*

Break-through: Hexagram 43 of the I Ching, or 011111.

MEMBERS OF THE NOBILITYwent by more than one name: their family surnames and Christian names, but also their titles. For example, the younger brother of King Charles II had the family name Stuart and was baptized James, and so might be called James Stuart; but for most of his life he was the Duke of York, and so might also be referred to, in the third person anyway, as “York” (but in the second person as “Your Royal Highness”). Titles frequently changed during a person’s lifetime, as it was common during this period for commoners to be ennobled, and nobles of lower rank to be promoted. And so not only might a person have several names at any one moment, but certain of those names might change as he acquired new titles through ennoblement, promotion, conquest, or (what might be considered a combination of all three) marriage.

This multiplicity of names will be familiar to many readers who dwell on the east side of the Atlantic, or who read a lot of books like this. To others it may be confusing or even maddening. The following Dramatis Personae may be of help in resolving ambiguities.

If consulted too early and often, it may let cats out of bags by letting the reader know who is about to die, and who isn’t.

The compiler of such a table faces a problem similar to the one that bedeviled Leibniz when trying to organize his patron’s library. The entries (books in Leibniz’s case, personages here) must be arranged in a linear fashion according to some predictable scheme. Below, they are alphabetized by name. But since more than one name applies to many of the characters, it is not always obvious where the entry should be situated. Here I have sacrificed consistency for ease of use by placing each entry under the name that is most commonly used in the book. So, for example, Louis-Francois de Lavardac, duc d’Arcachon, is under “A” rather than “L” because he is almost always called simply the duc d’Arcachon in the story. But Knott Bolstrood, Count Penistone, is under “B” because he is usually called Bolstrood. Cross-references to the main entries are spotted under “L” and “P,” respectively.

Entries that are relatively reliable, according to scholarly sources, are in Roman type. Entries in italics contain information that is more likely to produce confusion, misunderstanding, severe injury, and death if relied upon by time travelers visiting the time and place in question.

ANGLESEY, LOUIS: 1648-. Earl of Upnor. Son of Thomas More Anglesey. Courtier and friend of the Duke of Monmouth during the Interregnum and, after the Restoration, at Trinity College, Cambridge.

ANGLESEY, PHILLIP: 1645-. Count Sheerness. Son of Thomas More Anglesey.

ANGLESEY, THOMASMORE: 1618-1679. Duke of Gunfleet. A leading Cavalier and a member of Charles II’s court in exile during the Interregnum. After the Restoration, one of the A’s in Charles II’s CABAL (which see). Relocated to France during the Popish Plot troubles, died there.

ANNEIOF ENGLAND: 1665-1714. Daughter of James II by his first wife, Anne Hyde.

APTHORP, RICHARD: 1631-. Businessman and banker. One of theA ’s in Charles II’s CABAL (which see). A founder of the Bank of England.

d’ARCACHON, DUC: 1634-. Louis-Francois de Lavardac. A cousin to Louis XIV. Builder, and subsequently Admiral, of the French Navy.

d’ARCACHON, ETIENNE: 1662-. Etienne de Lavardac. Son and heir of Louis-Francois de Lavardac, duc d’Arcachon.

d’ARTAGNAN, CHARLES DEBATZ-CASTELMORE: c. 1620-1673. French musketeer and memoirist.

ASHMOLE, SIRELIAS: 1617-1692. Astrologer, alchemist, autodidact, Comptroller and Auditor of the Excise, collector of curiosities, and founder of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum.

D’AVAUX, JEAN-ANTOINE DEMESMES, COMTE: French ambassador to the Dutch Republic, later an advisor to James II during his campaign in Ireland.

BOLSTROOD, GOMER: 1645-. Son of Knott. Dissident agitator, later an immigrant to New England and a furniture maker there.

BOLSTROOD, GREGORY: 1600-1652. Dissident preacher. Founder of the Puritan sect known as the Barkers.

BOLSTROOD, KNOTT: 1628-1682. Son of Gregory. Ennobled as Count Penistone and made Secretary of State by Charles II. The B in Charles II’s CABAL (which see).

BOYLE, ROBERT: 1627-1691. Chemist, member of the Experimental Philosophical Club at Oxford, Fellow of the Royal Society.

VONBOYNEBURG, JOHANNCHRISTIAN: 1622-1672. An early patron of Leibniz in Mainz.

CABAL, THE: unofficial name of Charles II’s post-Restoration cabinet, loosely modeled after Louis XIV’s Conseil d’en-Haut, which is to say that each member had a general area of responsibility, but the boundaries were vague and overlapping (see table).

CAROLINE, PRINCESS OFBRANDENBURG-ANSBACH: 1683-1737. Daughter of Eleanor, Princess of Saxe-Eisenach.

CASTLEMAINE, LADY: see Villiers, Barbara.

CATHERINE OFBRAGANZA: 1638-1705. Portuguese wife of Charles II of England.

CHARLESIOF ENGLAND: 1600-1649. Stuart king of England, decapitated at the Banqueting House after the victory of Parliamentary forces under Oliver Cromwell.

CHARLESIIOF ENGLAND: 1630-1685. Son of Charles I. Exiled to France and later the Netherlands during the Interregnum. Returned to England 1660 and re-established monarchy (the Restoration).

CHARLESLOUIS, ELECTORPALATINATE: 1617-1680. Eldest surviving son of the Winter King and Queen, brother of Sophie, father of Liselotte. Re-established his family in the Palatinate following the Thirty Years’ War.

CHARLES, ELECTORPALATINATE: 1651-1685. Son and heir to Charles Louis. War-gaming enthusiast. Died young of disease contracted during a mock siege.

CHESTER, LORDBISHOP OF: see Wilkins, John.

CHURCHILL, JOHN: 1650-1722. Courtier, warrior, duellist, cocksman, hero, later Duke of Marlborough.

CHURCHILL, WINSTON: Royalist, Squire, courtier, early Fellow of the Royal Society, father of John Churchill.

CLEVELAND, DUCHESS OF: see Villiers, Barbara.

COMENIUS, JOHNAMOS(JANAMOSKOMENSKY): 1592-1670. Moravian Pansophist, an inspiration to Wilkins and Leibniz among many others.

COMSTOCK, CHARLES: 1650-1708. Son of John. Student of Natural Philosophy. After the retirement of John and the death of his elder brother, Richard, an immigrant to Connecticut.

COMSTOCK, JOHN: 1607-1685. Leading Cavalier, and member of Charles II’s court in exile in France. Scion of the so-called Silver branch of the Comstock family. Armaments maker. Early patron of the Royal Society. After the Restoration, the C in Charles II’s CABAL (which see). Father of Richard and Charles Comstock.

COMSTOCK, RICHARD: 1638-1673. Eldest son and heir of John Comstock. Died at naval battle of Sole Bay.

COMSTOCK, ROGER: 1646-. Scion of the so-called Golden branch of the Comstock family. Classmate of Newton, Daniel Waterhouse, the Duke of Monmouth, the Earl of Upnor, and George Jeffreys at Trinity College, Cambridge, during the early 1660s. Later, a successful developer of real estate, and Marquis of Ravenscar.

DECREPY: French family of gentlemen and petty nobles until the Wars of Religion in France, during which time they began to pursue a strategy of aggressive upward mobility. They intermarried in two different ways with the older but declining de Gex family. One of them (Anne Marie de Crepy, 1653-) married the much older duc d’Oyonnax and survived him by many years. Her sister (Charlotte Adelaide de Crepy 1656-) married the Marquis d’Ozoir.