ABSTRACT
Life without fire was unthinkable. Every dwelling had a hearth whose open flame was indispensable for cooking and light and, during part of the year, for heat as well. In rooms that had no hearth, at least on winter nights, candles were routinely used. Many industries depended on fire: baking, brewing, glassmaking and of course every form of metalwork required an oven or an open flame. Yet fire was a constant hazard. A few stray sparks from an untended hearth or guttering candle could easily start a blaze. Many fires were started
by inevitable acts of momentary carelessness, when somebody left a hearth unattended or fell asleep before blowing out the candle. No city was safe from fire. Even Venice - where water, after all, was always conveniently at hand - suffered numerous serious fires in the early modern era, including repeated blazes in the doge's palace and the basilica of St Mark'sJ Between 1500 and 1750 in England alone there were over three hundred urban fire disasters in which ten or more - often many more - houses were destroyed. 8
One night in December 1583 a kitchen fire broke out in the small town of Nantwich in Cheshire. Unlike most fires, it was not quickly extinguished: a strong westerly wind soon spread the fire to adjacent houses. As the fire raced towards the Bear Inn, four large bears wh ich were kept in stables behind the inn for bearbaiting on market days were released from their confinement. This humanitarian deed loosed four terrified beasts among the inhabitants and considerably impeded the fire-fighting efforts. By the next morning, though few· lives had been lost, weIl over a hundred buildings had burned to the ground. The town was largely destroyed,
The most devastating urban fire in early modern Europe also took place in England. This was the Great Fire of London in September 1666. 11 It began long before dawn one Sunday in a baker's house in Pudding Lane. When neighbouring houses started to catch fire, the Lord Mayor was summoned; his reaction is reliably recorded: 'Pish,' the mayor said, 'a woman might piss it out.' 12 This was in fact a standard method for extinguishing small indoor fires; forty years earlier when Nehemiah Wallington's apprentice and servant awoke one night to discover a blaze in their garret room they had quickly 'pissed out the fire', much to their master's relief and satisfaction. 13 But the fire in Pudding Lanc had long since passed this point. Even so, the mayor was reluctant to order houses pulled down: he was uncertain who would be willing to compensate the owners. Within hours the fire was completely out of contro!. The royal government assumed control of the situation and large-scale pulling-down of buildings began. The king hirnself arrived at the scene and dismounted to join in the operations. But nothing availed. The fire continued to spread for four days until a sharp shift in the wind caused it to sputter out. Few lives were lost; thc flames spread slowly enough for people to escape. But most of thc inner city of London - so me 13,000 houses in all - had been destroycd.
