Response of King Charles II to the Disaster -- Great Fire Monument, City of London, UK
N 51° 30.609 W 000° 05.158
30U E 702206 N 5710584
A narrative of the King's response to help with rebuilding the City after the Great Fire is inscribed in Latin on the south side of the elegant Great Fire Monument. Fortunately, a bronze plaque with an English translation was added later.
Waymark Code: WMT307
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/16/2016
Views: 6
In 1666, many more folks spoke Latin than do today. Helpfully, the contemporaneous narrative of how King Charles II responded to help start the rebuilding efforts and his improvements to the City that shape London today are not lost to us, a translation being helpfully affixed to the memorial under the original Latin description sometime later.
Blasterz are not going to try to transcribe the Latin -- the interchangeable Us and Vs confuse us. We WILL transcribe the English translation, which reads as follows:
"TRANSLATION OF THE LATIN INSCRIPTION ABOVE
Charles the Second, son of Charles the Martyr, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, a most gracious prince, commiserating the deplorable state of things, whilst the ruins were yet smoking provided for the comfort of his citizens, and the ornament of his city; remitted their taxes, and referred the petitions of the magistrates and inhabitants of London to the Parliament; who immediately passed an Act, that public works should be restored to greater beauty, with public money, to be raised by an imposition on coals; that churches, and the cathedral of St. Paul’s, should be rebuilt from their foundations, with all magnificence; that the bridges, gates, and prisons should be new made, the sewers cleansed, the streets made straight and regular, such as were steep levelled and those too narrow made wider, markets and shambles removed to separate places. They also enacted, that every house should be built with party-walls, and all raised of an equal height in front, and that all house walls should be strengthened with stone or brick; and that no man should delay building beyond the space of seven years. Furthermore, he procured an Act to settle beforehand the suits which should arise respecting boundaries, he also established an annual service of intercession, and caused this column to be erected as a perpetual memorial to posterity. Haste is seen everywhere, London rises again, whether with greater speed or greater magnificence is doubtful, three short years complete that which was considered the work of an age."
Type of Historic Marker: plaque
Historical Marker Issuing Authority: City of London
Age/Event Date: 09/15/1666
Related Website: [Web Link]
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