A couple of asides here: he’s sometimes referred to as Solomon Eagle, which isn’t as good, so I ignored that bit, obviously. And (because I had to look it up) a chafing dish is “a metal cooking or serving pan on a stand with an alcohol burner” underneath (thank you, Wikipedia)
Solomon, you may not be entirely surprised to hear, was a zealous sort, but hadn’t always been. Before this, he’d made an estimated £130 a year being a musician and music teacher. Unfortunately for him, he got religion, and by a circuitous route...
He became an Anglican, then a Presbyterian, then Independent, Baptist, Antinomian and finally a Quaker, by which point he felt music “was nothing but vanity, and vexed the good spirit of God ... [who] did thunder grievously against this practise”
...so he sold his instruments and became a tailor instead, but then God told him to buy them back and burn them on Tower Hill, which he tried to do, but people stopped him, so he “was forced to stamp upon them, and break them to pieces” instead. Obviously
He started to preach in public, often interrupting church services to do so, which got him into trouble. The Quakers Act of 1662 had been passed to bring these dangerous subversives (an ascetic, nonconformist lifestyle? Outrageous!) into line. He was arrested and imprisoned several times
There were quite a few Quakers carrying out direct action at the time. Going about in sackcloth and with ashes on one’s face or head was popular, and some took it a step further. Solomon wasn’t even the first to get his kit off in Westminster:
Sadly, we don’t know her name, but her story is recounted in an academic paper with the splendid subtitle, ‘How the Quakers invented nudity as a protest’. Because the idea soon spread...
...as another paper – Early Quakers and “Going Naked as a Sign” – testifies. (I know: the stuff I get to read...)
In his tract, Signes are from the Lord to a People or Nation, Solomon said he felt the call to set out “with Fire and Brimstone on my head Naked” adding: “Repent speedily, for God will not be mocked. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah who are your Examples; they do endure the vengeance of Eternal Fire”
Maybe the fire on his bonce was just to remind them what fire was. Whether Londoners in the late 1660s needed such a thing is debatable. Indeed, according to the Journal of the Friends Historical Society, just a few days before the Great Fire broke out in 1666 journals.sas.ac.uk/fhs/article/...
Given that the fire began on 2 September, and forensic analysis wasn’t then what it is now, are we absolutely sure that baker in Pudding Lane was to blame...?
Naked protest is in the Bible - e.g. Micah 1:8, Isaiah 20:3 - as a fairly common prophetic protest or sign.
youtu.be/mcPRc34tQlg?...
Excellent