering the Tower. In this case, the method worked. Elsewhere, it was insufficient due to the wind blowing pieces of fabric and paper on fire.
Relatively few people died in the fire. Only six victims have been officially recorded. It is known that this is not a complete number, but estimates vary. Some have calculated that it could even be 3,000. people. Nevertheless, the fire turned out to be more catastrophic for the houses and for what the residents failed to save. After a year of the epidemic, many were on the verge of bankruptcy anyway, and the fire brought them to ruin. The city's losses (value of private and public buildings destroyed) were estimated at around £ 10m.
The fire brought huge losses, but it gave the city an opportunity to rethink the city. Three major redevelopment plans were developed, neither of which, however, was approved. This was due to property rights, which made any changes to the structure of the streets very difficult. So the medieval plan was kept, opting for more subtle changes. First, the so-called The Rebuilding Act of 1667 prohibited building from materials other than stone and brick. It was also not possible - as was common in the Middle Ages - to build floors protruding horizontally beyond the first floor. There was better access to water in every street so that every fire could be put out on the spot. The reconstruction continued for the next 20 years. Thanks to the introduced changes, it was possible to avoid not only similar fires. London has never been plagued by a plague on the scale of 1665.
The main author of changes in rebuilt London was Christopher Wren. Although the king did not accept his plan to rebuild the city, he entrusted him with the rebuilding. Relatively young at the time, Wren (he was 34 in the year of the fire) was considered a genius. He did the job perfectly well.
The biggest challenge was to rebuild the Cathedral of St. Paul. The Gothic soaring towers of Wren were replaced by a huge dome visible from a distance. The final design was approved quite late because Wren had to satisfy many tastes, aesthetic and ideological requirements. For example, the church couldn't look very much like Catholic buildings. He came out unscathed from each of the tasks. To this day, the cathedral is the heart of the city and one of the most recognizable buildings in London.
Rebuilt London has grown up to be a European metropolis and the capital of a great empire. Despite successive changes, the architecture proposed by Wren (with the cathedral at the fore) is still clearly visible in the city's landscape to this day.
Bibliography:
- Jerzy Kędzierski, History of England, vol. 1,
- Adrian Tinniswood, The Great Fire of London, London 2016
- Kevin Cunningham, Diseases in history. Plague, Greensboro 2009
- Ronald D. Grand, Christopher Wren, and the St. Paul's Catherdral, Minneapolis 1982
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