Wicked Charleston: The Dark Side of the Holy City
Sample Chapter
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"A man with an erection heeds no advice.”
– Samuel Pepys, 1665
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I. Charles II – the Merry Monarch
In the 1630s there was a saying about what various nationalities did upon settling a colony: the
Spaniards built a church; the Dutch a fort; and the English a tavern. Welcome to Charleston, an
English colony founded in 1670.
It was first called Charles Town, named after King Charles II. Charles Town was founded after the
end of the English Revolution, also called the Puritan Revolution, the general designation for the
period in English history from 1640 to 1660. The Revolution proceeded through two civil wars, the
trial and execution of the King Charles I, the republican experiments of Oliver Cromwell and,
ultimately, the restoration of King Charles II.
The Revolution was provoked by the behavior of Charles I. Charles believed in the divine right of
kings and did not hold himself accountable to Parliament. The immediate cause of the
Revolution, however, was Charles’s attempt to impose the Anglican liturgy in Scotland in 1637.
The Presbyterian Scots rioted and raised an army to defend their church. In 1640, their army
occupied the northern counties of England.
Charles summoned the Long Parliament to raise money in support of his war against the Scots.
They met in November 1640 and demanded reforms from Charles as the price for their support.
The political quarrel soon became an armed conflict with most of the Lords and a few members of
the House of Commons siding with the king.
Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan and member of Parliament, led his forces to victory against the army of
King Charles I. Even though he had no military experience, Cromwell was a brilliant leader and by
the end of 1648, the king was defeated. Charles was convicted of treason by Parliament and
beheaded on January 30, 1649. This left Cromwell as virtual dictator of England. Being a Puritan,
Cromwell instituted the typical Puritanical doctrine: no fun allowed - no drinking, no gambling, no
dancing, and, absolutely, positively no wenching. Under the rule of Cromwell, it was NOT jolly old
England.
Meanwhile, Charles’s son, Charles II, assumed the title of king and was so proclaimed in
Scotland and sections of Ireland, and in England, even though the country was ruled by Cromwell.
Charles spent eight years in exile on the Continent.
While a young man in Paris, Charles had a vigorous sexual appetite. He spent many hours in
establishments called maisons des baigneurs, where a man could go to be “tended and
cherished, and could indulge oneself in all pleasure offered by the luxury and depravity of a great
city”.
In 1658, following the death of Cromwell, the demand for the restoration of royalty increased. On
April 23, 1661, Charles was crowned King and the era of “eat, drink and be merry” began.
England became jolly old England, and Charles picked up the nickname “The Merry Monarch”.
Samuel Pepys described the court of King Charles II “as there being so much . . . swearing,
drinking and whoring that I do not know what will be the end of it.” Royal promiscuity became
legend, including stories about the size of the king’s penis. The Royal Penis was described by
one participate of a court orgy as being as the size of His Majesty’s scepter. Pepys, a loyal
member of the Royal court, described Charles’s relationship with women as such: “The King doth
spend most of his time in feeling and kissing them naked all over their bodies in bed . . . this
lechery will never leave him.”
One of Charles’s lovers was Barbara Palmer, Countess Castlemaine, a woman who would drink,
gamble and talk filthy with men. She was also ambitious and domineering. Charles seemed blind
with lust for Castlemaine and often performed public sexual acts with her. Pepys summed up
their relationship by commenting: “A man with an erection heeds no advice.”
Castlemaine was herself a sexual deviant. According to Lord Coleraine, she once dined on the
corpse of a deceased Bishop and devoured “as much of the priviteeas the lady could get into her
mouth.” She took great pleasure in despoiling a man of God even after his death.
One of the king’s most famous mistresses was Nell Gwynn, born in Coal Yard Alley, a slum. A
natural beauty, at age thirteen she found work at the King’s Theatre and quickly became a
favorite. Pepys, an avid theatre-goer, became enchanted with her. It was not just her acting that
attracted him. He described Nell as “a bold merry slut” with a bold laugh and quick dirty tongue.
Within weeks of meeting her, Charles began to send for her, and soon moved her into a house in
the Pall Mall district. It didn’t take long for a local poet to come up with this ditty:
Hard by Pall Mall lives a wench call’d Nell.
King Charles the Second he kept her.
She hath got a trick to handle his prick.
So she never lays hands on his scepter.
Just within his court, Charles sired twelve bastards with seven women. He fathered five with
Castlemaine; two with Nell, and with five other women Charles sired one bastard each. The
bastards he sired out of court have been estimated as between thirty-five to 140, with more than
fifty women.
II. Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper – the Greatest Whoremaster
Anthony Ashley Cooper, born July 22, 1621, was a supporter of King Charles II. He served in the
Short Parliament in 1640, as a supporter of the Puritan, Oliver Cromwell. At the start of the
English Revolution, Ashley Cooper switched his political support to Charles I and the Royalists.
He subsequently became an important member of the so-called Cabal, an elite advisory group
serving King Charles. In 1660, he was made privy councilor and in 1661 was appointed
Chancellor of the Exchequer. In 1672, he was named the first earl of Shaftesbury.
Cooper had an “addiction to the brothels” according to his contemporaries. “His
open lewdness he could ne’er disguise”, wrote John Dryden. Cooper was known as a man who
“loves fumbling with a Wench, with all his heart”.
Once he became a public man, his reputation for wenches became such public knowledge that by
1679 there were considerable references to Cooper’s lewd behavior in plays performed in
England. While Cooper was serving as Lord Chancellor for Charles II, he entered the royal hall
and was greeted by Charles with the remark: “Here comes the greatest whoremaster in England”.
To reward some of his longtime loyal supporters, Charles II gave eight men (called the Lords
Proprietors) a land grant to the Carolina colony, which included everything south of Virginia to
Florida, and everything west to the Pacific Ocean. One hell of a gift! Cooper became the leader of
the Proprietors and is the man historians give credit as the driving force behind the founding of
the Carolina colony. Anthony Ashley Cooper’s value to Charleston today is honored by the two
rivers which form the peninsula – the Ashley and the Cooper.
With the assistance of John Locke, his brilliant young secretary, Cooper was responsible for the
Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, the document which outlined Cooper’s vision for the
colony. Thus, the “greatest whoremaster in England” created one of the most liberal and
revolutionary documents of his era.
The Constitutions argued for the concept of government for the good of the public and advocated
the most liberal religious policy of any American colony. Cooper and Locke decreed that in order
to own land every freedman in Carolina must acknowledge the existence of God and the need for
public and solemn worship. In order to have benefit of these laws each colonist over the age of
seventeen had to be a member of some religious congregation. However, the document also
stated that “any Seven or more Persons agreeing in any Religion, shall constitute a Church”.
Cooper felt that this liberal policy would allow Indians as well as Europeans of differing
persuasions to live together in harmony. No member of any church was to “disturb or molest” any
rival religious assembly. The policy of “Seven or more Persons agreeing” was often interpreted to
include a gathering in a tavern. What a great idea! It was once legally possible in Charles Town to
belly up to the bar and be in church at the same time.
The legal groundwork was ready for the settling of Charles Town. All that was needed were
colonists.
III. Addicted to Rum
During the first week of April 1670 the first 148 colonists arrived on three ships, under the
leadership of Captain Joseph West. Some of the provisions on board included twelve tons of beer
and fifty barrels of brandy. They found the “Water about Town so brackish that it is scarcely
potable unless mixed with . . . liquors.”
Seven months later, Captain West complained that many of the settlers “were so addicted to the
Rum, that they will do little whilst the bottle is at their nose.” Ten years later the Council felt it
necessary to pass an act for “the Suppression of Idle, Drunken and Swearing Persons” and to
“prohibit entrance of punch houses, or tippling houses during time of Divine Service.” The
Council finally figured it out – people were going to taverns for worship instead of church. It was
the first time, but not the last, that Charlestown politicians would try to pass a law to direct people
from the bars and into the churches.
Many of the colonists were indentured servants, male and female. The indentured servant signed
a contract with a landowner, sometimes known as a Master, who paid for their passage to
America. For the length of the contract (usually 3-5 years) the servant worked for the Master. At
the end of the contract the servant was free and given fifty acres of land. Many of the female
indentured servants discovered a quicker route out of servitude - prostitution. Sleep with your
Master, and the length of your contract would be reduced. After these female servants were out of
their contracts, many discovered the easiest path to a substantial income was to continue their
role as a prostitute. Thus, the establishment of working women in Charleston began early.
Some of those working women plied their trade at an early rum house called the Bowling Green
House, in the vicinity of present day corner of Anson and Hassel Streets (possibly the current site
of St. Johannes Lutheran Church). In the Bowling Green House sailors and Indians could be
found “tyed by the Lipps to a pewter engine” of beer, rum punch, brandy, and Madeira wine,
consuming as much as “£16 at one Bout.” Sailors and wenches were so notorious for causing
disorders that the men of the night watch (police) were empowered to apprehend and hold until
morning any seaman frequenting a public house after dark.
During the first three decades many public officials (members of the Council) were removed from
office for scandalous behavior, which usually included public drunkenness and “lying [sic] with
wenches”. The clergy offered little help. The first Anglican minister, Reverend Atkin Williamson,
was dismissed in 1681 for baptizing a bear while drunk.
By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the population of Charles Town was almost fifty per
cent Anglican. The rest were Dissenters, any religion that dissented against the official Church of
England.
Charlestown Population: 1700
1700 Anglicans
1300 Presbyterians
500 French Huguenots
400 Baptist
100 Quakers
4000 Total
Even though every citizen was (officially) a member of a congregation (see the math above),
public officials complained about the immoral atmosphere infecting the city. In May 1703, the
Assembly considered legislation to prevent “Mens Cohabitating with women with whom they ware
not married & against Strumpets” and passed an “Act against Bastardy”.
The clergy were swimming against a tide of sin. They agreed the behavior of the citizens was
“ungodly”, but that was their only common ground. Most Dissenters considered the entire
Anglican Church scandalous, and many Anglicans agreed. They hoped that their new commissary
would strengthen the reputation of the Church in Carolina.
There was never a bishop in the colonies; all colonials came under the authority of the Bishop of
London. The Bishop would appoint a commissary who would exercise most of the functions of a
bishop. The Church Act of 1706 divided the settled sections Carolina colony into ten parishes, and
the parish church was supposed to serve as the center of local culture.
In 1708, a ship set sail from England, bound for Charlestown, carrying the Reverend Gideon
Johnston, appointed commissary to the colony. As was customary during a trip from England to
Carolina, before making the long passage across the Atlantic, the ship stopped to re-supply at the
island of Madeira, off the coast of Portugal. Reverend Johnston went ashore and he sampled a
new drink – a golden-colored spirit named after the very island. Madeira wine is aged at least
twenty years in casks and then bottled and allowed to mature for another thirty to seventy-five
years.
The Reverend enjoyed the wine so much that he missed the departure of his ship. He arranged
for a second departure and persuaded the captain to load several cases of Madeira to enjoy
during the voyage. Johnston’s second ship arrived in Charles Towne without the reverend on
board. He was found marooned on an island off the coast without food and water– apparently
abandoned by the ship’s crew. Madeira soon became the drink of choice among the Charlestown
elite. Currently, there is a brand of Madeira on the market called “Charleston”.
Once he arrived in Charles town Reverend Johnson had to deal with many problems, including his
predecessor at St. Philip’s, Reverend Marston, who was angry that he was replaced. Marston
often followed Johnston around town calling him an “Irish bandit”. However, Marston was forced
to flee town after being arrested for a public fist-fight and charged with fraud and indebtedness.
Johnston also had to deal with ministers of other faiths. The minister of the Scotch-Presbyterian
church called St. Philip’s “a scandalous church” from his pulpit. The minister of the Baptist
congregation, William Screven, was also a carpenter. Johnston called Screven “extremely
ingnorant” - a charge that is often still leveled at Baptists.
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