Royal Favourites: The Filthy Earl of Rochester
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Want to walk the halls of Anne Boleyn's childhood home? Or explore the castles that made up Henry VIII's English stronghold? With a subscription to History Hit, you can dive into our Tudor past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists. You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week. Covering everything from the ancient world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb, and welcome to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit, the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samurais, relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft.
Not, in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors. Hello. Just before we start properly, I should warn you that this episode contains some very strong language and adult themes. So if you are listening with young ears or if strong language is not to your taste, you might want to either brace yourself or listen after the watershed. Enjoy. Today we're going to meet the most scandalous man in the most scandalous court in English history. John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, was a soldier, an aristocrat, a pornographer, an alcoholic, a libertine, and a firm favourite of Charles II, a so-called merry monarch who found in Rochester the perfect companion. Charles's restoration court is notorious for its extravagant parties and sexual license, yet somehow Rochester still stands out.
He drank harder, loved more recklessly, and wrote poetry so outrageously filthy that it scandalized his contemporaries. He even helped recruit prospective mistresses for the king. And yet, for all his excesses, Rochester had one of the sharpest minds of his age. His satire sliced through pretense wherever he found it, in religion, in politics, in society, and most dangerously of all, in the king himself. Most monarchs would have exiled or executed a courtier who lampooned them so viciously, but Charles simply sighed, laughed, banished Rochester for a while, and then invited him back. I'm delighted to welcome back to the podcast Rebecca Radil, historian, bestselling author who specialises in the Stuart dynasty and presenter of a new historical true crime podcast, Buried Evidence.
We've spoken before on this podcast about the Great Fire of London and the Great Plague. Do go back and have a listen to those fascinating episodes. But today we're going to get a little bit naughty as we explore England's greatest libertine, John Wilmot II, Earl of Rochester, and Professor Suzanne Lipscomb. And this is not just the Tudors from History Hit.
Rebecca, it's lovely to see you. Nice to see you too. I'm so happy to be invited to speak on the Earl of Rochester. He was actually, he was my first, I'm going to embarrass myself here, my first love when it came to the Restoration Court when I was young and I wrote my undergraduate dissertation about him and the court width. So it's a real pleasure.
Wonderful. OK, so you really have got deep, long time knowledge of this man. So let's start by talking about his background and what was going on in England at around the time of his birth.
So he was born in 1647. And anybody that knows anything about the 17th century will realise that that is right at the tail end of the conflict that consumed England. England, Scotland and Ireland during what we call the Civil Wars or the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Obviously, he was a baby, so he wasn't involved in any of that. But his father was. His father was a really formidable soldier who'd fought on the continent during the Thirty Years' War. And then he also was a royalist supporting Charles I to begin with. And then after Charles I's execution, acting as a kind of ward or guardian to the young future Charles II. It's kind of a baptism of fire in terms of his birth and the era that he emerges.
And yet, although on his father's side we've got this unwavering royalism, on his mother's side we've got a Puritan influence.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–6:16
2
What warning does the podcast give about strong language and adult themes?
6:16–7:48
3
Who was John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, and why is he called the Restoration’s most notorious libertine?
7:48–17:01
4
How did Rochester’s family background and the Civil Wars shape his early life?
17:01–42:58
5
What impact did Rochester’s Grand Tour of Europe have on his libertine persona?
42:58–51:47