Mortimer - The Time Travelers Guide to Elizabethan England

I t is a normal morning in London, on Friday, July 16, 1591. In the wide street known as Cheapside the people are about their business, going between the timber-covered market stalls. Traders are calling out, hoping to attract the attention of merchants wives. Travelers and gentlemen are walking along the recently repaired pavements of the street, going in and out of the goldsmiths and moneylenders shops. Servants and housewives are making their way through the market crowds to the Little Conduit near the back gate to the churchyard of St. Pauls Cathedral, some with leather water vessels in their arms, others with casks suspended from a yoke across their shoulders. The morning sun is reflected by the glass in the upper windows of the rich merchants houses. A maid looks down on those in the street as she cleans her masters bedchamber.

Suddenly there is a great commotion near the market. Repent, England! Repent! yells a man at the top of his voice. He is dressed in black, handing out printed leaflets as he strides along. Repent! he shouts again and again. Christ Jesus is come with his fan in his hand to judge the Earth! This man is no mean fool; he is a prosperous London citizen, Mr. Edmund Coppinger. Another gentleman, Mr. Henry Arthington, also dressed in black, is following him, striding from the alley called Old Change into Cheapside. He too calls out, declaring, Judgment Day has come upon us all! Men will rise up and kill each other as butchers do swine, for the Lord Jesus has risen. The printed bills they hand out declare that they are intent on a complete reformation of the Church in England. For the illiterate majority in the crowd, they call out their message: The bishops must be put down! All clergymen should be equal! Queen Elizabeth has forfeited her crown and is worthy to be deprived of her kingdom. Jesus Christ has come again. The reborn Messiah is even now in London, in the form of William Hacket. Every man and woman should acknowledge him as a divine being and lord of all Christendom.

William Hacket himself is still lying in bed, in a house in the parish of St. Mary Somerset. He cuts an unlikely figure as a latter-day messiah. His memory is excellenthe can recall whole sermons and then repeat them in the taverns, adding amusing jokes. He married a woman for her dowry, then spent it and abandoned her. He is well known as a womanizer, but he is even more famous for his uncontrollable and violent temper. Anyone who witnessed his behavior in the service of Mr. Gilbert Hussey will confirm this. When a schoolmaster insulted Mr. Hussey, Hacket met with him in a tavern and pretended to try to smooth over the disagreement. After he had won the schoolmasters trust, he put a friendly arm around his shoulders. Then, suddenly, he seized the man, threw him to the floor, flung himself on top of him, and bit off his nose. When he held up the piece of flesh, the astonished onlookers entreated him to allow the bleeding schoolmaster to take it quickly to a surgeon so that it might be sewn back on, preventing a horrible disfigurement. Hacket merely laughed, put the nose in his mouth, and swallowed it.

In his bed, Hacket knows what Mr. Coppinger and Mr. Arthington are up to: he himself gave them instructions earlier this morning. They believe he is the reborn Christ largely because he is such a persuasive and fervent character. Together they have been hatching a plot for the last six months to destroy the bishops and undermine the queens rule. They have spoken to hundreds of people and distributed thousands of pamphlets. What Hacket does not know is that a huge crowd has started to swarm around his two prophesying angels. Some are curious, some are laughing at their proclamations; others want to join them. Most want to see Hacket in person. Such a large crowd is pressing against them that soon Mr. Arthington and Mr. Coppinger are trapped. They seek refuge in a nearby tavern, the Mermaid, and manage to escape by the back door, before returning to the parish of St. Mary Somerset and their slugabed messiah.